"That is not true. It also has nothing to do with me going or not going. I told you I don't want to go Illa. I'm sorry!" Mýa said.
"Mýa, I know you like him," Illa said gently. "You should act on it, I think he might like you too. You guys would be so awesome together, give it a shot. He is going to be at the game tomorrow and he wanted you to be there."
Mýa sighed, "You are correct. I do like him, however, it is just a crush. Hormones or whatever, I always push these things aside and they go away. The little crush I have for Zeke will pass and I will end up being just his friend and I am fine with that. I just want these feelings to go away because I know he doesn't reciprocate my feelings, and things will be less awkward for me when they pass. Let's stop talking about this for now. Please?"
Illa groaned, "When you give me those puppy dog eyes I can't resist. It's not my fault you will be single forever and will never experience teenager fun." She humphed.
Mýa laughed at her friend's childish behavior. They then continued talking for a while before Illa had to go and they ended their video call. After the call Mýa started thinking. Even though she told Illa that Zeke wanting her to go was not true and it didn't matter to her, it kind of did matter to her. She knew it was silly and stupid but she did think it would be fun to see Zeke there, however she wasn't going to go to something she didn't like just for a guy. So she decided to forget about homecoming and do as she wants to tomorrow.
•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•
During school Mýa was annoyed with all the homecoming buzz. Everyone was so excited. All the teachers were wearing school spirit things and one of Mýa's teachers even ended the class half an hour early so everyone could talk about the game and such. Plus to top it off, Zeke had texted her during that class period as the teacher and students were talking about homecoming.
She glanced at the text and it read, 'Are you still not going to homecoming? I can save you a seat.' She hadn't responded yet when her teacher saw the text and smiled at her.
Before Mýa could apologize the teacher said quietly to her, "You aren't going to homecoming? You should, it is awesome and your boyfriend wants you to go." The teacher then walked away leaving Mýa embarrassed. She didn't reply to Zeke.
At lunch time Mýa had to help some people work on their half time booth, which she actually had fun doing. So she didn't get to talk to her friends and they also didn't bug her to go because she texted Illa and told her she couldn't make it to the lunchroom.
The booth she was helping to make was for the drama club, the club wanted to have a booth at halftime so they could raise money for the club and maybe gain some new members or fans. They decided to make the booth look like a puppet theatre, they even had the signature two drama masks on the top of the booth near a drama club sign. They were going to give demonstrations of some of the plays, dramas, and musicals the club was planning to put on later in the year. They also sold cookies that had been decorated like music notes, costumes, scripts, and such along with little souvenirs to do with famous plays. Mýa helped decorate the booth and cookies. They got done early and Mýa wanted to try to make it to the cafeteria.
However, as she headed to the cafeteria one of her friends from chorus needed her help with a float. She still had 10 minutes of lunch left and a pass from her teacher that excused her from being late if she needed it, so she agreed to help. The float they were making didn't have anything to do with chorus, it was actually a float one of the nominated homecoming queen and king contestants would be in. The base structure was a car with a convertible top, so they made a seat above the car and decorated the seat and the car. They used school colors and banners to decorate it, and even wrote the school's logo on the side of the car using a type of washable car paint. After they finished the float they rushed back to class and gave their late passes.
•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•
At the end of the day Mýa, Hailey, and Mia walked from their last class to the bus area in the parking lot. They talked about meeting up at the homecoming parade before the rest if the friends excluding Mýa went to the game. Mia also wasn't a fan of homecoming but she was going to help her older sister work a half time booth. Before Mýa got on her bus Hailey tried one more time to ask Mýa to go to the game with them, Mýa hesitated and said, "We'll see."
This made Hailey content and so Mýa said goodbye to her friends and got on the bus. When she got on the bus she sat at her seat and started talking to her friends, Zeke who sat near the back of the bus looked up at her when she got on but didn't say anything or go sit near her. She was disappointed but she shook it off, she realized it was a good time to start distancing herself from him a bit so she could lose the feelings she had for him.
The rest of the bus ride they sat away from each other and Mýa had a good time talking to her bus friends. She forgot about him. When it was time to get off, Mýa got off first and started walking to her house. Zeke got off a few moments after her and quickly ran up to her before she got to the start of the woods.
"Hey," He said as he grabbed her arm stopping her.
She turned around, "Hey." She said, wondering what he needed her for.
Zeke let go of her arm and asked, "Are you avoiding me?"
Mýa looked at him, he was looking at her very seriously. "No, why would I be avoiding you?"
"Well, you didn't reply to my text earlier, you didn't come to lunch, you didn't say anything to me in the bus, you haven't communicated with me since this morning, and you started walking off to your house without saying anything." He said.
Mýa laughed, she had done those things. She wasn't trying to avoid him, well she sorta was. She wanted to forget her feelings for him but not ghost him. She also found it hard to forget about him when they were neighbors and he for worried when she didn't talk to him much for a day. "I didn't reply to your text earlier because the teacher saw me look at my phone and I got embarrassed. I didn't go to lunch because I had to help make a half time booth and then a parade float. I didn't talk to you on the bus because you sat in the back today and I thought you wanted to be with your other friends. I didn't text you or anything because I didn't think you wanted me to, and I just walked to my house like I normally do. I'm sorry I did not say anything to you." She said.
Zeke looked relieved. "Why didn't you text me though, or say anything to me when you got off the bus? Even if the rest wasn't on purpose, you still weren't acting completely normal with me today." He stated. He did not know why she seemed to be getting more distant but he didn't like it. "Is it because I bugged you about homecoming? Did I do something wrong?" He asked.
Mýa sighed, "No none of this is your fault and I just didn't realize that I hadn't talked with you much. I'm sorry, I have to go now I have some stuff I need to do before I go to the homecoming parade."
"Alright, I'll see you at the parade. Bye." Zeke said.
"Bye" Mýa said and left.
She clutched her bag, if Zeke got worried after she didn't interact with him as much as she usually did then ignoring him some more would be hard. She needed to get a grip. Zeke on the other hand still felt like something was off and wanted to figure it out.
When Mýa got to her house, she was alone. Her dad wouldn't get off work until 6:00 pm. it was only 4:07 pm. now. The homecoming parade started at 5:30 pm. and the game officially started at 6:30. Mýa had to complete a mini paragraph for Science (a Claim Evidence Reasoning Paragraph), complete two paragraphs for Language Arts, and start a poster for Chorus. She finished all of her homework and had a snack by 4:55 pm. Mia's mom was going to pick her up to go to the parade at 5:20 pm. so she was able to get done a small workout.
After exercising she quickly freshened up, changed her clothes, and grabbed her little bag that had some money, her phone, and some emergency supplies. She then fed and took care of her animals as she waited for Mia and her mom to arrive.
They arrived right on time and took Mýa to the parade. Once her mom dropped them off they went to find Illa, Hailey, Mabel, Payton, Tilly, and Illa and Mabel's mom. (Did I mention that Illa and Mabel are sisters?) When they found them, already standing by the parade route, they set up their stuff and waited for the parade to start.