Dare to Love (Young Adult Romance) Page 6

  Our newest Explorer, Laura Tyler, has come up with an idea that I think is a good one. Laura, why don’t you tell everyone what you have in mind for our community project this year?”

  Me?

  I stared, open-mouthed, at Lieutenant Hudson. I glanced at Jennifer, then back to him. I gulped, then found my voice. “Well, uh, it...uh, wasn’t really my idea. It was more Dare’s idea but anyway...”

  “Go on, Laura,” Lieutenant Hudson urged.

  “Um, we were, well, talking about the D.A.R.E. program. I asked Dare if the Explorers are involved with the program and he said he wasn’t sure, and well, we started talking and...” I glanced at Dare and he nodded encouragingly. “And we thought it might be kind of cool to go around to elementary schools and talk to little kids about the dangers of drugs.”

  There, I’d said it. Badly, but I’d said it. To my relief, Dare picked up where I’d left off.

  “We thought we could do some research about the effects of drugs, then maybe do some role playing or skits with the kids—tell them how to say ‘no’ to drugs.”

  Lieutenant Hudson nodded his head enthusiastically. “I think it’s a great idea. What do you all think?” He spread his arms wide. “Well?”

  “I think it’s a really good idea,” one boy said. “But I kind of like the toy drive idea, too.”

  “Me, too,” I heard a girl say from the middle of the room.

  “Could we do both?” I asked.

  “Well, I don’t know, Laura,” the lieutenant said slowly. “I suppose we could.”

  “Maybe we could divide into two groups,” Courtney suggested. “Then we could choose which project we prefer.”

  The lieutenant raised his eyebrows and stroked his chin thoughtfully. “There’s an idea,” he said. “It would be great to collect toys for needy children, yet I think you all would be doing our community a real service by educating young children about drugs.”

  “Lieutenant Hudson?” I began somewhat hesitantly. “I uh, was on a ride along with my dad last night, and we responded to a pretty serious car accident, and well, there was a little boy at the scene, and we gave him a Teddy bear...”

  He nodded his head vigorously. “That’s right. We all have a Teddy bear in the trunks of our patrol cars. If we find ourselves responding to a call where a child is frightened or upset, we give him or her a bear—tends to calm the child down. And too, sometimes kids are downright afraid of law enforcement officers, for whatever reason. We don’t look so frightening to a child when we approach with a Teddy bear in our hand.”

  I nodded my head. The bear had certainly made a difference for little Joey. “Where do the bears come from?” I asked, as an idea was forming in my head.

  “Well, actually, we purchase the bears ourselves.”

  “What happens if there are several scared kids?” Jennifer asked, picking up on my line of thinking. “I mean, how do you decide who gets a bear? What if you miss somebody?”

  Like me, I knew my soft-hearted friend couldn’t stand to think of a frightened child who might be overlooked.

  “It does happen,” Lieutenant Hudson acknowledged. “Then we scramble to get a hold of extras.”

  I felt myself moving to the edge of my chair. “Maybe we could collect Teddy bears from the community, or donate some of our own. Then you could keep more than one in your cars at all times. Maybe, we could...”

  My words dwindled as Lieutenant Hudson chuckled. “Gosh, group,” he said, “it seems we’ve got three community projects to consider.” He glanced at his watch. “But now we have to get to the second half of our meeting. We have a lot to think about with L.E.C. fast approaching, and our community projects getting underway.”

  To my surprise, I found myself looking forward to our community projects. I wondered which I would choose to participate in. All sounded really worthwhile. I had to admit that the explorer meeting was turning out much better than I’d expected.

  Chapter Seven

  “Now I’d like to talk a little bit about self-defense,” Lieutenant Hudson said, “and we’ll get back to L.E.C. next meeting. Okay, then, a few words about self-defense.”

  “Perhaps the most important aspect of self-defense,” he began, “is to first and foremost, not put ourselves in situations where we may be forced to use any self-defense techniques. That is, never walk alone at night, stay out of poorly lit parking lots, try not to go anywhere alone, if you can help it.

