Gray and Allison

The Aftermath

Gray couldn't stop smiling. Seriously, he'd been grinning like an idiot for the past two days, ever since that walk home with Allison. Every time he thought about it, his brain lit up with fireworks.

She didn't flat-out reject him. No eye roll, no "you wish," no cold shoulder. Instead, she gave him a challenge. No cheesy pick-up lines for a day. That's all he had to do. Simple, right?

Wrong.

Turns out, cheesy pick-up lines weren't just something Gray did for fun—they were practically embedded in his soul. The second he opened his mouth, his brain fired off with something stupid like, "Are you French? Because Eiffel for you." But now he had to bite his tongue, hard, every time one of those came to mind.

The whole situation was giving him whiplash. He wasn't used to holding back. It was like telling a cat not to chase a laser pointer.

So there he was, sitting in his math class, bouncing his leg up and down under the desk, trying to stay cool. Allison was just a few rows ahead of him, talking with her friend Rachel. She looked as effortlessly perfect as ever—hair in that messy ponytail, a light flush on her cheeks from laughing at something Rachel said. And Gray was, once again, fighting the urge to lean over and say something stupid like, "Are you a magician? Because whenever I look at you, everyone else disappears."

Instead, he dug his nails into the palm of his hand, mumbling under his breath. "No lines. No lines. You can do this, Gray."

The bell rang, and as everyone got up to head to lunch, he took a deep breath. It was time. He was going to sit with Allison at lunch—no jokes, no pick-up lines, no cringe. Just... normal conversation.

How hard could that be?

Gray grabbed his tray and walked toward the usual table where Allison and her friends sat. His heart was beating way faster than it should've been. It was just lunch, nothing serious. He could do this.

He slid into the seat across from her, and Allison looked up, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, hey. No pick-up line today?"

Gray forced himself to laugh. "Nope. You said no pick-up lines, so I'm keeping it cool."

"Wow. I'm impressed," Rachel chimed in, giving him a mockingly slow clap. "Maybe you can function like a normal human after all."

Gray shot her a look but decided to ignore her. This was between him and Allison. He wasn't about to let Rachel mess up his plan.

"So," Gray said, picking at his pizza. "You ready for the big game this Friday?"

Allison smiled. "Yeah, it's the semifinals. If we win this, we're in the finals."

"Finals, huh? That's huge," Gray said, trying to sound chill. "Do you, like... get extra cool volleyball gear for that or something?"

She snorted, shaking her head. "No, but we get a trophy if we win."

Gray leaned back, trying to keep the conversation going without being too... well, him. "Well, I'll be there. I'll bring an even bigger sign this time."

Allison glanced up at him, her lips quirking into a smile. "Please don't. The sign last time was already embarrassing." Most girls would be incredibly enamored already. But Allison wasn't like other girls (I'm sorry I KEEP DOING THIS)

Gray chuckled, feeling like maybe he wasn't doing so bad at this normal conversation thing. He hadn't even slipped up yet. He could do this.

"So, what do you do when you're not spiking volleyballs and making me look bad in front of everyone?" he asked.

Allison raised an eyebrow. "Making you look bad? How am I doing that?"

"Well," Gray said, leaning in a little, "you're out here winning volleyball games and being all athletic, and I'm just trying to keep up with my terrible free-throw skills in gym class."

She laughed—like, actually laughed—and Gray's heart did that stupid flippy thing again. He was doing this. 

"Don't worry, Gray," she said, her voice teasing, "I'm sure you'll make a great cheerleader."

Gray opened his mouth, instinctively ready to throw out some kind of flirty comeback, something along the lines of, "I'd cheer for you any day, babe," but he stopped himself. Barely.

Instead, he grinned. "I'm counting on it."

Nice save, he thought to himself.

The rest of lunch was... surprisingly fun. They talked about the game, their classes, and even some dumb TikTok trends they'd seen recently. Gray kept his mouth in check, managing to dodge every cringe-worthy line that popped into his head. By the time lunch was over, he felt like he'd just run a marathon. A marathon and the prize was a beautiful, hot girl who may or may not like him but at least tolerated him. 

But hey, he'd survived.

As they walked out of the cafeteria, Allison slowed down a little to let Gray catch up to her. "I gotta say, I'm impressed."

Gray raised an eyebrow. "Impressed? By what, my amazing pizza-eating skills?"

"No," she said, smiling. "By the fact that you managed to go a whole lunch without hitting me with a single pick-up line."

Gray puffed out his chest, trying to play it cool. "See? I told you I could do it. No lines, just normal Gray."

"Normal Gray is kind of... not terrible," she admitted, bumping his shoulder with hers.

Gray froze for a second, replaying what she just said. Not terrible. That was practically the nicest thing she'd ever said to him. Did that mean she was considering going out with him?

Before he could think too much about it, she stopped in front of her next class and turned to face him. "So, do I have to deal with this version of you for a whole day, or are you going to slip up before the final bell?"

Gray smirked, crossing his arms. "Oh, you're getting this version of me all day. No pick-up lines, no cringe. Just Gray Dawson, normal human."

Allison laughed. "Alright, I'll believe it when I see it."

She waved as she turned and walked into her classroom, leaving Gray standing there, his mind spinning.

She said she was impressed.

Was that progress? Like, actual, real progress?

He glanced at the clock. There were still three hours left in the school day. Three more hours to keep his promise—to not ruin this whole thing with one dumb joke.

I've got this, he told himself, taking a deep breath.

He could make it to the final bell without screwing up.

Probably.

Thanks for reading it I just made the cringiest YA novel ever!