For a moment, neither boy spoke.
Then Ethan added:
“I'm going to miss a lot of things. You're not. Don't waste them.”
Caleb agreed to the dare.
But keeping the promise was harder than he'd imagined.
The first time, Caleb put on the dress in his bedroom.
He stood in front of the mirror.
His sister laughed.
Not cruelly.
She thought he was joking.
Caleb explained the dare.
Jasmine stopped laughing.
Then helped him adjust the shoulders.
“You can do this,” she said.
He walked downstairs.
Opened the front door.
And heard two neighborhood boys talking across the street.
He panicked.
He ran upstairs and changed.
The second time, he managed to step onto the porch.
Then a car drove past.
He hurried inside.
The third time, he made it halfway down the driveway.
A neighbor waved.
He turned around.
The fourth time, he reached the sidewalk.
Then someone across the street shouted his name.
