𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗬 ᵖᵃⁱᵍᵉ ᵇᵘᵉᶜᵏᵉʳˢ

CHAPTER THREE, homecoming proposals

"Follow back" It was like those two words were haunting her as Delilah tried to get through practice without thinking about the blonde basketball star who probably didn't even think twice about following her.

Did she even want to follow paige back? I mean sure they had known eachother for years but like, they way they had ended their friendship she wasn't sure she wanted to make amends.

"God I hate spanish." Eighteen year old Delilah Sinclair sighed, leaning her head on her friend Abigail's shoulder in frustration. They had had a pop quiz that day and Delilah hadn't studied at all so she was almost convinced she failed it with at most a twenty. Now that Delilah thought about it she had actually gotten a ninety on the quiz.

"Come on I'm sure you did fine. Now stop walking so slow, if we don't hurry up and get to the cafeteria we're gonna have to sit at the end of the table." Abigail groaned, shoving Lila's head off of her shoulder and pulling her elbow forward to make her walk faster.

"We never sit at the end of the table and we're always late to lunch." Delilah argued, picking up her walking speed. "Well you don't because Paige always saves you a seat or makes someone save you a seat but I for one have had to sit at the end of the table multiple times. Thank you very much."

Delilah shrugged, not wanting to argue anymore because everything she was saying was completely true. "I'll tell Paige to start saving two seats from now on then."

Once the girls finally got into the cafeteria, Delilah immediately noticed her blonde best friend. She had her back to her so the volleyball player took the chance to get a running start towards the girl.

Paige yelped, nearly toppling over at the weight of the blonde almost tackling her to the floor. "What the hell." She tried turning her head to see who was on her back while trying to shake them off.

"Hi." Lila whispered right in her friends ear before blowing into it. Paige stopped trying to shake the body off her back and instead helped Delilah steady herself on her back. "Whatcha doin Lila."  Delilah ran her hand through the blondes hair before smacking the back of her head and jumping off her back. "Just saying hi."

"You couldn't have just said hi?" Paige wrapped her arm around her fellow blondes shoulders. She always claimed that physical touch was her love language but everyone knew that it was only for Delilah.

"Nope that's to basic." Delilah started fidgeting with the string of paige's hoodie as they sat down, a nervous tick she had gained over the years. "U good?" Paige asked slowly, her arm still wrapped around Delilah as she let her head drop to lean on Paige's chest letting a sigh of frustration leave her lips as she did so.

"My moms gonna be so pissed about me failing that Spanish quiz."

"I'm sure you did fine." Paige said confidently. Delilah just groaned and buried her head into her shoulder, not believing the girl.

"Um, hey Delilah can I talk to you for a second?" Julian Masons, a boy they had known since sixth grade awkwardly asked after tapping on the girls shoulder. He tried not to shiver while avoiding the blonde next to the girl he was talking to's glare.

"Yeah definitely, what's up?" Delilah asked, not moving from her spot next to Paige. Julian looked if possible even more uncomfortable. "Can we talk away from here?" He asked, attempting to get away from the blonde basketball player who was staring daggers into his soul.

"Oh, um yeah sure." Delilah agreed hesitantly saying a quick "i'll be right back" to Paige before leaving with the boy, the blonde watching her go.

"Do you remember that time in Ninth grade when I asked you out to the homecoming football game and you rejected me?" Wow. What a way to start a conversation, Julian.

"Um, yeah? Why?" Delilah asked, trying to sound as polite as possible. "Don't worry i'm not asking you to homecoming i'm just the decoy." Julian answered honestly. But the thought had crossed Delilah's mind as he asked her to step away from all of her friends. I mean it was homecoming season and everything.

They were still in the cafeteria and she was sure if she turned around she would see her friends staring at what was going on.

And she was right, kinda. It was only Paige. Staring daggers into her back.

"What do you mean decoy?" Delilah asked, suddenly confused. The cafeteria suddenly got a lot louder. She heard one of the girls at the lunch table next to them gasp.

Delilah turned around as she saw Julian's eyes flicker behind her from where he stood in front of her, facing her old table. Her eyes widened when a sign was shoved in her face.

Well not actually but you get the picture. The picture being a football jock, Tyler Wayne holding up a sign that read "I'd dig it if you went to homecoming with me" with a bunch of little volleyballs on it.

Delilah tried to hide her shock from the proposal. I mean it was her final homecoming, she was used to the cringy signs and awkward proposals but that didn't mean she expected it.

She and Paige had actually talked about going together the other day. As friends of course but only if neither were asked. Which i guess meant that they weren't going together.

Delilah laughed awkwardly and nodded her head, saying a quiet yes before excepting the sign while hugging Tyler. They took a picture together before Delilah left for her lunch table again, grinning giddily as she set the sign down by her seat.

The girls around her were all riled up and excited for her. Except one. Paige picked at her food angrily.

Delilah made a mental note to ask her about it later after school.

"Follow back"

She clicked it.

Done. It was over. She did it.

Deciding against doing a deep dive into Paige's personal instagram over the past few months, Delilah shut her phone off. She had already called Drew that night so she didn't have to worry about disappearing on him. So she just decided it would be best to go to bed.