Page 124 of The Way We Win

We’ve made it to Thursday, and tomorrow we’ll load onto buses to make the long drive to Birmingham for the state championship game.

The city is buzzing. The drill team and cheerleaders have put spirit posters all over town and painted big signs for the school. Cups are in all the fences spelling outVictoryandGoCaptains. Everyone’s excited, but I’m antsy and restless.

It’s been a month since the Halloween incident, since Jack asked me to marry him, and I said yes a hundred times. I’ve said yes every day since, and he’s given me little kisses in the hall.

Sometimes he’ll slip his hand under my skirt, and we’ll sneak into the single-serve faculty bathroom for a quick make-out session… or more, depending on the time of day.

It’s risky as hell and equally hot. But it’s not enough.

Jack’s been recovering and slammed with playoffs and talking to the senior boys about colleges and scholarships.

The ring is ready.

He told me when he picked it up, but he won’t let me see it. He said he has something special in mind, and now I’m walkingaround waiting for balloons to fall from the ceiling or glitter guns to explode out of a closet.

I do not expect a box wrapped in brown paper to appear on my desk in the library after lunch. It doesn’t say who it’s from, but I have an idea.Open in privateis handwritten across the top.

It’s been burning a hole in my imagination as each new group of students files into the library all afternoon.

“There’s another new poem.” Edward points at the graffiti wall. “Based on the subject matter and the rhyme scheme, I think it’s the same author as Number 18.”

“Where?” I walk over to where he’s standing, gazing up at the sheet. “Show me.”

Mouths, fingers, hands, eyes.

I live to collect your sighs.

The time is moving so slowly, yet we’re so close.

To when you’ll crash into me, and we’ll be home.

I frown, reaching up to touch my fingertips to the words. “That’s really good.”

“I’m numbering it 18-B and voting for it, too.”

I watch as he grabs a Sharpie and puts the number beside it on the wall, then writes the number on a small sheet of paper and drops it into the wooden box where we’ve been collecting votes all semester.

I read the words again, wondering who it could be, before I turn and walk to my desk again. “I’ve got to step out to the restroom. Would you just keep an eye on things? I won’t be long.”

“Sure.” He sits down, taking out a textbook.

I take the box, hiding it inside my cardigan. I can’t take the suspense anymore, and the day is almost over. We have one more hour before the final bell rings.

Glancing around like I’m committing a crime, I slip into the single teacher’s restroom and lock the door. I sit on the closed toilet lid, ripping the paper away to find an elegant, black cardboard box beneath.

Carefully opening it, my breath catches when I see a large,sparkling pink jewel. It catches the light, and my lips part with a gasp. I lift the card inside to read the note, handwritten in the same script as on the outside of the box.

Wear this tonight with that skirt. No underwear.

My stomach tingles, and I gently pull the sparkling pink top to reveal a black silicone cone, smaller than my palm. A small tube of lubricant is also in the box.

Ever since our first time together, I’ve been getting everything waxed down below, and I’ve never been more thankful to be completely bare.

Chewing my bottom lip, I look around the small room as if someone can see me in here. Then I quickly stand, shoving the small toy in my pocket.

“You’re doing better.Just follow the recipe.” Craig stands beside Dylan in plastic goggles, gloves, and even a bandana tied over his nose and mouth.

“I thought we were voting on my worst pregnancy dish.” My bestie cuts her eyes up at him.

---