Judy and the beetles

“I dare you to lick at least 10 different black beetles,”

Judy’s face remained passive. There was no way she was letting Diana see how terrified she was. “That’s all? You’re getting soft, Diana,”

Diana scoffed and put her hands on her hips, “We’ll see how confident you are once you get close to them. I bet you won’t even last one beetle,”

“I bet she’ll wet her pants at the sight of them!” one of Diana’s friends shouted from behind her and, like the sheep they are, they all laughed their brutish, revolting laughter. Diana herself chuckled. It made her look even uglier than she usually looked, in Judy's opinion.

Susan, Judy’s good friend, rolled her eyes, “That wasn’t even funny. Come on, Judy, let’s go. You don’t have to listen to these idiots,”

“No Susan,” Judy said, looking Diana’s smarmy, smirking face straight in the eye, “I’ll do it. I’ve never refused a dare before and I’m not letting Diana ruin that streak,”

And so, that’s how she ended up here. Standing in an alleyway 3 feet away from a group of shiny black beetles, some tiny, some large, all crawling around with their tiny legs. The beetles were huddled together, which made them look even more creepy She could feel her stomach churn as she watched a beetle crawl and another beetle move its small black pincers. 

Judy wasn’t scared of much, but she could absolutely not stand beetles. There was just something about how unnatural and inhuman they looked that set her on edge. It had been that way ever since she was a child.

Maybe Diana knew about this special fear of hers. No, it's not possible, Judy hadn't told anyone about it. But Diana did have a certain way of reading people, she could've figured it out.

Judy's thoughts shifted back to the unpleasant insects in front of her. God, she was so scared of them. It was as if she could feel the beetles in her mouth, moving around and biting the inside of her throat. She could feel the beetles crawling through her body, slathering her organs with their dirt and slowly eating the inside of her stomach. The imaginary beetles crawled into the tips of her toes and fingernails and started laying eggs. Soon baby beetles would be born inside her...

Suddenly, Judy didn’t want to do this anymore. The vivid imagery took away every part of her bravery and her mind was flooded with fear. What if she gets sick? What if the beetles laid eggs in her mouth? What if one of the beetles crawled inside her? 

Judy let out a shudder and, to the left side of her, leaning on the wall, heard Diana chuckle.

Diana was completely safe from all of this. She must definitely be enjoying Judy’s fear.

That thought infuriated Judy. With all of her might, she hardened her resolve. She was still scared, but she remembered why she was here: so that Diana wouldn’t ruin her dare streak. There was no way Judy was letting Diana have the last laugh here. 

Plus, her fear of beetles had gone on long enough. How pathetic was she? Her friends and family could all easily toy around with beetles. Some of them even kept them as pets. But she couldn’t even stand to be near them. 

This dare could possibly get rid of her fear of beetles, if she managed to do it.

Come on, Judy, she thought, just make your tongue touch 10 small, tiny, friendly beetles. It’s not that hard.

She slowly bent down and pressed her tongue against the hard shell of one big, black beetle that was the farthest away from the others. Quickly, before processing the taste, before she could even think, she moved her head to press her tongue against another beetle. 

In the small timeframe of her pressing her tongue to the beetle's shell, she noticed that the beetle was rather small. Then she quickly pressed her tongue to another, beetle which was vaguely brownish, and another until she licked 10 beetles. Immediately after, she forcefully jumped back, not letting herself be near the insects for any longer.

Susan worriedly ran up to her, “Are you okay? How do you feel?”

“That," Judy thought about it, "wasn’t as bad as I expected,”

And it wasn’t. The beetle’s hard shell felt smooth on her tongue and none of them had even bitten her. It wasn’t nearly as terrifying as she thought it would be. In fact, now that she looked back on it, the beetles were so meek to her touch that it was actually kind of cute.

Hey, Judy might have even gotten over her fear of beetles.

That thought in mind, Judy got up, brushed her pants, and casually walked toward Diana. Susan faithfully followed her, looking casual and cool as she knew that's what Judy wanted. 

Judy felt smug satisfaction as she saw Diana’s absolutely shocked, mouth wide open face, “Like I said, you’re getting soft. That was the easiest thing I’ve ever done,”

That last part was definitely a stretch, but Judy didn’t really care.

Diana snapped her mouth shut and made a face at Judy, “Well I didn’t think you could do it, but you did. Good job, I suppose. Come on guys, we’re leaving,” She turned around and marched away, her friends following her. Some of them made an attempt to shove Susan, but Susan shoved them back harder.

Once they had all left, Susan asked Judy, “Do you want to go back home and wash your mouth?” But Judy couldn’t respond because she was too busy throwing up.

She might have gotten rid of her fear of beetles, but germs were still germs.

Susan sighed and patted her back, "You should really learn to use your head sometimes, Jude. There's no shame in saying no and walking away,"

Jude figured that Susan was probably right (since she was usually), but the look on Diana's face was something she'd treasure for the rest of her life. Also, there was the fact that she had gotten over her fear of beetles that had haunted her ever since she was a toddler. But mostly the look on Diana's face.