Alora's thinking about something. I know she is. And I also know it isn't "following the rules," which is what we're supposed to be thinking about. Slowly, she leans over to me, then whispers, "Totally worth it."
I roll my eyes. My hair's back in a neat braid, though it's still awful. Alora, Jordan, and I are sitting in a triangular shape, facing toward the center of the imaginary triangle our bodies are making. We're supposed to be thinking about how to be proper young people, not going swimming in creeks, not chasing after each other in forests, apparently not doing anything fun. Even after a half-hour lecture about it, however, none of us are thinking about that, and we all know it. Jordan grins. "I agree," he says under his breath.
I sigh. "Guys, we still have 40 minutes to sit and think."
"So?" whispers Alora. "We all know we're just thinking about how much fun that was."
"It's true," Jordan agrees. "Why do they make us do this?"
"So we don't want to do it again, due to having to sit in one place for an hour." I wink at Alora. "This must be torture for you."
She groans over-dramatically, though still quietly. "I know." She drags out the word, making it annoyingly long. "I'm already about to die, and we aren't even halfway done!"
"Well," Jordan replies, "what are you going to do about it? We have about 38 minutes."
She shrugs, an impish smile appearing on her face. "The same thing we do every time we get in trouble."
I groan. "Not again... Alora, come on..."
She giggles. "Truth or dare! Keep track of your dares, and you have a day to do them after we're finished here. You can only do three truths or three dares in a row, then you have to do one of the other. Three chickens apiece. If you get caught, it's your own dang fault and you get in trouble alone. No plainly illegal dares-"
"And no romantic dares!" I glare at Alora, who giggles at me. Just a few weeks ago, Alora had waited until I was out of chickens and called a dare, and dared me to kiss my longtime crush. My cheeks feel hot just with the memory. I still haven't entirely forgiven her.
"Yep!" Jordan seems happy with this, though I'm still not ecstatic.
"My turn first!" Alora says, her voice still low. "Jordan, truth or dare?"
He shrugs a bit, light green eyes uncaring. "Truth."
Alora shakes back her flaming red hair gleefully and asks, "Who's your favorite king?"
He rolls his eyes. "Alora, there's like a million of them."
"I know! It's still a fair question!"
He shakes his head good-naturedly, dark brown hair falling into his eyes. "Bartimaeus," he answers, obviously picking a name out of thin air.
Alora pouts. "That's not even nice. He was the meanest of them all. It's pretty obvious you didn't even try..."
"Maybe I like him anyway." Jordan smiles. "I answered. Now shush." Turning to me, he asks, "Truth or dare?"
I consider for a second. "Truth." Usualy truths are safer than dares in this game. They might be embarrassing, but they'll rarely get you in trouble.
"If you were a witch, what would your witch name be?" It's a common question- as outcasts from society, witches generally have more sharp names, where common people's are far more silky. Children will find a witch name and use it when they want a pseudonym. It's fun and harmless, as witches are extremely, extremely rare now.
I don't even have to consider. My witch name's been set for a while. "Gothel," I reply.
"Ooh, I like that one," Alora replies. "It sounds like a snake name."
I laugh quietly. "And then everyone would have to call me 'Mother,' including people who are older than me! Can you imagine," I continue, trying to mute my laughter, "some old lady coming up to me and calling me 'Mother Gothel'?"
We all burst into contained laughter at this, shoulders only shaking slightly. After not very long, you learn how to get past the watch of the older people who are in charge of punishments. We're forced to stop the game for a good five minutes, before we can start again, hushed tones making sure none of the guardians can hear us. Usually they're engrossed in a book or something, so it isn't hard. Finally, I'm able to ask Alora, "Truth or dare?"
She immediately replies, "Dare!" I exchange a knowing glance with Jordan. Alora's always doing dares, unafraid to do just about anything, especially if someone challenges her to do it.
"Okay..." I reply. "I dare you to ask Minten about when he was a kid."
She groans. "You just gave me a punishment worse than this one..."
I giggle slightly. "That was the point. It's your turn, Alora."
"Jordan, truth or dare?"
"Truth," he replies characteristically.
"Hmmm." Alora's bright blue eyes take on a thoughtful look. "Drawing or writing?"
"Drawing, of course! That was kind of a stupid question, Alora."
Immediately, Alora gets defensive. "Hey! How am I supposed to know that?"
Jordan rolls his eyes. "Well, first of all, you've known me for at least 10 years. Ever since I was like 6. Second of all, have you ever seen me writing? Rhetorical question," he continues as Alora opens her mouth to respond. "No. Because I don't write, I draw."
Alora pouts. "Fine. I'll sit here alone with my little stupid question and cry."
That sends me into paroxysms of giggles, and we're forced to abandoned the game we're playing again, again for another five minutes.
Alora sticks her tongue out at me. People tend to call her "a single ray of sunlight," a beautiful, shining point of light into everyone's lives. I agree, though she, in turn, calls me "a single wave on the shore," due to my light blue-green eyes and black hair. Whenever the sunlight reflects off her copper hair, Alora even looks her nickname, being exactly like sunrise's first ray of sun. She knows it, too, and has used her beauty to get many a guardian off our back just by looking cute.
Finally, we're able to resume our game, Jordan asking me, "Okay, Neiva, truth or dare?"
"Truth, of course."
"If you could go anywhere in Corona, where would it be?"
I consider all the various places. We have a perfect village here, grassy clearings, creeks, caves, and forests all within a few miles of each other, but I know Jordan's thinking more large-scale. "I've always wanted to go to the castle."
Alora scoffs. "Everyone wants to go to the castle."
I glare at her. "Well, a girl can dream."
She giggles quietly. "Whatever floats your boat, sea wave."
I stick my tongue out at her. "Truth or dare?"
"Da-" she stops abruptly, noticing me and Jordan's scheming looks, and switches. "Truth, actually."
"Who's your favorite person in the village?"
Alora smirks. "Cinta."
I roll my eyes. Cinta's our baker, a jolly, fun man, and I love him too, but that wasn't what I meant, and she knows it. I have to word things carefully, making it not technically even a question about who she's crushing on. "Favorite teenage person, silly."
"You." At the sight of my entirely unamused face, Alora bursts into laughter and we're forced to stop our game again, this time for eight minutes.
"Okay, you win this one," I relent slightly. "But one day..."
Alora giggles, distinctively maniac, and continues, "Okay, Jordan. Truth or-" she cuts off her sentence abruptly at the guardian wanders over to us.
"Are you ready to be productive, developed, properly adjusted young members of our village?" asks the guardian, looking into each of our eyes.
All three of us nod solemnly. She nods back, then replies, "Then so long, children. I will see you later." I start to walk off, then she says, "Oh, and, Neiva?"
I stop and turn back to her, as does Jordan. "Yes ma'am?"
The older woman winks. "Alora's boy that you've been trying so hard to find? It's Bulnar."
Jordan and I look to each other, stunned. Not only did our guardian hear our game of truth and dare, she didn't stop it AND she helped us? I suddenly grin at Jordan and mouth, Score.
A/N
So, yes, it's Gothel. I'm so very happy people are actually reading this. Also, I'm taking the approach that Corona's in an alternate universe/world/timestream/whatever, so I'm not working on making it time-perfect. Just writing. Hope you enjoy!
