Painting it on his skin last night with my fingertips, I’m not going to deny the ache that started to grow in my gut. My face so close to his skin. The intimacy of being tucked into a small space together, whispering.

“Can we please talk about something else? Literally anything,” Julian finally says as we pass Crossroads Church in our final stretch toward Crenshaw.

I know what I want to talk about. Homecoming. The dance. I want to ask more questions about Reece. How did he and Julian meet? How close were they? Does Julian miss him? Does he think about him every day? Or even every other day?

“Let’s talk about football,” Camille suggests.

“Okay, there’s a subject I can get behind.” Julian laughs.

“So, tell me, do you think you’ll be able to break the Taylor curse, even if you don’t manage to prank them before they prank us?”

“Oh my god, Camille!” Julian says, but he’s laughing.

“Okay, okay, I get the point,” she says, straightening her crown. “I’m only going to say one more thing. Tonight, at the team dinner, get your shit together. Seriously, Juls. Maybe it’s a waste of time to you, but it’s not to the rest of the team. Or the boosters or the alumni. They’re all looking to you,” she says.

“If you actually swear this is the last time you’re going to say anything, then yes, I will agree that this is a great big waste of time to me,” Julian says.

I can see his point. Pranking shouldn’t be the focus at the beginning of the season. Or even the end of the season. Shouldn’t we be worried about the actual games? Our plays? Then again, I know how big Meridien is on traditions. Even my dad played football for Meridien for a few years, and I remember him talking fondly about beating Taylor when I was little. I don’t have too many great memories of my dad, but any that I do revolve around football.

“Hey, what was all that talk during bingo?” I ask. “Figg said something about something that happened twenty years ago? Does anyone know anything about it? Everyone acted like it was some big secret.” My dad graduated around that time.

“There was some massive fight that broke out on the field right before the homecoming game,” Camille says. “Someone from Crenshaw started the whole thing, so we ended up having to forfeit the game. It is a big secret. Can’t find information about it anywhere other than in the heads of all the old-timers around here, and they’re not talking. And guess what? That was a year that Taylor pranked us first.”

Julian rolls his eyes so hard I’m afraid they’re going to fall out of his head.