The Daring Game Read Online Free PDF

a chair each night in readiness for the next morning.
    When Carrie, Jean and Pam had left, Eliza got out a book and prepared to sink into it. One problem with boarding school so far was that there wasn’t enough time to read. Settling back against her pillow, she was immediately transported into Roman Britain.
    But Helen’s voice underneath her broke the spell. “Listen, Eliza. It’s time to make plans.”
    â€œPlans?” asked Eliza, reluctantly putting down The Eagle of the Ninth.
    Helen moved across to Pam’s bed. She fixed her glasses on Eliza as if they were a pair of binoculars. “Yes. It’s a plan for all of us, but I wanted to tell you first. You seem to be gutsier than the others. I liked the way you rescued your silly bear, even if you didn’t know you were breaking a rule. Will you support me if I suggest something to everyone?”
    Eliza felt flattered and frightened at the same time. She didn’t want Helen to look down on her, but she didn’t want to clash with Miss Tavistock again either.
    â€œIt depends what it is,” she said as agreeably as she could. But Helen looked ruffled.
    â€œOh, don’t bother if you’re worried about it. I guess you are just as chicken as the rest of them.”
    Eliza was ashamed. After all, in her books the boarders were always planning some prank or another. Wasn’t that one reason she’d wanted to come here—for excitement? She had never thought of herself as a coward, and she wondered why she felt afraid.
    â€œI’ll support you,” she said quickly. “Tell me what it is.”

4
    A Long Feast
    â€œE liza and I have an idea,” Helen announced that night. By now they chattered fearlessly for an extended period after Lights Out—except when the Pouncer was on duty.
    Eliza clutched John under the covers. She was just as curious as the others, for Helen had told her only part of the plan.
    â€œWhat we propose,” said Helen, getting out of bed, opening the curtains and squatting on the floor so she could see them all, “is a game. A Daring Game. This place is boring. We need to do something to liven it up.”
    â€œI don’t think it’s boring,” protested Carrie. Eliza agreed silently; everything was too new to be boring. But she liked games. She and Maggie and some other friends in Edmonton used to play at being knights, or Robin Hood, or horses, until the others told her they were too old.
    This game sounded different—not pretending, but real, which made it riskier. It had the same allure of important secrecy, however, that had been present in herother games. Helen’s bravado when she described it had a lot to do with this. Eliza had never known anyone her own age who seemed so sure of herself.
    Remembering her role, she made her voice sound enthusiastic: “It might be fun.” She watched Carrie listen to Helen with more interest.
    Pam lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. “Well, go on, Helen. But I won’t play if it’s dangerous or anything.”
    Jean, silent as usual, just watched Helen with wide eyes.
    Helen grinned at Eliza, who felt relieved she’d said the right thing.
    â€œOkay,” continued Helen, “a Daring Game. What we’ll do is take turns doing dares. I can think of lots, but you can make up some too, if you want. It has to be something that takes a lot of nerve.”
    â€œBut what’s the point?” said Pam.
    â€œThe point is to do it, of course. It’ll be fun to see how much we can get away with in this dump.”
    That was a mistake. Pam rolled over. “Well, count me out. I don’t want to get into trouble, and I’m the dorm head, so I don’t think any of you should do it.”
    So far, thought Eliza, the job of being dorm head consisted of informing everyone of the position; its only duty seemed to be the collection of the laundry slips each week.
    â€œYou