Hungry

Chapter 5

"Flynn?" I question.

"Hope, hey!" He says as I swim towards the edge of the pool where he is standing.

"Hey," I say awkwardly. He sits down at the edge of the pool and dangles his feet over the edge into the water.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here," he says with a laugh.

"I wasn't expecting to be here," I awkwardly chuckle as I say the line I expect to say every time I see someone I know. There is a pause of silence between us until Flynn begins to speak.

"Are you ready for next season?" He asks.

It takes me a moment to process what he means until I realize he is talking about football. "Yeah, I can't wait to know what the field show is going to be," I smile.

"I can't wait to see you playing in the stands," he says. For some reason the weirdness of that statement didn't register in my mind.

"Why is he talking to me?" I think to myself.

"Um, hey, I know we don't talk that much, but I was wondering maybe, you and I could, you know, go to prom together." He says.

The question throws me completely off guard. Flynn never talks to me, let alone knows of my existence. "I-" my heart races as I try to figure out what to say. I've never been asked out before, and this is so sudden. The word, "sure," slips out of my mouth without me realizing it.

"Cool," he says as he stands up. "Talk to you later," and with that, he walks away. He immediately walks back to his friend group. As the talk they sneakily take glances in my direction as they laugh.

My mouth must be hanging wide open when I swim back over to Adeline.

"What did the famous Flynn Williams want?" she asks.

"He asked me to prom," I reply bluntly.

She laughs, "What? No, he didn't. I'm sorry, but he is probably going with the captain of the cheerleading squad who he is so conveniently speaking to now. I know we joke about him and you, but we don't mean it, you said so yourself. Even if he did, please, I'm begging you, tell me you said no."

"I think I'm going to prom with Flynn Williams." I say, flabbergasted.

"Hope, I know I wanted you to go to prom, but not with freaking Flynn Williams! You're not that desperate! What were you thinking!"

"I don't know, I panicked! I've never been asked out before! What do I do?"

"I guess you go to prom with the holy, Flynn Williams," she says. "At least you'll be popular."

"I don't want to be popular! This doesn't make sense, Adeline! Why is the world would Flynn Williams -"

"What about Flynn Williams?"

I recognize that voice.

"Nothing!" I yell with a nervous laugh.

"Okay, geeze, didn't mean to scare you." Oliver laughs. "Or are you mad at me for no reason?"

"I'm not telling Oliver," I whisper to Adeline ignoring what he said.

"He needs to know."

"I know, but not tonight, please," I beg.

He gives me an odd look as he jumps into the pool. Oliver swims up next to Adeline and I and we all start to talk. I can feel a weird tension between everyone and I just want to crawl into a hole and lay there until my death. The rest of the night proceeds normally until I have to leave.

"I've gotta go," I say as I begin to pack my things.

"See you tomorrow?" Oliver asks.

"Yeah," I smile and leave the party.

I pull out my phone and text Adeline. "You can tell him now," I say as I walk home. I didn't think through this whole thing being that I didn't take my own car even though I had to leave early. I don't know why, but I felt ashamed to tell Oliver that I was going to prom with Flynn. I should just tell Flynn I can't go with him, but if I do that I seem like a total bitch. This is why I don't go to parties.

"You need to tell him not me." Adeline texts me back. A few seconds later I get another message from her. "This is your problem, not mine."

"Adeline I physically can not tell him. I tried multiple times tonight and I just couldn't."

"Hope, you can tell him."

When I finally get home I crash from physical and mental exhaustion. How am I going to tell Oliver?

***

When I wake up the next morning it turns out I might not have to tell Oliver myself. My name is being said all over social media.

"Did you hear that Hope Adams is going to prom with Flynn Williams?"

"I can't believe Flynn asked a nobody to go to prom. It looks like there is hope for us all."

"Maybe Hope and Flynn are the couple we never knew we needed."

These comments were all over my timeline. I hope Oliver didn't see these because this would be a terrible way for him to find out, plus we need to win this thing with no distractions today.