Chapter Thirty Five

I Will Dare

Lindsey took them to the mall and over to a bunch of storage lockers. She directed Lucas to the right one before she and the other girls went to strategize away from the other team. Lucas unlocked the locker with the key. Inside was a gym bag and the first dare card. He opened the card and read the first part. 'Return these clothes to the stores.' It didn't sound so bad until he looked at the second part. 'While wearing them'. He shook his head in disbelief as he showed the card to his brother and friends. Nathan looked at him. "Are you sure you want to do this? This is exactly what you were against when you told Lindsey you didn't want to play."

"I know, but I'm not going to let Lindsey get to me tonight," Lucas replied. "I'll play her little game. After we win, I'll make sure she won't bother us ever again."

"Are you sure you want to leave Brooke and Haley with Lindsey all night?" Nathan asked. "I'm not worried about Haley as much, but Lindsey might spill your secrets to Brooke."

"My biggest secret was marrying Lindsey after thinking she was pregnant with our child," Lucas replied. "And Brooke already knows that secret. Lindsey may be manipulative, but Brooke knows better than to believe her about anything that comes out of her mouth." Nathan agreed, but he was still skeptical. He tried to push it out of his mind as Lucas spoke again. "We should split up so we can get all the dares done on time."

"Tim, you're with me," Nathan said, knowing Tim wanted to go with his best friend.

"I'll go with Lucas to make sure he doesn't get in trouble," Jake offered. That was fine with Skills and Mouth since they wanted to partner up together. They quickly split up the cards and went their separate ways. Lucas and Jake headed in the direction of a restroom.

To complete the dares, the girls also split up in three groups of two. To Brooke's frustration, she ended up with Lindsey. She couldn't believe her best friends bailed on her. She didn't believe Rachel's excuse in claiming she wanted to get to know her sister-in-law. She had never been interested in trying to get to know Millie before, but it was obvious she didn't want to hang out with Lindsey. Neither did anyone else, but Brooke was the only one who was willing to tolerate her.

"Let's get this over with," Brooke told Lindsey as they headed to the parking lot. "What's our first dare?" Lindsay handed her one of the cards and Brooke looked at her in disbelief. "Get a table at the best restaurant in town? How am I supposed to do that?"

"Come on. You're Brooke Davis. I'm sure everyone in town knows you by now," Lindsey said. "Your little adventure with that psycho Derek has even hit my neck of the woods." Brooke glared at her as Lindsey pretended to look at the time. "We should get going before the boys start earning points." Brooke didn't respond as she continued to follow Lindsey. "I'm sure you're wondering what kind of dare your boyfriend is doing. Well, it's certainly more amusing than our dares, but it's all in fun and games."

"You think everything's a game, don't you?" Brooke exclaimed, already getting tired of Lindsey. "You think you can do whatever you want with people and you don't have to worry about the consequences. News flash: the world doesn't revolve around you. By the way, you don't know a thing about me."

"Prove it then," Lindsey challenged. "Prove I'm wrong about you. Because from what I've heard about you, you're not right for Lucas."

Her words reminded what Peyton had once said about her. Brooke didn't answer as she climbed in the passenger seat of Lindsey's car. She was so ready to get this night over with. There was silence as Brooke directed her to the boardwalk. She knew there were a lot of great restaurants there. She didn't know how they would be able to get a table without a reservation though.

"So I'm just supposed to get a table, right?" Brooke asked once they had arrived at their destination and they walked into the restaurant.

"With no waiting," Lindsey added.

Brooke groaned. Of course there was a catch. She plastered a fake smile at the host and she gave him her name. It wasn't a surprise when he denied her a table. Brooke tried a couple of names she had when she had her fake I.D., but he still didn't let her through. She didn't know what else to do. It was only the first dare and they were already losing.

"I believe it is under Lindsey Strauss," Lindsey replied smugly. The host nodded as Brooke looked at Lindsey. "Do you really think I came unprepared? I called for a reservation last week." Brooke was suspicious since she didn't think Lindsey could afford to pay for a fancy restaurant. "Come on. Don't tell me you don't take your friends out to lunch."

