Say Yes to the Cheerleader

by Abby Crofton

  Right into the path of an older sedan. Which hit me.

  The car wasn’t going very fast, so it wasn’t like I flipped over the hood or anything. The contact was just enough to bump me off my feet. I lay on the parking lot asphalt, dazed. I vaguely noted that the car had actually hit my backpack, which I had slung against my side. The several thick textbooks in it had cushioned the blow so that the car hadn’t directly hit my body. Good thing, too, because I did not want to find out if my bones could withstand a direct hit from a moving automobile.

  “Oh god, oh god, oh god, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” a voice interrupted my thoughts. A very familiar voice. Worried blue eyes came into my view, hands hovering over me, not sure whether to touch me or not. I turned myself over onto my back and looked up at the person who had hit me.

  It was Kate.

  “Hi,” I said, more happily than I should have. I was just so glad to see her, to have her talking to me (even though it was only to apologize), that I couldn’t pretend otherwise.

  “Haley, I didn’t mean to hit you! Oh my god, are you okay? Don’t move. Let me call an ambulance. You could have broken bones or internal bleeding. Don’t move. Don’t move!” she ordered in one of the shrillest voices I had ever heard.

  I was pulling myself up into a sitting position, and she obviously did not agree with that course of action. But I didn’t feel any broken bones, and after taking a deep breath, the lack of any pain probably indicated no internal bleeding, either. After taking an inventory of my body and finding it all in good shape, I stood up. Kate protested the entire time, wanting to call for an ambulance, but I waved that idea away. Except for a few scrapes on the palms of my hands where I had tried to brace myself after I fell, I was fine.

  We had attracted a crowd that seemed disappointed that I was fine. While they dispersed, no doubt hoping that a major accident on school grounds would have canceled school, or at least delayed it a bit, I stood with Kate, unable to take my eyes off her lovely face.

  Her lovely face that looked like it was about to burst into tears at any moment.

  “Kate, I’m fine,” I tried to soothe her, but all that I was able to accomplish was to get her to scrunch up her face more in an effort not to cry.

  In between sniffs, she said, “I don’t know what happened. I saw you park, and I wanted to get just a quick look at you, because I missed seeing you and talking to you, and then all of a sudden you were flying backward right into my car, and I tried to stop but it was too late, and then you were on the ground and I thought I had killed you or maimed you, and I still think you should go to the hospital because your insides could be collapsing right now and we’re just standing here talking.” She ended with her arms waving helplessly in the air.

  That reminded me: where was my sister? A quick look around showed no trace of her. I sort of understood what she had tried to accomplish with the stunt she’d just pulled, and it had sort of worked because Kate was talking to me again, but she could have done so without almost killing me.

  Though now that I was standing in front of Kate again, it didn’t matter all that much.

  “Kate, my insides are not collapsing. I’m pretty sure I would notice that. You just bumped me a bit, and I fell mostly because I was off balance and surprised. Look, my arms and legs and everything else are all working and in tip-top condition.” I demonstrated by running in place and doing a couple of jumping jacks and a few air punches for good measure. Kate’s eyebrows became a little less scrunched up, so I figured my attempts at placating her were working.

  “I thought you said you don't work out. That was an impressive display,” she said with a slight wobble in her voice. I let out a quick laugh.

  “Let’s go somewhere,” I said, surprising us both. “Let’s go to breakfast. We can skip history and go get pancakes instead,” I elaborated, getting more excited (and hungry; I had missed breakfast after all).

  “You want to skip school and go get pancakes rights after I hit you with my car? Did you hit your head when you got knocked down?” she asked, moving to inspect my head for damage.

  I smiled and shook my head. “My head feels great. I feel great. Just hungry. So if you want to help, take me to get breakfast. I’m feeling more like an omelet now, so let’s get going before I change my mind again.”

  When Kate didn't move or answer, I made one last plea in the most pathetic voice I could muster. “Please, my stomach is so hungry. I missed breakfast, and there’s already been so much excitement this morning…” I trailed off, leaving her to fill in the blanks on her own, which she did with impressive speed.

  “And I’ve kept you standing here and arguing.” She huffed out a breath one more time and finally gave in. “All right, where do you want to go for breakfast?” Before I had a chance to answer her, she added, “But only if you let me know right away if your head starts to hurt or anything like that, okay? Your health is much more important than French toast—which is what I want, so please pick somewhere that has it. Deal?”

