Archer

Chapter 1: Homecoming

Chapter 1: Homecoming

I’d like to say that everything began at that football game, but even I know that it all started at the pep rally. It was the first pep rally of my senior year. To be honest, I should have seen something coming. Never had a single pep rally at our school gone by without something outside the normal happening.

It all started early in the morning. The second I walked through the front door, and the security guards caught sight of me; they grinned at me, wishing me a happy morning. As confused as I was, I let it go, because I was always pretty close with the security guards. It worked out great too, because any time I was in the hallways without my pass, they let me off. Sometimes, they’d have a small chat with me, too.

Everywhere I walked, it seemed like a lot of other people knew something that I didn’t, and it really didn’t make a lot of sense to me. The teachers as well as other students all looked at me like they knew something.

It was beyond frustrating.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked when I finally cracked in third period gym.

Ashley looked at me with surprise. “I…what are you talking about?”

I sighed, placing both my hands at my hips. “Come on, Ash, I know that something’s up. Everyone’s been acting really weird. Even Principal Davis is acting super nice.”

Ashley started fidgeting with the edge of the gym t-shirt. I grew even more impatient. She looked ready to crack and tell me, but then the volleyball from the other side came to our side of the gym.

“Heads up, ladies!” I heard Archer Ford call out.

I would have stopped momentarily to swoon over his voice, but I didn’t really get the chance too, since the volleyball dunked right onto Ashley’s head.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

She clutched her head. “I’m good.” She shook her head. “I’m alright.”

“Sorry!” Archer shouted from the court next to us.

I shook my head, and tossed the volleyball back to him. “It’s all good.”

He grinned at me, and caught the ball. His eyes lingered for a small moment before turning back to his team. I would have watched him serve, because I knew that he had one hell of a serve, but there was a game going on our side, too.

Archer Ford was our school’s quarterback. Yeah, it was one of those schools, with the super popular football quarterback. Except that Archer was anything but a jerk.

And, like ninety percent of the female population here, I had a tiny, miniscule crush on Archer Ford, a boy who, till that day in gym class, I hadn’t even spoken one word to before.

The fact that I even spoke without stuttering or making a fool of myself was astounding.

I looked back at Ashley, “So, you were saying…?”

She gave me back a poker face. “Nothing.”

Dammit. Archer and his stupid volleyball.

After that, I didn’t even get close to finding out what the heck was going on. The pep rally was right after fifth period. They cut the classes shorter to fit the whole two hour rally in.

Because Archer was not only the football team’s quarterback and captain, but also the President of the Student Council, it basically meant that he lead the pep rallies.

Of course, he had some helpers here and there to keep things together, especially with all of the different games and challenges and their set ups. I wasn’t in Student Council (I tried, I really did) but Ashley was, and she begged me to join her with pep rally helpers, because they needed another one and nobody else could offer, either because they were in a sport, or because they were in the marching band.