Tuesday, January 2nd

"I promise they're not as bad as you think," Isaac tries to convince me for the hundredth time. "It's nothing like the movies."

Isaac, my dear best friend, and the one person in this world who knows me best. I guess sometimes he doesn't quite understand me as well as I think he does, seeing as he's trying to persuade me to go to some overrated high school party on a Tuesday night when I could be studying.

"No is never going to mean yes when you're talking to me, Isaac," I try informing him again, though truly he should know by now.

"I know but you've never been to a high school party before and we're halfway through our senior year! You need to live a little, Mich!"

"I'll live when I secure a spot at an ivy league college."

"Please," He continues with his begging, his eyes practically about to pop out from puppy-dogging so hard. "Early birthday gift?"

I'm still not convinced, seeing as his birthday is weeks away, but I give him a few more seconds to keep going.

"I'll do anything!" He finally offers, "Just one party. Please."

"Anything?" I repeat, a giant smirk plastered on my face.

He nods twice with a twinkle in his eyes and I simply have no choice but to accept his offer. This gives me so many opportunities. I could finally get him to go to that new sushi place in town, or go tubing with my family in the summer after he refused four times last year. He has no clue what he just signed up for.

"When are we going?" I asked, causing his face to break out in a massive grin as he realizes I'm letting him take me to a high school party.

"Right now!"

An obnoxious laugh escapes my lips in response to his ridiculous joke, but his face stands still.

"You can't be serious."

He nods while he hops off of my bed and starts to fix his hoodie. "It's thirty minutes away and we need to stop by my place first."

"What for?"

"You'll see," he slaps on that devious smirk he always wore when he had some mischievous plan cooking up inside his head.

"Okay, but I'm changing first," I tell him, standing up to rummage around in my closet.

"Why?" The impatience is more than clear in his tone. "You look fine."

"If I'm going to this party against my will, I might as well try to look good." I tear through my usual day clothes and instead head straight for something nicer, but warmer to wear.

"It's not against your will if you agreed to it," Isaac mumbles under his breath, though I can hear every word.

"You think Miles will be there?" I can't help but ask, knowing my curiosity would've gotten the better of me either way.

Isaac shrugs. "Probably. All those popular kids will be there."

A short-lived, silent celebration rings in my head at the news. "Another reason to look good."

"As if he'd ever notice you," he teases with a snort.

"Says the one who hasn't had a crush on someone in years."

He rolls his eyes at my comment before leaving my room so I can get changed. And when I return in a turtleneck sweater and some jeans, we make our way to my car.

"Oh, hold on." I stop him as he starts to open my front door. "I have to let my parents know I'll be out."

"Oh, no need. I already told them."

I narrow my eyes at him. "You told them before I even agreed to go?"

He shrugs again, this time with a smile. "What can I say? I had a hunch that you'd say yes."

Shaking my head, we leave and I make sure to lock my door before we head out to the party.

///

As we approach the front door of a giant suburban house, Isaac gives me a quick run-down of a few universal party rules, seeing as I don't have experience of my own to go off of.

"No disappearing off with someone you don't know," he starts, "No leaving your drink unattended, no taking drugs from just anyone who offers, and for the love of god do not leave my side."

Another instance where I just laugh directly in his face.

"I'm being serious, Michelle."

"And delusional," I add. "I appreciate the thought, Isaac, but I think we both know I'm not social enough to do any of that."

"It could happen."

"So sweet of you to say so, but you know that's not true."

He shrugs as he lifts his hand to knock on the front door, but it swings right open before he has a chance to touch it. An unfamiliar face locks eyes with the two of us before leaving through the door and allowing us to step inside.

I stay close to Isaac like he asked, my eyes darting around in awe. Not the good kind of awe, though. More like the, I can't believe I let him convince me to come to this thing, kind of awe. Kids are playing beer pong over the blaring music in the open living room, the kitchen is filled with forty different brands of alcohol I didn't even know existed. We try walking along the wall to avoid bumping into others but seeing as couples were gluing themselves to it to make out, it only makes me feel more uncomfortable.

"Do you think we can go outside?" I yell to Isaac over the music. Even the yelling barely got to him.

"Yeah, I'm trying to get to the back door," he yells back the best he can.

We snake our way through the crowd of people dancing in dangerously close proximity to one another before we finally get to the sliding glass doors at the back of the house. As soon as Isaac slides the door open, we push ourselves outside and I'm finally able to take a breath of air.

I glance over at Isaac, who's already making his way over to the cooler full of what I can only assume is some sort of jungle juice. He fills up two cups and saunters back to me, holding one out for me to take, but I just stand there and blink at him.

"You're seriously not gonna drink or anything?"

"You seriously thought I would?" I ask, shaking my head in disbelief.

He sighs and starts pouring my drink into his cup. He downs half of it right then and there, leaving me wondering how often he drank to be able to chug half of his cup and have no reaction to it.

"Are you sure that's okay?" I ask him.

"I'm fine, Michelle," he says, his voice catching a hint of irritation as it cuts through the loud music.

"I just don't want you to be puking your guts out when I have to drive you home."

"Isn't that the fun of parties?"

"I wouldn't know. I didn't wanna come anyway."

Suddenly, his temper loses all control and he snaps at me. "Fine, go drive yourself home then! I just wanted you to have fun before we graduated."

"I don't know why you're yelling at me!" I raise my voice a bit louder, feeling his anger rub off on me. "You'd be the same way if I took you to a bookstore or something."

"Whatever, Michelle. I'm gonna go get more to drink," he huffs before disconnecting from me and heading inside.

"What happened to sticking together?" I yell across to him even though I know he can't hear me.

