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The practice has been going well. Not only was the last game of the school year on the horizon, the routine for our advertisement for my mom has also been finalized and has been our focus for the past few practices. It’s 7pm by the time we’ve finished and dismissed everyone, and normally I’d clean up and meet Scottie, Danielle, and the boys with Honey-Belle, but today Scottie headed home early to help with her sister’s project.
I’m pleased to see that Danielle and Gunther are waiting for us outside the gym, and so is Honey-Belle who practically skips over to Gunther. As we begin walking away, Kevin jogs closer to meet us. Kevin pauses to catch his breath and instead of turning to Danielle as we expected, he turns to me.
“Irene,” He says between small breaths “someone hit your car. In the parking lot.”
“What?” I asked, eyes widening. Not again, I think. I start rushing to the parking lot, to the cluster of cars close to the gym where I parked. Hiding my car from view is a Honda SUV. Seeing as it’s late at night, the only people present to witness it are the cheerleaders and some of our classmates. The Honda SUV is blaring a very reminiscent song, but I don’t take the time to listen and remember.
There’s a person besides the car, and I walk up fully expecting an argument with this person. But instead, I stop as I recognize the girl who's holding a boombox on her chest level as one of my cheerleaders. I then recognize that the song is coming from that instead, rather than the Honda SUV. I pause to look over at my car and see if there is any damage, upon first glance, there is none so I look back in confusion.
Just then, party poppers go off and then Scottie appears beside my car, holding a banner that simply says
I promise you’ll have the time of your life if you come to prom with me :D
My face flushes and I run up to Scottie. And just like last time she surprised me like this, I don’t give her a moment to speak, I hold her face and kiss her. Despite our kiss, I can’t help but smile, my cheeks burn because I keep smiling. We pull away from each other and our eyes meet. Our friends are whooping and cheering us on.
“Prom?” Is all Scottie says to me.
“Only if you drive me.” She grins at that and hugs me. I hug back just as enthusiastically. When we part, I turn to my cheerleaders.
“So did anyone actually hit my car?” All of them shake their heads no.
“I offered to actually hit it,” Danielle says and everyone laughs.
“I shut down the idea, I don’t have enough money for damages,” Scottie says.
“You’ll have to find someone to fake date you,” I say with a smirk and kiss Scottie’s cheek. “Thanks so much, guys, but you all should get home and rest,” I say to the cheerleaders who agree. As they’re walking away, I add “shortened practice tomorrow as a thank you.” All of them yell out enthusiastically in response.
“Damn, I thought my car got totaled again,” I say, turning back to my friends. The others laugh while Honey-Belle’s smiling so much her dimples look deeper. Scottie puts her arm over my shoulder and pulls me closer.
“I was just going to stand out here with a boombox and a banner but I figured the panic factor made it better.”
“As I ran here I thought ‘not again.” Scottie laughs wholeheartedly and it's a beautiful sight.
We waved goodbye to our friends but I noticed that Scottie’s car wasn’t anywhere nearby. I asked her about it.
“Oh, I was counting on you driving me home, actually.” She smiles broadly at me. “I borrowed the boombox from your brother. I had Danielle drive me here because I had to figure out how it works on the way here.”
“I’d say you could’ve asked me but one look and I’d have you figured out.”
“Yeah, yeah you would.” She leans over to kiss me again and we just stand there kissing beside my car.
“Alright, let’s go home, Zajac”