Homecoming

Chapter 1

Late September 1992 (before cell phones and internet)

“Here we go Rockets, here we go!” The cheerleaders called out. The stands were packed as everyone was excited for homecoming and hoping for a victory tonight against their biggest rivals, the Trojans.

As expected at every small town football game, there was also a marching band. They had already performed at halftime and now sat together in the stands. Lissa was glad for an unusually warm night in late September so she didn’t have to bother with bundling up and wearing mittens. It was always a pain on cold nights having to quickly take them off and play her flute.

The Rockets were up by only one point and the Trojans were lining up after a third down at the 20 yard line. There were only a few seconds left on the clock and a hush fell over the crowd as the final play began.

Lissa bit her lip as the ball was snapped to the quarterback.  He backed up a few steps frantically searching for an open receiver, but the Rockets defense had them all blocked. He saw an opening and started running toward the goal line, but was tackled just as the final buzzer sounded.

Lissa jumped to her feet and cheered as the stands erupted with excitement.

“We won!!” She grabbed her flute and ran away from the field toward the school, trying to beat the crowd. She wanted as much time as possible to get ready for the homecoming dance.

The locker room was crowded as she expected with all the girls rushing around. There was a lot of chatter, but Lissa kept to herself as she quickly changed out of her band uniform. Their school was casual for homecoming, only dressing formal for Prom in the spring. For tonight, Lissa had chosen a navy blue skirt with a white floral pattern that came just above the knee to show off her long legs. She also wore a matching navy blue silk dress shirt, tucked and only half buttoned revealing a white cami underneath. She finished off the look with her favorite silver heart necklace and white flats. At 5 feet 11 inches, she was one of the tallest girls in school. She loved heels, but usually avoided them to not stand out more.

While waiting for a turn to use one of the mirrors, Lissa sat on a bench to brush her long wavy brown hair and thought about the emotional rollercoaster the past couple of weeks had been.

Two weeks ago …

Lissa could hardly contain her excitement. Riley was coming back from basic training today!

 She had met him earlier that spring, when he’d just been through a bad breakup. She had only hung out with him a few times, along with his friend Dan. Both boys were a year older than her and just graduated from Plainsville High, a few miles from where she lived.

Riley was slightly shorter than Lissa, but that didn’t matter. He was cute with short black hair and blue eyes, and she couldn’t believe he liked spending time with her!  None of the boys at her school ever really talked to her. Though to be fair, she was shy and didn’t talk to them either. But it was different with Riley.

At the end of May, it was time for him and Dan to leave for basic training in Georgia. Riley asked Lissa to write him letters, and they exchanged mailing addresses.

Over the summer they wrote to each other several times, and he got to call her once. In one of the letters, he asked if he could take her on a date when he gets back! After that, she was constantly daydreaming about his return and how great it would be.

Today he was coming home! He would be arriving late in the day and spend the evening his family. But he would give her a call.

Finally, the phone rang around 8:30 and Lissa ran to answer it, hoping it was him.

“Hello?” she said, trying not to sound out of breath.

“Hi Lissa!” he answered, and her face lit up with a smile.

“You finally made it home! How was the trip?”

“The longest bus ride ever, but so glad to be back. I’m having a welcome home party tomorrow night with some of my friends around 8, I was hoping you can come over?”

It was on a school night, but that wasn’t going to be a problem since her parents were out of town for the week.

“Definitely! I can’t wait.” she replied.

“Great! I’ll see you then. Gotta go my folks are waiting for me so we can watch a movie together.”

“No problem. See you soon.”

“Bye!”