485Bet You Can't!
- Prologue -
"Bet you can't eat all those crayons!"
Those were the first words she had spoken to Kyrian Miller.
Actually wait, no, the first word was "Mine!" followed by her grabbing the oversized Lego piece and bringing it down on the back of his head.
Oops.
Where is this headed? Well, let's start at the very beginning.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth-
Just kidding.
It began in kindergarten, actually. (Quite some time after God created the heaven and the earth and...well, everything.) Actually, it technically didn't begin in kindergarten.
Who is more confused here...me or you? (You or I?)
Okay, here's the actual story. (Finally.)
She first set her eyes on Kyrian Miller in their junior kindergarten class. That meant they were 4-years-old. He was an adorable little boy, with his big blue eyes, dark blond hair, and pouty lips. Or so her mom said. Of course, she never took any notice of him beyond the fact that she was prettier than him, and to feel a little bad for him because he couldn't wear pink.
Really, she didn't give a flying la-la about any of the other kids in the class - all Tanya Sanchez cared about was her appearance, her clothing, and the fact that she was a little taller than every student in the junior kindergarten class. As long as she was left in peace, she was willing to let the other breathe easy.
But no, Kyrian had to ruin it all. It wasn't noticable immediately, but when it came time to line up for the first day of first grade, Tanya realized she was no longer at the end of the line.
No, Kyrian had that honour. Somehow, the boy had grown over the summer to be an inch - a whole inch! - taller than Tanya. Nobody else noticed the subtle clenching of her fists, or the tightness around her jaw.
Tanya knew that revenge was best served cold. She heard it on the television one day when her mom was watching it, and it had stuck with her. So she waited for the weather to get cold (what, did you expect at 6-year-old to understand the phrase?), and then it was time.
She knew that boys couldn't resist a dare or bet - her neighbour always complained to her mom about how her teenage son kept coming home with bruises because boys loved dares - so she walked up to Kyrian during playtime and uttered those life-altering words.
"Bet you can't eat all those crayons!"
Sure enough, the boy immediately reached out and randomly grabbed some crayons - red, pink, and black - and shoved them into his mouth. Tanya watched in disgust, and with just a little bit of awe, as he proceeded to down the chewy goodness.
"See," he finally said, swallowing the final mouthful, "I did it."
When he grinned, Tanya could see that his teeth were covered in pink. Her heart softened at the sight of her favourite colour on him, and she stuck out her hand, palm facing him.
"High five!" she screamed in delight.
And from that day forward, the two were the closest of friends. It didn't even matter to Kyrian that he had to spend the next three days at home, recovering from an upset stomach.
So that was the story of how Tanya met Kyrian, and how their friendship began...but there was always an underlying foundation to their friendship that nobody else knew about.
Sometime in grade 2...
"You made me eat a pink crayon last year!" Kyrian shouted at Tanya. (Apparently red and black were acceptable.)
She looked up from her spot in the indoor sandbox. It didn't surprise her that it took Kyrian a whole year to realize that she had punished him - her neighbour had also complained about how her son was slow. She figured it was a boy thing.
"Yeah...you want a shovel?" she asked innocently, shoving a plastic one in his hands.
"No!" Kyrian threw the shovel back in the sand and stood over her with his hands on his hips. "Now it's your turn!"
"My turn with the shovel?" she asked in confusion. "Okay."
He kicked it away as she reached for it. "No, it's your turn to eat crayons!"
"But Mrs. Kob keeps them on the top shelf," Tanya mused. "She won't give them to me."
Kyrian turned red in anger, but he realized that she was telling the truth. All the teachers kept their supplies away from the younger students after Kyrian's food (erm, crayon) poisoning. His eyes fell on the window, and it registered in his mind that it was pouring rain outside.
Wait a minute... "I know!" he exclaimed. "Come outside with me!"
He grabbed Tanya's arm and dragged her towards the exit, making sure Mrs. Kob didn't see them. Once they were outside in the rain, he pointed to the field.
"I bet you wouldn't dare roll in the field!" he challenged, pointing at the muddy area.
Tanya's eyes widened and she looked down at her pretty - pink - top and shorts. "B-b-but...my clothes!" she wailed.
