(9.1) - Jerseys and Heartbreak

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       It has been a week since I’ve talked to Anakin. I’ve had to get a ride from Makayla and Luka all week because Anakin has left at least half an hour early every day to avoid me. Our eyes have met a couple times in class, the hallways and through our bedroom windows but he always breaks it immediately by looking away.

"Mary!" I hear screamed in my ear, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I say to Makayla with wide eyes. I look at all my friends at the lunch table who are looking at me with worried looks.

"You okay?" Jace asks.

"Ya, why wouldn't I be?" I say back.

"Because you were spacing out. Again. We called your name like ten times." Makayla states.

"You’ve been kind of out of it this week. Is everything okay with you?" Cara asks worried.

"You can tell us anything" Lila says.

"It's nothing. Really" I say, trying to get them off my back.

"Okay" Jace says, trying to get everybody to stop pushing me. I give him a thankful look and turn to Makayla.

"What did you want to say to me?" I ask.

"Oh right. I was wondering if you were gonna come with us to the homecoming game Saturday" she says.

"Homecoming game?" I question, confused.

"Ya. The football game. It is homecoming and the football team is playing their rivals. It's the biggest game of the season" she says in an exasperated tone.

"Really? It's this Saturday? Like three days from now Saturday?"

Makayla shares a look with the rest of the table and says, "Are you sure you are okay? This game has been the talk of the school all week."

"I guess I haven't been paying attention" I say, trying to shrug it off.

"Okay..." Makayla says hesitantly.

"So are you gonna come? We’re all going together" Jace says.

"Ya sure. It sounds like fun" I say as I get up from the table. "I'm gonna head off to class. Bye guys" I say as I pick up my stuff and walk away from the table. As I walk through the lunch room, I glance at the jocks’ table. As soon as I look over I catch Anakin's eye. We hold eye contact for a couple seconds before some cheerleader comes up to him and starts practically rubbing herself against his arm. Once he looks away I shake my head and walk out of the cafeteria.

 

"Hey" I say as I climb into the back of Makayla and Luka's car. "Hi" they chime in unison. The car ride is silent on the way to school, with the soft hum of music coming out of the radio. Once we park at the school, Luka hops out of the car and walks to his friends after giving a quick wave at Makayla and me..

We watch Luka saunter over to his group of jock friends and Makayla says, "I wonder who they are gonna give their jerseys to."

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused as to what she is talking about.

"Oh right, you don't know the tradition."

"Nope" I say, waiting for an explanation.

"Well every year for homecoming the football team gets special jerseys for the game. It has become tradition that all of the guys give their home jerseys to a girl to wear to school Friday before the game and to the game Saturday," she explains to me.

"So they just pick a girl and hand over their jersey?" I ask.

"Sort of. It's actually a big deal. Guys either give it to a close friend, a crush, girl friend or fling. You have to give it to somebody though. The players that don't want to give it to a girl at our school end up giving it to their mom or something. I have worn Luka's for the past two years" she says as we get to my locker. I open the locker to grab my books, poke my head around the door and say,

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