  “I don’t mean to sound sexist,” he continued, “but girls, you especially need to be wary, though the warning holds true for boys, as well. The key is to use good judgment always.”

  As the lieutenant spoke, I noticed that he seemed to be speaking to me. Constantly, his eyes sought mine. And then it hit me. He was talking to me! Someone must have told him I’d gone to the river alone. And that someone must have been Dare.

  I felt humiliated as the lieutenant continued speaking and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. The more he spoke, the more I was sure Dare had told him about the incident at the river. I felt hurt and betrayed.

  “Dare, why don’t you come on up here and help me?” the lieutenant said.

  The sound of Dare’s name jolted me from my thoughts and my eyes shot upward. I watched as he went to the front of the room. The lieutenant stepped away from him briefly and picked up something from the floor. He returned and unrolled a padded mat. He laid it on the floor, then turned to Dare again. He nodded toward the mat and Dare moved to stand on it.

  “Okay, Dare,” the lieutenant said, “I’m going to grab you from behind, and I want you to try to get away from me.”

  The lieutenant moved to the mat and wrapped his arms around Dare’s chest. He held him firm. Dare was a few inches taller than the lieutenant and powerfully built, and as he struggled, he threw him off balance. They both fell to the floor, and the lieutenant shouted, “Stop!”

  Dare froze.

  “Okay, good,” the lieutenant said, “now, group, what should Dare do next?”

  “Well, he could stay on the ground for one thing,” Keith answered. “He’s dead weight there.”

  “Right,” said the lieutenant. “What else?”

  “He should thrash around so his attacker can’t get a hold of him. The attacker might get frustrated and give up,” said another explorer. “Then if he could manage to stand, the best thing is to run away.”

  Nodding, the lieutenant said, “Yes. Any other ideas?”

  “Well,” another explorer responded, “if he has keys or something in his hand, he could use them as a weapon.”

  “Good, good,” the lieutenant said, “but what if he doesn’t have anything to use as a weapon?”

  “I could use my hand as a weapon,” Dare said.

  “An example?” the lieutenant quizzed.

  A hand shot up.

  “Yes?”

  “I saw on TV that you can easily break someone’s nose if you bring your palm underneath and upward against the nose,” a girl responded.

  “Ugh,” the group groaned in unison.

  “She’s right,” the lieutenant said. “Better that you hurt them than they hurt you. Okay, gang, can anyone think of anything else?”

  The lieutenant scanned the room. His eyes found me. “Any ideas, Laura?”

  I shook my head. “No,” I said flatly.

  He watched me briefly, then asked, “Anyone else?”

  Jennifer surprised me by answering his question. “Well, screaming bloody murder is always an attention-getter.”

  “Exactly!” the lieutenant agreed, smiling. “Scream to high heaven. Okay, group,” he continued, “we’ve given you a few good ideas. Now, we’ll pair off and I’ll demonstrate some effective self-defense techniques. Okay, everybody, pair off with somebody of the opposite sex. Why don’t you join us, Jennifer?”

  Jennifer stood up but I remained seated. My earlier enthusiasm for the club waned. I wasn’t the least bit interested in learning self-defense. Dare had already shown me there wasn’t mu
ch I could do if someone attacked me. Besides, I felt really awkward among the other explorers. They knew about my arrest, after all.

  From my seat, I watched as the explorers paired off. I noted that Jennifer and Keith were partners. Then I saw Dare striding toward...me...or … Courtney? We were both in his direct line of vision. Courtney suddenly stepped in front of him. I saw him smile at her, but then he looked past her—at me. She abruptly took a hold of his arm then and it was clear the two had paired off.

  I was probably just imagining that he had been looking at me. He had probably been walking toward Courtney all along. I told myself I was glad I wasn’t partnered with him, though a part of me really was disappointed.

  “Okay, everybody,” Lieutenant Hudson began, but then noticed me, still sitting in the chair. “Looks like we’re one short. Well, Laura, you’ll have to be my partner. Come on up here.”

