“You.”
Her chest tightened, but she forced her voice to stay steady. “I know that… but gimme time to think about it.” She tilted her head to him. “Okay?”
“Yeah, I hear you,” he said. A pause. “…But not okay.”
She cut her eyes at him. “Juelz?—”
They focused their attention back on the court just as the buzzer sounded, cutting everything off as the game went into halftime. The cheerleaders started rushing the floor, waving their pom-poms. Tasha exhaled, thinking she had a second to breathe until she didn’t.
“Give me a J!” one of the girls shouted. The crowd echoed back, loud. “J!”
“Give me a U!”
“U!”
“Give me an E!”
“E!”
“Give me an L!”
“L!”
“Give me a Z!”
“Z!”
Tasha’s whole body went stiff, her heart beating out of her chest. Her head turned slowly… real slow… until her eyes landed on Juelz, who was eyeing her constantly.
“WHAT THAT SPELL?” the cheerleader yelled.
The crowd got louder.
“JUELZ!”
Tasha blinked. “Oh my God…”
Before she could even process it, the chant switched up.
“Take him back!”
Clap clap.
“Take him back!”
Clap clap.
“Take him back!”
Clap clap.
Tasha’s mouth dropped open. She looked at Miracle and Tiffany, who were chanting along with the cheerleaders, as if they had been waiting for this moment. The two had alreadybeen engaged, but it was a spur-of-the-moment proposal and nothing like this. Tasha was really taken aback by all this.
“Did you really?” she whispered, turning to him.
Juelz rubbed his head back and forth, smiling.
“I did,” he said, shrugging.
