Hearts Afar

...17...

...17...

When I was finally able to go back to school, Jesse was standing at my locker with a smile on his face. I smiled shyly at him the closer I got.

    “She lives,” he said, a little over dramatic.

    “She had the flu,” I said, spinning my combination in.

    “That blows. And you have two days until the weekend. And next week is Spirit Week.”

    “And that means that I have to work overtime on my dancing so I can be ready for the Homecoming game.”

    “You’re a dancer?” he questioned.

    “You seemed to know a lot about me from Clay and Brent. Did they not tell you that?” I joked.

    “No,” he smiled. “They seemed to have left that bit out.”

    “So, were you waiting here for a particular reason or what?” I asked, sounding a bit snippy.

    “Woah, where’s the 'tude coming from?”

    “Sorry,” I apologized. “Still feeling bad from all the medicine I was on.”

    “Understandable. And yes, there was a particular reason I was waiting here. I was waiting here for you. And...”

    “Ah ha.”

    “Since next week is homecoming and I feel you owe me since I carried you to the nurse,” he started and then shot me a sly grin. “I was wondering if you would like to go to the Homecoming dance with me Saturday night.”

    “Really?” I asked, smiling. “Why would you want to go with me?”

    “You really have to ask something like that?” he asked, earning a nod from me. “Well, you’re hot and I’m hot and why shouldn’t two hot people go to the dance together.”

    “That’s your take,” I said, pulling my books out and closing my locker back.

    “Yep,” he grinned.

    “I don’t know, Jesse.”

    “Aw, come on, Claire. Have you even been asked yet?”

    “Considering I’ve been out of school for the past three days, no.”

    “Claire, I might kind of like you so why don’t I give you the weekend to think about it and you give me an answer bright and early Monday morning?”

    “Okay,” I agreed.

    “Great,” he smiled and turned around but stopped. “Oh, by the way, if you say yes, you get to wear my jersey to the game,” he said and walked away.

I learned right there that he was a football player. I wasn’t really into jocks but I kind of liked Jesse to. He was a little more forward than I liked but he seemed like a nice guy. I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to the dance with him or not. I hadn’t even thought about it until he asked me. If I did agree to go, I needed to go get a dress.

As the day wore on, I didn’t have any mishaps with Jessica and I was thankful for that. I would not hesitate to prove to her that I wasn’t someone who would just bow to her when she said. She might have her little minions but I certainly was not going to be one.

By time lunch rolled around, Cassie and Lacey said that they were going to go sit with a couple of the girls from some of their classes and before I knew it, Jesse was sitting down at the table with me, Haylee and Tara. He pushed an unopened bottle of water over to me and asked me if I wanted anything to eat. I told him that I was fine but he insisted on it stating that since I had dance practice this evening, I needed to eat for the strength.