“Frangry?”
“Fucking angry hungry.”
The stranger scans my body from head to toe, taking notice of my obvious uniform. I’m wearing a sleek, navy blue top and matching skirt adorned with vibrant gold accents at the edges of my skirt. The top has a white slash across the chest with the letters, SHS, proudly stamped. And the cherry gets taken by my white cheer shoes and a matching gold bow, keeping my hair in a ponytail.
“I saw you tumble on the sidelines, you were insane.” The stranger compliments, shoving both hands into his pockets. “My sister is in Cheer for Kiddos and she adores it.”
I blink, then blink again, what a coincidence. “I went there too when I was younger.”
“No shit? Are you coaching there?”
“Nope. I just cheer for Skyline.” I shake my head and suddenly recognize him. “Hey, aren’t you in my AP Environmental Science class? Second block?”
The guy scratches his head and then he snaps his finger when it comes to him. “Yeah, you sit next to Kevin?”
Kevin is the smarty pants who is likely to be our class valedictorian. A pain in my ass. He loves to remind the teacher about homework that we haven’t turned in.
“That’s me, I’m Serena,” I respond with an agreeable nod and a friendly smile.
The guy extends his hand which I accept in mine. “Travis.”
“How did you do on that test?” I ask while the line starts to pick up.
The guy shrugs, “Not too bad, got an eighty-five. You?”
“Ninety.”
“Damn, you’re good at everything, aren’t you?”
I only offer a shrug since it’s my turn to order. “Can I please get a whole pepperoni pizza?” I hand him my $20 as I wait for them to put my order together.
“You planning on eating that alone?” Travis asks.
I turn back to him, a hearty laugh bubbling out of me. “Sharing with friends, actually.”
The worker slides a box of pizza towards me which I happily accept out of pure hunger. “Thank you!” I begin to walk away, but Travis’ voice stops me.
“See you around?”
I offer a subtle nod and walk away to find Alli and Grant who are still standing in line for drinks.
“Got the pizza!” I exclaim, holding it up like it’s a trophy. “I’m ready to fucking destroy this.”
“Can you wait on us before you eat the whole thing? We’re still waiting on the drinks,” Alli says, peeking over to see how much longer it’ll take. “Urgh, can you grab a table by the pavilion? We’ll just meet you there. I think Priya’s about to come up too.”
I walk away towards the side of the main floor where there are numerous patio tables around for students to hang out. I snatch an empty table towards the back and wait patiently for my friends.
“Hey, sunshine.” A familiar voice, which is admittedly becoming my favorite, rings behind me.
I turn to face him, mustering a gentle smile. Tyler’s been on my mind all night, and now that I’m actually looking at him, I feel like I’m melting into a puddle. The same might be happening to him; he’s rubbing the back of his neck, and I catch a glimpse of a faint blush creeping onto his cheeks.
I swallow down my nerves. “Hey, you’re here.”
Tyler continues to rub his neck. “Yeah, I told you I was going to come.”
There go the butterflies. “I’m glad you came.”
“I’m glad I came too.” He swings around and takes a seat next to me. The close proximity makes the butterflies go batshit crazy. He’s hunched over slightly, hands clasped together. “You didgreat out there, by the way. I have no idea what you did, but you’re fucking amazing.”
