At the end of the school day, Sarah and her friends moped out of the school, with their heads down. They had never had such a bad day in their lives. Suddenly, being ignored seemed preferable.
They spotted Zoe and her friends already walking home and caught up with them.
"This was a bad idea. I admit it," Sarah said. "I just wanted my life back."
"You don't have to explain. I felt the same way," Zoe said.
"So, what do we do now?"
"Just what I suggested yesterday. Play our parts. As much as I don't want to live my life as a popular girl, I also don't want to go through what I just did again. Ever."
"I can agree with that," Sarah said.
"We can come over to your houses right now and swap outfits again."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Tiffany asked.
Zoe wasn't sure what she was talking about.
"You have cheerleading practice. Look," Tiffany said, pointing. "There's Allison now. And, boy, does she look pissed." Then she looked at Sarah and said "We better get out of here. Remember last time?"
"Good idea," Sarah said. And before Allison met up with Zoe and her friends, Sarah and her friends walked quickly away.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Allison yelled at them. "We have practice. Have you given up cheerleading too?"
"Look, Allison. What happened today, that was just a dare." She needed something to turn things back to status quo, and making the whole day into a dare was the best thing Zoe could come up with.
"Really?" Was that relief in Allison's eyes?
"You don't think we would actually want to wear these clothes, do you?" Zoe asked.
"Of course not."
"Sarah dared us and ... well ... you know I can't back down from a dare." She was just assuming that, since that was Sarah McMillan's reputation, at least usually.
"Yeah, I know. But why didn't you tell me?"
"Uh ... it was part of the dare," Zoe quickly said.
"Well, you don't know how relieved I am. For a time there, I thought you really had lost your minds."
"You'll make sure everyone knows it was a dare, right?" Zoe asked.
"Of course. Believe me, I care about your image as much as you do."
Not really, Zoe thought.
"Now come on, we've got practice." She turned around and walked back towards the football field.
"Go follow her," Zoe said. "I'll catch up."
"Where are you going?" Zelda asked.
"I just need to do something first."
