Page 117 of Finding Fate

Emma glanced at Hector nervously before she answered. “Well, okay.”

“Let’s go then,” Hector beamed, his excitement poorly hidden.

“Oh, crap!” Isabel cried, raising her hand to her forehead before they could move. “I just remembered I left my pompoms in the stands. I need to go get them. Can y’all hold on a few minutes?”

“Jeez, Izzy, we have to wait for you again?” Jet teased. “It’s cold.”

“Hey, I waited for y’all today,” she threw back.

Annie groaned and gave her sister a little shove in the direction of the stands. “Just go get them already. The sooner we get to the restaurant, the sooner I can change. It’s freezing in this dress.”

Isabel handed her bag over to Annie as she hurried off. “Here, it’s got your stuff in it, too. I’ll be right back,” she called over her shoulder.

* * *

Isabel walked swiftly up the ramp and headed down the long stretch to the section where the dance team sat. The wind had started to pick up, making the chill bite harder than it had at the beginning of the game. It whipped her hair across her face. She pushed it out of the way and quickened her pace, suddenly regretting having already changed into her dress.

She reached the desired section fairly quickly and stepped up to the third row where her pompoms would be waiting for her, but they weren’t there.

She bent over, trying to see if they had been shoved beneath the metal seat, but she still couldn’t see them. Maybe she had the wrong row?

She stepped down one and then went to the one above the row she originally checked, still not finding them.

“Crap. I know I didn’t sit any higher than the fourth row. I don’t want to have to replace the stupid things,”she thought in frustration.

“Hey, Izzy!” she heard someone call.

Glancing up, she saw Megan Diaz with her homecoming date on the top step near the stairs in the next section. Waiting while her date talked to a small group of guys, she held up a pair of pompoms, her own cheerleader ones in her other hand.

“Are these yours?!” Megan called down.

Isabel sighed in relief and nodded. “Yeah, hold on. I’ll come get them!”

She made her way over to the next set of stairs that would lead her to Megan and hurried up the steps. “I’m so glad you found them. I didn’t want to have to buy new ones.”

“I get it,” Megan agreed. “I’d planned to turn them in to lost and found on Monday, so you would have gotten them back anyway.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Can I meet you down at the ramp when you’re through? I just saw someone I need to talk to,” Megan’s date asked, his eyes focused in the ramp’s direction instead of at her.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll be there in a minute.” She watched him leave and then turned back to Isabel, motioning to her dress. “So I guess you’re going to the dance tonight?”

“Yeah, we’re meeting up with some people over at the diner first, though. Do y’all want to come?”

“Maybe,” Megan nodded. “I’ll have to check with David. He’s been in kind of a weird mood.”

“Well, he is friends with Wesley,” Isabel thought with contempt, but she smiled for Megan’s sake. “I’m sure he’ll be fine once you’re at the dance.”

“Yeah, you’re right. The dance will be fun. I’m so glad we had the make-up game. ”

“Definitely, but hey, I’d better go. Annie and the others are waiting for me near the entrance.”

“Alright. I’ll head out, too.”

Isabel wasn’t quite as quick on the stairs now that it was harder to see her feet, but she managed to keep up with Megan pretty well the first couple of steps before she had to stop.

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