Kyrian reached over and tugged on her hair. "The TV says Tide gets rid of dirt - make your mommy use it!" he narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you chicken?"
When he started to make clucking noises at her, she shoved him aside and ran for the field. "Fine, Ky!" she shouted as she threw herself onto the mud and began rolling.
It turned out that even Tide was no match for Tanya's enthusiasm that day, and the outfit had to be burned. (Or thrown out...but burned sounds better.)
Still, it began a tradition for the two - every year they alternated between each other, and came up with one dare for the other person to do. If the person failed in their dare, their next turn would be skipped. And, of course, nobody else was to know about the dare - before, during, or after.
In grade 3, it was Tanya's turn again, and she made Kyrian tell his friends constantly for the whole year that he liked girls. As part of the deal, he had to try to hold Melissa Collins' hand at least once a week as proof. He did so - with a lot of fussing and whining about cooties - because he didn't want to lose.
In grade 4, Kyrian couldn't come up with a better idea and challenged Tanya to do the same, except with Kent Reed. However, he changed his mind at the last minute when he overheard Mike tell the other boys that Kent was in "love" - eww! - with Tanya. (Kent and Tanya, sitting in a tree...K-I-S-S-I-N-G!) To replace his former challenge, he instead handed Tanya a pack of post-it notes once every week and made her communicate only by writing for that day.
In grade 5, Tanya dared Kyrian to show up for all the girls team try-outs. Of course, he wasn't allowed by the teachers to try out, but it was the shock factor that really counted.
In grade 6, Kyrian made Tanya wear tie-dyed shirts to school every other day. Her mother wasn't too happy when clothes started "mysteriously" changing colours, and Tanya was grounded for a week. Still, she continued doing it until the year finished.
In grade 7, Tanya found out that her older sister by two years, Tara, thought Kyrian was a "sweet boy". For amusement, she challenged Kyrian to make her sister hate him. When, by the last week of school, Tara still had a good opinion of the boy, he had to take drastic action. The strongest tool to wield is jealousy, so he told Tara that Tanya was prettier than her. The green-eyed monster snuck in, and Kyrian was no longer a sugar cube. Of course, he never told Tanya his strategy, no matter how many times she asked.
In grade 8, Kyrian became irritated with Tara shooting angry looks at him, and used his dare to make Tanya convince her sister to be nice to him again. Unfortunately for Tanya, Tara's pride had taken a huge blow (it turned out she had had a huge crush on Kyrian) and, although the sisters were still on very good terms, Tara refused to be nice to Kyrian. Tanya lost the challenge, and was forced to let Kyrian issue another one for grade 9.
In grade 9, they entered the same high school. Kyrian, knowing how preppy Tanya could be, dared her to change her look for the year and convince the rest of the school that she was a Goth. Clenching her teeth at his audacity, Tanya forced herself through the year - making sure she wrote him death threats in runny blood-red ink at least once a week.
In grade 10, when it was Tanya's turn at last, she knew exactly how to get revenge on Kyrian. She had finally learned the true meaning behind revenge being served cold, and had waited a whole year to administer it. Kyrian, with his go-to-hell good looks, had immediately hit the top rung of the social ladder, with girls hanging on to his every word. (Tanya herself, once she had gotten rid of the Goth facade, was on the same rung as him.) So, for his dare, she made him announce to the school that he was gay. Needless to say, many a girl was disappointed - and determined to "change" his orientation - while many closet gays at the school suddenly "came out" to try their chance with the school's demi-God.
But then grade 11 came around, and that was the most significant year for the two friends.
A/N: This is the [somewhat] sequel to Devil Take It All and most of the characters from DTIA will be appearing in various parts. Tanya and Kyrian are completely new characters (i.e. they weren't in DTIA) but, again, there will be a lot of association between them and those characters.
I have 22,000+ words typed up (which, oddly enough, includes part of the ending) but this chapter is short because it is the prologue. The next chapter will jump a few years and show the characters in university. (Please note: Although I have part of the ending typed up, there are still portions in between that I am not finished - so I am NOT DONE WRITING.)
So...what do you think?