Read Promise: The Scarred Girl for Free Online

drink wine while looking out through the window at night when they thought she was asleep. If Nea came to them, they always gave her grape juice to drink instead of wine. However, once she was allowed to taste the wine but it tasted so sour she never asked for it again and was fully satisfied with her sweet grape juice.
    Nea’s head is spinning, as if she had just stepped off a roller coaster. She could barely keep her glass of wine straight. But, she was nice and warm. So hot that her jacket was in the corner next to Miro’s sweater. He just sat in his white undershirt, which was dotted with dark red spots. On his right arm was a little black N, a tattoo of Nea’s first initial. Nea had refused to get a tattoo of an M. He was so offended that he would not speak to her for three days.
    Nea never regretted her decision. She knows that Miro will always be by her side, so she has no need of a tattoo with his initials.
    They found the two bottles of wine in a box they stole from a dealer. At first she drank slowly, but now she empties one glass after the other. They placed the first bottle on the floor and started to play a game, Truth or Dare.
    To Nea’s regret, they did not play alone, but with three other teenagers. Two boys and a girl. She hated having to share Miro. But even now, she hated seeing the other girl clinging to Miro’s neck; she was like a leech stuck to him, her long blond hair falling over his bare shoulders. All the time she looked at Miro and then would whisper into his ear, then Miro would giggle. Nea hated that Miro would laugh every time.
    Now the blonde’s turn came. She was already so drunk that she could barely spin the empty bottle.
    “Whoever this bottle points to, Nea must kiss,” the blonde stammered and sent a spiteful look in Nea’s direction, in protest, Nea crossed her arms over her chest.
    The bottle turned in a circle, while Nea looked at the bottle; Miro was disinterested and shrugged his shoulders. When the bottle stopped and pointed to one of the strange boys, the blonde broke out into peals of laughter. Nea’s only thought was of her escape. As if bit by a tarantula, she jumped up. “No way!”
    “Spoilsport!” hissed the blonde.
    “If you’re so keen on it, you kiss him!”
    “But you have to kiss him, those are the rules.”
    Nea had never kissed a boy before, not even Miro. Miro however had already kissed so many girls that Nea had stopped counting. She no longer wanted to know how many he had kissed. Nevertheless, she did not want her first kiss to be some random idiot.
    Seeking help, she looked at Miro, but he only raised his eyebrows. “You know the rules.”
    Did it not matter to him? Or was she really behaving like a little girl? Maybe it was time for her to grow up. What was the big deal? It’s not like she was going to sleep with the boy, only kiss him.
    Hesitantly she brushed her curly brown hair behind her ear. Although she felt a blush shoot through her cheeks, she sat down in front of the strange boy. He had neither Miro’s blue eyes nor his slightly crooked nose. Instead, his eyes were a turbid mouse gray and his nose was so wide, as if someone had pushed it flat. Nea was not ready for her first kiss, she had always thought it would be with someone special, with someone who loved her.
    She leaned forward slightly.
    “Okay Nea, that's enough,” she now heard Miro laugh. She turned to face him interrogatively. The blonde looked just as confused as Nea, the two boys also looked puzzled. The only one to think it was a joke was Miro. “Did you really think you’d have to kiss him?”
    Now the blonde began to giggle again, Nea instantly felt very stupid. Miro often made jokes around others. Out of anger, Nea forgot to be relieved about not having to kiss the strange boy.
    “No, as if I would do a thing like that,” Nea said, defending herself.
    “If I had not said anything, would you have gone and kissed him?” Miro asked with a grin on his face, but his