Fish Eyes

7

I'd never seen so many teens at a non-sports school event up to then.

After meeting Dalia, I conveniently remembered to hit up my one friend at Trent. Dean was someone I played basketball with in middle school, and he was good enough to get a scholarship to come to the illustrious Trent High. We played neighborhood ball occasionally, but he was so tied up with school stuff these days that we hadn't linked in a while.

I was sure to change that.

I'd never heard Dean mention Dalia or anything. I wasn't even sure that she came to stuff like this. But here I was, anyway. Stupidly, I asked, "Do you know Dalia Glees?"

His eyebrows scrunched up, him looking serious despite wearing goofy cookie monster pajamas. "No, I don't think so. She goes here?"

"Yeah, " I responded, trying not to sound dejected.

I wore my plain black silk pajamas and some Nike slides for the occasion, trying not to look too rough. A lot of the guys simply wore basketball shorts and tees, while the girls went all out and had fur, lace trim, fuzzy socks, and all types of stuff going on. A lot of them were showing quite a bit of skin for a school event, but nobody seemed to care.

"Y'all must have a lot of school spirit," I observed.

"Nah. People here just like being seen."

I snorted, scanning the room. I wondered what Dalia might wear to something like this.

I had to chill.

This was hopeless. I couldn't find any reason to say yes to her wanting to be in that competition with me, but I had no other outlet for getting to know her. I stupidly thought that I might be able to use Dean as a bridge to her, but it was clear that wasn't happening either. I don't know why that even seemed possible to me, knowing that Dean ran with the athletes and Dalia seemed like the type that ran with nobody.

I looked back to where Dean had just been. He wasn't there anymore. I frantically searched around for him, panicking because I didn't know anybody else at this damn pajama party.

My eyes eventually landed on him talking to some gorgeous dark-skinned girl. He had on that smile that said "I'm trying to charm this gorgeous girl."

My eyes didn't stay on them for long because my eyes found an even better target standing right next to them. What were the odds?

She looked awkward and uncomfortable, her posture a little saggier than normal. Her hair was out today, framing her face largely as I'd predicted. She wore a lavender silk button-up with matching shorts and some huge furry boot slippers. It was, ironically, the most covered-up I'd seen her yet.

My whole plan had been to accidentally run into her and strike up a conversation, but that whole thing went to shit when I saw her. What would I even say? 

Hey, Dalia. I used my friend that I haven't talked to in months for the slightest chance that I'd be able to corner you into a conversation at your school.

Nah.

And we were accidentally matching and shit, it was too much. I didn't know why I assumed I'd have anything to say, seeing as how I wasn't much of a talker in general. I liked talking to her, though. But right now, I didn't know how to do that.

I took note of Dean's place in the room and went to find a beanbag to set my jacket on and claim before going to the snack table.

The movie for the night was the new Minions movie, and it was set to start in just a few minutes. I figured I wouldn't miss anything if I wasn't seated for the opening sequence. I needed popcorn to be able to focus for a movie.