Lacey’s been flitting around school all day today with Pace, flirting with him.
Pace looks a little uncomfortable when they almost run into me in the hall between classes, but Lacey just giggles and wraps her hand around his bicep. A possessive move of hers I know all too well.
I’m sure I’ll hear about it in the locker room. Damon, Pace, and I became fast friends on and off the field when he moved here last year.
He and Damon are both funny and good at playing off each other when they’re joking around. They always make me laugh.
Right now though, I’m not laughing. And it has nothing to do with him.
I haven’t heard from Dani since she left on Sunday. And it’s starting to piss me off.
Especially when the girls in my physics class are going on about how cute it would be if Lacey and Pace dated since their names sort of rhyme and all that.
We get done with class early and are just sitting here, doing nothing. I ask the teacher, who happens to be our offensive line coach, if I can head to practice early. He agrees, so I grab my books, go to the locker room, and am the first one on the field.
I’m warming up when Pace joins me and is like, “Dude, what’s up with you and Lacey?”
“Nothing.”
“So, you broke up?”
“We were never in a relationship. We were just—dating.”
“And are you still just dating?” he asks, starting to look frustrated with me.
“No, we aren’t.”
“Why is she hitting on me? To make you jealous?”
“I don’t think so. She is the one who ended things. What, you don’t like her?”
“I mean, Lacey’s pretty and all, but she’s not really my type. I kind of have my eye on someone here, and I’ve sort of been talking to a girl from South.”
The town we live in is a suburb of Kansas City. It has an old historic downtown, but it’s grown over the years, and it now has three high schools. The original school is called South, the second high school is North, and we go to the newest one, West.
“She’s mad at me,” I tell him. “Partially because I haven’t asked her to Homecoming yet.”
He sits on the grass and does a hurdler’s stretch. “Dude, that’s, like, two months away.”
“Five weeks actually, but yeah. No one is asking anyone yet.”
“That’s because high school relationships are volatile, man. Can’t ask too soon and be stuck with someone you don’t like anymore.” He switches legs and stretches out the other side. “The crazy thing is, I have also heard that Lacey has been inquiring, not so discreetly, about my size.”
“Six foot, one eighty-five. All she has to do is read a game program. Although I think we all know you’re really only five-eleven,” I say with a laugh.
“Yeah, she wasn’t talking about that size.”
I start laughing. “Seriously?”
“Girls, right?” he says, standing up. “I swear, unless you’re in love, the sex almost isn’t worth the hassle sometimes.”
What he says causes me to stop laughing. “Um, Lacey told me she loved me. Before our home opener. But then, on Monday, she saw a photo of me kissing Dani Diamond on my birthday.”
“Ooh-wee,” he says, slapping me on the back. “Damon’s sister is, like, the ultimate hottie. She come back from college or something?”
“Yeah. She’s been my best friend my whole life.”
“Oh, so Lacey didn’t understand that it was just a friendly birthday kiss?” he asks, picking up a football and tossing it to me.
“The kind with tongue,” I say, and then I find myself spilling out details I’ve never really told any of my friends. I mean, Damon and Haley know, but that’s about it. “Before you moved here, our families went on a summer vacation together. We hooked up. Actually, that makes it sound like just a hook-up. It was anything but that.”
He squints his eyes at me. “You love her, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but we’re not together. We were supposed to be.” I tell him about how we were going to start dating, how Lansford asked her to Homecoming early, our subsequent fight, and how we haven’t been best friends since. “The day she left for college, we hugged. We talked on the phone some after that and expressed that we missed each other. Especially the best-friends part.”
“Where does the tongue fit into those parts?” he asks with a smirk.
“You can’t tell anyone this. If Damon hears—”
“I won’t. Trust me. But I bet I can guess. She came back home for your birthday, and you slept with her?”
“Yeah.”
“And now, it’s all up in the air again?”
“Yep.”
“And Lacey saw the photo of you kissing Dani and is trying to make you jealous with me. One of your best friends.”
“That about sums it up,” I say sadly.
“She’s desperate, bro.”
“The bitch of it all is that I like Lacey. I really do. She’s a sweet girl. And I hate that I hurt her.”
He spins the football on his finger and studies my face. “You planning to ask Dani to Homecoming?”
I laugh. “No.”
“Do the right thing then. Ask the sweet girl.”
“She thinks we’ll be Homecoming king and queen. I think this is all part of some high school fantasy of hers.”
“I would think it would be you, me, or Damon as king. Hey, you said you’ve been honest with Lacey about your feelings, so if you can’t give her love but you care about her, at least let the girl have her dream. Do it up big. I’ll help you brainstorm. Or at least watch some YouTube videos. What’s your mom cooking tonight?”
“Fajitas, I think.”
“Perfect. I’ll come home with you after practice. We’ll get Damon and Haley to help us.”
