Richard

“Richard!” came the all-too-familiar voice of my stepsister, Jessica. I did my best to put on a look of shock as I turned my head to look at her, pencil skirt, turtleneck, and all. “What are you doing here?!”

“Jessica?” I asked, a mock tone of shock heavy in my voice as I spread my arms out wide. “What’re you doing here? Wait. Is this your party?”

Her face reddened into an adorable maroon color, the one I’d always enjoyed putting on her cheeks. My sister and I had always had a distinctly love-hate relationship, emphasis on the hate. I knew for a fact that she’d kept this party a secret from me just so I wouldn’t do something like this—which was exactly why I had to do it.

“You’re supposed to be at your own party!” she hissed, stomping closer and giving the other girls a scathing look that sent them running. It was kind of hot, the way all her little nerd friends respected her. She was valedictorian, head of more clubs than I could even count, and our school’s mathlete team leader. Calling Jessica smart would be doing her the greatest insult; my stepsister was a genius. “That’s the whole reason I planned this party for tonight—so that you wouldn’t be here!”

“Well that’s just mean, sis!” I said, my hurt expression faltering as a grin began to crack again across my lips. “And for your information, I was at my other party. But I got bored—and then I heard somebody was throwing a rockin’ party across town! I thought I’d stop by.”

“Richard, this is my party. I don’t need you coming in here and ruining it!”

“Call me Dick, sweetheart. You know how much I hate that name.”

“C’mon Richard,” she replied, giving me a glare I’d always found sexy.

“I’m not going to ruin anything,” I said, glancing around at the less-than-lively atmosphere. “Jess, I’m here to get this place jumping!”

“Please, don’t—” she began, but before I heard another word out of her mouth, I was making my way to the sound system with my iPhone in hand. I wove my way through the other intellectuals my sister called friends and pushed aside the geek hovering over the stereo. It was a pretty sweet setup—something you could always count on at a nerd party was that they’d have the best tech to play with.

“Sorry, but this crap needs to go,” I said, unplugging the in-use iPod and tossing it to the makeshift DJ. I could certainly do without the greatest pop hits from the eighties. The moment I hit play, the walls thrummed with the deep bass as the sounds of Nelly’s The Fix pulsed through the speakers.

“Richard, what the hell!” Jessica screamed over the music. “Nobody here likes this—”

But before she could finish, a cheer had already risen up in the room. More and more people started to move in time with the beat and the sexually charged lyrics. It wasn’t long before most of the party was dancing dirty. The look on Jessica’s face was priceless, a mix of shock and indignation as she saw her friends start to grind against one another like they were in a club.

“See?” I asked, leaning down to whisper into her ear, “This is a party. They want to let loose for a change.”

She stood there in stunned silence, her eyes fixated on the people who she’d thought would never act so… dirty. I got a weird sense of enjoyment out of the way her perception of everything around her seemed to shatter, watching her question just how much she knew of the people around her and maybe what she knew about herself.

“I…” she stammered, watching as her once quiet party turn into something she’d never anticipated. Even her best friend Becky had started to shake her ass on the dance floor, much to Jessica’s dismay.

“You’re going to have to get used to parties like this, Jess,” I said over the music. “This is what college life is all about.”

She let out a muted cry of frustration, lost amongst the throbbing bass before she turned and walked into the crowd to collect her friend and save her from my devilish music. I couldn’t help but laugh at the way she stomped away, furious that even at her own party I could turn everything upside down.

But I was only just getting started.

“Anyone looking to have a little real fun, follow me!” I shouted to the crowd before turning heel.

“Truth or Dare!” I shouted, pushing open the door to what I assumed must have been the master bedroom. By Becky’s squeals of protest behind me, I knew I’d picked the right door. Spinning round I took stock of my latest followers. Sure enough, the girls who’d met me on my way in were here, along with Becky and a few of Jessica’s other nerdy friends. Surprisingly, Jessica herself had come along, arms crossed and her brow furrowed. She looked ready to breathe fire.

“We’re not doing that!” Jessica said over the throbbing music still pulsing in through the open door.

“Not going to play the best party game ever created?”

“I think you mean the worst, Dick,” Jessica snapped, leaning against the walls as the others all made themselves comfortable around me. “Who the heck wants to be dared to do stupid things like stand on their head or tell their secrets?”

I let out a loud, almost mocking laugh.

“Oh, you sweet, innocent, girl,” I said, sitting myself down on the floor, two bashful little wallflowers quickly taking up the spaces on either side of me. “We’re all at least eighteen, Jess. Tonight we’re breaking out the adult version of ‘Truth or Dare.’_”

Everyone crowded around in a circle, some of the party guests sitting on Becky’s mom’s bed while others crowded around on the floor, nervous smiles on all of their faces. I knew kids like these were just waiting for excuse to cut loose and go a little wild, and I had every intention of being the person to set that powder keg off.

“This is so stupid,” Jess muttered, taking a seat opposite me on the floor, her legs folded demurely. “We were having fun before you got here, Richard.”

But from the mutterings and nervous squirming of the other guests, that statement seemed less than accurate. Even Becky couldn’t meet Jessica’s gaze, biting her lip as she glanced over at one of the other boys in the group—a boy who looked a little familiar, though I couldn’t exactly place him.

Jessica too seemed to notice everyone else’s discomfort and frowned, her face turning that cute shade of red all over again. Seeing her mad was honestly the highlight of my life ever since our parents had moved in together and gotten married.

“Whatever,” she muttered after a moment, resigning herself to sitting back and playing the game. “But I’m not doing any of your stupid dares.”

“That works for me,” I said, chuckling as I searched for my first victim.

It was so hard to choose at first, but after a moment of watching everyone, my eyes kept coming back to Becky as she stared at the boy a few spaces away from herself. He wasn’t a terrible looking guy—in fact, there was a charming quality about him that I knew would drive some girls insane. I smirked, deciding that Becky would make for the perfect start to tonight’s festivities.

“Beckster!” I said, knowing full well how much she hated that name. “You’re first.”

“What?” she squeaked, her cheeks flushing with color as she looked around at all the other people around her. “Me?”

“That’s right, Beckerino,” I said, my grin growing wider the more nervous she became. With every new nickname, more giggles erupted from the crowd. “So, what’s it going to be? Truth or Dare?”

Her eyes widened and she gulped down what might have been her own bile. Becky was never one for the spotlight, and seeing her squirm was almost as much fun as seeing Jessica squirming herself, though that brought to mind a much different kind of squirming. Becky glanced down at her knees, sweat beginning to bead at her temples, wringing her hands as though I’d just asked her to choose between her parents and a bus full of children.

“Tick-tock, Becky. Take too long and I pick for you,” I said in a sing-song voice, which only seemed to make her more nervous.

“I—Dare! Wait! Truth!”

“Sorry, Becks, no take-bac

ksies,” I said with my shit-eating grin. “Dare it is.”

Maybe it was just the kind of guy that I was, but dares were always my favorite, even when I was on the receiving end of them. Something about making people do what I wanted just did it for me in a way I couldn’t describe, even when I had to do something else in return.