Talking to Kara at the locker and sitting by her side during first period History becomes a norm for the rest of the week. She sits with me throughout lunch. Dylan and Noah make it a habit to tease me about it during practices.

The whole school keeps throwing me knowing looks.

I don't mind any of them. Because sitting beside Kara and talking to her has its own reward. She's a good person.

Maybe Dylan is wrong. Kara does not seem to want to control me. Not the way Dylan insists girls do.

"Give it some time and you will see," he keeps saying.

He is positive that Kara likes me. He says that she has that look in her eyes when she looks at me.

Whatever that look is, I like the way she looks at me. It makes me feel lively.

Noah and Wayne had already bet on the dare. Noah does not think that I can win.

"It's a month away, Jenkins. Who's to say that you would not want to break Kara's heart," Noah says.

The statement reminds me of what I know for sure.

If I want to win the dare, I'm gonna have to tell Kara everything. Will it break her heart? I'm not sure. I think that she would say it's fine. I hope she says it's fine.

Kara is a strong girl. But I still don't want to break her heart.

Saturday arrives with a warm sun rising over the city.

I wake up before Mom comes banging on my door. She looks impressed.

"I am impressive," I tell her at the table as we have breakfast. She laughs, her look skeptical.

"Yeah, you are, Brian," she says taking a sip off her favorite blueberry smoothie, "But you act differently now."

Differently?

"Differently how?"

"You are happier... after you know," she releases a stressed sigh, "the divorce."

"Oh."

Mom and Dad filing for divorce were one of those things that threw me off completely. They were never the type to fight over anything.

I have never seen them fight wildly enough to file for divorce. When I asked Dad about it, he told me that they just grew apart.

When I asked him what brought them together in the first place, he would just shrug with a goofy smile on his face. "We loved each other. Crazily. It just didn't work for long is all."

I don't think that's the case. Love is something you cover your weaknesses with. It is something that you say when you are not strong enough to win.

That's why I don't believe in love. Mom and Dad getting a divorce never was a problem for me. Okay, maybe it was for some time, but not for long.

Because I know that Mom understood, although she wouldn't agree, that they were finally winning when they filed for a divorce. So that they can move to wherever they loved and do whatever they wanted.

I was happy for them.

"Is it someone? Someone new in your life, Brian?" Mom asks, twirling her fork on top of her plate.

"Nah," I tell her immediately, trying to play it cool.

I can't tell her about Kara. Although she may have guessed by now. But telling her solidifies it, in a wrong way. Mom wouldn't understand the dare. She never does.

"Okay," she says, despite the skeptical look looming on her face.

Mom is one of those people who doesn't go deeper when it comes to things I don't want to share, unlike Dad who gets to the bottom of everything. I like it about her.

And so likewise, when I tell her that I am going out to a pool party, she smiles at me and says, "Okay. But be home for dinner."

I happily oblige, planting a kiss on her cheek before walking out of the kitchen.

The lake is crowded with kids from the school, by the time I arrive. Noah and Wayne are at the barbecue machine. They each greet me with broad grins as I walk towards them.

"Look who's here - Mr. I-don't-do-lake-parties!" Noah lifts a pair of grilling tongs in the air.

"Come on, man," I tell him, sounding nonchalant, "I'm here for my buddies and the barbecue."

It's not like I have a valid reason, other than Kara, I mean. And they know that.

"Yeah, right," Wayne joins in, "well then good thing Kara never showed up. You can have some quality time with the dudes."

For a minute I'm thrown aback by what he says. But the smile deepening on his lips gives him away. He's messing with me.

"Funny, haha" I join them as they crack up laughing.

"You should have seen your face man, priceless," Noah teases, his laugh uncontrollably louder.

I let out a breath that I did not know I was holding.

"Where's Dylan?" I ask, eager to change the topic.

Talking about Kara makes me feel good, in a way that I don't want the boys to see. I believe that it makes me look weaker. Something that I definitely don't want the boys to see.

"Over there," Noah waves his tongs over his shoulder.

My eyes follow the direction he is indicating. Dylan is in the water with a few others, splashing water at the girls on the bank. He doesn't grow up. That's a given.

On the bank, further away from the reach of Dylan's splashes is Kara, her back to me. She's in a crop top and shorts, a flower in her ear. She looks beautiful, laughing at the stupid jokes that the guys are cracking.

She looks over her shoulder and catches my eyes. Her lips stretch into a smile and she waves her hand, gesturing me to come over. I smile back at her

"So much for quality time with the dudes," Wayne nudges me, his face teasing.

"Oh shut, up!" I say, punching his arm.

He only breaks into a laugh, to which Noah joins in. I shake my head at them.

"Go get the girl, Jenkins," Wayne pushes me in the direction that Kara is sitting.

