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Marjorie
I stand at my locker and read the two notes that were snuck in there for what has to be the fiftieth time. The words are so damn beautiful, I can’t stop myself. I can’t believe someone actually feels this way about me. Sure, plenty of people have had crushes on me in the past, but it wasn’t like this. This is definitely different. Whoever wrote this is different. I just wish I could figure out who it is, but they left absolutely no clues whatsoever.
After the second note, I have a feeling I won’t be getting any more. It seemed very final. I wish there was a way to tell this person that I don’t think they’re a creep. I have no idea how I’m supposed to do that though since I don’t know who they are.
I want to talk to someone about it, but not knowing who it’s from even makes that awkward. What if it’s from the person I'm talking to or someone they’re close to? I can’t think of anyone in my life who would feel this way about me, but I could have just missed the signs somehow. I have been very focused on basketball. Maybe I’m not seeing what’s right in front of me. But does that mean it’s someone I’m really close to? I wouldn’t know how to react to that. I don’t have any feelings for anyone right now and have never crushed on any of my friends, so that could be very awkward.
Not for the first time, my mind drifts to the awkward conversation I had with Jazmin a few weeks ago. A conversation that came the night before I got the first note. Could it be her? She does love The Wilds, especially the storyline with Shelby and Toni, but that doesn’t mean she’s gay. It just means she has good taste.
I try my best to wipe these thoughts from my mind as I walk into English class because I don’t want to make things weird between us. That’s hard to do though since as soon as I’m sitting, Jazmin passes a note to me. The handwriting is different from the note I’ve been studying, like it’s a piece of evidence in some unsolved cold case, but that’s not to say that the person who wrote it didn’t disguise their writing.
The message is a simple, “How was your weekend?” but what my eyes focus on are the hearts drawn all around the paper. Clearly, that was just a coincidence. Jazmin probably just grabbed a sheet of paper she had been doodling on before.
It was good. Just worked, did homework, and relaxed. Nothing crazy.
I put the note on Jazmin’s desk and within no time at all, it was back on mine. Speaking of crazy, are you going to Thalia’s party on Friday night after the football game?
I don’t particularly want to go to a party, but I also know that once basketball starts, I won’t be going to any parties since I don’t want to risk losing my spot on the team. Plus, while Thalia McSweeney isn’t one of my very best friends, we’re still pretty close, so I know she is expecting me to go. She throws a ton of parties since she has the house to herself a lot, and since I have to miss all of the parties during basketball season, I make a point to go to her other ones. I’ll be there. Are you going?
Of course! Want to go together?
Anxiety rushes through my body. What does she mean by together? Certainly she doesn’t mean together together. She couldn’t, right?
As if somehow reading my mind, Jazmin grabs the note back and scribbles something else onto it then hands it back to me. I was thinking we could pre-game with some of the other basketball girls and all go together.
I let out a breath I didn’t even realize I had been holding then close my eyes and rub my forehead. I need to stop thinking like this. Sounds good to me. Is it okay if Lydia pre-games with us? That is, if she doesn’t have a guy to go with by then.
Of course! The more the merrier.
I look up from the note and the smile on Jazmin’s face tells me she means it. Clearly, I’m the one being crazy right now.
***
“Great game, bro!” I say as I give Marcus a big hug.
Marcus ruffles my hair as if I’m much younger than him than I actually am. “Thanks, Marjorie. Give me a call if you want a ride home from Thalia’s later.”
“You’re not going?” I thought it was some sort of unwritten rule that all football players have to go to the after-party.
Marcus waves his hand. “Nah. Abby and I just want to stay in tonight.”
“You two are like an old married couple.”
Marcus scoffs. “I wouldn’t go that far. She has the house to herself tonight. You know what that means.”
Ew. “Yeah. Unfortunately, I do.”
“Unfortunately, you do, what?” Abby says as she walks up to us and wraps her arm around Marcus’s waist.
“Know what you two have planned for tonight.”
Under the stadium lights, I see Abby’s face turn red. Her lips dip into a frown as she looks at my brother. “You told your sister?”
Marcus shrugs, the smile never leaving his face. “It’s not like she doesn’t know we have sex.”
I watch Abby drop her arm and worry I may have gotten my brother in trouble. Not that he didn’t have anything to do with it. “I’m going to let you two work this out,” I say before quickly slipping away. I want no part of their lover’s quarrel.
I feel an arm slip around my own waist and look over to see Lydia next to me. She leans so close that I can smell her mint gum mixed with a hint of vodka. “Jazmin says the basketball girls are pre-gaming behind the middle school. Wanna head that way?”
