Make My Way

Chapter Fourteen

Aria's POV

It's Friday. Homecoming, I thought nervously. I stuffed my backpack into my locker and went into the common's area. I sat down on a cushioned chair at a round table and looked around for some of my friends. I saw Adrian walk by and the memory of those few minutes on Friday night that I was trying so hard to forget popped back into my mind. I rubbed my lips hard, trying to get rid of that feeling. Seeing none of my friends, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through Instagram.

There were lots of pictures of dresses and matching ties sprawled across my dash. Surprisingly, Vivian and I were the only ones in our friend group that had official dates to the dance. (On Tuesday, Merrick had asked Vivian.) Neil never actually asked Stella but I had convinced him to at least go. Julian was going but apparently didn't have what it took to ask Willow to go with him. Aurora was another story all together. Sure, guys liked her, but most of them were creeps or just plain weird. No one she was interested in.

Long arms wrapped around me from behind. I turned my head quickly in surprise. Blake was standing behind me wearing his red football jersey, since it was a home game. He had another similar white one balled up in his hand. He shook it out and handed it to me. "You'll wear this won't you?"

I looked at him and smiled. Generally, the guys girlfriend wore his jersey to the game. "Definitely," I said and grinned, snatching it from his hand. I spun around in my chair and stood next to him. I held it up against my burgundy sweater that I had thrown on with some black leggings and my favorite over-the-knee leather combat boots. It was really big, but I'd tie it.

"Ooooo. Aria got a jersey," Willow's voice echoed from behind me. I turned around an punched her playfully. Stella walked up behind her, looking fabulous, as usual. She was wearing a simple black dress that went to her mid-thigh and a cute, brown leather jacket with ankle boots that had a four inch heel. Willow kept it simple with jeans and a sweatshirt. Aurora wasn't here yet but I was sure she'd be wearing some exotic color combination.

Sure enough, when she showed up for band, she had on jeans rolled up to reveal some.... interesting..... pig socks. She had on a blue owl t-shirt that was supposed to be tight but on her it was kind of loose. I shook my head at her fashion sense. At least she let us help her pick out her homecoming dress. We taken her with us shoe shopping on Sunday night and she had picked out some simple, black, two-inch peep-toe heels to go with her red dress. She was obsessed with the color red. I told her once she needed to take her obsession down a notch and I'm pretty sure it just got worse. I had gotten some black stiletto, lace-up heels that were at least 3 1/2 inches. Stella had gotten some gorgeous strappy, gold Roman-style heels that were more like 5 inches.

The whole morning of classes was uneventful and extremely boring. Nothing happened all day except the occasional glare at Adrian and the obnoxious whisper from Easton. I rolled my eyes.

At the end of the day, I grabbed my bag and went into the bathroom. I pulled off my sweater and stuffed it into my backpack and then pulled Blake's jersey over my head. I went out into the main part of the bathroom and watched my reflection as I used a ponytail holder to make the huge jersey shorter and tighter. I adjusted it one last time and went into the band room to grab my mellophone. I picked it up quickly and as I was trying to leave, Quinn caught me. "Aria, you're wearing Blake's jersey," she commented.

"Mmmhhhmmm. Wait how did you know it was his?"

"Stella told me."

They were both percussionists and they talked a lot during band. "Ah. That makes sense. Well, we better get going- the game starts in fifteen minutes and we're supposed to be there early." I waved and speed walked to my car.

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I sat down at the game and sighed. I was literally the only person in the entire pep-band section wearing a jersey. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Either way, I stuck out like a sore thumb. Since our school colors were red and white, we were required to wear red at games. The football players had two jerseys and they always wore white at away games and red at home. Since homecoming was a home game, I had Blake's white jersey. I think you get the point.

My mind wandered during the game and I always found myself staring at Blake's number on his jersey. The one that matches mine. The one that identified us together. Before I knew it, it was halftime. During the second half of the game, Vivian, Willow and I talked about the party at Stella's house. Her parents had left town and we're doing a weekend getaway thing to give us the space to ourselves. I loved her parents.

We had decided on an unofficial list of who was invited. Along with Stella, Aurora, Willow, Vivian, and I, we invited Laine, Everly, Merrick, Blake, and Xaiver. I had talked to Blake and he convinced me to at least mention it to Easton and Adrian simply because they had invited Stella and I over last Monday night. Sadly, they said they'd come. We also said that Neil and Julian were more than welcome to come, for obvious reasons, even though they weren't really part of our group.

Vivian, Willow, Aurora, and I were all going over to Stella's house after the game but before the dance to get ready. I had to stop by my house and grab a few things like my makeup bag, hair things, shoes and dress, so when the game was over, I made a quick stop at home before heading over to Stella's to get ready for what could very well be the most exciting night of my life.