He looked back, through the rain, really coming down down. Raining cats and dogs–he’d once heard his mother say. He wondered what it would be like if it really rained cats and dogs. Probably a great big mess. But luckily it was just an expression, like his dad would say, even though he still wasn’t quite sure what that meant. Usually expressions were something people wore on their faces, they weren’t spoken with their lips.
“Uh, Earth to Brian,” said Brandy Miller.
“No,” he said.
“What?”
All the girls in the circle were looking at him. How could he have ever thought this could be his group. He was always an outsider. An alien. Like the the Thunder Cats. They were like aliens, but they were cats.
“I don’t want it to be my turn,” he said.
“But that’s how the game works,” said Suse, a blond haired, dimpled girl who was really good at drawing sunsets. Brian often wondered how she’d learned to use colors like that when in art class.
Brian looked back at his soggy sing. He heard the boys shoes on the covered floor of the basketball court. He wouldn’t play that game. He’d never been any good at those athletic things. They were too daring. Just like this game. That was why nobody ever picked dare. Because nobody knew what they would have to do. He didn’t know what he had to do right then either.
“Dare,” he said and he was surprised how unafraid his voice was.
The circle of girls gasped. Suse was looking with amazement at Brian. He liked that look, it was deep and confused, and even a little scared. He was taller than he felt.
“Dare it is,” said Brandy, without much surprise. That girl always played it cool. That was just Brandy’s MO. But Brian didn’t know what an MO was–but he thought he used it right.
“Dare me,” he said. Again it was in a brave voice.
The other girls cast around for something for him to do. They looked off into the playground and at the parking lot, but apparently nothing seemed good enough.
Brandy held up a finger. “Hang on,” he said.
The circle of girls closed it about her. There was some hushed whispers followed by a trickle of giggles and Suse even threw back her head and laughed a roar. Brian fidgeted. He suspected that this was going to be no good at all. The delegation of girls broke apart. Brian’s heart began to beat very quickly. He didn’t want to to have to play basketball or tackle another boy. He didn’t want to spit in someone’s lunch or climb up onto the roof. But he also knew that if that was what they dared him to do he would do it.
“We,” said Brandy, with a smirk. “We dare you to show us your thingy.”
Brian stared. “My what?”
“Your dick,” said Brandy, and he was surprised how easily she said the word. He’d never heard a girl say something like that.
Winter Station 