All's Fair in Love and HoCo (ONC 2022)

Chapter Nineteen: Hocoposal

Tuesday morning, I scanned the crowd for Riley. One girl held up a sign that had tacos drawn on it and read her best friend's name and "Lettuce have fun at Homecoming." Another girl was holding a poster with her girlfriend's name and "Saying Yes to HoCo would be music to my ears". The letters resembled musical notes. As I looked closer, it looked like an iTunes gift card was attached to the poster. Finally, I spotted Riley at the back of the crowd. Normally, he towered over everyone, but the posters had made it more difficult to see him.

His eyes lit when he saw me approaching him.

"Emily! Hey, wait up!" Bri said before I could view how Riley's Hocoposal. "Oh my God. Which Emily is Riley asking to prom?"

I scanned the poster. "Emily, will you make HoCo PURRFECT and be my date?" The poster was adorable with pictures of cats on it. A stuffed cat with a miniature Edelweiss jersey and the number three, his number, written on it was at his feet.

I couldn't stop my lips from tugging into a wide smile. "I think he might be asking me."

"It's not you." She rolled her eyes. "There are like forty other Emilies in this school."

So that's how she was going to play it. As though Riley hadn't talked to her about me. As though I couldn't possibly interest someone of Riley Jones' caliber. Whatever.

But her insistence got under my skin and cast a little bit of doubt. What if this was a terrible joke and he was asking one of the other Emilies? There were so many of us in the school.

No. This was Riley, and he wasn't like that. He was about twenty steps above every other guy in the school except for maybe Tim.

Riley walked toward us, cheesy smile on his face. He stopped in front of me and asked, "Emily, will you go to Homecoming with me?"

I could almost hear Bri's chin hit the sidewalk. Her eyes were huge. As I scanned the crowd, I saw that everyone else seemed to be in shock, too. When I looked back at Riley, his smile had faded a little. I'd kept him waiting too long.

"I would love to go to homecoming with you."

He handed me the stuffed animal then reached into his backpack and handed me one long-stemmed, red rose. "Thank you."

I thanked him, too. He had done so well. He remembered that I loved cats and of course, cats would always be a connection between us, whether I wanted that or not. This was a way to make bad into good.

As I stuffed the cat and the rolled-up poster into my backpack, Riley said, "Hey, I have to go to the counselor's office first thing, but let's cook together in culinary, okay?"

"Sounds purrrrfect. I'll see you in a bit." I laughed.

Bri gave an exaggerated sigh that convinced me she'd become German in the past few minutes. Her impatience was not going to destroy my moment. Regardless, I followed her into the bathroom and fished through my purse for makeup.

"How did that even happen?" she asked as soon as the door closed.

I handed her the mascara. "You were there. He just asked me to Homecoming." I couldn't have been more matter of fact.

She waved the wand across her eyelashes. "Up until five minutes ago, you were saying you wanted to go with a senior. In case you missed it, Riley is a junior."

As if I hadn't gone to school with him for more than two years...and a few months longer than she had. "Well, up until five minutes ago, Riley hadn't been asking."

She capped the mascara and reached for the lipstick. "He's using you. That has to be it."

I tried to cut the annoyance out of my voice. "How can he possibly be using me? It's not like he needs me for popularity or anything like that." Or like Caleb and her were trying to use each other to make the court.

She rubbed her lips together to smudge her lipstick. "That boy is a jerk through and through. He'll get what he wants from you and then he'll move on."

I sighed. Why couldn't she just be happy for me? There was no gushing about how cute his hocoposal was or how we'd look great together at HoCo. She was all about bashing Riley and tearing me down in the process.

"If you're talking about sex, I'm not like that, Bri." I couldn't imagine carrying on with Riley as she had with Caleb on the way back from Oktoberfest. Granted, she'd had too much to drink, but so had I, and I hadn't thrown myself at Tim, though the temptation (Tim-tation?) had definitely been present.

"I've heard rumors about Riley," Bri said, "and you're going to get hurt." She handed me the makeup.

"I'm a big girl, Bri." I studied my appearance in the mirror. Makeup was flawless to the point I could be a long-lost Jenner or Kardashian sister. Hair was pulled back into a messy bun. I returned the mascara and lipstick to my purse. "I just wish you could be happy for me."

"It's hard to be excited for your friend when her homecoming date is a rattlesnake." She picked up her backpack. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Whatever. Ten minutes ago, she would've called off her date with Caleb to go with Riley. She was just jealous. Of the hocoposal, of Riley asking me, of everything except my running skills. "I'll see you at lunch." Or maybe I wouldn't.