The Other Side

Twenty-Three

Darnell's POV
HOMECOMING

"Aye! What's up?" I chase Jayda down as she makes her way across the courtyard.

She's been pretty low key since her birthday fiasco. I've been wanting to talk to her about the whole thing but it's been a week since I've seen her.

"What's up?" She responds and I can tell she's embarrassed.

"What you got planned for homecoming weekend?" I ask.

"Probably watch Notebook and eat ice cream." She says seriously.

"C'mon Jayda. That's not you. You're the life of the party. You are the party. What's going on?" I reply and she finally stops walking.

"My embarrassing ass ex-boyfriend happened." She mumbles and I shrug.

"Look, that boy is a dumb ass. You're way too lit for clowns like him anyway."

She forces a tiny smile. "Thanks."

"I mean it. And there's no way I'm letting you skip out on the dance. Why don't you and I go?" I ask and she looks as if she's trying to figure out if I'm for-real.

She sighs. "I'm really not in the partying mood."

"It's been two weeks since your birthday dinner. You're definitely in the mood. You just don't know it yet." I say and she laughs.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" I mock her and she laughs harder.

"Fine. We can go to the dance together." She finally agrees and I smile before walking her to her dorm room.

"Is Liv here?" I ask as we reach her door.

"Probably not. She answers before opening her door and seeing that Liv is not in the room.

"That's because she's always in our room. I don't think her and Spencer spends more than a day apart now." I say and Jayda just laughs.

"Spencer needs her more than ever right now. Plus, he likes having her there. I'm sure."

I nod in agreement. I won't argue that he enjoys having her around.

"Last week was shark week. It was like a nerd convention with those two in the room. They watched every episode twice." I say seriously before we both start to laugh.

"They actually asked me to join them for shark week." She chuckles.

"Look, I don't know what you and Spencer had, but I just want to take you to the dance so we can have fun. After the way your ex treated you, I know you deserve way better." I say seriously before reaching out for a hug.

She embraces me before I leave for football practice.

At practice, I'm getting a lot more reps with our starting quarterback Trey Five out. But with Jordan playing well two weeks in a row, I know it's not likely I'll be starting any time soon. But I'll keep preparing and getting ready for my turn.

When practice is over, Jordan, Spencer and myself walk to dinner.

"I know it's been business as usual, but I want to apologize for everything I said a few weeks ago." Jordan says to Spencer and I never even realized they had a problem. Especially because they have been on fire on the field together.

"It was a lot happening that night. I'm just glad you had my back when I needed it most." They shake hands and I smile.

"Well, since we're all being honest with each other, I've been thinking about taking my talents to Westmont. They need a quarterback for next year. And I don't mean any harm, but I didn't come here to sit on the bench." I admit and they both look at me oddly.

It's like they're trying to figure out if I'm serious or not.

"Are you serious?" Jordan ask.

"Yeah."

"But your dream was to play at UCLA." Spencer adds.

"Key word. Play. I ain't playing shit." I answer. "Besides, word around the locker is that Jordan's going to hold down the position even when Five gets back."

"Word!" Spencer says.

"I'm hearing that too." Jordan says excitedly.

"Aye, you deserve it bro!" I shake his hand.

"Just promise us you'll think about staying before you make any decisions." Jordan says and I shake his hand before Spencer and I embrace.

"Anymore confessions?" Spencer says to the both of us and I feel like it's the perfect time to tell him.

"I asked Jayda to the dance." I admit.

"Wait, so are y'all like a thing?" Jordan ask and I look for Spencer's reaction.

"Nah. It's too early for that. I just hated seeing her so down. So I asked her out. She deserves to be happy again." I answer.

"I think that's good for the both of you." Spencer says sincerely and I sigh in relief. "Her ex-boyfriend is an idiot."

"Absolutely!" I agree. "Who y'all going to the dance with?"

"I'm flying solo this year! Keeping my options open." Jordan pops his collar and I laugh.

"Me and Liv are kicking it after the game." Spencer answers.

"So you'd rather hang with Liv, then go see all the beautiful college girls shake their asses?" Jordan ask and we laugh.

"Yes. I'd rather hang with my friend. Sorry not sorry." Spencer answers smartly.

"You do realize you're a top ten player right now?" Jordan ask and Spencer shrugs.

"Yeah. And?"

"Top Ten girls." Jordan answers seriously.

"You're sick! You know that right?" Spencer tells him as we find a seat in the dining hall and begin to eat.

In the middle of our meal, a young girl with tan skin and blue eyes walks up and greets us. She has two other girls behind her.

"Hey boys!" She says and we all speak back.

"Can we help you?" I ask her.

"We were wondering if you all wanted to come hang out with us?" She says and Jordan lets out a huge smile before taking a few final bites of his food.

"Lets go boys!" He jumps up and Spencer stands to his feet right before me.

"Nah, I'm good. I'm going to hang with Liv." He admits and I think about what I want to do.

"C'mon!" Jordan says to me enthusiastically.

"Nah, I'm good too. I'm going to hit up Jayda and see what she's doing." I say before Spencer and I leave.

That night, I went to Jayda's room and we must've talked for eight hours straight. She's as beautiful inside as she is out.

Asking her to homecoming may have been the smartest thing I've done since coming to UCLA.