Truth or Dare, Chapter 2, by Stars_and_Fire

“Remember last year’s carnival at Red Fountain and how I suddenly disappeared and then turned up an hour later, saying that I had had a stomach ache?” Stella asked. The girls nodded.

“Well, I was lying. I had really gone to see Brandon. I was wondering where he was since I didn’t see him at the carnival. I knew where his room was, so I snuck up to see him. He was there, lying on his bed.”

“Brandon sweetie, what are you doing up here? I had asked him. He simply smiled and said ‘Stella! You came!’ I wondered what he meant by this...it sounded almost as if he had been waiting for me. So I asked him what was going on. He said it may sound strange, but Riven had dared him to not go down to the carnival. Riven had said that if I truly loved Brandon, I would come up to look for him.”

“That’s a weird way of judging if someone loves someone!” Musa exclaimed.

Stella rolled her eyes.

“Tell me about it,” she said. “But then Riven is weird, isn’t he?”

“Continue the story!” Roxy said, in an annoyed tone.

Stella began talking.

“I didn’t know what to say, so I went over to the window and looked out. Brandon’s window had a lovely view of the Red Fountain Lake. I gazed at it for a few minutes, and then I felt someone behind me. ‘Do you love me?’ a voice behind me asked.”

“My response was spontaneous. ‘Why wouldn’t I?’ I asked.”

“‘It’s just...you seemed so quiet...not your usual bouncy self when I asked you.’ That was SERIOUSLY weird. I mean, did I have to be bouncy all the time. Of course I loved Brandon! And that was what I told him.”

“Then suddenly...I was in his arms. He was gazing at me in the most beautiful way and then...” Stella had a dreamy look on her face.

“His lips touched mine. It was a feeling I had never felt before...it was a beautiful feeling.”

The girls giggled quietly at Stella’s face. She was in a little world of her own.

“Stella, snap out of it!” Tecna said laughing. She turned to the other girls. “She’ll have snapped out of it in 6.87 seconds.”