The cast itched. Not too bad, but enough to hold the cast with her hand and try to roll her injured wrist a little to satisfy the itch. Her mom gave her tongue suppressors to stick into the cast to scratch with.

  Plenty of boys in her class texted her, asking if she was ok. Many were unrecognized numbers. She updated her socials on her status, saying she was ok. And then she got busy. New friends. She wanted new friends. And Jesse was a great place to start. They have interacted before, being on the same cheer squad and partaking in the same parties, but they’ve never chatted much in a one-on-one environment, except for Friday night. Thinking of Timothy gave her an idea. She’d invite Jesse to a professional basketball game. An hour-long drive, two and a two-and-a-half-hour-long game, an hour back. Easy. New friend.

  She’d wanted to invite Timothy. But Timothy is just happy to be in the same room with her, and she doesn’t need much effort for Timothy. So the focus went onto Jesse, the girl who tried to catch her. The idea to start up a social life again thrilled her. It’s been almost two days without contact from a single soul of her usual entourage, maddened her. It all started after Homecoming, even before Homecoming. Now, in a post-Homecoming world, she shall begin anew.

  Also, if she and Jesse can get some selfies with boys at the game, that might make Timothy jealous enough to get him to kickstart a real relationship with her. She’ll invite him another time.

  “You like basketball?” she texted Jesse.

  “Kinda. Why?”

  “Want to go to the game tonight? Downtown.”

  “Hell yeah.”

  “Can you drive? Busted arm.”

  “Of course.”

  ***

  The drive into town was fun. The two chatted as if they had been friends forever. “The art teacher is kinda hot.” One said. “Oh my God, did you see what she wore?” Another. “I swear that boy in science is constantly trying to sit by me.” The discourse went so fast that any observer could keep track of who was saying what.

  They parked, which Jesse offered to pay for, and followed the crowd's flow from the large building lot and across the street to the stadium. Almost everyone was decked out in clothes to support the home team.

  After getting some lousy stadium food, they sat down in their seats. The seats weren’t bad, with her influencer sponsor money, they sat about halfway up the stands near the half-court line. Once the game started, it wasn’t all that different from cheerleading. Except she was in the stands and could stop cheering anytime she wanted, she could take a drink, stretch a bit, it was a nice change of pace.

  Her phone buzzed. “Are you at the game?” Timothy texted.

  “How?!?!”

  “Cameraman crushing on you.”

  She took a quick selfie with Jesse and sent it to him. “Jealous?”

  “Nah. =P. Have fun. Tell Jesse I said hi.”

  She sneered at her phone as if Timothy could see her. Actually, Timothy might if she were still on camera.

  “Timothy says hi.”

  Jesse raised a brow. “Really?” She looked perturbed by that. “You really like him?”

  “Yeah, he’s awesome. I wish the rest of the school knew him like I do.”

  A player at the free-throw line took a shot, and it went in. The other players gave him light high fives as the ref handled the ball.

  “What’s there to know? He just sits there.”

  The player shot his second free throw, it bricked, and the opposing team caught the ball.

  “You should get to know him then. Just don’t steal him from me.”

  Jesse chuckled and looked up to Sarah. “I doubt I could do that.”

  Halftime kicked in. The mascot came out and did a bunch of silly antics with a basketball and ladder, and a group of dancers from a nearby dance school did a routine. The official team cheer squad also went around the stadium and did small games for kids, giving them jerseys if they won.

  The huge jumbotron over the court showed a singing frog, and a kiss the girl text appeared along with music to accompany it. The camera would find couples to show on the massive display for all 20,000 people to see, and when the couple realizes they’re on camera, they’d kiss.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The jumbotron landed on Sarah and the early 20s man sitting next to her. She chuckled as the man wanted to, but she declined with a polite low wave. The crowd let out a loud, collective groan, and the man gave an I tried gesture. Everyone seemed disappointed that the man didn’t get a kiss from the pretty girl, and the jumbotron lingered on Sarah for a beat. And then Jesse kissed her. Sarah’s breath evaporated as Jesse went in, pushing so hard their noses dug into each other’s cheeks, and a tongue breached. The crowd went wild due to the plot twist, the sexuality, and the young woman. Everyone cheered, more so than any dunk or three-pointer during the game. Sarah about backed off, but with the camera on them, she didn’t want to humiliate Jesse in front of the audience. After what Sarah thought was a normal duration kiss, she leaned back. Sarah and Jesse were still on screen, and the two waved, Sarah doing her best to hide disgust.

  The camera changed to a different couple on the big screen, and Sarah immediately said, “What the Hell?”

  Jesse looked up at her. “I didn’t want to disappoint the crowd.”

