Eek! Do you guys hate me? It's been forever since I posted this. Lucky for you guys, though, this story wasn't put on the back burner for two full years like I did with one of my other stories. Since I don't have a job, I'll have more time to update stories. For those of you interested in The House on Red Hill Drive, I'm going to go back and re-write it, so you might have to wait a little longer for that. Sorry!

So, this chapter is shortish, and nothing really happens, but it's a builder chapter. I hope you guys don't hate me! But feel free to tell me what you think in the reviews.

"Chapter 5 – Truth or Dare"

"It's as easy as one, two, three. Do you see what I do? Truth or dare, yes I double dare you. You, you, me, now I think you got it. One last breath and just spun the bottle…" –Marianas Trench

After picking out a red, one-shoulder mini-dress and black stilettos, Annie makes me curl my hair. Annie says this will be a good outfit because it's 'sexy as hell' and all the boys will love me; she says it'll really make an impression. She told me that I looked like I met a cute guy at school and this would make him have the hots for me. Naturally, I protested, but she never listens to me.

I let her raid my closet and she picks out my favorite dress: a knee-length, black, topless, really tight dress. But she cuts it so there's a thin strip around her lower back—with a big hole between the strip and the top of her butt—as well as cutting it under her chest so it forms two points that cover her belly-button. If I didn't know better, I'd say she's trying to upstage me! But then again, today's Friday…

"André will be here in a few minutes," I announce as Annie finishes curling her hair.

Annie turns the curling iron off and unplugs it. "Kay, Bitch Tits," she acknowledges. "I'm just gonna go put this downstairs and get my grub on."

I groan loudly. "But there's gonna be food at the party!" I exclaim.

Annie smirks. "I know," she says, "But this is my pre-party hunger we're talking about. Besides, you know I love your Latin lovin' food." She clicks her tongue three times and twirls out of my room with the curler in hand. I roll my eyes as she leaves. That girl eats like a trucker and she never gains a pound!

I sigh and my video chat starts ringing again. I open my computer to find a request from my dear cousin Olivia. I accept and find her perky little blonde-haired, blue-eyed face on the screen.

I smile tiredly at her. "Hey, Livy," I greet.

She frowns slightly. "Why so glum, Tori Bug?" she questions. "You look hot, by the way."

I blush slightly and shrug. "Some of my friends are making me go to this party tonight and I really don't wanna go; I've been getting really tempted lately."

A smirk crosses Livy's face. "A party, huh?" she inquires. "Will there be a lot of people there?" I nod and Livy's smirk turns into a big, devilish smile.

"Remember when I was younger and we used to play Truth or Dare all the time?" she questions. I sigh and nod, knowing where this is going. "Well I dare you to take out a few people while you're there," she dares. "You look like you could use it." I sneer and she laughs slightly. "Matter of fact," she continues, "I double dare you!"

This time, I smirk devilishly. She has a point, though; it would do me some good to get a little soul or two now that I've been doing it more often. My mom said her sister 'kissed' a lot of boys and ended up getting addicted to it; when she got addicted, she would get really drained when she stopped. She'd get really pale and deathly looking until she got her fix. Souls are like drugs.

"Trust me," I begin mischievously, "I double dare me as well."

"Hey, Vicky!" Annie calls up the stairs. "Who are you talking to?"

I frown slightly. "Gotta go," I whisper to my cousin as I close my laptop. "Just André!" I call down the stairs. "He says he's almost here!"

Annie comes running up the stairs wearing a big smile on her face. "Guess who's gonna be joining us at this party," she questions. I shrug slightly.

"I don't know, who?"

Annie rolls her eyes and throws a piece of bread at me. I catch it before it hits me in the chest, though. "You're no fun," she complains. Then her smile returns. "Harry's coming over soon," she tells me in a sing-song voice. "He's coming to the party with us!"

I smile widely. "Really?" I ask enthusiastically. That means Harry and I can actually hang out together without him worrying about his stupid tough guy reputation!

Hopefully…

The doorbell rings and I squeal in excitement. "I got it!" Francesca screams.

"No you don't!" I call loudly. I dart out of my room and down the stairs to find her standing at the foot of the door, her head turned to me, and her hand tauntingly reaching for the doorknob. I give her a pointed glare and wait for her to take the hint, but she wouldn't know what a hint was if it smashed into her (God forbid anything smash into my little sister…).

"Come on, Tori!" Harry calls through the door. "I'll catch my death out here!"

"Just a minute!" I shout to him, my eyes locked on my baby sister. She smirks at me and her fingers inch closer to the knob. I swear to God, I mouth to her. The smirk still prevalent on her face, she turns her head slightly and opens her mouth as if to greet Harry.

A loud sigh emerges from behind me and Annie pushes past me, almost knocking me off the stair railing. She scoops up Francesca and opens the door, effortlessly holding the younger girl thrashing wildly. "Sup, Hairball," she greets. Harry nods to her and enters the house. Slowly, his eyes trail up to me and they widen; his mouth gently opens in awe as his eyes take in the sight of me.

"W-wow…" he stutters out. "Y-you loo-look hot, Tori."

I blush for the second time tonight and look away from him, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. It's…weird hearing him say that…or giving me a compliment for that matter.

"So my friend André's taking us to the party," I announce, quickly changing the subject. I know Harry and I would never work; I just know it…

"Did someone call?" André asks as he steps into the doorway. Harry's tall skinny frame nearly blocks André, but I can see the top of my musical friend's head and I smile slightly.

"I was beginning to wonder where you were!" I cry out, bounding down the stairs in my heels.

