Redefining Beautiful

Chapter Eighteen: The Night

“Ready for the game?” Casey asked me.

“Casey, I don’t think I should go. I mean, Trevor-”

“Charlie,” she cut me off. “It’s just the game.” And she was right. It was just the game, and I needed to stop caring so much about what other people say, but it’s a lot harder than it looks.

“But Destiny said-”

“Destiny’s mouth opens just as much as her legs do, Charlie. That doesn’t mean the shit that comes out of her means anything.”

“Okay, okay.” If I want to go, I should go. But I should go not liking him. “I’ll just cut my feelings off for Trevor.”

“Seriously?” Casey shot me an annoyed look.

“Yeah, how hard can it be?”

Once I talked myself out of liking Trevor, I slipped the jersey on and tucked it inside my jeans. I checked my reflection in the mirror and was in love with the way the baggy jersey fit me and how my pants emphasized my hips, making me look slim.

Casey and I entered the gates of the football field on Van Dyke’s campus. On the right were the Van Dyke High School students and parents supporting the Van Dyke football team, who were stretching on the track that outlined the perimeter of the football field. On the left were the Emery High School students and parents, who filled more of the stands than Van Dyke’s side. That only means people didn’t want to come and watch their team be brutally murdered by us once again.

Alyssa was standing in the student section wearing a jersey with the number fifty-three on it. I didn’t see Destiny or any of the other pretty, skinny girls so I joined Alyssa in the stands on the opposite side of the track than the field.

“Fifty-three?” I said to her. She smiled at me and told me that Eli asked her to homecoming on Wednesday. “That’s great!”

“Rustin still doesn’t have a date for homecoming,” Alyssa snickered. “I think the girl he was planning to ask rejected his stupid ass.”

“Good thing she did, too.” I nudged her with my elbow. “No schemes to make her life a living hell now.”

“I wouldn’t have been mad if she did though.”

You’re kidding, right?

“I mean, I thought about it, and it’s Rustin I should hate, not the girl he likes. That’s not fair.”

You tell me this now.

“But anyway, are you excited to see Trevor out there?”

“Yeah.” My eyes spotted the cheerleading squad marching out onto the track with their pom-poms. I saw Destiny, Megan, and Madison, but not Malia. “You aren’t a cheerleader?”

“No. Not my thing.” Alyssa shrugged.

“I thought you were.”

“I get that a lot.” She scrunched her nose. “I’m really preppy, so that’s probably why, but I’m not into dancing. I really do suck.”

The football players started filing onto the track. Trevor immediately attracted my eyes because he’s the only one who looks nice in football pants and shoulder pads. “There’s our boys!” Alyssa slapped my thigh and pointed at Trevor and Eli who must have heard her because they looked straight at us and waved.

Trevor said something to Eli, who nodded and said something to Roebuck, who motioned for the team to gather in a circle. Trevor trotted across the track and passed the cheerleaders.