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And it was another round of hugs and high fives when accosted by Siri, Charlotte and Phoebe, but I found Siri tedious and excused myself from her grip to locate Sawyer. He was talking to Leylah who was squatting down on the ground.
“Everything all right?” I asked.
“I just felt a little faint. Must be all the extra cheering we had to do for the winners,” Leylah said, tongue-in-cheek. But she did look deathly pale.
“Maybe get a drink,” I said, “I saw Sierra with the drinks cart before.”
“I’ll be fine,” Leylah said, holding up her own water bottle.
“Did you see where Sierra went?” I asked Sawyer.
“She was over there a minute ago,” Sawyer said, pointing over to the gym.
“Hey,” I said, pulling Sawyer’s arm, “got a minute?”
He nodded, “Sure. See you later, Leylah.” He gave her a wave.
“You sure she’s okay?” I asked when we were out of ear shot.
“Didn’t you see she nearly fell on the rewind? They barely caught her. I think she was shaken up.” Sawyer sounded like he was shaken up by it.
“No, sorry, I didn’t see it,” I said, almost on the verge of chickening out. But enough was enough. I had to get this out in the open or go mad waiting. “Sawy.” In my urgency, his name became an abbreviation, “we gotta talk.”
“Well, talk,” he said, both of us walking in the direction where he’d last seen his sister.
“I, I want, I wanna, I...” My words refused to come out, words that had flowed so easily in my head.
Sawyer stopped abruptly and glared. “What is it?”
“I, I wanna...” I took a gulp of air and prayed a silent prayer for mercy. “I like Sierra.”
Sawyer’s eyes narrowed for a moment and then he continued walking, well, striding into the gym. I jogged to catch him, falling in beside him with my heart in the throes of crashing. He was about to break it in two, snap it in half, declare me unsuitable for his sister, say I’d betrayed him and ruined our friendship.
“Sawyer?” It was a weak and desperate plea, not the voice of a boy who had captained his team to the state championship title. “I’m sorry, but I like her, like,really like her,but if you say it’s not okay, well, I don’t know what I’ll do, but I want it to be okay, because you and me are best friends and I don’t wanna—” My muddled monologue was interrupted by Sawyer stepping up his pace and racing ahead to the open door of the storage room.
I reached it seconds later to find Sawyer staring down Red Phillips, and beside him, a nervous looking Sierra. Sensing I’d missed something, I spontaneously adopted Sawyer’s hostile stance, standing at full height, arms folded, only to reel as Sawyer quipped, “You’re trying to date my sister? Did you ask me if you could?”
My reaction was pure instinct, pulling on the front of Phillips’s shirt, my heart thundering in my chest, unhesitating in my bid to be Sierra’s knight in shining armor, to save her from that jerk Phillips. Sawyer was not the least bit impressed by him either, and I witnessed it in action, the big brother intensely protective of his younger sister, how strong the bond between them was.
And I learned just how strong when Sierra revealed she’d told her brother about us. And Sawyer insisting he already knew, that we hadn’t fooled him at all. And, yeah, he was all for me dating Sierra—on the condition that he came along too. I wasn’t the least bit fazed, in fact, the more the merrier.
After a phone call to Tennessee, a bunch of us met up at Peter’s Ice Cream Shoppe over in River Valley. We were joined by Millie and Phoenix, Max and Taylor. Sawyer ordered the Super Sundae Sharing Platter, a selection of the most popular flavors, and though my enthusiasm for ice cream should have been at an all time high, I was basically blasé about it. Sitting in the booth next to Sierra, ice cream was not a priority.
Pretty soon Covington Prep kids had taken over the whole cafe. Tables were moved and joined, the cheerleaders looking to find a spot at our table. Siri, Phoebe and Leylah hovered, complaining that we hadn’t waited for them. Sawyer was quick to make room for Leylah, who at least looked a lot perkier than when we’d last seen her.
Siri surveyed the situation, and I saw her disparaging gaze shift from Sierra to Millie. “You girls, you wanna move over to that table?” she said, though it was more of an order than a request.
“There’s no room here,” Tennessee answered, before I could open my mouth. He gestured to the adjoining table.
Siri blinked as if she’d been highly offended, then fluttered her eyelashes at me as if I should jump in to save her. “Sierra, the juniors are over there.” Siri pointed over to where some of the younger members of the cheer team and band were sitting.
“Sierra’s with me,” I said boldly, putting my arm around her shoulder. Siri and Phoebe frowned in unison, Siri’s face scrunching up in an unattractive way. Even perfect features could be ugly. “She’s not going anywhere,” I said, affirming it by kissing the top of Sierra’s head, immersing my nose in her heavenly scented hair. I would have liked to do more, but you know, respect for the Covington Prep uniforms—we always had to maintain standards when in the community, the football captain especially.
Siri tutted and sneered but my attention turned to Sierra, her big brown eyes meeting mine, ablaze with joy, igniting my heart and sending me to the precipice of pure delirium.
It was insane to think that my dreams could come true all at once.
And it was insane to think that my dream had actually been half a dream.
