Free Truth & Dare by Liz Miles Page A

just said that nothing happened? But she stood silent, staring out across the restaurant’s parking lot. Metal car hoods gleamed coldly under the lights.
    “Annie!” I said. “Did you kiss him?”
    “Well, yeah,” she said. “I mean, that was all. Just one kiss. Like I said, it never went anywhere.”
    I turned and walked back into the restaurant, where people had clumped up into quiet groups. I dragged Connor away from Brian’s side.
    “What’s up?” he said.
    “Did you go out with Annie?”
    “What? What are you talking about?”
    “Did you go out with Annie when we were freshmen?”
    “No.”
    “You didn’t? To the movies?”
    He blinked at me, and then something flashed in his eyes. “Oh! Yeah, I forgot all about that.” He stared past me, at the velvety wallpaper. “That’s right, we went to a movie once.” His eyes refocused on me. “What about it?”
    “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
    “I didn’t even remember it.”
    I closed my eyes. The wine burned in my stomach.
    “You’re not actually upset about something that happened three years ago, are you?”
    “Connor.”
    “What?”
    “I copied your calculus test.”
    “What?”
    I opened my eyes. “The last six answers, the ones we didn’t get to, I copied them right off your paper.”
    He pushed the hair back off his forehead. “Sarah, what’s with you tonight? You’re acting crazy.”
    “Didn’t you hear me? I copied your answers.”
    “Yeah, I heard.” He looked past me again.
    “What do you—think about that?”
    “I think it was stupid. You didn’t learn anything that way, and we both could’ve gotten in trouble.”
    “I know.”
    “The teacher could’ve thought I copied from you.”
    I hadn’t thought of that before, but he was right. “I wouldn’t let you take the blame if that happened.”
    “Great,” he said, his voice dead as a flat tire.
    • • •
    As I came down the stairs the next day, teetering on my golden shoes, Gramps said, “In my day, girls knew how to dress.”
    “In your day, I’m sure bridesmaid dresses were just as ugly as they are now.” I concentrated on each step, thinking that a bridesmaid with a fractured ankle would ruin Emily’s day. Not to mention mine.
    Gramps rifled through the chocolate-brain box, as if hoping the empty ruffled cups would magically reveal a leftover brain we’d overlooked. I glanced at the door. Connor was usually early, but today he was on the verge of being late. And after the silent car ride home last night, I was wondering whether he’d show up at all. Then again, Connor had never failed to show up in his life.
    The doorbell rang. I exhaled and said, “Bye, Gramps, Connor’s here.”
    “Ask him where to get more of this candy,” Gramps hollered after me.
    “You ready?” Connor asked, not meeting my eyes.
    “Yeah.” I decided to try a joke. “Can’t you tell? I mean, you don’t think I’m just wearing this to the church and I’m going to change into some other hideous dress when we get there, right?”
    He jingled his keys without laughing. “Let’s go, then.”
    We were in the car, his eyes on the road and mine on the side of his face, when I said, “Can we at least talk about this?”
    “Okay.”
    I licked my lips. “I’m sorry.”
    “What I can’t figure out is why you did it,” he said. “You’re smart enough. You didn’t need to.”
    “I did need to. I could not get those last problems.”
    “Then why didn’t you leave them blank? You still would’ve passed the course.”
    “We have to do more than pass. We have to get good grades to get into a good college to get into a good med school.” I swallowed. “I never knew you were so strict about rules. I seem to remember you forging an absence note so we could go to the beach last year …”
    “It’s not about rules,” he said. “It’s just—I thought I knew you. Knew what you would and wouldn’t do. I never guessed you would cheat on a test.”
    “I never did