"Michelle!" I suddenly hear a perky voice chirp from behind me. I feel myself jump in place as I turn around to reveal Holly Jones standing in front of me, smiling at me like we've been friends for years. The most popular girl at school, and me. Friends.

"Wanna play a game with me and a few friends?" she asks out of nowhere. Her face is genuine, like she truly wants me to join her game, but how can I accept that offer when these are the only words Holly Jones has ever said to me? No 'nice to meet you', no 'how are you?' Hell, she didn't even say hello before asking me. But still...

"What game?" I can't help it. I'm curious now. But I swear to god, if she says truth or dare, I'm out of here.

"Glad you're interested!" she beams, grabbing my wrist without a beat of hesitation and leading me away. She explains this game on the way, despite my obvious discomfort, saying, "Basically, it's like spin the bottle, but instead of kissing whoever it lands on, you have to date them for a month."

I feel my face cringe at her words. "Spin the bottle? Yeah, that's not exactly my thing."

"It's a lot of fun," she continues anyway, "I've been playing the dating game since Freshman year."

I shake my head at her blatant refusal to listen to anything I have to say. Why would Holly Jones be asking me to play a game like this anyway? Is this supposed to be torture? Some sick way of pulling me into one of the popular kids' traps just to make fun of me? I can't believe Isaac isn't here to watch all of this go down.

Before I have another second to tell her no, Holly announces that we have arrived at our destination, stopping us in front of six off-white lawn chairs surrounding a short metal fold-out table. An empty bottle of some kind of beer is laid out on the table and every seat, except two, is occupied by someone whose face is more than familiar.

"So, I would introduce you to these people, but you probably already know who they are," Holly tells me, gesturing to Cactus Valley's most renowned group of kids. "Dylan can explain the rules to you."

She nods in the direction of Dylan Price, who has never spoken to me once unless you count the time he was waking me up from a nap when class was being dismissed. He breaks away from his conversation with the others and grins in my direction, patting the chair next to him for me to sit at.

"So there are a few rules when it comes to The Dating Game," he starts to explain while I take a reluctant seat. He raises his voice as if to explain to everyone else as well, "One, nobody can know it's a game. The only people who are allowed to know are the people in this circle. And if anyone asks if it's real, you have to say yes.

"Rule number two: you have to be an actual couple. Kissing, hugging, talking; all of those are requirements. And you have to have at least two dates before you break up, or you lose."

So not only do I have to be in a fake relationship with a random person, but I actually have to go on real dates with them too? I immediately regret allowing myself to get into this situation. Should've shut my mouth and never asked about it.

"And lastly, rule number three: no falling in love. If you end up having feelings for your game partner by the end of the month, you lose."

Well, at least one part of this game will be easy. It'll be hard for me to have feelings for anyone other than Miles, so I guess I'm already one step closer to winning. Although I'm not hearing anything about a reward for winning yet. There better be something in it for me; I'm not about to date a stranger without knowing what's at the end of the rainbow.

"You get the rules?" Dylan suddenly asks me, probably making sure I was listening.

"Yeah, I get it," I answer, dying to know what the winning prize is, "But-"

"Oh, and another thing! You're not allowed to date your game partner after the month is over. Ready to start the game?"

As I'm about to try asking about the reward again, Holly cuts in. "Actually, one more rule: no take-backs. Whoever the bottle lands on is who you have to date."

No take-backs? That's ridiculous; what if I spun and it landed on Holly? Or Julia--the only other girl in the circle. There's not really anything wrong with them, but I don't exactly swing that way, so it would hypothetically earn us an automatic win.

Well, if fake-dating a girl earned me an easy win in this game, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea-

"I'll go first," Holly announces with her chest puffed, interrupting the genius plan I was starting to devise in my head. She reaches for the bottle, spinning it without a second thought. It twirls around quickly, taking forever to come to a stop on Alejandro Garcia, finally allowing the rest of us to breathe out the anticipation. I can't believe I'm actually letting myself get invested in this game, it's ridiculous.

"My turn," Dylan says next with an excited grin. He makes eye contact with the whole group, leaving his eyes to linger just slightly longer on me. I move to avert my eyes and look at the bottle instead. He spins it at a reasonable speed this time and it effortlessly slows to point directly at Julia King. I always see her involved in clubs and school competitions, especially academic ones. She's crazy smart, exceptional for just being a junior.

I look around the circle, quickly realizing everyone is taken. Everyone except the guy sitting right across from me, boring his deep green eyes into my soul I make eye contact with the Chase Matthews of Cactus Valley High School. Our very own it boy.

His portrait is all along our school walls due to his active participation in basketball and theatre, not to mention he's been a major highlight in the school yearbook for the entirety of high school. He's been nominated for something for each year of class superlative, always voted as hottest guy and biggest flirt. I'm not sure if that last one should be an insult or a compliment, but I'm sure he's not the type of guy to care anyway.

"Michelle, you know Chase, right?" Holly asks with a slightly devilish grin. I take one more good look at him. Olive skin, light freckles, golden-brown hair curled in every direction. Yep, he's pretty hard to miss.

"So, since there's only two of you left, whoever the bottle lands on, you have to ask them out. Even if they're not in the circle."

I clench my eyes shut and prepare myself for a world of hell as I take a deep breath. I still can't believe I was roped into this. However, before I can even reach for the bottle, Chase claims it and swivels it so quickly that I almost didn't see it happen. I watch anxiously as it lands perfectly in my direction.

"Looks like you're with me," he says in his repulsively sultry voice.

This is going to be a long month.

///

author's note: thank you for reading the first newly rewritten chapter of The Dating Game! there will be more to come, so stay tuned!

(face claims are at the end of the book just in case you prefer reading without them; if you like to have them in the back of your mind while you read, go ahead and check them out right now!)