Diving Into The Wreck

Pink Triangle

When I entered the William McKinley High School cafeteria one chilly day in April, already exhausted from US History, I saw that the GSA had set up a table with everything from bracelets that said "Love Is Love" to homemade cookies. Tanner and Ashley were behind the table, trying to get students to stop by. Ashley was even waving a rainbow flag around, and it seemed like plenty of students were stopping to check out the table. Before I went into the lunch line to get my plastic pizza, I went up to Tanner, mostly just to say hello.

"Hey Dani," Tanner said. "We're having a bake sale, and we've also got some patches, pins, and bracelets. All proceeds are going to a charity that supports LGBTQ youth."

"That's so cool that you guys are doing this," I said. I handed a couple of dollars to Tanner and then, after looking around for a while, I took a chocolate chip cookie and a pink triangle patch.

"Thanks," Tanner said.

"No problem," I said. "I'm happy to support a good cause."

I ate the cookie while I was in line, and I stuffed the patch into my backpack, not quite sure what to do with it yet. After I had bought my lunch, I sat down next to Madeline. "Where's Tanner?" she asked me.

"He's at the GSA table," I said. "They're selling cookies."

"That's awesome," Madeline said. She got up to check out the bake sale, and she came back with a stack of snickerdoodles. "You're coming to Quiz Bowl today, right?" she asked as she took a bite of one of the cookies.

"Yeah, of course," I said. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Good," Madeline said. "Conference is next week, and we need you."

"Wait a second, conference is next week?" I said. It seemed like the end of the Quiz Bowl season had snuck up on us. Even if we somehow won the conference tournament, there was only regionals and state left. Before long, Quiz Bowl would be over, and I wouldn't be able to hang out with my closest friends after school and answer trivia questions with them anymore.

"I know," Madeline said. "I wish it wasn't so soon."

"Me too," I said. "Anyways, I'll definitely be at practice."

"Great," Madeline said. "You know, we beat Garden Grove, and they have the best Quiz Bowl team in our conference. We might have a shot at going to regionals this year."

"Yeah, but we barely beat them," I said. "What if we lose against them at the conference tournament?"

Madeline and I continued to speculate on how hard it would be to beat each team in our conference, but before long, the bell rang, and I had to go to AP Biology. We walked together until we got to the orchestra room, but we soon had to go our separate ways. "I'll see you in Quiz Bowl!" Madeline exclaimed as she ducked into the orchestra room.

All throughout the day, my phone wouldn't stop buzzing. I resisted the urge to check it, since I was pretty sure that it wasn't an emergency. It wasn't like Blake was buying tickets to see Green Day again. I focused on my schoolwork, no matter how badly I wanted an escape from physics or Spanish. It wasn't until after my last class was over that I finally checked my texts.

Every single one of them was from Blake. This had happened more and more often lately, but he had never sent me quite this many.

Heyyyyyyy Dani ;)

How's school?

I miss you a lot. It's so lonely here.

You should come over to my house sometime.

By the way, you looked really pretty the other day. That black jacket looks so nice on you.

Dani, why aren't you replying to me?