“Katie, wake up!”

“Huh? What’s going on?”

“Honey, you missed the bus. Get up, I’m driving you to school.”

I had no idea what time it was. So I got ready as fast as I could, brushing my hair, brushing my teeth, putting on makeup, and put some contacts in. I went downstairs to make some Nutella toast and my mom was just about ready to take me. My mom started the car and we headed to school. She had a blacked-out Tesla and I didn’t want anyone to know that my family was wealthy. I liked to be modest and learned from my prior schools that when people know you’re rich, they take advantage of you. People are ruthless and I can’t deal with them. We got to school and I was late, so I walked into school right after the first block ended. Laney Grove High School was a horrible place and I had never fit into any crowd. I wasn’t in any clubs, didn’t play any sports, or make any friends for the first few weeks. It doesn’t bother me that I had no friends for a while since I find that I am better off alone. My mom thinks that I am the most popular kid at school, which is a slight little lie that I came up with after we moved here. She worries a lot about us constantly moving due to her job, but I try to ease her nerves as much as I can. My mom is in the military and I’m not sure what she does because she’s not allowed to tell me. Not until I’m 18 at least, which I find odd but it’s okay. I’m used to it.

We move very often and I’ve gotten used to it. I have lived in every state and the shortest time I’ve stayed at one school is 3 days and the longest is now. 2 months. I have been in and out of school as long as I could remember and never wanted to make any connections due to the fear that I would move the next day. This school, I feel it. I feel the change of my mom and me staying for once. We’ve already been here for two months, and my mom said she could be permanently here for a few years. I walked into my second block and sat in my assigned seat. My biology teacher began class by stating that we had a lab. The lab was in groups of four and luckily my table had four people so we grouped up. As in the four people just assumed we were in a group for this lab.

“Alright, y’all let’s do this,” said one of the boys in my group.

“Parker, you don’t touch anything okay?”

“Josh chill out let me help.”

“You guys are going to screw this up okay, let me and um, sorry, what’s your name?” Melissa says as she looks at my direction.

“Oh, I’m Katie.”

“Oh, it speaks,” snickers Josh as he taps Parker laughing.

Parker didn’t seem very amused. I’d never really talked to Josh or Melissa before, but I talked to Parker maybe once or twice. He was a nice boy and was very tall. Parker has dark hair and small dimples that make me blush when he smiles. He was very cute and made my heart melt when he talked because of his small country accent. Parker talked to me on my first day at this school. He took me on my 1,000th tour of a new school and I was unamused of the plainness of Laney Grove. Parker made me laugh though and no one had made me laugh before except for my mom. He told me how all of the football players were total idiots and that he wanted to be different.

“Oh, so you play football?”

“Yeah, I guess you say I do. My whole team maintains less than a 3.0 GPA, but I have a 4.0. Pure luck I guess,” Parker laughs.

“I’m sure you are a very smart guy and you are probably good at football too.”

“Hey, you should come to one of our games!”

I thought about it for a second and my cheeks were as red as a fire truck and shyly said, “Um sure. I’ll think about it.”

I ended up going to the football game that Friday night, standing in the back of the student section wearing an old green shirt I had. I saw my other group members in the crowd but didn’t say anything to them. The student section was very loud and I could barely see over the tops of the fans, screaming their heart out for the team. They were called the Laney Loudmouths. I mean I find that kind of offensive for us but I guess it’s a tradition. Parker was the star quarterback and had a lot of friends. It was a little intimidating when I cheered for him because all of his close friends stared at me like I was crazy. That made me really sad. I wanted to stay for the end of the game but after the 5th death stare, I wanted to leave. It was the start of the fourth quarter and I just decided to leave. I started walking towards the gate when someone ran up to me tapped me on the shoulder.

“Josh? What’s wrong?”

“Parker *breaths* told *breaths* me *breaths* not *breaths* to *breaths* let *breaths* you *breaths* leave.”

“Wait, what?”

Parker continues to breathe heavily and says, “He told me not to let you leave. He needs to tell you something.”

“Oh, is it important?”

“Very, now stay here please or he’ll slap me,” says Josh as he walks me to the front of the student section. “Hey guys, this is Katie. She’s new and we’re going to show her around.”

“Whaddup Katie,” exclaims the group Josh just introduced me to.

“Hey, guys.”

The rest of the quarter played out as the Laney Creek Lions defeated the Yancey Side Yellow Jackets. I talked with my new friends and learned that I have a lot of common interests with them. We all loved pizza and playing lacrosse, plus I was convinced to try out for the team! I waited for the field to clear and for the players to come into the stands. Parker took off his helmet to reveal his sweaty hair and a very cute face. He looked even cuter in uniform. He went over to his family before locking eyes with me. I smiled and waved as he grabbed a poster from Josh and ran over to me.

“Hey, Katie! I’m really happy you stayed the whole game,” Parker says as he smiles and reveals his poster. “I know you move a lot, but maybe you could move into my heart, HOCO?”

I smiled so hard and put my hands against my face in shock, “Yes I will!”

Parker gave me the biggest hug I have ever received. He kisses me on the cheek as I blushed and hugged him again. Everyone was snap chatting when he asked me and I was never expecting this. He is so sweet and I’m so glad that I finally met someone and have friends at my new school. Parker asked me if I wanted to go to Chick-Fil-A with him after he took all of his gear off. I, of course, said yes and then waited in my car. I was so excited and couldn’t wait. I hadn’t been this happy in a while since we moved so much. Parker got into my car and we went to Chick-Fil-A. 

The Monday after that crazy game and night with Parker, I was the talk of the school. I guess people realize who you are after you make yourself known. Except I was kind of a shy person and Parker has slowly brought out the loudness in me. In Biology, Parker and I became the brainiacs of the class and even started competing to get better test scores. We would always study together and get the same grade every time. However, I started to develop feelings for Parker and I think he has for me. I really want him to ask me out on an official date, but I don’t want to be too pushy. Besides, the Homecoming Dance was next week and I couldn’t be more excited. I decided on a red dress and Parker said he was going to match me with a tie or something on his suit. We were going all out, especially since we were nominated for King and Queen.

It was the night of the dance. The Homecoming dance. I was so excited about all of the dancing and the pictures, the night was going to be perfect. And perfect it was. Parker and I won Homecoming King and Queen and had our special dance in the spotlight. It was the sweetest moment I had ever experienced in my life and I would do anything to relive the moment. As if anything else could make this moment more perfect, Parker hugged me mid-dance.

“Katie, will you be my girlfriend?”

“Yes, yes I will.”

Parker leaned into me and we kissed for the first time. Awes and Oos from the crowd made my heart melt and I smiled for the rest of the night. This was a night I would never forget, the night that I became Parker Blake Adam’s girlfriend.