On Friday morning, I was getting ready anxiously. This was the only day left that I could asked to homecoming. I was hoping that Walker would be the one to ask me. To be fair, he could ask me tomorrow at the spirit game, but that would be a bit weird. I made myself look all cute in the hopes that someone (specifically Walker) would ask me.
I got to school and put my things down. Walker wasn't there yet, but Adam was. He simply said, "Hi Aaliyah," as I walked in, and left. He wasn't trying to distract me or anything.
Eva bombarded me excitedly. "You know that light purple dress I got for hoco?" She said quickly, not giving me time to respond. "Adam said he already has a suit but he's gonna get a purple tie so we can match. I swear, he's too perfect. This is going to be the best day of my life. I'm so excited..."
I tuned her out because I saw a certain someone walking into the classroom. That certain someone was Walker... and he was empty-handed. No sign or flowers in sight.
He met my eyes. "Hey Aaliyah," he said, grinning.
"Hi Walker," I replied. My hopes weren't completely extinguished. Maybe he was going to ask me without a sign later that day. Maybe the flowers were hidden in the front office. Maybe he was going to ask me tomorrow. I got my hopes too high that he would ask me, and now the thought that he might not was heartbreaking.
"And even though I'm getting ready with all you guys, he still asked me if I wanted to get dinner with him beforehand," Eva was still going. "I obviously had to say no, but it was still so sweet of him to ask!" She stopped and looked at me. "Were you even listening?" She scoffed.
"No, I-I was," I assured her, even though I definitely wasn't.
"Well, I'm so excited and tonight I'm going to get my nails done and they're gonna be purple and after the game tomorrow I'm gonna go get my hair done before I go to Teagan's house to get ready..."
I tuned her out again. I grabbed my stuff and walked out.
"What's up with her?" I heard Eva asking Walker.
"I'm not sure," he replied.
I didn't hear any of the rest of their conversation since I had walked out of earshot. I was happy for Eva, I really was, it was just I couldn't handle seeing her having a date and not me. I had really gotten my hopes up that Walker would ask me, and those hopes had gotten extinguished in front of my very eyes. There was still a chance, but I had a gut feeling nothing would happen.
The day went on, and Walker gave no hints that he would be asking me. Before I knew it, I was walking out of the building with no sign, no flowers, and no date to the dance. There was still tomorrow and the spirit game, but I doubted he would ask me. It could've been worse; he could've asked another girl.
Saturday rolled around, and I groaned as I woke up. The game wasn't until 11:00, and it was 8:00, so I had time to lounge around. I laid in bed and felt bad for myself that I didn't have a date for about an hour. At 9:00, I finally picked my lazy butt out of bed and got ready. I had a small breakfast and got dressed, but I didn't bother to look as cute as I did yesterday. The chances of there being a proposal today were astronomically low.
My mom dropped me off at the sports center where the game was at five to eleven. I walked in with Teagan and Charlotte, who had carpooled and gotten there at the same time as me. As they were playing in the pep band, they had to go over to where they were setting up. I found a seat in the bleachers next to Eloise and looked around.
The boys and girls volleyball teams were on the court. The girls were warming up and the boys were in a huddle. I turned my gaze toward the pep band bleachers. Teagan played the flute, so she was setting that up. Charlotte was a percussionist so she was helping to put the drums together.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Walker, lacking anything that he would've asked me to the dance with.
"Can I sit here?" He asked, gesturing to the empty space on the bleachers beside me.
"Sure," I said, scooting over a bit so he'd have more space.
Walker sat down and watched the teams warm up. "Eva is really good," he remarked.
"Yeah, she is," I agreed, watching as she was set a ball and hit it straight down.
The referee blew the whistle, signaling the end of the warm up time. The teams went to their respective benches and gathered in a huddle.
"Where's Teagan and Charlotte?" Asked Walker.
I pointed to the pep band bleachers. "They're playing in the band."
"That's cool."
Another whistle blew, and the teams lined up on opposite baselines. The starting lineups were announced after the national anthem was played by the band.
"Sophomore, number 13, Eva Anderson!" The announcer, the theater teacher, shouted into the microphone. Eloise, Walker, and I cheered for her as Eva high fived her teammates after her name was called.
I saw Adam on the other baseline cheering for her, looking proud, and whispering something to Trevor, who stood next to him.
The rest of the girls were introduced, and the boys' starters were next.
"Sophomore, number 15, Adam Banks!" Yelled the announcer.
Adam high fived his teammates, and Walker destroyed his vocal cords as he screamed for his best friend. I looked at Eva. She was cheering for him, and her teammate and friend, Zeta, said something in her ear that made Eva go pink and push the girl's shoulder.
As the rest of his team was introduced, it looked like Adam had locked eyes with Eva across the court because they shot small thumbs ups in each other's direction.
The game started, and it went as I expected. The boys were better this year, but so were the girls. The girls won three sets to none, and Eva's stats were through the roof. She had seven aces, five kills, and eight assists.
After the game was over, Walker, Eloise, and I ran over to where Eva was talking with Adam, Trevor, Brayden, and Ryder, along with Lily and Hailey who had come to see their boyfriends.
"You did great, Eva!" I congratulated her.
"Thanks," she replied, a smile gracing her red, sweaty face.
I turned to Adam. "Adam... good job doing your best."
"Ouch," he said as his friends laughed.
Eva glanced at her phone. "I got to go guys, my mom is here." She gave quick hugs to me and Eloise, and stood in front of Adam, holding her arms out in a ready position for a hug. He gladly took the invitation, and even though they were both sweaty, they embraced each other for a few moments.
