Head Over Heels

(Updated) Chapter 14- Spirit Week

It's Tuesday of Homecoming week and everyone is buzzing with excitement. Of course most of the excitement lies around the football game Friday night and dance on Saturday, but that's not all. It's also Spirit Week which means every day at school I'm dressing up in silly outfits along with the rest of my classmates.  Today it's "Class Color Day." The Junior's class color is yellow (unfortunately). I voted for blue but the seniors won that one over us.

So here I am, sporting neon yellow tube socks, a yellow tulle tutu and handmade yellow t-shirt jersey with "Juniors" painted on the back in white. It's the same outfit Payton, Kelly, Rachel, Claire and I all made together last week. Each of us has a number one through five painted on the front of our shirts, mine being five. I do feel a little ridiculous in this outfit but not as much as I would have thought. The old me would never have agreed to wear something like this to school, even with friends, I would never willingly bring so much attention to myself. Today though, the new me is learning to lean into experiences that push me out of my comfort zone and I'm really proud of how far I've come since moving here.

"Nice outfit." Tyler catches me at my locker before first period.

"Thanks." I say sarcastically. I know he's teasing me.

"You've got the wrong number on your jersey though. It was supposed to say thirty-three." He grins.

"In your dreams." I close my locker and begin heading to class.

"Wait, don't leave me like that. You know I'm just joking. Can I walk you to class?" Tyler closes the gap between us in one easy stride.

I look up at the towering human walking next to me. I obviously know he's good looking yet, being near him still catches me off guard sometimes. Tyler's wearing a royal blue fitted baseball T that hugs his biceps. The color in his shirt makes his piercing baby blues pop even more than normal. I have to make the conscious effort to calm my heart rate and act normal before I speak.

"I guess so."

"I wanted to make sure we were still on for tonight?" Tyler inquires.

"Tonight?" I try not to blush at the idea of us hanging out together.

"Yeah, remember we talked about working on our paper some together? Unless you've made other plans..."

"Oh that's right. Sorry, I must've forgot." I try to recover from thinking Tyler was asking me to hang out and not just work on homework. "Um yeah, I can do that. I've got practice after school until five but I'm free after that." I say as casually as I can.

"Perfect. I'll swing by your house to pick you up on my way home from football around five thirty? You can eat dinner with us before we get started."

"Ok that sounds good." I give Tyler a hesitant smile.

I've already been over to the Johnson's house several times at this point but something about tonight feels different. I'm usually hanging out with Payton and the girls when I'm at the Johnson's so to know I'm going there to be with Tyler feels foreign.

"Alright, this is where I leave you Big Bird." Tyler gives me a mischievous grin when we reach my classroom. I don't say anything back to him. Instead I just fold my arms and give him my best death stare that I've used hundreds of times on my brothers. Tyler only laughs at my pout.

"I'll see ya later!"  He calls out then disappears down the hallway.

Why did our stupid color have to be yellow?!

*****

At practice after school our cheer team is working really hard to make sure our Homecoming routine is ready to debut at the Pep Assembly Friday. We finished adding in some changes last week so this week it's all about getting more reps in so we hit. Like always, I'm mainly tumbling in the routine. Although I do fly in one easy stunt in the middle of the routine. Coach Kim's been pushing me to learn how to be a top girl recently since I'm too small for basing or backspotting. I wouldn't say I'm a real great flyer, at least not compared to my more experienced teammates like Payton, but I've been doing pretty good for a beginner.