The Dare

1

Monday, May 22

Senior pranks are a rite of passage. Sometimes they re fun and sometimes they re killer.

They re the last dumb thing you do in high school before you get to do a whole bunch of dumb things in college.

But if you go to my school, they can stop your college dreams dead.

Sophomore year I couldn t wait to participate in senior pranks, but in the last two years the pranks have really escalated. The Wilder brothers ­putting their last name to good use ­took over. Five of them, all a year apart in age and all headed for prison if it weren t for their parents money, came up with a way to raise the stakes.

Everett

Emmett

Rhett ­ugh

Garrett

Truett

Their parents really went with that matching-­name theme. No wonder they have issues.

I think I remember a kid ribbing Everett about it once. Only once. There s rumor that the kid had to move to another country.

The brothers all like to exert their dominance. They assign you a prank. A dare, really. If you re brave enough ­or stupid enough ­to turn it down, a forfeit is forced upon you.

Arrests, expulsions, not walking at graduation, and even college rejections are what we face now. That is if we accept the dares . . . or if we don t. Saying no has consequences too.

I watch Rhett laugh and shove one of his followers as he makes his way into the cafeteria, cutting in the line because he doesn t have to wait like the rest of us.

My best friend, Lucia, twirls her shiny black hair around her finger. Ignore him, she says, pushing what I think is supposed to be a burrito away from her. She s curled up with her boyfriend, Jesse, so far evading the eyes of any teachers monitoring for PDA.

Jesse throws a scowl in Rhett s direction, still holding a grudge against him for getting starting quarterback at the beginning of the year. Jesse and Atlas are better. Rhett s family is richer.

The dares are going to start soon, I say, turning my

Natasha Preston

"[An] ever-escalating suspense thriller."  Publishers Weekly