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Every time the cheerleaders bounce, Zeke cheers excitedly from the stands. Jimmy Jr. doesn’t find anything they’re doing that impressive, and he’s pretty sure Zeke’s only interested in the outfits anyway.
He spares a glance in their direction. Short skirts and tight tops—exactly what he’d been told to expect from high school cheerleaders. Since starting as a freshman two months ago, much of what he’s seen has lived up to the expectations of TV and movies.
The cafeteria food is bad, but choking it down is part of the experience. A few of the teachers occasionally slip swear words into their lectures, something Jimmy Jr. never heard back at Wagstaff.
Other stuff is different, too. Some of the senior girls look way older than they are, floating through the halls like supermodels, and passing by them is sort of intimidating.
Still, Jimmy Jr. only really thinks about one girl. He’s got science, history, and English with Tina, and he spends quite a lot of time watching her when he should be paying attention to what the teacher is saying.
She doodles in her journal sometimes, and he catches glimpses of stars and hearts. He wonders what matters enough to her to write about. Tina’s weird, in a mostly good way, and the pages are probably filled with quirky fantasies. About him, maybe. Hopefully not some other boy.
“Woah! J-ju! Didja see that? We got a field goal!”
The words sound like incomprehensible mush. Jimmy Jr. doesn’t much care for football, and he only understands about half of any given game.
“Oh.” He says dumbly. “Uh…that’s cool. Right?”
“Hell yeah it is! Woo-hoo!”
Just like in class, Jimmy Jr’s having trouble focusing. Tina’s three rows ahead in the bleachers, nervously toying with an earring as her siblings eat cotton candy and yell obscenities toward the field.
Tina wears earrings in high school. It’s one of the first new things Jimmy Jr. noticed. She has little pink unicorns, and little pencils, and even a pair of dangly red hearts. Right now she’s wearing two mushrooms. They’re cute, but Tina fidgets with them like she’s not quite comfortable with the new look.
Jimmy Jr. can’t decide how he feels. She looks pretty, of course, but Tina always looks pretty. He likes the earrings, but he’s not sure about the change. He’d really prefer if Tina would stay the same strange, unflinchingly sweet girl that she’s always been. It’s just pierced ears now, but what other changes will high school bring? Is she gonna stop writing weird stories? Or suddenly learn to walk in heels without tripping?
Jimmy Jr. stares at the back of her head. Slightly hunched over, Tina has both arms wrapped around herself in an effort to keep out the surrounding chill. The temperature is dipping now, hitting new lows as October approaches. She shouldn’t have left home in the short-sleeved blouse she has on.
His eyes drift toward the cheerleading squad again. They’re almost certainly cold, too, but looking their way doesn’t give him an innate urge to warm them up. He glances back at Tina, rolling his eyes.
She probably has goosebumps. If she’s planning on walking home, she’ll only get colder as the sun sets. The thought makes him frown, and he imagines the sickly chill overtaking his own body.
Ugh. Why should he care if Tina’s comfortable? It’s her own fault for leaving the house all unprepared. Still watching closely, he sees her say something to her siblings before rising from her seat.
Jimmy Jr’s eyebrows lift. Like when observing her in class, a series of curious questions form in his brain. Where’s she going? Is she getting a snack? What’ll she buy from the concession stand?
It’s so stupid. Tons of his other classmates have stood up throughout the game, and Jimmy Jr. never once wondered about them. When Tina stands, all of his senses tune in like it’s the most important thing in the world.
She takes the steps cautiously, walking slow so that she doesn’t lose her balance. Jimmy Jr. follows her every move, watching as she reaches the bottom of the bleachers and turns left. As she makes her way down the sidewalk, his nosiness gets the best of him.
“Uh, I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” He announces, standing up before he’s even fully processed his own decision.
“Oh yeah?” Zeke asks, eyes still fixed on the game. “You need a urinal buddy? I can come with ya!”
Jimmy Jr. shakes his head.
“Nah. I’ve got it. You watch the game. I’ll be right back.”
Before Zeke can ask any more questions, he squeezes by the other students in their row and starts taking the steps two at a time. Though Tina’s no longer in his line of vision, he saw her head toward the concessions stand before she disappeared.
Once Jimmy Jr’s down on the ground, he starts questioning what exactly he’s doing. He definitely wants to talk to Tina, or at least get a closer look at her, but he’s not even sure what he wants to say when he does approach her.
It’s the same as in class. In first, third, and fifth period every day, he gazes at her back like something fascinating is gonna happen. And…it does. Kind of.