"Not like this," Brooke replied as the host led the two to the table. She waited until they were seated at the table and the host left them before she spoke again. "So what is your life story? Is there more to you than being a lying bitch?"

"I don't suppose I can change your mind, can I?" Lindsey asked. "I guess we both have a challenge then."

Their waiter arrived and asked the two ladies what they wanted to drink. They both ordered a glass of water. The waiter was about to leave when Brooke got his attention. She decided to play Lindsey's game. "We'll have some appetizers to start. What do you recommend?" she asked. The waiter gave some suggestions before Brooke stopped him. "That sounds delicious."

The waiter left them and Brooke pretended to stare at the menu. Even though she didn't want to spend the whole evening with Lindsey, she was going to get even with Lindsey by playing her game. After the appetizers were brought out, the two ate quietly before Brooke waved their waiter back over to them. "I think we're ready to order. What's your special?" She didn't give him a chance to answer. "Great. I'll take one. And I'll probably be ordering dessert. I'm really hungry tonight."

Lindsey just gave her a smile. "I think the chicken parmesan sounds good," she added. Brooke wondered what she was up to, but she didn't have a chance to ask when Lindsey looked at her phone. "Excuse me. I'll be right back." Brooke frowned as she didn't hear the phone vibrating. She watched her as she made her way to the exit and left the restaurant. Brooke couldn't shake the feeling something wasn't right.

She was distracted by her own phone. She hoped it was Deb, texting her that something was wrong with Mackenzie so she could make an excuse and quit this stupid dare night. At the same time, she didn't want anything to happen to her little sister. To her relief, it was Haley. "Please tell me it's midnight so we can end this ridiculous game."

"It's that bad?" her best friend asked. "I'm sorry Brooke." Brooke could tell she really was sorry. "What exactly do you have to do for the first dare? It can't be as bad as what we're doing. Peyton had to ask for pickled eggs and eat five of them. She couldn't even last one."

"Pickled eggs? Do I even want to know what that is?" Brooke asked. She didn't want to imagine what it looked like. "Right now, I'm sitting in the best restaurant in town waiting for Lindsey to come back. She had to step out for a moment, but I have a feeling she's up to something."

"The best restaurant in town? You didn't happen to order anything there, did you?" Brooke didn't understand what she was getting at. "Brooke, did you read the back of the card?"

"No. Why?" she asked before it dawned on her what Lindsey did. Yet, she was hoping she was wrong. She grabbed the card from the edge of the table and turned it over. She gasped as she saw the words 'Dine and dash'. "I'm going to kill her," she muttered under her breath. "I'll call you back."

Brooke waited a few moments before she took a deep breath and got up from her seat. She hurried through the restaurant, hoping the waiter wouldn't notice she was leaving. She ignored the waiter's call and hurried out the door. She wasn't happy when she saw Lindsey's car had disappeared from the parking space. She groaned to herself. She knew she should haven't trusted Lindsey to drive.

When a furious Brooke arrived back at the café, she found Lindsey sitting at the same table they had gathered around at the beginning of the evening. "You think you're funny, don't you? You couldn't have warned me you were going to do that?"

Lindsey just gave her a smirk. "Come on. Don't you think it was obvious what we were going to do? Don't worry. I'm sure you'll love the next dare."

Brooke wasn't going to hold her breath. She snatched the envelope from Lindsey and pulled out the card. "Go to the cemetery." She wasn't looking forward to reading the back of the card. "And take your picture in an open grave." Brooke turned back to Lindsey. "That's perfect since I plan on killing you anyway."

"I think you can get bonus points for that," Lindsey joked. Brooke just glared at her. She hoped her friends were having better luck with their dares than she was.

Both of the two teams had challenges in completing the two part dares. Lucas was chased by mall security and Jake had to rescue him. Tim and Nathan had to dress up as girl scouts and sell cookies. Nathan wasn't happy about it, but Tim was enjoying himself since he was spending time with his friend. Rachel and Millie went to the batting cage and Millie persuaded Rachel to wear the helmet and tried to hit a ball. Millie couldn't help but laugh as Rachel kept falling on the ground. Skills and Mouth went to the zoo to borrow one of their animals, but Skills had a hard time with choosing an animal.

