At The Crossroads Of Boys

Chapter Two: Club Verona

Morning classes passed by quickly for me. English III Honors had been interesting, due to our debate on the meaning of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird. I had stayed quiet, just listening to the arguments.

I was now at lunch, picking at a cafeteria Caesar salad. My lemonade stood next to my tray. I took a swing, and went back to biting on a piece of lettuce. I suddenly felt my table shift with the weight of another human being. I looked over, and was met with startling brown eyes.

"Hey." Jesse Donavan said, looking at me with a sincere smile. I sheepishly waved, and swallowed the food in my mouth.

"Hi." I said quietly, after I had finished eating. Jesse was still smiling at me.

"So, I know this is sort of last minute, and awkward, but I was wondering if you wanted to go to homecoming with me?" Jesse said, giving me a half smile that bled innocence.

"Jesse, what is 3 times 5 divided by 1?" I asked the quarterback. He gave me a confused look, but attempted the question anyway.

"Two?" He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Jesse, I'm sorry, but I can't go to homecoming with you. It's nothing personal, but I'm just not interested." I told him, grabbing my meal and my purse. Jesse nodded sullenly, and got up. I went and threw my trash away, gaining a few glares from varsity cheerleaders as I passed.

I really didn't know what they saw in Jesse. He had no ambition put towards his schoolwork. I wasn't the smartest person in the world, but at least I applied myself. Noticing Kaitlyn's exotic colored shirt next to the other members of the girls varsity tennis team, I walked over and greeted them.

"What's up?" I asked as I approached my teammates. Davie, my co-captain waved and patted the seat next to her. I sat down.

Portia, Davie's doubles partner, spoke to me first.

"I heard you turned down Jesse Donavan's invitation to homecoming. Why did you?" She asked me. Man, news traveled around this school quickly. I had only turned him down, like, six minutes ago.

"He's not really my type. Too athletic." I covered. Having a secret boyfriend made lying all the bit harder.

"Ohhh, so he's totally free and hurting. Perfect target for a desperate date." Portia said, before grabbing all her stuff and dashing towards the jock table. I just shook my head, my curls falling into my face.

"Sooo, who is he?" Kaitlyn asked me, once she had drug me away from the tennis team. I looked at her confused, but she gave a blank stare back.

"Okay, there's a guy. He goes to Riverside and he's a senior." I said. Dear god I hated lying to my BFF, but what else could I do? Kaitlyn would so spill the bean's to my parents about I and Xavier if she knew. Besides, she also knew his reputation, and whenever his name was brought up in a conversation, she always scoffed and rolled her ice blue eyes.

"Oh, give me a name. Is he tall and muscular, is he athletic, what color is his hair?" she pestered me. I groaned, but gave her the details.

"He's tall, muscular, played soccer and swim team, and has dark brown hair and hazel eyes. His name will remain unknown." I described Xavier, but in a more subtle and unsexy way.

"Fine, be that way. But is he taking you to his homecoming?" she kept asking, and I shook my head.

"No, we are just going to hang. By the way, can you cover for me tonight? I'm going out with him. Homecoming is covered because I pulled the Julia sleepover card." I said, and Kaitlyn nodded. She knew my Julia cover up story was a scam for me to go party at the club or go out late with friends, which on most occasions I ended up exhausted and passed out at Kaitlyn's house. Her parents were gone half the time anyway. Traveling art salespeople. It was a family business.