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Confessions of a Daredevil
2nd Prize 10-13 Category Junior Authors Short Story Contest 2009
by Emily Lieuwen
SOMETIMES A DARE CAN GO A LITTLE TOO FAR...
CHAPTER 1
My name is Sarah Park but, before I tell you anything else about me, I’ll let you know: I am the ultimate
daredevil. Anything you throw at me, I don’t turn down: dares, double dares, even double doggie dares, ….I’m on
it.
It all started back in Grade 1 (yes in Kindergarten I was a peaceful child)….when Evan dared me to pour that paint
pot in Jane’s hair. Of course, thinking that I was invincible, I just took a pot of blue paint and dumped it over
Jane’s pretty little head. Well, that was all fine and dandy until the teacher and the principal got involved. That
was the start of my many visits to the principal’s office during my time at Elwood Elementary.
The principal asked me lots of questions, one of which was “Will you ever do this again?”. I answered “yes”
because, of course, I would love to see Jane scream and dance around again and again and again. The principal must
have been hard of hearing because he said “Good” and sent me out. The teacher made me apologize to Jane but it
didn’t go so well. I guess that’s why to this day we are arch enemies. Ever since that day I have been labeled “The
Daredevil” by friends, classmates, teachers and even parents.
Chapter 2
Up until Grade 7 all the dares were pretty tame. Things like putting gum in kid’s hair, frogs in teacher’s desks
and prank calling the principal. Not a big deal really. I think I was even the reason Principal Burns wanted to
retire. With all my time spent in the principal’s office, I found that on the principal’s door it said P. Burns.
Sound it out and you get pee burns. Pretty funny huh? Anyways as I was saying, the dares were pretty mild. I only
got suspended once for 3 days and that was because I screamed “Die, Soldiers, Die” during the minute of silence on
Remembrance Day. Yah…they weren’t a big deal up until middle school. That’s when the dares started to get out of
hand.
Chapter 3
On the first day of school the dares at Pebbleview Middle School started to get going. To tell you the truth, for
the first time, I was actually scared. I mean we were the youngest in the school with Grade 8 and 9’s. People were
handing out drugs for gosh sakes. I didn’t want to do drugs but what if it was a dare….I mean I am not stupid. I
know drugs are bad for you and you are guaranteed to get addicted but I had never turned down a dare before.
After the first week I was feeling better. No one had even given me a dare and I thought maybe my label had
expired….maybe I didn’t even need to worry about dares ever again! Well that was short lived because the next day I
got my first dare.
Chapter 4
The group of Grade 9’s cornered me in the bathroom closing in like a pack of hungry hyenas. They told me that they
heard I was a daredevil. I said that I was only a daredevil back in my old school. They said once a daredevil,
always a daredevil. I laughed and tried to escape but they formed a tighter circle around me. The biggest girl
pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She shook ‘em in my face and asked if I knew what they were. I nodded my head yes.
“Then smoke one,” she said…”We dare you”. The other girls snickered. I shrugged and let out a sigh of relief. It
could have been worse. I mean how much could one cigarette hurt. Little did I know sometimes a dare can go a little
too far…..
Chapter 5
I took the cigarette from the girl’s package. She handed me a lighter. I had watched my uncle and my dad do this
enough times. I stuck the cigarette in my mouth and lit it. My first breath I coughed and hacked. The girls just
laughed. After that I was fine. It wasn’t that pleasant but it was better than drugs. Five minutes passed and I
wanted to stop so I casually flung my cigarette behind me when the Grade 9’s weren’t looking. I heard a cracking
noise and I turned around just in time to see a highly flammable hair spray bottle explode into a ball of flame. I
felt myself fall and all the other girls scream. Flames licked the walls and the bathroom stalls. I was laying face
first on the ground while the fire cracked around me. The heat was unbearable and the smoke clogged my lungs and
clouded my view. It was so thick I didn’t know which way was up and which was down. All I wanted to do was lie
there on the floor and let the black cloud envelop me, but I struggled to my feet coughing and choking. The girls’
screams had died down so I assumed they had gotten out all right. The sound of sirens filled my ears and I saw a
figure form through the smoke. This was the last thing I saw before the world spun around me and I felt myself fall
for the second time that day. After than, everything turned black.
Chapter 6
I woke up in a hospital bed with that medical smell in the air. I hate hospitals. Suddenly I felt a wave of nausea
and I fell back into a deep sleep. A week later I was sitting in a police station, my Mom fretting by my side. I
picked up the daily paper. A picture of a building burnt to the ground was on the front page. The headline read
“Careless Girl Burns Pebbleview Middle School to the Ground”. I felt sick to my stomach and the walls were closing
in one me. “Bathroom” I mumbled to my Mom as I dashed for the washroom. I hovered in the bathroom waiting for the
nausea to pass. I pressed my head against the cool tile. It felt good on my pounding head. I dreaded the questions
I would soon have to face. “Why did you do it?” “Did you know the consequences?” “Are you aware that even though
everyone got out safely, it could have been different?” I couldn’t answer half of them, the whole accident wasn’t
even clear in my own head. Why did I do it in the first place? Why couldn’t I have just said “No”? Deep inside I
knew the answer but I wasn’t ready quite yet to face it.
Chapter 7
“Come in Sarah,” said a large, burly policeman with graying hair and mustache. He spoke in a deep, husky voice. I
dug my fingernails into my palms as I clenched my hands into fists. He led me into a brightly lit room where I sat
on a prickly brown chair. He sat behind a wooden desk, a pen and pad of paper in hand. He asks me how I’m doing and
I nod. He then introduces himself as Officer Smith. He tells me that he just wants answers. He glances at his paper
and asks the first question. But I don’t hear it because I am a million miles away back in that bathroom. I see
myself take a cigarette and light it. Inside I’m yelling “No”. “Are you o.k.?” Office Smith jolts me back into
reality. I shake my head no and he tells me to take a break. I dash to the bathroom, tears streaming down my
cheeks. I never cry, not even when I got 7 stitches, not when my cat died but now, tears pour of out my eyes and
roll off my nose. I go into a stall and sit down on the toilet with my head in my hands. I sniffle and sob and let
everything out. At one point I hear my Mom come in and ask me if I am all right. I ignore her and soon enough I
hear the door close behind her. I think of every dare I had done up until the cigarette one and realize how stupid
I am. Why didn’t I just say no, why couldn’t I just say no and walk away?
I wish I could change the past, I wish I could go back and make things right. Way back to Grade 1 and say no to
Evan. No Evan why don’t you do that cuz I am not that kind of a person. But no, I can’t change the past but I can
change the future. “Sarah”, I say “I dare you to go out there and tell the truth”. “I dare you to go make things
right.” And just like I did that day things went wrong. I didn’t turn that dare down.
Chapter 8
Three months later….
It has been a hard three months. First I went to Officer Smith and told him everything, even everything I’d done in
elementary school. Then I went and apologized to everyone I’d hurt, including Jane and Principal Burns. I addressed
the whole town by apologizing for what I’d done. I told them I’d planned lots of money raising activities to help
raise enough money to build a new school. I’m sure many people hate me because of how I’ve hurt them but I’ve
changed the future. Had I not told the truth, who knows what would have happened. I am not known as the daredevil.
Now I am known as, well nothing, I have no label and I’m happy to keep it that way. Yah, people may call me things
behind my back but, oh well, trust me, I’ve handled harder things than that.
Emily writes...
“Confessions of a Daredevil” was inspired by the film Confessions of a Shopaholic and reading about an arson in the
newspaper.
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