Every time Tina adjusts her glasses, or sneezes, or makes any kind of minuscule change to her body language, Jimmy Jr. feels his breath catch. Every movement she makes, no matter how minor, feels wholly significant because she’s the one making it.
It’s embarrassing that he cares this much. He should turn around, sit back down, and start acting like a normal person instead of some weird stalker with a giant crush. But he can’t. He spots Tina walking toward him with a hot dog, and he feels as dizzy as he always does when he looks at her.
“Oh!” She says as she approaches. “Hi Jimmy Jr!”
Behind her, the sky is aglow in shades of pink and orange. She smiles, and Jimmy Jr. is pretty sure it’s gonna stick in his brain forever. Tina smiling against this beautiful backdrop, the image lighting up his psyche each night as he’s trying to fall asleep.
“Uh…hey, Tina.” He says, slightly terrified that she can read the nervousness echoing from him in waves. “What are you doing here?”
She tucks a thread of hair behind her ear, bumping against a mushroom, and he wards off the growing urge to kiss her.
“I’m…watching the football game?” She says, sounding a little confused by the question. “That’s what everyone’s doing, I think. Unless you’re doing something different? I—“
“No. Yeah. I’m watching football, too . It’s a really good game. Like…crazy. How they had the ball and then they didn’t. And then they were…running. And stuff.”
He mentally smacks himself across the forehead. Before the words came out of his mouth, it felt like a good idea to impress her with fake sports knowledge.
“Oh yeah.” Tina agrees, sounding lukewarm at best. “That was…uh-huh. Definitely crazy.”
For whatever reason, it makes Jimmy Jr. feel better that Tina sounds equally confused. Now that they’re up close, he catches sight of goosebumps on her arms.
“It’s kind of cold outside, you know.” He says sharply.
When her face changes, hurt, he figures his tone was more aggressive than intended.
“Sorry.” He says quickly. “I just mean…it’s kind of windy out here. And you have that shirt on, and you’re probably cold. I think.”
With the arm that isn’t holding a hot dog, Tina shrugs.
“A little. But that’s okay! Next weekend I’ll wear my jacket.”
To Jimmy Jr., this answer is less than satisfactory. Tina’s goosebumps make him feel colder. He can’t stand the idea that she’s uncomfortable.
He groans. Feelings are annoying enough when he understands them, but this is one he doesn’t fully get. Huffing, like someone is forcing him to do it, he pulls off the red hoodie he’s wearing.
“Take this.” He says.
It actually comes across as more of an order. His voice is hard, irritated. Tina looks carefully at his face, trying to comprehend where he’s going with this.
“Uh…what?” She asks. “I’m kind of holding a hot dog.”
Right. Her hands are full. Sighing, Jimmy Jr. drapes the jacket over her shoulders himself. Even as the cold nips his bare arms, he feels better knowing that Tina is covered.
His hoodie is big on her, so she looks cozy, and he’s pretty sure it will keep out the cold just fine. Seeing Tina in his clothes is a new kind of rush, and he likes the idea of other people assuming they’re together.
“Wow.” Tina says, tilting her head up to look at him. “Jimmy Jr., are you sure? Wearing a boy’s hoodie is a big step.”
He shrugs this off with an eye roll.
“Don’t make it weird, Tina. I just don’t want you to be cold, okay? No big deal.”
Even as he says this, he can’t shake the feeling that Tina has a point. He pictures her going home in his hoodie, keeping it wrapped around her as she crawls into bed, and his heart skips a beat.
“Well…thank you.” She says carefully, not wanting to scare him off. “That feels better. I’ll give it back to you on Monday, okay?”
Jimmy Jr. shakes his head.
“Just keep it.” He says dismissively. “I have other jackets, and it…”
The words he wants to say feel too heavy to say out loud. Tina smiles knowingly.
“It looks better on me?” She suggests, reading his mind.
He nods, sheepish, suddenly desperate to get back to his spot in the bleachers.
“Yeah. That. Let’s go sit down, okay?”
Tina bites her lower lip, still smiling, and Jimmy Jr. can’t shake the feeling that she knows something he doesn’t.
“Sure. We’ll sit together next weekend, okay? It’ll be a date.”
Before he can confirm or deny this, she brushes past him. He lets out a breath, his palms ridiculously sweaty from talking with Tina for even a few minutes, and she turns on her heel to face him again.
“You’re really not subtle with the whole staring thing, by the way.” She points out. “I had a feeling you’d give me your jacket if I showed up without one.”
It’s for the best that she starts walking in the other direction, because Jimmy Jr’s whole face burns a damning shade of pink.