The Last Dare of His Life

      “I dare you to steal Mr. Schwartz’s medication,” Miguel said.

           “What are they for?” I asked.

           He said he didn’t know.

           “Nevermind. Let’s do truth instead,” I demanded.

           “Too late. I already gave you the dare. You can’t change it now,” he stated with a grin.

It seemed like a fun enough prank. So I took the pills out of his drawer and shoved them into my jacket pocket. No one liked Mr. Schwartz since the prostitution rumors started. Someone brought a clipping in of a news article that was titled Local Teacher One of 15 Arrested in Human Trafficking Bust. One of the men named in the article was Edward Schwartz. None of us could figure out why he still had a job teaching with an arrest like that on his record. It didn’t hurt my feelings that he would have to pay for another prescription of whatever those pills were.

           Rrrrrinnngggg, the first-period bell rang. We all shuffled out of the class in a hurried and unorganized fashion. We had four minutes to reach our next class, but it never seemed like enough time. Miguel and I would run to our next class and discuss what kind of trouble we could get ourselves into. Once we sat down at our desks, Miguel pulled a travel-sized bottle out of his pocket.

           “My turn to prank someone,” he said.

           “What are you going to do with that?” I asked him.

           “It’s an early birthday gift for Miss Quevada,” he replied.

Miss Quevada had the gnarliest breath on the planet. She wore braces still and had plaque build-up on her teeth that almost overtook the braces.

           “Let’s get started class. I have your notes written on the chalkboard so start writing them down” said Miss Quevada.

           Miguel raised his hand.

           “What can I do for you, Mr. Villanueva?”

           “Don’t you have a birthday coming up?” he asked.

           “I don’t see how that is relevant to our class Miguel.” She responded.

           “Well, the class wanted to give you an early birthday gift.” He said as he stood up and began walking in her direction. He pulled the Listerine out of his pocket and handed it to her.

           “Happy Birthday Miss Quevada!” Miguel shouted.

           Miss Quevada immediately started crying.

           “It’s not nice to make fun of people Miguel. Do you know that I have health issues? This is the reason I try to keep my distance from all of you. My health condition causes halitosis, and I can’t do anything about it.”

           “What’s hollertoastsis?” Miguel asked.

           “HALITOSIS makes your breath….unpleasent” she replied. “Now head to the counseling office.”

           She filled out a pass and handed it to Miguel. As much as I enjoyed our shenanigans, Miguel was usually the instigator. It got old at times. I was slightly relieved that I could just focus on taking my notes. We were allowed to use them on all of her tests so I always kept a pad of carbon paper with me. That way there would be a duplicate copy of all the notes I took. He was always the one getting into trouble, and I was always the one prepared for it.

           It was nearing the end of the second period. The silence of the class was shattered by the sound of approaching emergency vehicle’s sirens. It’s probably another overdose, I thought to myself. The sound of the sirens got closer and closer until the first ambulance stopped in front of our school. Then I saw the vice principal run out to guide the EMTs into the school. There was a lot of chatter in the room now, everyone curious about what was going on. A firetruck pulled in next, followed by a few police cars.

           A voice on the school's PA system said, “Damien Machado, please come to the front office. Damien Machado, please come to the front office. Thank you.”

           Why would they be calling me to the front office, I wondered. I collected my things and began to head out of the classroom. As I entered the hallway, the paramedics passed by with a body that was covered by a sheet. Someone must have died. I began to think that Miss Gweniveir must have passed on. She was 98 years old. She always said she would teach until the day she passed on. It had to be her, I thought. When I got to the first floor I could see police officers in the hall blocking the front office.

           “That’s Damien.” The secretary said as she pointed me out to the police officers. They ran toward me. One grabbed my bag as another officer patted me down. They found the pills I had already forgotten about in my jacket pocket.

           “Here they are Captain,” said the officer after reading the prescription label.

           “You are under arrest Damien.”

           “For what?” I asked.

           “For murder.”

           “But I didn’t kill anyone!” I proclaimed.

           The officer began reading me my rights just like in the movies. Everything started making sense. Shit. Was that Mr. Schwartz? Did he die because he didn’t have these pills? It was just a prank, I'm sure this will be fine. I'll just explain what happened.

           Before I could start explaining myself to the officer, he said, “Your teacher Mr. Schwartz was found collapsed in the hallway by a classmate on the way to the front office. He told the principal that Mr. Schwartz was laying in the hall and he thought he was dead. Your principal ran down to find that Mr. Schwartz was unresponsive and called us. He went into the classroom where one of the students mentioned that Mr. Schwartz didn’t look great, and he was frantically searching his desk drawer for something before leaving the room. Miguel here told us that it must have been the pills you stole that he was looking for. The paramedics arrived too late. Mr. Schwartz is now deceased” the officer explained.

           The police officers walked me outside after a while. I was placed into the back of a squad car. I couldn’t believe that my little prank was the cause of death for another human being. Even worse, it was my friend's idea, and I didn’t want to do it. I should have stuck to my guns on that one.