The Amazing Technicolor Love

Distance #1

"Name?" The lady in charge at the front desk asked me as I walked through the front office. "Peyton Logan." She looked through the list and crossed my name off. "You're set to go. Make sure your home room is ready to go." The show choir competition that was hosted at my school was happening this weekend. Show choirs from all around the nation came to compete. I made my way out of the office and turned down the hallway where all the classrooms were serving as each show choirs' dressing room/home room for the weekend. Each student in the showchoir at my school hosted a group, which meant they led them from their home room to the warmup room and the stage. The group I was hosting this year was a group that came every year. I was happy about that because that meant they knew what they're were doing so I wouldn't have much to do. It was only 7 in the morning but the school was crowded. I past the cafeteria that had been transformed. It had food vendors, tables, a bake sale, and hundreds of people walking around. The gym had been transformed into a stage as well. A giant tv was hanging in the commons, it showed the show choir that was currently performing. I causally watched as I made my way towards my group's home room. As a senior I should be used to the chaos of a showchoir competition, but I wasn't. Plus I could hear my bed calling my name, I was exhausted. "Ah your hair always looks perfect!" Kaley, from my showchoir, who was also adorned in the orange volunteer shirt I was in, told me as she passed me in the hall and ran her fingers through my curls. We all had giant curly hair and tons of makeup for our perfomance later that day. All of sudden, she yelled, "Wait!" Kaley quickly spun around and jogged back towards me. "What is it?" I asked her. She looked really excited. She normally was always outgoing and loud. You always knew where she was from a mile away. She was really pretty too, with that perfect, long, brown hair every girl was jealous of. Plus, there wasn't a single guy who wasn't obsessed with her. "So apparently some really hot famous guy is going to be here this weekend." She gushed to me. "His name is Jack Gilinsky. Have you heard of him? I looked him up and he's sooo sexy. I'm definitely going to flirt with him all weekend!" Kaley was talking 100 miles a minute but I did know who Jack Gilinsky was. I had stumbled upon his Vine a couple months ago. Kaley wasn't kidding when she said he was sexy, but I didn't tell my friends I was fan girling over a guy who was our own age, they would give me a hard time for still freaking out over famous people. I just kept it to myself but now that he was here this weekend, a part of me got really excited. Hopefully I would get even a glimpse of him, I thought to myself. Kaley had already scampered down the hallway as another showchoir made it's way off a bus and into the hall. I moved off to the side to let them through. It was a huge group and they all were wearing sweatshirts with "ATSC" in green letters on them. I rattled my brain trying to remember what those letters stood for. Was it Oklahoma's show choir? I couldn't remember. But as the last guy of the group brought up the rear, I had my answer. It was the Amazing Technicolor Show Choir from Omaha Westside High School in Nebraska. I recognized the last guy as being Jack immediately. I tried not to stare but he was even more attractive in person. He was staring at his phone as he fell behind the rest of ATSC. "Yo, Jack!" Someone called to him. "Let's go!" He slid his phone into his pocket and jogged to catch up with the rest of the group. I finally snapped back into reality once Jack was out of sight. The rest of the day I promised myself I would focus on the competition and only the competition. The other girl who was hosting my group with me had gotten to school by that time so we walked to our home room together. After making sure everything was all set up, we went to go lead our group from the entrance to their room. I glanced down at my schedule sheet while walking to the front doors to make sure I knew when my group would be performing. As I was looking down, I felt myself run into a very solid figure. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking..."I immediately started apologizing. "...where I was going." I looked up to find myself staring directly into the brown eyes of Jack Gilinsky. "Don't worry about it," he told me with a slight smirk on his face. Jack then stepped around me and continued on his way, I watched as his tall figure walked down the hall. Relax Peyton. I kept telling myself over and over.

~

I glanced at my phone. It was only noon. I had been sitting outside of my groups homeroom, in a desk, alone and bored, for the past hour. The show choir I was hosting were all off getting lunch or watching performances and I was stuck keeping an eye on their room while they were away. My stomach began to growl with hunger and I prayed the girl hosting with me would be back soon so I could go get lunch. I began doodling on my schedule when a girl with long curly brown hair came up to me. "Excuse me, would you mind taking a picture of us?" She asked me. I looked up to see a group of kids from ATSC surrounding me, among them was Jack. I smiled and said "Sure." They all crowded around the front of the lockers as I got up from the desk. I quickly took a few pictures for them. "Thanks so much!" The girl with brown hair said to me. Jack and the rest of the group began to walk away but she stayed back. "So do you just have to sit here all day?" She asked. "Pretty much," I told her. "Hard job, huh?" I said sarcastically with a smile. She laughed. "I'm Emily," she told me. "I'm Peyton" I introduced myself to her. After that, Emily and I sat and talked for fifteen minutes. She told me all about life in Omaha and I told her about life in Chicago. We quickly found out how similar our personalities were. Emily was so friendly and sincere. We hit it off right away. "I love meeting people at show choir competitions because were all into the same thing!" I agreed with her. Showchoir was such a fun way to meet kids all over the country. "My friend, Jack, he was in the picture? Well he used to love meeting people with me but now he never leaves the home room at comps, so it's just me," she sort of laughed but you could tell it bothered her. "How come?" I asked her. "He gets annoyed with all the girls constantly following him around." Once Emily mentioned it, I had noticed the groups of middle school girls hanging around all day right outside their room. Finally, the other host came to relieve me from my desk duty. "It was really nice meeting you! Enjoy your lunch!" Emily gave me a hug before she turned and walked to her room. My stomach was basically screaming at me by this point. I was in my own world thinking about getting to food as quickly as possible when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned to see Jack Gilinsky falling into step beside me. "Hey where is the equipment gym?" He asked me. I couldn't believe he actually came up to me and asked me a question. I was freaking out inside. I began to attempt explaining where the gym was using my hands but started laughing, realizing he would never understand. "Here why don't I just take you there." I offered him while gazing up at his perfectly chiseled face.