  My mouth dropped open. I shuddered inwardly as I stood up and slowly walked over to him. If it wasn’t bad enough I was stuck being his partner, it was worse that I found myself at the front of the room, all eyes on me.

  “Laura and I will demonstrate several techniques and then you all can try them out,” the lieutenant said.

  Suddenly, I wished the floor would open up and swallow me whole. “Okay, Laura,” he said, “I’m going to grab your arm. You heard some of the suggestions your friends gave earlier as to how you might get away from an attacker. Now I want you to try to get away from me.”

  I took a deep, steadying breath. I glanced over at Jennifer. She smiled at me, and nodded her head slightly. “You can do it,” she mouthed silently.

  Somehow, my eyes found Dare’s eyes. He watched me, a ghost of a smile on his face.

  I turned back to the lieutenant. “I really don’t...”

  “Come on, Laura,” he said firmly, “this is serious business. You never know when you might need to do this for real.” He watched me intently and I swallowed hard over a lump in my throat.

  I searched my brain, trying to remember what I’d heard the other explorers suggest earlier.

  “Laura...” he prompted.

  His words dwindled as I quickly slipped my leg behind his ankle. I mustered as much strength as I could and shoved my hands against his chest. I caught sight of his shocked features as he tumbled backward and hit the mat with a splat.

  “Wow!” someone shouted.

  Did I do that? I wondered.

  Nervously, I glanced at the lieutenant. He remained on the ground, watching me curiously. I wondered if he was angry. Suddenly, he sprang from the floor and began thumping me on the back. “Way to go, Laura!” he enthused, laughing. “I really didn’t expect that at all. That was perfect. The element of surprise! It really works.”

  I glanced around the room. Everyone was laughing!

  “Well,” the lieutenant said, clasping his hands together, “we didn’t talk about that particular maneuver earlier, but remember it, group. It really works...”

  I had to bite my lower lip to keep from laughing myself. I felt amazingly ... happy. I’d managed to handle the lieutenant, and I realized that had I known earlier at the river what I knew now, I might have been able to handle Dare too.

  “Okay, gang, why don’t you all try Laura’s technique,” he suggested. Then he rubbed his back side. “But,” he cautioned, “fortunately for me, I had a mat to break my fall...”

  I heard the humming laughter of the explorers as the lieutenant turned back to me. “Okay, Laura, let’s try out some more techniques.” He grinned suddenly, then whispered, “Take it easy on me, okay. I’m kind of old for this...”

  ***

  When the hour-long meeting came to a close, I quickly grabbed Jennifer by the hand. She watched me quizzically. “Let’s get out of here,” I urged.

  I was eager to get away from the group—and away from Dare. Although the meeting had turned out better than I’d expected, I couldn’t believe he had told the lieutenant about finding me at the river alone.

  “Why do you want to leave, Laura? It was actually kind of fun. And you can’t tell me you didn’t have fun,” Jennifer said, grinning. “Really, Laura, hurling Lieutenant Hudson to the floor like you’re Wonder Woman or something!”

  I shook my head. “Hush up, Jen. Come on.”

  “Did you see the boy I was paired with?” she asked me. “He was kind of cute.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Let’s just get out of here.”

  “But they’re serving refreshments,” she protested. “And besides, I think I just might join the explorers.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. “You’re kidding, right?”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m serious. I really liked it.”

  “You mean you liked him,” I said, nodding at Keith.

  She grinned. I glanced heavenward and resumed ushering her out of the room, and out of the station.

  Lieutenant Hudson must have seen us sneak out, since I heard him call to us from the doorway. “Laura, our next meeting is Monday night. I’ll expect you here, five o’clock sharp. Think you can make it, Jennifer?”

  She smiled. “I’ll be here.”

  “Great!” Lieutenant Hudson said enthusiastically. He waved before heading back into the station.

  We were nearly to my car when I heard footsteps behind us. Startled, I spun around and found myself face to face with Dare.

  “Hey, Laura, where are you going to so fast?”

  I mumbled an unintelligible response and was about to climb into my car when I noted with chagrin that Jennifer had abandoned me and was walking back toward the station. I saw Keith leaning against the door frame. It would take a crow bar to get Jennifer out of there now.