  “That wasn’t a friendly kiss.”

  Jesse lifted her shoulders. “I’m sorry, I thought it’d be ok.” After a beat of silence, she continued. “When the team moved you next to me, I thought it was a sign. We were always on the same team, but never together. But now, it felt different. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done that.”

  It wasn’t the first time a girl came out to her, or landed a surprise kiss on her. Another girl, in her sophomore year at a dance, laid one on her. She and a group of girls all went together, and the girl who kissed her shot her shot when they were all dancing together.

  “It’s fine,” Sarah turned to face the court. “Let’s enjoy the game.”

  ***

  Awkward, quiet, and long, the car moved along under lit street lights late at night.

  “I’m not mad,” Sarah said.

  Jesse swallowed and thought about the correct thing to say. “It’s ok if you are.”

  “It’s fine. The game was fun. I did have fun.”

  “I’m going to be honest here,” Jesse kept her eyes on the road, her hands stiff on the steering wheel. “I don’t want to be just friends.”

  Sarah thought about the last two days. Other than inviting her to a game, which may have come off as a date, she didn’t give any signals. No brushing on the shoulder, no flirty comments, nothing.

  “I understand. But, I’m sorry, I’m not into girls like that.”

  Jesse cleared her nose, or was it a sniffle? “I’d always try to start a conversation with you in the halls, or get closer during lunch. I’d wake up and get ready, doubly so, because I’d see you at your locker. I’ve also dropped letters in it for you over the last few years. Now, you were up on the jumbotron after inviting me to a game. And us becoming friends. I’m seeing your smile up close for once.”

  Sarah was intent and gave Jesse the attention she deserved, being her hallway crush. She’s received a lot of letters in her locker. A lot. Mostly anonymous. She’ll have to go through them all and figure out which ones are hers. She reached over and placed a hand on hers, which froze to the steering wheel. “I had no idea how lucky I was. I think you’re great, and I’d like our friendship to continue.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  Jesse took the exit off the interstate towards their hometown. “I’m going to need a few days to recover from a rejection.”

  Sarah managed to keep a friend. She always manages to get what she wants. Always. Despite what Alicia is doing, she could, if Sarah wanted to, turn everyone against her. And it was no different with the police officers and Bri…

  Jesse pulled up to Sarah’s house with a big, long hug, which she took in as much as possible, not wanting to let go between the car seats. Sarah said goodbye and left the car. Knowing what Jesse must feel now, she kept waving by her door as Jesse drove away.

  Sarah sighed. She wanted to keep Jesse as a friend, and she will, but that was rough. She said hi to her family and told them how the game went before heading upstairs to her room.

  It wasn’t 10 pm yet, an hour before a school night curfew. Her usual time of falling asleep at 1 am must be filled with something to do. Normally, it’d be texting with her friends. Alone with her thoughts in her room, she wished she’d have waited to invite Timothy, once his jaw fully heals. She decided she would soon, then imagined the two of them on the jumbotron, being kissed by him and not Jesse. What she said in the car popped into her head, and she figured out what to do with her time.

  After changing into her pajamas, she pulled out a couple of shoeboxes and went through all the love letters she’d received. It was enough to fill up a novel. She tried to separate the ones that a boy obviously wrote, and the ones that a girl may have, which became a much smaller pile.

  As she kept flipping through them, one stood out. It was just one sentence on an entire ripped piece of notebook paper. It was never a confession. She found more similar letters, all one-sentence letters, written on the same type of paper and pen ink. All of them were wishing her a good day. Or hoping she’s doing well. Never a I love you kind of letter.

  Timothy, she thought.

  Timothy just wanted her to be happy. Did she ever look unhappy?

  She took a photo and sent it to Timothy. “Is this from you?”

  She watched the Timothy is typing message go on and off for several minutes. All that time for a simple. “Surprised you still have it.”

  “It’s very kind of you. I have the others you wrote too.”

  “Oh God.”

  She couldn’t find Jesse’s, most were labeled SA or entirely written out as secret admirer, like Timothy’s. The notes that could be considered sexual assault had their names written.

  “I’m sorry for forcing a kiss on you.”

  “Wdym?”

  “I should’ve asked.”

  The Timothy is typing flashed twenty times. “Just going to be honest. It was amazing. And don’t be hard on yourself.”

  Fumbling with the phone, surprised by his answer. Amazing. It made her wonder why he hadn’t tried anything yet.

  “Next time feel free to—”

  She accidentally hit send. With quick fingers, she tried to finish her sentence. To go for it is what she wanted to finish the message with. But Timothy is typing messages that appeared, disappeared, and reappeared over and over. She chuckled, imagining what he thought she meant by her message.