I nod my head. “Yeah, you’re right,” I say because it’s been four days and the girl who I do love still hasn’t found the time to call me.
We brainstorm a little during practice and talk a bit about the logistics of asking her on the field. We stop in Coach’s office.
“Coach,” Damon says, “we want to get your permission on something.”
“What’s that, son?”
“Well,” I say, “I’m going to ask Lacey to Homecoming sometime during the game on Friday. We haven’t worked out all the details yet—”
“But we were sort of thinking, maybe right before the second half starts,” Pace finishes.
“Sure. Why not? As long as she’s going to say yes. We don’t need Mackenzie crying under the bleachers if she says no.”
“They’ve been dating since last year, Coach,” Damon says.
“Except that she’s been flirting with Pace here for most of this week because she saw a photo of Damon’s sister kissing Chase on his birthday,” Coach replies.
“Do you know everything, sir?” I ask.
“I sure do,” he replies. “Now, get the hell out of my office.”
After practice, the three of us go to my house. Dinner is a pretty quick meal because Madden has a football game. I tell Mom that we’ll clean up, so they won’t be late, and we sit around the kitchen table, still eating. Dani’s name is mocking me just above my place mat, and irritated, I cover it up.
“So,” Damon says to me, “you want it to be big. On the field. In front of everyone? Or do you, like, want to take her off to the side and ask in private?”
“In front of everyone,” I say. “And there has to be roses involved.”
“And probably a glitter sign,” Pace says with a sigh. “Do you have any glitter?”
“I’m sure my sister does.”
“Excellent,” Pace says. “She needs to help us.”
Damon shouts out, “Hay Girl, get down here! We need you.”
Haley comes halfway down the stairs, phone in her hand.
What? she mouths.
“Get off the phone and come help us plan a homecoming proposal,” Damon says.
“Oh!” she says excitedly and then tells whoever she’s talking to that she’ll call them back. She rushes over and takes a seat next to Pace. “Who are you all asking?”
“Well, for right now, we just need a plan for Chase,” Pace tells her. “I have a girl I like, but I’m not sure if she likes me.”
“You’re adorable, Pace,” Haley says. “I don’t know why she wouldn’t. And what about you, Damon?”
“You know, I was just sitting here, thinking Chase might be on to something with this asking-early thing.”
“Well, sure,” Haley says. “Girls love it. They know if they are going to have a date, so they can plan. They can start shopping. All that stuff.”
“And I get pick of the litter.”
We hear scratching on the back door and see Angel and Winger on the deck, wanting in. They are panting, and I know, earlier, they were chasing each other in the backyard. But I thought Ryder was out there with them.
I stand up and go look out into the backyard. I’m actually surprised he didn’t go to the game with my parents. Usually, we all go, but Madden sprained his wrist last week and has to sit out for a few games.
I open the door and let the pups in, giving them lots of love, and then look out to see where Ryder is. When I don’t see him, I turn back and ask Haley if he was going somewhere.
“Not that I know of,” she says. “I thought he was out with the dogs.”
“I’m going to go check on him. Keep brainstorming.”
I go out onto the deck and then down the stairs. I still don’t see him, but I hear giggling coming from the tree house that’s built into the play set and head that way. What I find is Ryder sitting in it—with a girl.
They are kissing, and he’s got his hand up under her shirt.
I clear my throat.
The girl notices me first, blushes furiously, and quickly backs away from Ryder. I know he’s in the eighth grade, and I know that Damon and I were doing things like this back then, but it sort of freaks me out a little. Mostly because I never did talk to him after he walked in on Lacey and me last week.
“Um, I just wanted to tell you that I let the dogs in. They were at the door.”
“Cool,” Ryder says, seemingly not the least bit embarrassed.
“We’re eating chips and queso and planning homecoming proposals. You two want to come in and help us?”
“No,” Ryder says, but the girl goes, “Ohmigosh, yes!”
“Awesome,” I say to her. “I’m Chase.”
“Oh, I know who you are. I’m Sasha. I’m a cheerleader.”
“Nice to meet you, Sasha.”
She goes down the slide to exit the tree house. Ryder is still sitting in there, pouting.
“You suck,” he whispers to me.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think you should be out here alone with that girl.”
“You’re one to talk,” he sasses.
“Actually, I am. And if you don’t do as I say, Mom’s the one I’m going to be talking to.”
He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Fine. Did I get you in trouble the other night? Is that why you’re trying to ruin my life?”
I can’t help but laugh as I watch the girl skip toward the stairs. “She’s going to hear about romantic high school homecoming proposals. You have an eighth-grade formal coming up, don’t you?”
“Yeah, so?”
“You going to ask her?”
He shrugs. “Depends on if she lets me put my hand up her shirt again.”
“I really hope you’re just joking about that.”
