Popularity Contest

5

    "He's waving at you," Eva says through her smiling teeth.
    "No he's not," I say back, looking anywhere but across the gym at Wyatt who does have his hand up and is waving in this direction. I'm sure his mom or someone is sitting in the bleachers behind us and that's who he's waving at.
    "He's still waving," Frankie says from my other side.
    "Just wave a little bit and see if he stops," Kam says, leaning up from the other side of Frankie.
    If only to prove them wrong, I force my eyes to look at Wyatt who is in fact still waving his hand in the air. I turn up the corners of my mouth and ever so slightly wiggle my fingers.
    Wyatt puts his hand down, smiling wider and walks over to the bench.
    "Told you," the three of them say at the same time.
    I want to tell them it was just a coincidence but even now I'm convinced. He was waving at me.
    Out of all of the emotions I'm feeling, the main one is confusion. There's no way he likes me and the probability of him seeking me out for a platonic friendship seems slim, given the fact that we have absolutely no commonalities. What could all of this mean?
    A buzzer sounds and two small, must be freshmen, boys walk out onto the mat and shake hands. A whistle blows and then they're on each other, slapping the side of each other's heads, pulling their arms down. It looks barbaric and illegal.
    Soon they're on the floor, tangled together like a pretzel and then the whistle blows again. They both stand up and the guy with the whistle holds the hand of the boy from our school in the air and everyone cheers.
    "What just happened?" I ask.
    "We won," Eva says, plainly.
    "It's over?"
    "Well, that match is," Kam says. "The next highest weight class wrestles and so on and so forth."
    "Thank you Einstein," Frankie says to Kam with a sarcastic smile. Kam smiles snarkily right back.
    More boys walk onto the mat but my eyes catch Wyatt standing up from the bench and walking over towards the locker room. He picks up a jump rope, pulls up the hood of his sweatshirt and starts jumping.
    "He's warming up," Eva explains without me asking.
    He makes it look so easy. Like the floor is a trampoline or he's weightless. He keeps his face forward but I can see his eyes move in my direction. I quickly look away.
    We win two more matches before Wyatt stops jumping rope. He puts a thing on his head that looks like huge headphones connected by a bunch of straps and secures it under his chin like a helmet. Then he runs out onto the mat and jogs in place while he waits for his opponent.
    The kid from the other school runs out and looks larger than Wyatt which even I know isn't how it's supposed to go. Wyatt doesn't look phased, just quickly shakes the kids hand and waits for the whistle.
    Two seconds after the whistle, Wyatt crouches and darts out to tackle the other kids legs. He falls down flat and Wyatt scrambles to grab his arms, keeping him in place. The other guy moves too fast and flips to his stomach. Somehow, Wyatt gets his hand between the other guys legs, under his stomach and reaches up to grab his left arm with his right hand. He pulls just right, forcing the other kid to roll over to his back and lays flat across his chest. The guy with the whistle drops to his stomach and smacks the mat five times before blowing the whistle again. At that, Wyatt lets the guy go and stands up.
    "Did he win?" I ask, even though everyone around us is cheering.
    "Yes," Eva laughs.
    The guy with the whistle grabs Wyatt's arm and holds it in the air. Wyatt smiles and scans the crowd. I can't be sure, but I think he winks at me.

    We won all matches except two but apparently those don't count and we still won. There were numbers on the scoreboard but it didn't make sense to me. We're standing outside in the cool, September air waiting for my mom.
    "That was actually kind of fun," Kam says. "When I was doing research it just seemed like a million ways to cause an injury but seeing it play out was exciting."
    "And the winner of Biggest Nerd goes to Kamiya Conner," Frankie says, presenting Kam with an invisible award.
    "Quinn," someone says behind me and by now I recognize the voice.
    I turn around, cross my arms and smile as naturally as I can. "Hey, great job out there," I say, the sound of my steady voice surprising me.
    "Thanks," Wyatt says, reaching up and tugging on his ear. "I'm glad you came."
    I think about saying you're welcome but that doesn't make sense. Usually someone would respond "I wouldn't miss it" but that's just not true, I wasn't going to come if not for my friends making me.
    He speaks again before I have to figure it out. "So, listen, we don't have another match until next wednesday which means I have a few days to eat whatever I want. Would you want to try the new Mexican restaurant over by Walmart?"
    We have three recognizable things in this town; a Walmart, a McDonald's and a Dunkin Donuts. Everything else is mom and pop owned small businesses. When something new opens up, we usually know who owns it like this Mexican restaurant being opened by some senior guy's parents, probably a friend of Wyatt's.
    I really want to look behind me so the girls can answer for me but I have to be my own person, I have to be outgoing and use my words. I don't know what I really want to say but I know what Eva would say for me. "Yeah, sure," I say, shrugging my shoulders a little like it's no big deal.
    Wyatt smiles and pulls his phone out from his sweatshirt pocket. "Put your number in," he says, handing it to me.
    I quickly type it in and save it under my full name, knowing he probably doesn't know my last name and I'm probably not the only Quinn he knows.
    "QB," he says. "Like quarterback."
    "I guess so," I say, laughing a little. I've heard that before but it never sounded as charming.
    I feel my phone vibrate in my back pocket and take it out to see a text that says "it's Wyatt" like somehow I wouldn't know. I save his number and know that Eva is going to save it later, just so she can say she has it.
    "Text me your address and I'll pick you up at 6?"
    "Ok," I say, as my phone vibrates in my hand again. It's my mom texting that she's here. "I have to go," I say, gesturing to my phone.
    "See you tomorrow, QB," he says before saluting me and walking back inside.
    I turn around and the girls all look the same, slack jawed and starry eyed like walking into Disneyland.  "Let's go," I say rolling my eyes and walking past them before letting myself smile.