Every Little Thing

Setting Things Into Motion?

The week went by both incredibly fast and incredibly slow. How exactly that works, I have no clue. Most of the conversation was centered around the homecoming game and dance. Well, Amy and Lily mostly talked about the dance. They talked about how excited they were and the decorations for it, being that the cheerleaders were in charge of getting the gym set up. Thank God the school had a large squad, or the team would have to help out. Don't get me wrong, I have no problems helping out, but the rest of the team would be a bunch of complaining cry babies about it. The only reason I know this is because in my sophomore year, the team had to help, and my God, it was like they were being tortured or something.

Anyway, it was now Friday morning, and the entire school was buzzing about the impending game. Jace, Kole, and I were standing by the lockers waiting for the girls. Much like we had been on the first day of school, and really pretty much every day after that. We all wore our respective home jerseys, like we would normally do when we had a game. Today, however, was a little different. With it being homecoming, there was a little tradition that we had, one that I had never taken part in till now.

As the doors opened, the squad made their grand entrance. Each one was in their uniform and school colored makeup, mainly by means of eye shadow, though. My eyes instantly landed on Lily, having to force down the smile that tried to push its way through at the sight of her. She looked incredibly beautiful with her hair tied back from her face and the soft yet bold makeup framing her stunning eyes. Our school colors are gold and blue, so she had gold liner with a soft blue shadow that just made her eyes pop.

"Hey stud." She teased as she approached me and nudged me. "Was that an attempt at a Greece reference?" I questioned with a roll of my eyes, trying to ignore Jace and Amy who were all over each other next to us. "Maybe...was it bad?" She chuckled out and adjusted her backpack on her shoulder. "I'll give you an A for effort." I chuckled out and shook my head. "Are you ready for the big tradition?" I questioned with a tilt of my head. "Yeah! Well, I would be if someone would tell me what the hell this tradition is!" She laughed out and started to walk off towards her locker.

Following behind her, I shrugged and glanced back at Jace and Amy, who were also following. "Well, it's part of the tradition for cheerleaders, I guess. Newbies don't know about it ahead of time to not ruin the surprise." I said with a shrug as we approached hers and Amy's lockers. "Well that's dumb. You know I hate surprises." She chuckled out with a light smile in my direction. Tilting my head, I watched as she entered in her combination. As she opened her locker and took her bag off I watched as she looked up, faltering a bit as a confused looked crossed her face.

I could see the gears turning in her head as she registered what she was looking at. Soon, a smile started to form on her lips as she reached out and pulled a jersey from her locker, my away jersey. "Caleb...you...your giving me this to wear?" She asked as she held the jersey up to look at. My number, 14, and my last name were printed in bold on the back. "Only if you want to." I told her honestly. "Of course I do!" She squeaked out and literally jumped on me, hugging me tight. Smiling wide I wrapped my arms firmly around her waist, chuckling lightly before setting her down.

"This is the tradition. The players pick the person they are closest to and have them wear their away jersey the day of the homecoming game. This is actually the first year Caleb has participated." Jace said with a shit eating grin. "Wait... really?" Lily questioned as she looked between Jace and I. I've never wanted to smack Jace more in that moment. "Uhh... yeah." I said quietly and leaned against the lockers. Lily had this light smile and unreadable expression on her face as she looked at me. "What are you waiting for, girl? Put it on!" Amy chirped as she put Jace's jersey on.

Lily giggled lightly and carefully put my jersey on, being careful of her hair. Holy shit did she look adorable, nearly drowning in my jersey, and I had to fight the urge to laugh. Reaching over, I took her hand and carefully pulled the hair tie from her wrist before moving behind her. "You look like a toddler." I teased quietly with a light chuckle as I tied the back for her and tucked the excess up to hide it. "Don't be an ass." She laughed out, shaking her head at me.

"It's my default." I stated in an amused tone before stepping away from her. "See you during free period!" Jace called out as he and Amy started making their way to their first class. Looking down at Lily, I gave her a bright smile and motioned towards our first class. "Ready to tackle this half day?" I questioned, feeling like I was on cloud nine seeing her in my jersey. I had decided over the last week that I would tell her how I feel at the dance tonight, and this was sort of my first step in gaining the confidence to actually go through with it.