Catching The Catfish

1. Who The Who Are You?

"Are you sure we're at the right game? Do you know how many schools there are?" Jason nervously peeped though the gym door window.

"Yes, she sent me a picture in her uniform that says CHS which obviously means Central High School." Reese defended trying to hide the fact that he was starting to regret coming.

"Or Chapel High School which isn't that far away." Jason turned back to Reese, "and wouldn't she tell you if she wanted you here?" Jason raised an eyebrow.

"She said she's shy," Reese quickly answered. Am I doing too much? He thought to himself looking at the bouquet of tulips be brought with him. Who brings flowers to a basketball game?

"Well it's too late now," Jason sighed and grabbed Reese's arm, dragging him into the gym. The two of them took their seat on the first row of the bleachers.

"There she is. She's real!" Reese tightly grabbed Jason, "look! Right over there!" He yanked his head in the direction of the special reserved to cheerleaders bleachers in the on the wall in between the normal bleachers and side of the basketball temas.

There sat Mia the girl Reese has been talking to since the summer, it's winter now and this is the first time he's ever seen her in person and she's perfect. She looks exactly how she did in her pictures. Even down to her thick thighs that spill out of her uniform, an insecurity she confessed to Reese earlier. The only thing different about her is her hair, it's in long box braids at the moment. 

Filled with excitement Reese jumped up and down like a madman flagging her down. Eventually, he caught her attention. Her perky fake smile turned into a look of confusion and embarrassment. 

"Dude I think she sees you." Jason placed his hand on Reese's shoulder. Boy, did Mia see him along with the entire cheer team and some of the basketball team. Actually, some of both basketball teams. Mia quickly noticed everyone looking at her and changed her perfect posture into a messy slump, her correct display of green and white pom poms because an incorrect reading of white and green by crossing her arms. Thankfully, one of the senior captains caught on to Mia's embarrassment and called a cheer to take some of the attention away from her.

"Shit! She told me she was shy and what did I do? I embarrassed her in front of everyone!" Reese  slapped his forehead with his flowerless hands.

"Hey," Jason tried to reassure him with his mellow voice but couldn't think of anything to say, "at least she's real."

"Well we already knew that," Reese scoffed while looking at the game in front mostly to avoid looking at Mia since he had know idea about what was happening on the court.

"Um...you thought that. This actually confirms it." Jason had to be begged to come along tonight since he had no desire to find out the real truth. He never was too fond of meeting a stranger online no matter how cute they were, and she was cute.

"Whatever, it's not like that matters now. She probably hates me." Reese matched Mia's posture as he slouched down into the bleacher.

" She doesn't hate you. She probably just thinks you're weird." Jason patted Reese on the back.

Not that long after halftime started. Reese sighed with relief when he saw that Mia was positioned in the back since that means she wouldn't awkwardly be right in front of him. The routine finished pretty quickly since it was still a work in progress.

"Hey," Reese excitedly leaned into Jason, "all the cheerleaders are heading out into the hallway. This is perfect, I can finally talk to her and set things straight."

"Are you sure you want to do that right now? We could just go and forget this ever happened." Jason suggested.

"Come on," Reese got up and stood directly in front of Jason. Funny enough, Reese still didn't reach his height even though his was sitting down.

The two of them walked out into the hallway. Reese bouncing on his toes and Jason dragging is feet behind him. Mia stood in line for the snack stand with a teammate chatting probably about what happened.

The thought of calling out to her crossed Reese's mind but he decided against it not wanting to embarrass her again. So he walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder, "hey can I talk to you?"

Mia opened her mouth to answer  then closed it. After a couple seconds went by she responded, "ok but I only have about two minutes," she turned to the girl next to her, "I'll meet you inside?"

"Yeah but you better not be late," She smirked at her.

Mia broke away from the line and followed Reese to the corner next to the door leading outside still in the hallway. This is as private as it's gonna get.

"Oh!" He remembered, "these are for you." He handed over the tulips to her.

"Ahhh," she expression lit up and for the first time she smiled at him, "is this a delivery?"

"No? Mia it's me, Reese. Do my pictures really look that different?"

"Pictures?" Her face went back to its previous state. Everything Reese just said confused her, especially the fact that her name isn't Mia. 

"That I sent you? From my profile? We've literally been talking for months. If you're pretending to not remember me it's not funny anymore." Reese's voice started to fry. 

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know what you're talking about." Her strong features softened into a sympathetic frown. Not wanting to make eye contact, she looked at up at the closest clock, "I have to go back to the game." 

"Can we please talk after?" He didn't care that he was practically begging at this point, "At friendlys?" She hesitantly agreed then scurried back into the gym. 

"Well that didn't look too good," Jason sauntered over  to an upset Reese, "so what happened?"

"She said she doesn't know who I am," Reese hunched his body over even more so that he was almost concave, "But," He perked back up up, "we're meeting at friendly's!"