Charlie Landon had her future worked out until her mother died in a freak shark attack. Her father uproots their lives in favour of moving back to his small town in America. Charlie meets Percy and Noah who unknowingly turn her life upside down. Bot...
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HOMECOMING
Today is the first and last Homecoming I'll ever participate in. There's something sad, yet exciting about it. I skip into the gym and sneak up to Percy. I leap onto his back and loosely hook my arms around his neck.
"Good luck today."
"Thank you, Charlie."
I drop down and step in front of him. He pecks my lips which makes the crowd cheer. I burry my face into his chest which makes him laugh.
"I want you to wear my jacket."
"But it's your jacket?" I frown.
"It's tradition to give a girl our jacket."
"Oh." I take the jacket and slip it on. "You know you're never getting it back, right?"
"Charlie, you can't steal my jacket."
"I just did." I smile.
I dash away and Percy chases me. I zigzag through the crowd but he's faster than me. I'm thrown into the air and tossed over his shoulder.
I burst into a fit of laughter before running away. I zigzag around the gym, but of course, Percy is a lot faster than me. He easily throws me over his shoulder. Percy slaps my butt and laughs.
"Put me down!" I demand.
"Percy," Noah snaps.
I elbow him in the side and he reluctantly places me on the ground. I take him to the table and look at the paint. Percy wrinkles his nose as I paint blue and yellow stripes across his cheek. He takes enjoyment by doing the same to me.
I was that strange kid who never liked getting their face painted as a kid.
Percy and I join the group and they chat about the game. Samantha calls the cheerleaders so that we can stretch. Annika joins us and it's then I realise most of the cheerleaders are wearing varsity jackets except for Jewels.
It's weird wearing Percy's jacket considering she'd be wearing this if it wasn't for her outbreak. She can't hate me considering I gave her my spot on the float.
Samantha makes us run through the routine, then we're given jobs to help set up. The only job I'm given is dragging a huge canvas onto the field for the team to run through. I love the job because it's away from the two people who hate me.
Closer to the game, I put the jacket on the bench with the others. We hype the crowd as we wait for the big game to start.
The opposing team is announced first and then ours. The crowd roars to life as the boys jog onto the field. Percy splits the canvas with his fist and the others follow.
We perform cheer after cheer as our school scores more points. It's hard to watch because Percy is slammed into the floor a few times. It doesn't seem to bother him, though.
