Dylan is happy to let me go as soon as practices end on Friday. He has that all-knowing smile tugging at his lips.

"See you at the game tomorrow, Jenkins," he says, watching me walk away towards the showers.

My hair is damp from the shower and the collar of the shirt I am wearing is beginning to soak when I step into the art gallery. It is deserted except for the occasional tourist-family roaming around and chatting in languages I don't quite understand.

Kara texted me a few minutes ago that she already is at the gallery. I walk further into the gallery looking around for her. The stark white walls are filled with paintings of all kinds, many with long descriptions below them.

I head into the modern-art area.

I find Kara standing below a painting of a building, her head tilted upwards, scrutinizing the painting with interest. She has a notebook and a pen hovering over it, in her arms.

"Hey there, Merrick," I grin.

She turns around a bit startled, but breaks into a smile at the sight of me, "You came."

"Yeah," I say, my brows fusing together "I was supposed to come, right? You told me I can come."

Kara gives a small laugh, shaking her head, " Yeah, sure," she says, "I just did not think that you were going to show up."

"Well, here I am," I say throwing a wink at her.

She hums in acknowledgment, turning around to scan the painting again.

The gallery is silent and there is a notion of boredom seeping into me. I try to keep my smile intact as Kara walks from one painting to another, jotting down notes in her book.

"So," I say, hoping that I don't sound too bored, "what are we doing here?"

Kara turns to me with a small smile, "Gathering information for Mr. Kendrick's assignment."

Of course.

"But this is modern art, isn't the guy teaching renaissance art?"

She turns to me with an awed expression, "You zone out fast in class."

Is that supposed to be a compliment? Maybe not, because she shakes her head at me, laughing to herself.

"Uh...,"

She laughs again, holding up her notebook to read. She taps her finger at the top of the page.

'Traits that followed into modern art from the renaissance era'

"That's the topic?" I raise an eyebrow, "I bet I can research all that on the internet."

Kara's face pinches into a sour expression, "Where's the fun in that?"

She smirks at my blank face. I think to counter that with a 'what's the fun in roaming around in a silent art gallery', but decide to keep those thoughts to myself.

I'm on a date. And the Lord knows how hard it was to get her to agree to something. Although, roaming around a near-haunted gallery looking at paintings, is not my idea of a date, it's a start.

If I want to win this stupid dare, I better get used to boring dates.

So, for the next half hour of our supposed-date, I follow Kara around like a bodyguard, as she takes down notes for her assignment. The dim lighting inside the gallery is not helping with keeping me upbeat.

My smile dies by the second, and I can feel the yawns fighting to surface.

Kara runs a calculating glance over my hunched shoulders and drooping eyes. "You can sit around somewhere until I finish up," she says.

"No," I say, squaring my shoulders, "I'm enjoying this."

She squints at me and I can tell that she knows I'm lying. But she decides to keep shut about that and continues to move from painting to painting, jotting down notes.

An hour into the date, I can feel my mind screaming to get out of this place. To end this torture.

But walking away from the date would mean I could have no relationship with Kara. And that would mean I would fail the dare.

Now that is not something I am ready to deal with. Not ever.

So I resort to doing what I normally do when I am bored - Making jokes.

Determined, I follow Kara around, joking at half the paintings. She hushes me at the beginning, but when it escalates further, she can't help but snicker with me. She looks around to check for people, her eyes wide, before punching my arm, "Stop it, Brian."

"Don't you agree? This looks like a painting of a guy chewing on his foot," I say.

Kara slaps a palm to her mouth, trying to keep the laughter in.

"Don't you? Look at it," I grin, breaking into soft snickers.

She looks around nervously, smiling at people throwing us weird looks. "Seriously, Brian, stop it. You're going to get us kicked off this place."

She tries to give me a stern look, but a ghost of a smile tugs at her lips as she turns around to jot down some more notes.

Kara tries hard to maintain a poker face and not laugh at my jokes. Oftentimes she cracks up but manages to hide it.

Finally, when I am sure that time has stopped still, Kara shuts her notebook and pushes her pen to a holder on the side.

"We're done here," she says, turning to face me.

There is a look of triumph on her face and a skip in her step as she makes her way outside. Can taking-notes inside a boring gallery sound so triumphant?

We make our way outside, exciting the building.

"So, where to next? Starbucks?" I suggest.

Nervous, she turns to me, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, "Um...I actually have to meet Hailey at the mall."

"I don't mind the mall," I tell her, feeling cheerful already, now that we are out of the boring gallery.

"Uh...," she avoids my eyes, "it's actually a girl thing."

Bummer.

"Oh," is all I can manage.

She smiles, that look of triumph returning to her eyes, "I hope I didn't bore you today."

Her look, the small smirk she's trying to hide, all falls into place. She thinks she's playing me.

Damn. So that was her plan - to bore me away. That explains the weird gallery date.

Well, if that's the case, she is messing with the wrong man. I split a grin at her. Because Brian Jenkins is not someone to back down easily. Especially when my honor is in the line because of a stupid dare.

With all the cheerfulness I can muster, I bounce on my feet, "Not at all. In fact, maybe we can do it again."

She quickly recovers from her shock and shuts her mouth into a thin line.

"Bye, then," she raises her hand in a wave.

"See you at the game tomorrow," I throw a salute.

"Sure," she smiles, turning around to head towards the mall.

I smirk to my own self, feeling like I scored another touchdown.

Kara Merrick is a tough code to crack, but she doesn't know what she is in for.