Truth or Dare?

They had already snuck the boys in the girls' dorms and were already settled in the dormitory when Tucker finally joined them, carefully holding two vials of a clear liquid. Jason followed him, carrying a massive bottle of Firewhisky.

"Please tell me that isn't-" Athena started to say before being cut off by Tucker.

"Veritaserum!" Tucker confirmed, brandishing the tiny bottles proudly. "Stole it from Dungworth's office a few months ago."

Athena looked scandalized. "That's completely illegal…." Jessika, Jezebel, and Carson looked at the vials in confusion, so Athena explained. "Veritaserum is a truth serum," she said. "The most powerful truth serum known to wizardkind. Completely tasteless, colorless, and it has no smell. It's considered one of the rarest and most sought-after serums in the world because it's effortless to slip into food or drinks. It only takes a few drops for it to work. You physically can't tell a lie under its influence.

Tucker nodded encouragingly, grinning. "I figured, since it's truth or dare, we should make sure that no one breaks the rules," he said, uncorking a bottle and handing it to Athena. "Bottoms up, ladies."

Athena held the vial for a moment considering her options before seeing Tucker's smirk. She knew that he thought that prefect Athena Quinn, the star student, it's and the all-around good girl, wouldn't dare to do something or even be involved in something illegal. This made her want to prove him wrong, so she shot him a defiant glare, before tipping the vial allowing three drops to fall onto her tongue. The other girls reluctantly followed suit, and the boys did the same,

"So," started Beckett. "Rules. If you refuse to do the dare, you have to take a drink of Firewhisky. No asking the same person that asked you, duh. You, must answer all truths, and choose wisely because once you get asked a question, you have to answer it."

"And," interrupted Athena giving Tucker a dirty look. "You can dare anything outrageous, like nothing sexual, kissing, maybe, and nothing too dangerous." She directed her gaze to Beckett meaningfully. Isaac and Jason chuckled at the look of mock hurt on their friends' faces.

"Now, Quinn," Beckett said, frowning at her. "Why on earth would I dare someone to do something that could result in them getting hurt?"

"Hmmm, well gee, I wonder…." Athena used sarcastically. "Could it be that two weeks ago you bet Tucker that he couldn't kiss a Hippogriff on the beak without losing part of his face, or that last month you arranged for two-third years to fall a hundred feet from their broomsticks during a drill, with only a shoddy levitation charm to save them, as part of some stupid hazing ritual?" Beckett was still smirking a bit, so she decided to dig the knife in deeper. "Or that you used untested spells on other students every other day, or that you deliberately direct first years to places that are forbidden for students. Places that are out of bounds for excellent reasons might I add. Didn't one of them almost get trapped in that hollow behind the moving staircase that leads up to the headmasters' office? His entire body could have been crushed." She shot him a stern look that would have made her mother proud. Becketts' grin was gone, his whole demeanor seemingly shrank.

"That was a mistake," he said quietly. "And I got him out of there!" He looked back up, eyes alive and burning again.

"And it's not like anyone's ever died, so take a chill pill, Quinn, it's all fun in games…" added Tucker with a shrug. Athena rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Who goes first?" she asked the group.

"Well, said Tucker. "We should probably start with the most attractive… being, of course, myself, and work our way down to the least attractive, who of course is Ebony, and then just go from there." He shot his best friend a teasing grin.

"Or we could just start with you, and then whoever you pick has a turn, and so on," said Isaac dryly.

"That works too," Tucker replied cheerfully, rubbing his hands together. "Okay… Quinn." He smirked as his eyes landed on her. "Truth or Dare?" Athena looked at him with a confident smirk before replying with an over-pronounced, sharp word that made his eyes light up like a child's on Christmas morning.

"Dare."

A slight murmur passed around the circle. Athena's eyes inexplicably found Beckett's looking just as nervous as she felt. She wasn't worried; she had a plan to get her through this game with her friendship with Jessika intact.

"I dare you…." Tucker drew out his words, taking his time to formulate the exact words he wanted to use, taking in the entire group's reaction as he finished the sentence, "to kiss Ebony." Well, isn't that a shocker? Thought Athena, allowing a smile to curve her lips upwards.

The room was still. The girls stared at Athena with wide, mildly panicked eyes, stunned by her apparent calmness. Jessika was watching her with an expression that could only be described as frost-bitten glass, her lips set in a hard line. Athena looked smugly at Tucker. She picked up the bottle of Firewhisky.

"No thanks," she said crisply before taking two massive, burning gulps of the amber liquid that matched Beckett's eyes perfectly. Athena wished she hadn't thought that; she didn't want to see Beckett's eyes after she had so coldly turned him down. She looked anyways, glancing away immediately at the hurt that glimmered just below the surface of his apparent indifference. She would explain later. He would understand, even if she couldn't tell him exactly why she had refused.

"Hmm… Isaac." Athena distracted herself by picking a person at random. The sandy-haired boy played with his fingers nervously, his eyes flickering around the circle.

"Truth," he said before she could ask. Athena was stuck for a second. Her gaze fell on Jezebel. She was looking worriedly at Isaac, her bottom lip pink from her biting it.

"Do you like Jeezy?" Jezebel and Isaac's look of horror seemed to be simultaneous, even as he blurted out his answer.

