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“Oh, look!” Dillon said, pointing down the street.
I followed his finger to see the start of the parade turning the corner. The first vehicle was the sheriff’s pickup, with something rainbow on the top. As they drew closer, I realized it was EPD in colorful letters.
Behind the sheriff was a group of dancers in beautiful costumes, spinning and twirling. Up close, I recognized one of the younger girls from the cheer squad dancing. She hadn’t even mentioned it, but it made me happy.
“GO, LIVVY!” I yelled, and Stefon yelled, “GO, LIV!”
She looked at us for a moment, then did a doubletake, her mouth falling wide open. She clearly hadn’t expected to see us here, but what other conclusions she had drawn in that split second, I didn’t know. Maybe it had been a bad idea to cheer for her. To make her look our way.
But then again, Stefon had cheered too.
Following the dancers were a few floats from local businesses. Seaton Bakery. Waldo’s Diner. Vestido. I couldn’t believe all of them had gone to so much effort to support the cause.
Then my mouth fell open. Emerson Academy had put a whole float together? Then I saw who was sitting on the back. Ollie Bardot, who had graduated several years before me and staged a massive coup to keep Birdie working there. And then... Xiomara.
She looked cute in her overalls with her hair all curly and done up. There was a rainbow heart tattooed on her cheek, just like the cheerleaders always wore fake tattoos of feather quills to football games.
But her eyes were stuck on something behind me, higher up.
I turned to see what she was looking at, and my heart constricted. The apartment windows above had been painted with anti-gay phrases. It was the same sorts of things I’d heard before, but now, at the parade, it felt so wrong. This wasn’t a day to tear people down... It was a day to celebrate.
And I wanted to celebrate a smile on Xiomara’s face instead of the hurt look she wore now.
“Go, Xiomara! Ow owww!” I yelled, grinning all the while.
She rewarded me by looking away from the windows and looking at me, a surprised smile on her face. It was adorable. Beautiful. Like the summer sun shining on my skin. She reached into a bucket and threw some candy my way.
I caught it, thinking this moment couldn’t get any sweeter.
Then Stefon yelled beside me, “Go, Xi!” And so did Dillon. “Go, Xi!”
And then soon, everyone around us was chanting, “Go, Xi! Go, Xi! Go, Xi!” as her float slowly drove by.
Thirteen
Xiomara
What had just happened?
I could still hear the echoes of the crowd chanting my name as the float continued toward the end of Main Street.
Ollie leaned over, grinning, and said, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you have a secret admirer.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Who?”
“That girl who yelled your name. I saw the way she smiled at you.”
“She’s a cheerleader,” I said. “Or was—she just graduated. And I hit her in the head with a volleyball last week.”
“And cheerleaders can’t be gay?” he asked.
I laughed. “No, she’s just good at... cheering,” I finished lamely, my mind already going over every single moment of what happened.
I’d been distracted, heartbroken by the messages I’d seen painted on the apartments across from my house, and then I’d heard someone cheering for me. Even louder than my dad and Dee had been from across the street on our front porch steps.
When I looked, I’d seen two of the most popular people at my school, Stefon and Kiyana, along with a guy I didn’t recognize. But Stefon had been holding that guy’s hand. And Kiyana had been smiling at me...
Wait. Was Stefon gay?
