Linger

T W E N T Y - F O U R

"Have you seen the results?"

"Wait, they're up already?"

"Yep, it's Friday!"

"Let's go see if we made it before school starts!"

Tyler & I raced down the crowded hallway, eager to see if we made the cut to the dance team that would perform at the winter formal. The auditions on Monday seemed to have gone alright, despite Tom & Ben's unexpected presence in the audience. But other than that, Tyler & I memorized the dance steps right away & performed them in front of the drama teacher with ease. 

All week long, I couldn't think about anything but the auditions, counting down the days until Friday, obsessing over my steps and what I could've done better. But now Friday was finally here so we could see how we really did & if we actually did make the cut.

My heart raced with anticipation as we halted in front of the office window, where many students had already gathered to see the list posted on the glass, causing quite the commotion.

"Did all these people audition too?" I mumbled with confusion before I was suddenly shoved into Tyler's side as students pushed by to see the list.

Tyler gently placed his hands on my shoulders, helping me gain my balance again. "I'll go in & check for us!" he yelled over the chattering, his eyes bright with excitement.

I nodded and readjusted my bag on my shoulder as I watched him make his way to the front of the crowd.

I scanned the crowd around me, noticing that not only the dancers who auditioned were gathered here, but pretty much every other student. Players from the football team, cheerleaders, members of the book club . . . even the freshmen, who seemed to be clueless most of the time. I scrunched my eyebrows, wondering why this dance performance suddenly seemed to gain so much popularity.

Tyler soon emerged from the crowd, running his fingers through his short, fiery red hair.

"Whew, is that a human maze or what?" He chuckled with a giant smile as he returned to his spot next to me.

"Did we make it?" I looked up at him eagerly.

"I'm telling you, if that's the crowd to just see the team results, can you imagine what we're gonna see at the actual formal?" His eyes dancing with amusement, knowing very well he was withholding the piece of information I longed to know all week.

"Ty! Tell me!!!" I was practically jumping in my spot with excitement.

"Ha!" he exclaimed, smiling. "I practically just gave you a hint! Come on, Sonnie!" He headed back down the hallway towards our lockers.

Although I was growing impatient with him at the moment, I couldn't ignore the warm feeling in my heart when he called me by the nickname he had given me when we first became dance partners in middle school. He claimed "Maddie" was lame & too common of a nickname for the name "Madison". And by the end of our first dance lesson, he had came up with "Sonnie" & it stuck ever since. He's the only one who calls me it & I liked that idea because he was the only one creative enough to think of it.

I jogged to catch with him as he was already halfway down the hall.

"Tyler! Please! You have to tell me!! Did we make the team?" I asked with anticipation.

However, he simply kept a smile on his face as he reached his locker & fiddled with the lock.

I crossed my arms & glared at him as he opened his locker & retrieved his books. This, however, did no convincing at all to Tyler as he found it rather amusing & began to chuckle instead.