Haley and Peyton's second dare wasn't as bad as their first one. They just had to go into a church and confess whatever was on the back on their card. Haley offered to do it since Peyton did the first dare. When she read the sin, she couldn't say it aloud. It was too silly and ridiculous that she confessed a secret of her own. One she hadn't been able to tell anybody yet.

Once midnight arrived, the gang met back up at the café. Brooke was relieved to be released from Lindsey. Being in an open grave wasn't fun, especially after Lindsey didn't help her out right away and almost left her in there. It was only a joke, but Brooke wasn't amused.

Everyone was laughing over the pictures they had to take of the dares as Lindsey tallied up the points. Brooke couldn't believe Lucas had done the first dare, but she was also proud he wasn't afraid to play Lindsey's game. "Ok, the guys trail by 150 points."

"I think you're mistaken," Mouth said as he and Skills carried a small white cardboard box into the café. His teammates gave him a questioning look. "We had to capture a wild animal at the zoo," he explained. "This is the only thing Skills was willing to capture." Skills backed up as much as he could as Mouth opened the box. There was a gasp of surprise from Peyton. She calmed down as she saw a turtle. She and the other girls gushed at the creature as it moved around in the box. They gently touched it as Skills just made a face.

Lindsey added the completed dare up with the others. "Well, it looks like we have a tie. Lucky for us, I just happen to have a tie breaker." She handed the envelope over to Brooke. "Would you like to do the honors?"

Brooke scoffed at her before she opened the envelope. She read it out aloud for everyone to hear. "Kiss a teammate's boyfriend or girlfriend on the opposing team'." She gave her a look. "Really? That's how you want to decide the tiebreaker? That's really unfair."

"I can do it," Rachel offered. None of the boys wanted her to kiss her. "I'm not dating anybody on the opposing team."

"Considering you've already dated Mouth, it probably wouldn't count," Brooke replied. Millie smiled at her gratefully. "And I'm not letting you kiss Lucas. Or Peyton."

"As I told you before, I am over completely him," Peyton reminded her. "But you can kiss Jake. I know you have no feelings for him."

Brooke could see the guys were getting restless and they were getting ready to approach the girls. Before anybody could react, she walked over to Nathan and she gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Nathan spaced out for a moment as Brooke smiled proudly. She shot a glance at Lucas and he was just as surprised as his brother. The guys groaned as the girls cheered. Lindsey was satisfied. "Well, it looks like the girls win."

The girls cheered again before Brooke realized how late it was. "As much as I want to celebrate, I think it's time for me and Haley to head home," she told her friends. Rachel was disappointed, but the rest of their friends understood their reasoning. They all stayed out late and it was time to head home.

"It's time to set this turtle free," Skills said, grabbing the box. He wanted to get rid of this turtle as soon as possible.

"Yeah, you guys go ahead. Nathan and I will take care of the café," Lucas said. Brooke knew he was going to talk to Lindsey alone again. She hoped he would get through to her and get her to leave them alone. They finally started dating and they didn't need anybody ruining their relationship.

Rachel and Brooke swapped stories about their adventures and Millie chimed in when it was necessary. Haley stayed quiet on the drive home. When they arrived at home, Deb was still up waiting for them. Rachel and Millie were willing to tell her everything, but Haley made the excuse that she was tired and she was ready for bed. Brooke could tell something was bothering her.

Brooke checked on a sleeping Mackenzie before she went to check on Haley. She knocked on the door and poked her head in the room. Haley was lying on the bed, staring off into space. She snapped out of her reverie and gave her a smile. Brooke could only give her a worried look in return as she sat on the bed next to her best friend. "Hey is everything okay?" she asked. "You have been really quiet since we came back from the café."

Haley nodded. "Yeah, it's just been a long night." Brooke nodded in agreement. There was a short pause. "Tonight, Peyton and I had to go to a church to confess a sin and the card had something ridiculous on the back. So I gave my own confession instead."

Brooke frowned. "What confession is that?"

Haley took a deep breath before she spoke. They were words Brooke had been waiting to hear from her for awhile. She gave her friend a sad look. "I miss Nathan. And I want to get back together with him."