Even though Nezumi and I weren't officially out as a couple, somehow a rumor had managed to make its way around the school about some secret star-crossed love affair between the resident mathlete/ science dweeb, yours truly, and none other than Nezmi, the school library. At first, everybody had their suspicions, but the general voicing of active curiosity had been kept to a minimum. Of course, with Safu at the center of the school's gossip ring, that bit of peace was terribly short-lived. Soon the curiosity of the student body, (and even some of the more nosey faculty), lead to awkward questions, fake confessions to both Nezumi and myself, and some of the more gutsy students attempting to bring about… well, PDA, If I must. In fact, it was because of a certain little game brought upon by a few gutsy classmates that the rumors aren't exactly rumors anymore.
It was our lunch period on a friday afternoon. On fridays, our homeroom usually does some kind of fun game or activity during lunch. Last week it was which team could build the tallest house of cards in 20 minutes, and the week before different small groups had to put on individual plays for the rest of the class. To be completely honest, I was pretty stupid for not foreseeing this week's team building activity, a "friendly" game of truth or dare, with Safu not only being class president, but relentlessly dropping hints about a fun game for friday.
"Okay class, for today's activity, we're going to play a friendly game of truth or dare!" Safu boldly announced, "and this time, everybody is participating!" A sly grin stretched across her face.
Instantaneously I felt all of the blood drain from my face, leaving my already pale appearance whiter than a fresh sheet of printer paper. Ever since I had stated that Nezumi and I didn't care if people knew about our relationship, she'd been planning, scheming, and doing everything in her power to get us to make the big reveal.
The class moved all of our desks to the outer edges of the room and formed a large circle in the center of the room. Inukashi was asked to start the game.
We were well into the game by the time Safu was chosen and of course by then my anxiety levels were through the roof. It was unlikely that there was a soul in the classroom that didn't think Safu would choose me, and they were all almost completely likely to be right. But, to everyone's surprise, she chose Nezumi, who was seated on my left. Immediately I reevaluated my thought process and knew why she would pick him instead of me. She knew that I would pick truth. And even though she could ask if we were together, what fun would that be? If she chose Nezumi on the other hand, he was most definitely going to pick the dare option. Choosing truth would make him look weaker. As soon as the question left Safu's mouth, Nezumi's response came right on cue.
"Dare"
Safu's mouth widened into a shit-eating grin and she spoke;
"Well then, Nezumi." She tapped her lips with her index finger, as if she actually had to think of a dare. "I dare you to play the pocky game with Shion." Safu drawled, her eyes lazily meeting Shion's with a knowing look.
Giggles and whispers echoed around the suddenly almost silent classroom. Nezumi rolled his eyes dramatically and stood up in front of my chair with a stick of pocky, oh-so-conveniently provided by none other than Safu. He stuck one of the sticks into my mouth and I squeezed my eyes shut, able to feel the blood rushing to my face. Suddenly I felt the pocky between my teeth being tugged on, and finally just yanked out. My eyes fluttered open in confusion only to see the grey in Nezumi's eyes and the quick feeling of him peck me on the lips. My face grew red and I hid my face in my hands as an embarrassed and slightly flustered smile made its way onto my face. I could see Nezumi and Safu smirking at me through the peep holes between my fingers. "aw's " and giggling filled the room. Nezumi pulled our chairs back and sat down, pulling me into his lap, giving me a small peck behind the ear as the game of truth or dare continued on. And now that I really think about it, it's wasn't really that bad. I relaxed back against Nezumi and we watched as the next victim of the game had to plant a thumbtack on the chair of the teacher.