Annie backs away a little and puts Francesca down. "Let's go in the kitchen," I hear her whisper as soon as I reach the bottom step.

I grimace and my arm snatches out to her. "Where are you going?" I question. "We gotta hurry up and go; don't wanna be too late, right?"

"Yeah," André adds as he steps around Harry. "The party's probably already started by now and if we don't hurry, all the food's gonna get gone."

Annie's face perks up at the mention of food. "Let's go!" she shouts, trying to run past André. I keep my hand locked tight on her arm, though.

"Wait," I beg. "I didn't get a chance to introduce you to André; it'd be weird if you got in his car without him at least getting a good look at your face. I mean, how does he know you're not a serial killer?"

"She doesn't look like a serial killer," André announces as he saunters up to us. He extends his hand to Annie and she refuses to look at him. "You're too pretty to be a serial killer."

He obviously doesn't know looks can kill.

Annie blushes and takes his hand. "Thanks," she murmurs. She looks up at him through her lashes as she shakes his hand. "I'm…Anora. I used to go to school with Tori."

André laughs slightly and nods his head. "So you're the one Tori keeps talking about that I keep missing," he states. A goofy grin crosses her face and she looks away from him, still shaking his hand.

"Yeah," she laughs nervously.

I look to Harry and he looks to me. It's obvious on both of our faces that we want to burst out laughing, but neither of us makes a sound. We don't want to ruin this lovely little awkward encounter.

"I thought you guys were leaving," Francesca whines as she stamps her foot.

I sigh and grab Harry's arm. "Cesca's right," I agree. "We'd better get going so we can get to the food in time. Aren't you still hungry, Annie?"

Anora keeps her eyes locked on Andre's and lazily waves me off. "There's plenty of food here to eat," she slurs. Looks like someone's got a crush!

"Yeah," André mumbles in agreement. "Plenty of food…"

I stifle a chuckle and grab André by the arm. "Let's go," I suggest playfully. I actually want to see these two keep being awkward; Anora has only acted this way once and it's so funny! She's so adorable.

"I'm not so sure I wanna go to that party anymore," André confesses, staring brightly into Anora's eyes. "I don't really like Adrian that much anyway…"

"We could always stay here and watch a movie," Anora suggests in a daze.

"No," I whine, stomping my foot. Now she's not being any fun! I want to go to that party and have my own little smorgasbord of souls. I can't do that if I don't have a ride! Well…I could always get Harry to take me, but I doubt he'd want to go with only me; he might feel obligated to hang out with me during the whole thing and have a miserable time. At least with two other friends keeping me occupied, he can keep his reputation up while still having a somewhat fun time.

"I wanna go before Trina decides to tag along!"

Anora grimaces, keeping her eyes on André. "Fine," she caves, "But I'm riding with André." Her smile returns and the two walk side by side without another word out the door and to his car.

Harry scoffs with a disbelieving smile. "She falls hard," he points out.

"You can say that again," I agree.

Harry locks arms with me. "She falls hard."

Rolling my eyes, I walk with him outside to his car, on my way to steal some life.

~*I double dare me as well*~

Harry and I didn't know how to get to Adrian's, so we followed André closely. When we got there, we saw how…huge Adrian's home was. It was like…one of those large mansions that you see on TV or a celebrity house! That would explain why she's a total gank.

When we pull up to the house, there are cars lined up everywhere and we struggle to find parking spots. What ends up happening is Harry finds a spot the furthest away and André parks on the other side of the driveway, at least six cars ahead of us. Harry and I meet André and Annie at the front door.

"Are you sure you wanna go through with this?" Annie asks as Harry reaches for the door. "We can always go back home and watch that movie like I suggested." She scoots closer to Andre and he smiles flirtingly at her.

"We're here now," I point out. "I've never crashed a party before anyway."

Harry chuckles and opens the door, where the loud music and partygoers hit us at full blast. We all join in on the laughter as we head inside, totally blending in. If Adrian didn't want people to crash, then she shouldn't have left her door unlocked.

Before I can get anything in edgewise, Annie retreats to the kitchen with André right on her heels. I open my mouth to say something when a blonde boy stumbles up to me and Harry with two red Solo cups. "It's a party!" he exclaims as he shoves the cups at us. We both give awkward noises of enthusiasm as he stumbles away.

Harry clears his throat and I look up at him. "So uh," he begins awkwardly, "Do you…wanna dance?"

I smile brightly and chug the beer in my hand. "Let's go!" I exclaim as I take his hand. As I lead Harry out on the dance floor, I let the music take me over. The infectious melody courses through my veins and I pull Harry's body close to mine as we dance. I don't know why, but having him this close to me makings me feel so…alive.

Harry's hands caress my body in ways that no other guy ever did. In this moment, nothing can bring me down. In this moment, Harry is mine.

Unfortunately, moments don't last forever.

Harry stopped dancing and his hands fell from my hips. I stopped dancing, looking up at him with confused eyes. Harry, however, stood looking doe-eyed at the top of the stairs. I followed his gaze to the stairwell where Jade West stood with Adrian Mars, looking down at all the party people with pride. Adrian wore a tight-skinned, blue dress (which I think was silk), that covered about as much skin as a towel. Jade wore an asymmetrical black dress that was longer in the back and had a V-neck cut with—presumably fake—diamonds lining it. She wore her hair up and still looked terrifying with her dark makeup. Her skin, though pale, looked stunning and seemed to glow in the light. She was too dressed up for a casual party, but she was gorgeous.

And she'd stolen Harry's attention.