Letterman Jacket

32 / twelve days before

The moment Nico came up behind me and leaned against the locker next to mine, half-smile breathtaking and a little nervous, eyes green and infinite, and midnight hair a beautiful, beautiful mess, I was torn between stepping into his embrace for a warm hug and restraining myself. The other students had enough to talk about my breakup with Faust and my coming to the dance with Nico as my date, and it had prompted a lot of gossip and rumors over the weekend. Though I usually wouldn't care, I didn't want to give them more reason to stare and whisper about Nico and I by fanning the flames this soon.

I closed my locker and turned to face him with a smile of my own. "Hey."

Nico stared at me. "Hi."

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Shoving his hand inside his pockets, he cleared his throat and swallowed hard. "We're good, right?"

Slowly, I nodded. "Yes."

Nico bit his lip. "You're not...you're not having second thoughts, are you?"

Ah. I stepped closer, keeping my arms tucked around myself and my gaze locked with his. Nico's eyes searched my expression intently. "I'm not going to change my mind," I reassured him softly. "You're stuck with me. Hopefully for a long time."

His mouth stretched into a wide grin. "Okay. Come on, let's get—"

The rest of his sentence was cut off by a loud howl, followed by a heavy body crashing itself onto Nico's back that almost hit me in the process. With a grunt, Nico pushed me out of the way, and I could see blonde waves and hands mussing up Nico's hair as he tackled him with a boisterous laugh. "Dude!" JJ yelled, pushing him once more with a wide grin. "Is it official now? Has it finally happened? Am I going to hear the end of your whines?"

"Shut the fuck up," Nico snapped, mood souring in an instant as he used one arm to smack his friend behind the head, to which the blonde yelped in surprise and pain and put his hands up in surrender. "You're so reckless, you almost—"

"I'm just so happy for you, man, there's no need to consult Google anymore about your romance queries—"

My lips pulled up to a smile, finding the revelation endearing and amusing at the same time.

"You piece of—come here."

Nico had JJ in a headlock all the way to the cafeteria until the curly-haired boy had to apologize profusely with his palms in the air. While they made a beeline towards our usual lunch table, I headed for the line and grabbed a tray. Some eyes fleeted in my direction.

Paula breezed past me and took one for herself, giving me a blinding smile. "Heard the news from JJ. Is it true?"

I adjusted the strap of my bag on my shoulder and peeked at the food choices. "Could you be more specific, please?"

Paula placed a hand on her hip. "Well, turns out you and Faust broke up way before state championships because it wasn't working out, and then Nico finally grew some balls, and you made your own choice and decided to be with him."

"That's about it, yes."

"The rumors are different."

"They're rumors, Paula. Plus, I don't really care," I muttered, stepping forward as the line moved.

The cheerleader tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. "Well, I do, and people need to start minding their own fucking business!" she yelled suddenly, voice echoing across the room. Immediately, everyone looking at me in astonishment, disgust and curiosity turned away and transferred their gazes elsewhere. Paula turned back to me with a grin. "The fudge brownies are good, we should try them."