  “Jen...” I called weakly after her.

  “Be right back,” she responded brightly.

  “What’s up, Laura?” Dare asked me. “Why are you leaving? By the way,” he added, “cool move back there. You really surprised the lieutenant.” He shook his head and chuckled at the memory.

  “I’m leaving because the meeting’s over,” I replied coolly.

  “Yeah, but we all usually hang around awhile to socialize. Why don’t you come back in?”

  “No thanks,” I said curtly.

  He watched me, his eyes questioning. “Is something wrong?”

  “No,” I said too quickly. I noted his concerned gaze was riveted on my face.

  “It looks like Jennifer may be awhile, so you may as well come in,” he said persuasively.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Are you mad at me, Laura?” he asked suddenly.

  I hesitated briefly, then said accusingly, “How interesting that the lieutenant decided to give a demonstration on self-defense tonight.”

  He shook his head, confused. “I don’t get your meaning.”

  “Oh, you didn’t notice him staring at me practically the whole time he was talking.”

  “No, I really didn’t. What are you getting at?”

  “You told him,” I accused. “You told him about me being at the river alone the other day.”

  “I didn’t...”

  “Then who did?” I demanded.

  “You’re being paranoid, Laura,” he said reasonably. “I mean, maybe Lieutenant Hudson just decided to talk about self-defense. It really isn’t so unusual.”

  I watched him speculatively. He looked so sincere, but... “I don’t think it was a coincidence,” I persisted.

  Dare sighed. “Well, I don’t know who would have told him...” His eyes widened, as understanding apparently dawned. The answer hit me at the exact second.

  “Courtney!” we said in unison. It had to be her.

  Dare shook his head. “Yeah, it was probably Courtney. Knowing her, she was worried about you.”

  Right. Courtney—worried about me. Not in this lifetime. Guys could be so naive, I thought. I did feel guilty for accusing Dare, however.

  “I’m sorry, Dare,” I said sheepishly. “I should have thought of Courtney in the first plac
e.”

  “Yeah,” he said in a playfully stern voice. “I don’t know if I can ever forgive you.”

  “Well,” I joked, “if you forgive me for wrongly accusing you, I’ll forgive you for arresting me.”

  “Okay, sounds fair,” he said with a grin, and then grabbed my hand.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as I was whisked away from my car.

  “We’re going to track down the others and see if they want to go out. The night’s still young.”

  Back in the conference room, we spotted Keith and Jennifer by the refreshment table. When we reached them, Dare asked, “You guys wanna go out?”

  Keith glanced at Jennifer. She nodded eagerly.

  “Where to?” Keith asked.

  “Courtney told me there’s a carnival at the mall,” Dare said. “What do you think?”

  “Okay,” we all agreed.

  “Let’s go,” Courtney said from behind us.

  I grimaced. I glanced at Jennifer and she rolled her eyes.

  “What time are we leaving?” Courtney asked. She smiled coyly and fluttered her thick lashes. I wanted to gag.

  “Uh, Keith and I have to change clothes first,” Dare said.

  The two boys walked away. Jennifer, Courtney, and I stood, unspeaking. The silence was unnerving. I hoped the boys wouldn’t take too long changing out of their uniforms.

  I noted that Courtney had already changed, and I had to admit she looked great. She wore a floral print sundress that gathered at the waist and billowed out into a full, but short skirt. Suddenly, I felt short!—more so than usual, and unattractive, by comparison.

  Jennifer must have been similarly affected since she whispered in my ear, “Bye, bye, Keith.”

  Furrowing my brow, I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it,” I softly assured her, “Keith has her number.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Jennifer groaned.

  “You know what I mean,” I said, unsuccessfully stifling a giggle.

  Although I was pretty sure of Keith since he seemed genuinely unaffected by Courtney, I still wasn’t so sure about Dare. He and Courtney had been together at the station after all, and Courtney had probably known about tonight’s plans—certainly before I did. I’d already decided that Dare and Courtney would make a beautiful couple.