"You played great," he said to her as they released each other.
"So did you," she replied. "Alright, bye, guys!"
Once Eva was out of earshot, Trevor, Walker, Brayden, and Ryder started teasing him.
"Ooh, she's whipped man!" Brayden snickered.
"You really got the best of the batch," commented Trevor.
"Dude, I already told you guys we're going as friends," Adam sighed.
"She didn't hug any of us," retorted Walker. "Aren't we her friends?"
"Not to mention you held on for a hell of a long time," Ryder said, laughing.
Adam groaned. "Whatever guys, I got to go."
"Bye Mr. Loverman!" his friends yelled at him as he left. Adam just visibly shook his head.
"I got to go," Walker turned to me. "When the guys aren't looking I'm gonna give you a hug." I gave him a quizzical look. "You're one of my best friends, I can hug you, right?"
"Yeah, you can." I looked to see if any boys were looking and their backs were turned. "Now should be a good time."
Walker wrapped his arms around me and I wrapped mine around him. All of a sudden, I felt at home. I know that sounds corny, that I felt at home in his arms, but I really did.
The hug lasted shorter than it should have, but that was okay.
"Bye Aaliyah, see you tonight," he said, and left. Without asking me to the dance.
I sighed. Another dance, another lack of a date. I did get a hug, but not a homecoming proposal.
I went home, ate some lunch, and just sat in my room. I felt like crying, but I didn't let myself. All that had happened was I got my hopes up, and it sucked, but I'd get over it. At least we were still friends. I don't know what I would do if I ever lost Walker.
At 4:00, I left for Teagan's house. The dance was at 6:00, so we had two hours to get ready, eat dinner, and take pictures. My dress was wine red and made of silky material. I had gold jewelry to finish off the look and I had painted my nails red to go along with it.
When I got there, everyone was there except for Eloise. She was never on time so no one was surprised.
We went up to Teagan's room to get ready. I was the first one to put my dress, and I did a little fashion show for my friends.
"That looks amazing on you Aaliyah!" Said Eva, who was putting on makeup in Teagan's bathroom.
Eva had gotten her hair done professionally at a salon and it was perfectly curled and embellished with small flowers tucked in her half up braid crown. Teagan was curling her hair and Charlotte was as well. I wasn't going to do anything with mine. It was already curly and didn't feel like making it any more fancy.
The rest of my friends put on their dresses. Eva's was lilac and silky, Teagan's was navy blue and sparkly, Charlotte's was baby pink and long sleeved, and Eloise, who had just gotten there, had a dark green sparkly dress.
We sat down for dinner, which was Chinese food, and started to talk.
"Eva's the only one with a date," commented Eloise.
"Yeah. You excited?" Asked Charlotte.
"Obviously," she replied, smiling widely.
"Adam is so much better than Parker," said Teagan.
"Extremely," she groaned. "I'm really happy I broke up with him before there was a chance to go to a dance together."
"He's such an ick," I agreed.
"I can't believe I ignored all those red flags," Eva sighed, frustrated with her past self.
"I can't believe it either," said Eloise, giving Eva a look.
I guess now would be a good time to tell the Eva and Parker story. Parker was a guy in our class last year who had the reputation of being a manwhore and pervert. He seemed like he was trying to get better, and compared to the year before, he was doing good. That is, until he asked Eloise over text for nudes. She refused obviously, but Eva still got a little crush on this guy, ignoring the fact that he had violated her friend. It wasn't big, it was super on and off, but Parker also liked her back. He told her, and she said she liked him back, and they started talking.
Before they started dating, he said, "I love you." She said it back because, in the heat of the moment, she did. He asked her out on an official date, and they started getting more serious. Eva was all fine with the relationship until he started getting touchy. He would put his arm around her every time he could, which wasn't bad, but it was just confining for Eva because he was always near her. That's when she started to lose feelings.
They sat by each other in biology, and he would put his hand on her thigh. Eva got uncomfortable and lost feelings completely. She saw the perfect opportunity to dump him when Mrs. Niles saw him touching her thigh and got them in trouble, and moved them away from each other. The day after she did this, Eva broke up with Parker. She had felt awful about it because Parker was totally obsessed and treated her right, despite his poor reputation. She had simply lost feelings and didn't want to lead him on. She hurt him, it was clear.
It was also clear that Parker didn't know how much it hurt Eva to break up with him, because he went back to his manwhore ways. He asked six girls to the dance to make Eva jealous (but in reality, she couldn't have cared less) and flirted with me and Eloise to get on her nerves. It was funny that he thought she cared. Eva realized that he had been a red flag the whole time and was sorry for being a bad friend by dating him. She also didn't feel bad about breaking up with him anymore. We still make fun of her every now and then for her silly relationship decision.
"Aaliyah?" I heard someone's voice snapping me out of my inner narrative and back into reality. "Earth to Aaliyah."
"Sorry, I dazed off," I apologized.
"We were asking if you wanted to dance with anyone," said Charlotte.
My mind immediately thought of Walker, but I acted like it didn't. "Um, I guess Walker maybe."
"Maybe?" Charlotte exclaimed. "Be for real, you're obsessed with him."
"Yeah, but he's not with me. He didn't even ask me to the dance," I muttered. "I'm gonna get over him."
"Aww, come on, you guys would be adorable together!" Pleaded Eva.
"I thought so too, but he doesn't feel the same way," I said.
"I doubt that. I bet he was too scared to ask you," said Teagan confidently.
"Probably not but you can think so," I said. My friends sighed, but changed the subject. I'm glad they did. It hurt to think about Walker. It really hurt.