My Queer Superpower

Chapter Forty One

Homecoming had started off much better than I had expected. I had skipped the pep rally and the parade to spare myself the torture of seeing Juice Williams prance around with someone else. While in bed sulking or taking my pre-game nap—depending on who asked—Faith had called. She'd told me how wrong I'd been, demanded I got dressed and headed to the game right away.

As it turned out, Kristen and Faith were voted Solon's first Homecoming Queens, which was why I was sitting in box seats with them. The seats were in an elevated booth behind the stands, adjacent to the game announcers. I probably would've appreciated the great view we had, if I had any interest in football outside of Juice Williams.

I was happy for Faith and Kristen, but he was the reason I didn't mind playing third wheel in the booth. I was too elated that they beat him in votes to care. It meant he hadn't been nestled up to someone who wasn't me for a parade and wouldn't be for the dance. He obviously couldn't have sat in the booth since he was playing in the game.

I shouldn't have been in the booth either. Usually the seats were reserved for parents of Homecoming royalty, but Faith's couldn't make it. Kristen's didn't show either, but not for lack of effort. Unbeknownst to Faith, the reason for their absence was simply because Kristen was cooler than I'd previously given her credit for.

That coolness didn't extend to fashion. There, she was still a cutthroat elitist. Faith was wearing a self-made rose gold dress covered with chrome sequins, rhinestones and plated patterns to create a spiraling design of what looked like broken glass. It was one of her edgier creations, but it worked out. There wasn't much she couldn't get away with.

Kristen, on the other hand, played it safe, as in straight out of the vault, safe. She was wearing a ludicrously expensive bespoke gown that was sewn in different shades of purple to contour the curves of her body. Without question, it was the better dress of the two, but it was overkill for Homecoming.

I was a peasant in comparison. I wore a slate gray, three-piece suit that Mom had bought a while back for an absolute steal. She'd been passing through a city out in Illinois while an anchor store of a mall was having a 'lights out' liquidation sale. It truly was my gain. Most clothes long enough to fit me were often too wide. This suit fit perfectly and the padding of the jacket made my shoulders look broad.

Homecoming was always the most attended game of the year. By kickoff, the stands were packed with students and parents wearing red in support of Solon. There wasn't an empty seat, not one. People were forced to watch from the area around the stands on both sides. With Juice Williams behind the ball, the Solon Spartans got off to an early lead.

The crowd was raucous from his very first snap. They were facing our rival school out of West Branch, who wore green. The game's lack of competitiveness reminded me of the last time I had taken the field with Jerri to play soccer. I could only hope this night would find its way toward a similar ending.

By halftime, there was no light left in the sky or the eyes of our foes from West Branch. The game was firmly out of reach at 42-0 and the night had grown cold—which was another reason for me to have been thankful for my booth seat—but nowhere near as cold as Juice Williams and the Solon coaching staff.

They returned to the field intent on running up the score. Juice needed footage for football scouts and he wasn't going to get it by pumping the brakes. He'd told me as much once when I suggested he make small talk while I was snake-charming. My light banter fantasy was still a work in progress. We were short on tender moments shared between us.

"Juice is pretty much out there playing by himself while Coach Ross cheer leads." Faith scoffed and leaned over me to talk to Kristen.

It was their idea for me to sit between them, so I wouldn't feel like a third wheel, but this seemed worse. At least if I'd been off to the side, I wouldn't have had to hear the conversations I wasn't a part of. While trying not to mind, I found myself paying more attention to the game than I ever would have.