"Yes."

The group went silent for a second before a small whisper passed around the circle. The blushing pair looked at each other tentatively. Jezebel's lowered lashes and pink cheeks somehow suited her, making her look charming and sweet, whereas any other girl would have just looked embarrassed.

"Erm…" Isaac coughs awkwardly. "Yeah, so… Carson. Truth or Dare?" He was blatantly evident in his effort to distract the group, but they found it funny, and Isaac quickly returned to his usual role as the quiet but observant one.

"Um…" Carson looked to her friends for guidance. At their entirely unhelpful responses, she made her own decision. "Truth." Tucker nudged Isaac in the ribs, resulting in an altogether uncharacteristic smirk popping up on Isaac's face. Obviously, there was some sort of spell or charm at play, but even Athena couldn't place what it could be.

"Which of us…" said Isaac, in a tone startlingly like Tucker's, his eyebrows quirked in a way that was not unlike his friend, either. "Would you shag if you had to choose?" Carson's immediate reaction was a rare, furious blush, while she looked as though she was trying to swallow her tongue in order not to reply. "Tucker," she finally blurted out. The boy in question smirked cockily. He was leaning back in his self-assured, airily secure way. His black eyes lazily dragged aver Carson, soaking in every last inch of her petite body observantly, like he was taking mental notes for later. Athena wanted to hex him for looking at her friend like that. Carson huffed a somewhat breathy laugh, her cheeks still a rose red.

"Okay… Beckett," Carson said, trying to change the subject. Athena and Beckett exchanged another involuntary, charged look.

"Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," Beckett said uncertainly. "I dare you to kiss Jessika…" Carson paused for a second before continuing with a mischievous smile, "... or Athena. For at least thirty seconds." Athena's blood froze in her veins. This, she couldn't drink herself out of. Jessika looked as though she was about to claw out Carson's eyes with her fingernails. Athena absentmindedly heard Jessika hiss, "Are you kidding me?" at her, too busy watching the look of poorly disguised terror on Beckett's face to care about her two friends disagreeing. Beckett looked at Jason, then Athena panicked and not wanting to hurt his friend or offend either girl. Jason shrugged, defeated. He could see that Beckett was stuck. Quickly, while Jessika was occupied glaring and growling death threats at Carson, Athena shook her head minutely at Beckett, ever so slightly nodding in Jessika's direction. Beckett frowned, finally shrugged, and casting an apologetic look at the strawberry blonde and the caramel-skinned boy sitting next to her. Athena tried to keep her face expressionless as Beckett awkwardly leaned towards Jessika, her furious expression quickly morphing into delighted surprise. A lump formed in Athena's throat as she observed the scene in front of her with cool calm, fully aware that no one but Jason was paying their full attention to Beckett and Jessika. They were all watching her.

It was undeniable that Jessika was a lot more into the kiss than Beckett was. She was overly enthusiastic, her arms winding themselves around his neck as she sucked his lower lip almost viciously. Beckett's eyes were squeezed shut, a look of supreme discomfort showing on the parts of his face that Jessika wasn't devouring. Tucker and Isaac chuckled at Beckett's situation, and Jezebel gently placed her hand on top of Athena's sympathetically. The lump in her throat tightened when Beckett finally pulled away, and Jessika grinned in satisfaction. Beckett looked sheepishly at Athena. She refused to look at him, lowering her eyes to hide how much a simple kiss had affected her.

"Striker. Truth or Dare?" Beckett muttered in a defeated voice. "Truth." supplied Tucker, watching the look on his best friend's face in confusion. "Who was the last girl you were caught in the janitor's closet with?" asked Beckett tiredly. He already knew the answer, but he wanted his turn to hurry up and be over. "Emilia Blackthorne," said Tucker. No one looked the least bit surprised. Tucker cleared his throat and attempted to be cheerful as he turned to Jessika. "So, Miss. Jennings," Tucker started a devilish grin springing to his lips. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," said Jessika immediately. Tucker's grin deepened, "Is it true that you daydream about you and Ebony getting married every day?" Jessika's face flushed red as she kept words from coming out of her mouth, which made the boys giggle even more.

"Not all the time," the word spilled out of Jessika's mouth as her demeanor dropped in embarrassment. Carson let out a snort of laughter, causing Jessika to shoot her a look that could kill. Jezebel jabbed Carson in the ribs to shut her up.

"Um, Jess," Athena said softly. "It's your turn now." Jessika flicked her curled hair out of her face in annoyance, taking a breath. "Jason," He looked at her as though he couldn't believe she said his name. Athena watched him feeling utterly helpless to the poor boy who liked a girl who was all but in love with one of his best friends.

"Guys, I just remembered I have an extra credit essay I have to write; it's due tomorrow, so I should go start on that." Athena grabbed her book bag hurriedly, making an excuse up as she leaped out of the circle, determined not to have to watch the glimmer of hope leave Jason's eyes.

"Oh," said Jezebel and Carson in disappointment. "I know, I'm sorry, guys," said Athena apologetically, leaving the room before she could be questioned about this 'essay'. She barely caught a glimpse of Beckett's confused, amber eyes before the door shut quietly behind her.