Head back to the lounge.

You try to conceal what happened, but it doesn’t really work—you’re walking gingerly and your face is still a little red from lack of air. The girls meet you at the lounge door to escort you back inside, and it’s immediately obvious to all of them that something has gone wrong for you.

“Uh-oh, looks like our illustrious Champ doesn’t take kindly to panty-snatchers,” Angelica taunts in a singsong.

Melody shrugs. “I can’t say I’m surprised. It’s never a good idea to cross her.”

That’s an understatement if ever you’ve heard one.

“But I guess this game is all about making people do things that are usually bad ideas,” she continues pensively.

“What exactly happened?” Kayla is leaning forward attentively, eyes glittering with curiosity.

If she’s fishing for information, there’s not much you can tell her that she doesn’t already know. Your statement is terse and short: “I woke her up while trying to sneak out, and then when she confronted me, I got overconfident. She decided to teach me a lesson.”

“Oooh, what’d she hit you with?” Dinah asks, sounding entirely too excited for your tastes. “Dragon sleeper? Guillotine ****?”

You sigh in exasperation. “Reverse headscissors.”

“Awesome,” she says gleefully, sounding for a moment like the fangirl she started out as instead of the fighter she is now. “Well, prob’ly not for you, but still.”

“Might not be so awesome for you, either,” you warn. “Because she also demanded that I owe her a favor. Callable at any time, for anything. If she decides to send me to interfere in one of your matches, it’s that or I end up right back in between those thighs.”

That, you notice with a certain amount of grim satisfaction, wipes the smiles off their faces in a hurry.

“I’m sorry, John,” Angelica says, sounding much more sincere than you expected. “I thought she’d just knock you around a little, not keep something like this hanging over your head.”

You shrug. “Yeah, well, I knew getting caught was a risk when I took the dare. It sucks, but I can live with it. Just watch your back from now on.”

Angelica nods somberly. “I will.”

With the last dare completed and the participants a little on edge, the game winds down and you find yourself wandering off. Maybe you can find something else at the party to take your mind off things.