Redefining Beautiful

Chapter Twenty-Four: Fooled

It was the day before homecoming. I had been asked by a couple of guys, but I turned them down because I was going to homecoming with Trevor. Or at least, I thought I still was.

In mid-October, we got new seating arrangements in Geometry. I may no longer sit next to Trevor, but that doesn’t mean I don’t stop looking at him. After class, he would vanish before I could say anything to him. He stopped coming to practices, and he was never outside his house, so we stopped speaking to each other.

After school, I was crying in the locker room. It was empty, so no one saw or heard me. I was going to be late for football practice, but I didn’t care anymore. I couldn’t find a point to go because Trevor wasn’t going to be there.

“Charlie?” It was Destiny. I quickly wiped my face, stood up straight, and closed my locker. “What happened?”

“Oh, hi. Uh, nothing.” I shook my head.

She put an arm around my shoulder and we sat down on the floor. “Just tell me.”

“I thought I’d have a date for homecoming, but I don’t.” I sobbed.

“What happened to Trevor?” She asked.

“We haven’t talked...” I shook my head.

“Rustin?” That made me feel worse because I knew Rustin was interested in me, but because I didn’t show it back, he lost interest in me. I was regretting it now. “What’s been up with you and Trevor? Megan said you were holding hands at practice a couple weeks ago.”

I shrugged, wiping my nose with the back of my hand. “He’s going through a tough time, I guess. I thought I’d give him space, but now I think he doesn’t like me at all. I don’t know. I just wanted to be there for him and all, but I failed...” I leaned into Destiny’s shoulder and cried. Just this one time, she was acting like a best friend, and I felt safe.

“I tried telling you, Lee.”

“Des,” I sniffled.

“Yes?”

“Do you think...” I paused for a moment, letting the heavy tears roll down my cheeks. “Do you think he just got bored with me?”

Destiny looked away. “Let’s not talk about that.” She caressed my shoulder. “Why don’t you ask someone else?” I couldn’t believe Destiny was trying to make me feel better by offering solutions and stroking my hair.

“But I don’t want to go with anybody else besides Trevor.”

“You don’t have to actually enjoy it. You’re just going to be making Trevor jealous.” That was a typical Destiny move, something she would do in my situation. And it made sense in this case.

“I guess, I could ask Jason.” I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

“Who’s Jason?” Destiny asked.

“Casey’s older brother. He’s really cute, Des.” I smiled. “We’re going on a date Friday.” A date really didn’t describe what Jason invited me on, I just didn’t want Destiny to think I was the same loser from last year now that she was here being a best friend.

“Get it girl,” She sang. She jumped to her feet and helped me up. “You’re going to be okay, Charlie. At least you got nominated for Freshman Princess.”

“Yeah, I’ll just see if Jason’ll be my date for the night.” I felt better now. I went out to practice while Destiny walked to the track where the cheer squad met at.

“You’re late,” Roebuck said to me when I passed by him to join the team for stretches. “Don’t make it a habit. We have a big game in couple weeks.”