  I of course took that deal.

  My suggestion was a little diner that my family sometimes went to, only a ten-minute drive from the school. It served some awesome French toast. We sat in a booth in the back, and only after we’d ordered two French toasts with orange juice did things get awkward. It was the first time we’d been alone since our terrible conversation in my room. At least, alone where she wasn’t checking for life-threatening injuries and I wasn’t giving driving directions.

  In a role reversal from the usual dynamics of our relationship, I spoke first.

  “Thanks for coming with me to breakfast, Kate. I know you said you didn’t want to talk to me for a bit, so it rea—”

  “That was a stupid idea,” Kate interrupted. I shut up and waited for her to talk. I did not want to get my hopes up, but I could feel them rising all the same.

  After a sigh, she continued. “It wasn’t fair for me to shut you out like I did after you were so honest. I’ve been thinking about what you said, and you didn’t do anything wrong. I just didn’t like what you said, and instead of discussing it like normal people, I shut you out. It wasn’t fair, and I’m sorry.” She reached for my hand that was resting on the table between us, and when I didn’t move it away, she lightly held it. I gave her hand a slight squeeze and then entwined our fingers together. It was amazing how such a small gesture could feel so right.

  “No apologies necessary.” I couldn’t help smiling what I knew was a goofy doofus smile.

  She reciprocated with her own dazzling smile, and I had to contain myself from jumping over the table to kiss her. Hopefully that would come soon.

  “When you said you weren’t comfortable showing affection in public, I panicked,” Kate said. “I was afraid that you had changed your mind about dating me, or about being with girls in general. Which makes no sense, since I’m the bi one and you’re the lesbian, but that’s how I felt. But I later realized that was me projecting my own fears and insecurities onto you, which was totally not fair. I just like you so much. I’ve liked other people, including boys, in the past, but no one as much as you, and it got me wondering if those feelings were dishonest.”

  She paused and I didn’t interrupt, but I couldn't help playing with a packet of sugar on the table as I waited.

  “Well, maybe not dishonest, because they felt real at the time. But so much of the world is black and white, or at least people make it out that way, that it was hard being in my own little area distinctly colored gray.”

  Kate had been talking to the window mostly, but now she turned to me. She really was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

  “But I’ve got to trust myself and my feelings. And I’ve got to trust you. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but right now I like you and you like me, and it’ll drive me crazy to second-guess those two things. So I’m just going to go with it, with how you make me feel, for as long as it lasts. Did all that make sense?” she asked finally.

&n
bsp; “Perfectly,” I truthfully responded. Because that was similar to how I’d felt at the beginning of all this. I’d been so worried about Kate’s motivations that I’d almost talked myself out of getting closer to her, which would have been the biggest mistake ever. I would never have gotten to know her and talk to her and kiss her and fight and make up with her, which would have been a tragedy.

  Before I could elaborate, our food arrived. With a look, we agreed to put our conversation on hold to eat. Outside of a few remarks about how good the French toast was, we ate silently, content to know that the biggest obstacle between us had been cleared.

  As I ate my delicious breakfast, I sneaked glances at the girl in front of me. In some ways I felt I knew her, and in others she was a total stranger. But I was learning that was the great thing about dating someone—finding out all the basic things about her, like favorite food or color, and then going deeper and finding out what made her the person I wanted to spend all my time with. We’d only scratched the surface, and it was scary and exciting and thrilling. I couldn’t wait to find out more.

  “Hey, Kate,” I said with a mouth full of French toast. She looked at me with her beautiful eyes in anticipation of my question. “Do you want to go to prom with me?”

  Her smile gave me the answer.

  Other Books by Abby Crofton

  "The Missing Dates" Say Yes to the Cheerleader Short Stories" (Book 1.5 in the “Say Yes”series)

  “Say Yes to the Soccer Player” (Book 2 in the “Say Yes” series)

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  About the Author

  Abby Crofton has always enjoyed reading books with a 'happily ever after' and achieved a long time dream by writing and publishing her first book, "Say Yes to the Cheerleader." She currently lives on the East Coast of the U.S. and enjoys snuggling with her girlfriend, leisurely hikes, and writing.