Secrets and Stolen Kisses

11

Viv and Jillian redirected their attention to Aaliyah, and that ended the conversation.

When I say Aaliyah Richards was born to lead, I mean it. The amount of work she put into her job as President of the Student Council had me feeling exhausted for her. She was the definition of servant-leader, and she was efficient at it too. I wouldn't be surprised if she became the actual president one day.

She said one hour, and we were done in forty-five minutes because she had everything planned to the T, and that meant all we had to do was to go through things step-by-step and check things off without having to worry, not to mention the contingency plans.

"I know Maddie and Kai are both not coming to the Homecoming dance, but thanks for helping so much with the planning," Aaliyah flashed us a smile. "And everyone else, I can't wait to see our hard work pay-off with you guys on Saturday."

People hummed in agreement before slowly starting to disperse. Viv and Jillian walked with me out the room and towards the gym. The three of us were talking about their dresses for the dance.

"Oh my God, I was gonna do pink, but it's a good thing I chose the green dress or else we would've been wearing practically the same thing," Jillian noted. "Plus, pink is literally amazing on you."

"There's this cute blue dress I was gonna wear, but I'm not coming, so I guess you two will just have to see it some other time," I told them.

"I hate that you're not going," Viv sulked. "You're gonna miss out on all the fun."

It was true. I was so excited to go too, but I couldn't miss that event on Saturday. "If only I could ditch, but I can't. At least I'll be there with Archer and Nathan. Plus, this means I have literally no excuse to skip Prom."

"You better not! Jillian and I would never forgive you," Viv declared. "Anyway, enough of that. Let's go find out who Nathan's mystery girl is."

Tryouts were already underway when the three of us got to the gym, but if my watch was right and my brother wasn't wrong this morning, he usually wasn't when it came to basketball, it was only about twenty minutes since it started.

Nate grinned when he saw me and waved, nudging at Archer before pointing at me. My brother waved too. I waved back at both of them, throwing a good 'ol thumbs up to show my support for them.

"Okay, genuinely, I thought they were waving at me and then I realized you were beside me," Jillian laughed. "Girl, I wouldn't know what to do if they were actually waving at me."

"I'm so glad you said that because I literally thought they were waving at me too, and I was gonna say the same thing," Viv confessed.

The three of us burst out into a fit of laughter.

"They're just like any other guys," I reminded the two. "If they hear what you just said, I just know it would've fed their egos even more."

"Well, then we'll make sure they never hear!" Jillian attested. Viv nodded in agreement.

A laugh escaped my lips as I turned my attention back to the court.

Archer and Nate both didn't have to try out for the team again because players keep their positions unless they get kicked, put on probation or quit. Either way, they liked to try out with the new guys to see potential. I think my brother was extra hands on this year because he was captain.

I saw a few familiar faces on the court aside from my brother and my boyfriend. A few of their friends on the team were there too, and my eyes couldn't help but land on Mark Whitlock, the guy Nate was convinced was trying to kill me with peanut M&Ms.