I frown at him over my shoulder to which he reacts with a thumbs up.

I shake my head again, walking over to Kara. The sight of her bright smile ignites one in me.

I take my shoes off and plunge my feet in the water, taking a seat beside her on the bank.

"You came!" Kara says.

"I did," I say, "why do you doubt that?"

She laughs, "Dylan says you normally don't."

Right, that's enough motive to kill Dylan. A splash sounds to my right, spraying my clothes with droplets of water.

"Yo, Jenkins! I was just telling the girls how you love parties at the lake," he winks at Kara, who laughs beside me.

"Very helpful, man," I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Huh! That's my man! Go Jenkins!" he cheers, his eyes flashing with glee.

Trust him to tell Kara that I don't like parties at the lake.

Dylan wades to the bank, climbing out of the water. He salutes a few girls on the bank and walks over to Noah and Wayne for some barbeque.

Kara tells me half a decade worth of stories that I missed by foregoing all those parties. Her eyes shine with each incident she manages to recall.

"Then this time that Dylan was pursuing Hailey, she wanted him to ask her out so badly. But he was so drunk, he couldn't walk straight. So she made Clara organize this truth or dare game, hoping that someone would dare Dylan to kiss her," she says.

I raise my eyebrows, "Really? Did anyone dare him?"

Kara laughs, "No. He was so drunk that Noah had to drive him home before Hailey could put the game together."

She laughs again at the memory.

"How about we put together a truth or dare today and someone could dare me to kiss you," I tease her, bumping my shoulder against hers.

"Brian!" she slaps my shoulder, averting her gaze to hide a blush that creeps up her cheeks.

I laugh, as she continues pounding on my arm for suggesting that. When she can see that I would not stop, she crosses her arm in front of her chest, shaking her head at me.

She bites down on the smile that threatens to break on her lips.

She is cuter when she's pretending to be angry. She's beautiful when she's pretending to be angry.

I should not be thinking about how beautiful she is. I shake my head to wipe the thought off my mind. Sitting with her alone sure does funny things to my brain.

I pull my legs out of the water and get to my feet. "I'm going to get something to drink, do you want anything?" I ask her.

"A bottle of water would be fine," she says.

Walking over towards a makeshift table next to Noah and Wayne, I feel like a warm and fuzzy blanket has been taken off me. It only makes me want to return to talking with Kara and drink in the feeling of diving deep into her eyes, which looks like warm coffee to me.

She is like a cup of warm coffee.

I let out a deep breath. I should not be thinking about her. Damn it, Brian. I have to keep my head straight. I can't be so deep in the dare and let it fall flat because of anything.

The thought of being a loser enters my mind and my stomach churns unpleasantly.

The images of Noah and Dylan laughing at how much of a baby I am, that I can't win a dare, flashes across my mind.

I can't lose. I have to win. And win I will.

I grab a bottle of water for Kara and a beer for me from the mini-refrigerator. Noah approaches me with a paper plate full of barbecue, handing it to me with chef-like pride.

"Well well, Noah Linton knows how to barbecue," I tease him.

He throws me a mock-hurt expression. "You have missed a lot of parties to ever doubt my skills, Jenkins," he winks, returning to the machine.

"Hey, what's taking you so long?" I hear Kara's voice behind me.

"You can't endure a few minutes without me," I say amused.

She rolls her eyes, plucking the bottle of water from my hand, and downing it. We share the plate of barbeque between us, while I sip on my beer.

Behind us, Hailey and a few other girls from the cheerleading squad are dancing to soft music. A few people join in, turning up the volume of the music. Kara's eyes skip to the group and up to me.

"We should dance!" she says.

The boldness in her voice throws me off.

"Huh?"

"We should dance!" she says, ditching the plate and our bottles on the table, "It's a party, Jenkins!"

A flash of deja vu washes over me. She's using my words against me.

Before I can manage to say anything, she tugs at my arms, pulling me towards the group that is dancing. We join the group, swaying to the rhythm.

Kara loops her arms around my neck and grins up at me. Her eyes dance with a strange look that I can't quite place. But it makes me break into a smile. She smiles back and the warmth returns, like a woolen blanket on a cold day. Like coffee poured into my system.

It warms me from the inside. It feels surreal and oddly happy. It reminds me of happy times.

I pass my arms around her waist guiding her around the floor, as we sway to the rhythm.

"That's my boy, Jenkins!" Dylan's voice sounds muffled in the background and Kara chuckles, shaking her head.

I choose to ignore it for a moment. I don't want Kara to know that the boys can easily throw me off.

Either that or the magnetic power in Kara's eyes keeps me from looking away. They are beautiful. She is beautiful. Her smile is contagious.

As much as I don't like to say it out loud, I think I like Kara Merrick more than I ought to.