Coming back from a school field trip, a group of girls at the back of the bus were playing games and laughing, overall having fun. Things were going well until a girl suggested a game called 'I Dare You'. She explained that it was a game where you'd choose a person and then dare them and whatever or however extreme the dare is,  they have to do it. As long as you agree to be in, you can't back out.

They all raised their hands, signalling agreement except one. Her name was Ashlin. "Oh, come on, Lin, join in." Her best friend, Gracey added.

"Yeah, don't be such a chicken Ashlin," remarked another girl, her lips curling into a subtle smirk. This girl happened to be the one who proposed the game. She held the second-highest status in school, trailing just behind Ashlin in popularity, academics, sports, and any other endeavour Ashlin pursued.

Ashlin agreed nonchalantly with the convincing of her best friend.

The first to be dared was Shera. She was dared to spill her deepest darkest secret. This dare left Shera sweating and on the verge of backing out, but rules are rules and so she had to. "I-I have a death list of all the people I would kill if they were a purge." She mumbled. They all looked at her in absolute shock. She then tried to defend herself, "I would only do it if there was a purge, I promise," as if it would make it any less worse

"I thought you were a Christian," A girl added.

"Well, that doesn't make me perfect."

Mira, the girl who suggested the game wanted to go next. She then dared Ashlin to put her head outside the bus's window.

"Ha, ain't no freaking way I'm doing that," said Ashlin.

"You have to do it, no matter what."

"Don't you know how dangerous that is?" Ashlin asked. "I am not doing it."

"It's just for a second, what's the worst that could happen in a second?

"Uhh, losing my head!"

Gracey jumped in, "You can be such a chicken sometimes, Ashlin; I'll do it."

"Gracey don't do it!"

Gracey dismissed her disapproval and went on to do it anyway. As she put her head through the window a bus was coming at full speed with no chance of stopping. It knocked Gracey's head right off, leaving her headless body to bounce back into the bus with blood spouting out of her half neck. It was at that moment everyone realised what had happened and began screaming.

Ashlin, though, was frozen into shock mode. She could not believe or grasp the reality of what just happened. Especially to her best friend. But Ashlin was not the only one who wasn't screaming; Mira was looking at Ashlin with a face that did not show any sign of fear or paranoia. Instead, it was a subtle smirk on her face, staring Ashlin dead in the eyes before she joined the other girls in screaming. Really, she wasn't screaming at the terror of the sight of Gracey's headless body but screamed to make a mockery out of Ashlin for losing her best friend.

It took a second later before Ashlin snapped out of her shock while tears crawled down her cheeks, realising what she'd just seen. Did she just witness Mira smirking at her after Gracey just died? Yes, she, in fact, did.

The bus was stopped at the nearest hospital, though they knew there was no chance of Gracey surviving that tragic incident. Gracey's parents were informed, and they were not only heartbroken, but they also wanted to take action against the school. This forced the board of the school to find a scapegoat to put the blame on. The principal and the teachers who were present were going to be reprimanded, but to their luck, Ashlin set herself up by default. 

She tried to tell everyone how she saw the smirk on Mira's face and how she suspected that she did it on purpose. At first, everyone did not believe and brushed her off, but because of her persistence, the suspicion fell on her instead.

"I remember Mira screaming out of fear and terror after Gracey died, but what did you do?" a schoolmate, Jenny, asked. "You weren't even reacting as if you were expecting it, so maybe you were the one smirking and now you're accusing Mira."

"I didn't scream because I froze. I was in so much shock and disbelief that I couldn't react," Ashlin explained.

"Yeah, sure you were," another student, Sasha, added sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

"Why would I possibly accuse Mira?" Ashlin countered.

"Because she's popular too, and you're afraid she'll overshadow your popularity," Leona replied.

"Am I really that dumb and desperate to ruin someone's life over something temporary?" Ashlin shot back.

"I don't know, maybe that's why you killed your best friend," Jenny chimed in.

"I wasn't even the one who dared her. Mira dared me, and she did it instead," Ashlin retorted.

"Yeah, she dared YOU, and you let Gracey take the fall," Sasha accused.

"I tried to stop her," Ashlin defended herself.

"Well, you didn't try hard enough. You were the one who was supposed to do the dare, so you were the one who was supposed to die. Gracey didn't deserve it," Jenny argued.

"Are you saying I deserved it?" Ashlin's voice shook with anger.

"Gracey should be alive right now, and things would have been different," Jenny stated firmly.

"As much as that hurts, I know if Gracey were in my position, you would treat her the same way, so don't pretend," Ashlin retorted.

"Pretend? Not as much as you. Drop the facade. No wonder you wear makeup, it's to hide your true face," Jenny sneered.

Days went by, and rumours were flying, fingers pointing, and it was all aimed at Ashlin. What does it take for one to believe her?

News spread around town fast and people would whisper and talk whenever crossing paths with her. There was even this time when a man on the street told her, "Go to hell, you witch!"

Not only did Ashlin's attitude change, her complete look was different from before. She was one who loved to wear bright colours because it represents the happiness life has to offer and she'd gotten that from Gracey. Now, her style of fashion took a dark turn as if they took her and placed her in a raging fire, burned her and then brought her back out to suffer the pain of the scars the burn had left her with....