Ryder grins at me. “I am. I actually really like her. And, yes, I hope she will be my girlfriend soon.”
“Why haven’t you asked her already?”
“It’s new-ish.”
When he gets out of the tree house, I rub my hand across his hair and tease him. “My little bro is growing up.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he says.
When we get back inside, the girl is already sitting next to Haley, talking excitedly.
“Sasha was thinking you should do a cheer, Chase,” Haley says.
“A cheer?”
“Yeah, like one of those, I’ve got spirit. I’ve got class. Boys want to touch my—uh, maybe not.”
The girl, Sasha, goes, “Actually, something more like this: Say, hey, hey, my name is Chase. I am the greatest. And I’m looking for a homecoming date-est.
So, hey. Hey, hey, Lacey. Yeah, yeah, hey, Lacey.
You’re captain. And just gorgeous. And I think I need a little chorus.
And then, like, all the guys would start chanting with you, going:
Hey, hey, Lacey, Yeah, yeah, hey, Lacey.
He’s got roses. And a suit. Now, all he needs. Is you.
Hey, hey, Lacey, Yeah, yeah, hey, Lacey.
What do you say? Hey, hey, Lacey?
“And then you’d pull out a sparkly glittered sign spelling out Homecoming with a question mark.”
Pace looks at her in disbelief. “Did you literally just make that all up, like, just now?”
“Uh, yeah,” she says, blushing again.
“Girl, that’s the bomb. You’re amazing.”
“Thank you,” she says.
“That was awesome,” Haley says diplomatically. “We’ll let Chase hear all our ideas, and then he can decide. Damon, you’re up.”
“Oh, yeah, mine is awesome. It’s this.” He holds out a sign that he’s written: Hey, HO. COme with me? “Get it? The big letters spell out HOCO for homecoming.”
Sasha shakes her head at him and says very seriously, “That’s not a sign she could save to show her children. Let alone post on her social media, where her grandmother—or worse, her father—might see.”
“True that,” Ryder says, trying to sound cool.
It’s hard not to burst out in laughter.
Damon grins at me and then slaps Ryder on the back. “What do you think he should do?”
“I’d do it right after the cheerleaders do their halftime performance. Go out onto the field, in your full uniform but with your helmet off, and just stand in front of her, smile at her, and hold up the sign. Oh, and I’d probably take flowers. Roses.”
“Oh,” Sasha says with a sigh, her hands clasped in front of her. “It’s perfect.”
“Hay Girl, you’re up,” Damon says.
“Okay, so I was thinking of using your name,” Haley says. “Something like, I’m up for the Chase.”
“More like Chase-ing tail,” Damon mutters, which earns him a smack on the arm from my sister.
“It’s like an apology and a proposal, all in one,” Haley counters. “I heard she saw the photo I took of you kissing Dani. I’m sorry about that. I showed a friend, and that was a mistake. She’s also not my friend anymore, but whatever.”
“I like it,” I tell her. “Thanks, really. I love all your ideas.”
“Oh, wait,” Pace says. “We’ve saved the best for last.”
“We have?” Haley and Damon say at the same time.
“We thought you couldn’t come up with anything,” Haley says.
“That’s because I have been busy, working on my phone. Do any of you know what’s happening at the game on Friday night?”
“We’re going to kick Brookville’s ass?” Damon asks.
“It’s Senior Night,” Sasha and Haley say at the same time.
Sasha continues, “It’s a big deal.”
“That’s this week!” Haley says, getting excited.
“The tradition gets flipped, right?” I asks.
“Yes,” Haley says. “Instead of the cheerleaders and dance team lining up for your entrance onto the field, you line up for us, and we run out through the jaguar head and the streamer banner.”
“Exactly,” Pace says. “And the head cheerleader is always the first one through. That’d be Lacey, if you haven’t been keeping up,” he says, turning to Sasha and Ryder.
“And I’ll be standing there, waiting for her. With a sign that says, Lacey, I’m Chase-ing you. Homecoming?” I look at my little brother. He doesn’t know that Lacey told me she wanted roses. “And you’re right, Ryder,” I say, fist-bumping him. “I should have a bouquet of roses for her.”
He gives me a grin and wraps his arm around the back of Sasha’s chair. She leans close to him and whispers something in his ear that causes his smile to grow wider.
Hopefully, his smile is the only thing that’s growing right now.
And it makes me wonder if Dad has had the whole sex talk with him yet. Surely, he has, but just in case, I should probably offer a little brotherly advice. Although, right now might not be the best time. I’d tell him to keep it in his pants because love is complicated and hurts way too much.
“Now, we just need a sign,” Haley says.
“You got any glitter?” I ask her.
She rolls her eyes. “I’m a competitive cheerleader and a crafter. You really think I don’t have glitter?”
