Night to Shine

He sat on the bleacher, plucking nervously at his jacket. The cheerleaders were on the field, doing a cheer for halftime.

"Just go!" His best friend, a sophomore, plopped down next to him and smiled. She tossed her red hair over her shoulder and dug her elbow into his side as encouragement.

The young man shook his head. The thought of going down to the field and proclaiming his love for the person he had loved for all his years of high school made him panic. He sighed and watched the cheerleaders again.

"This is your night to shine!" The fourteen girls chanted in perfect unison, doing flips, kicks, tumbles and jumps. The blond girl in the lead smiled at him, giving him the strength to stand up. He went with his fellow seniors down to the field to cheer the team on to victory.

His ragged tennis shoes hit the dirt and he ran out onto the gridiron.

Just as the buzzer sounded to begin third quarter, the young man kissed the star quarterback right on the lips. In front of the whole school and half the town.

"I love you," The young man whispered. He turned red and ran into the shadows, away from the lights and into the woods surrounding the football field, leaving the quarterback dazed but glowing subtly. How could he have done that? Now he would be ridiculed for the rest of his senior year. Despite that, he smiled and gazed up at the stars. The quarterback hadn't pushed him away and he hadn't punched him. That was good. The young man walked home, hope gleaming in his eye like the Morning Star.

That night, this school won the Homecoming game by 30 points.

The next day at school, he saw the quarterback and ducked his head. embarrassed. They passed in the hallway and their hands brushed.

The quarterback smiled at him.