Davina lay on her bed, staring at the large number eight jersey shirt that was hanging on the door of her wardrobe.

Normally, she would have been entranced by the beautiful white and gold pattern of the school's jersey as she had never seen any of them up close. However, that day, she was more distracted by the meaning behind it.

"Sports guys give their jersey shirts to their girlfriends," Jaiyana said, staring at Davina with a soft smile, her head leaning on the open locker.

Davina's eyes fixed on the number eight and the name Smith in capital letters. Leo had re-integrated into their group since the field trip a few days ago. Although she had come to terms with having romantic feelings for him, Davina couldn't sense anything much different from their relationship before and after their cold war.

Leo handed her a bundle with red ears. "I hope you'll wear this to the game tonight. You'll be there, right?"

Davina wasn't able to bring herself to say no. Although it would be a new experience—something she wasn't quite sure would be good—she was willing to try it out.

Her family members weren't any less excited. Davina glanced at her slightly open room door where her three loves were peeking at her from.

Realizing they had been caught, her parents and brother shuffled into the room, eyes darting excitedly toward the trophy jersey.

Her mother cleared her throat. "Are you going out tonight, Davina?"

"Yes, Mother. I told you three hours ago."

Her mother nodded with a pleased expression. "Well, it's just that you haven't started dressing and it's getting late."

"The game is at 6:30," Davina said. "I have time."

Her mother sighed, rubbing her forehead. "It'll be six thirty in an hour. That's not enough time to make you look cute for your first date."

Davina's head whipped to her mother. "Date?"

Her dad narrowed his eyes on his wife. "Yeah, date?"

Her mother slapped his shoulder and then rubbed her arms with her free one. Only then did Davina notice the black plastic bag in her mother's hand. "Don't be a neanderthal. Did you think she wouldn't go on a date till she was 30?"

"But–"

"I-Is it a date?" Davina asked shyly.

"Okayyyyy, maybe it's not a date." Her mother plopped down on the bed beside Davina. "But it doesn't mean you shouldn't put in any less effort." When Davina smiled, a look of triumph flashed behind her mother's eyes. The older woman waved the boys away. "Jaiyana is going to be here in forty minutes. We need to get you dressed before then."

Davina tilted her head in confusion. "Forty minutes is plenty of time."

"For today, it's not enough." She dumped the contents of the bag on the bed. "I hope you've taken a shower. Change into this," her mother said and threw a bundle of clothes in her direction.

Exactly thirty eight minutes later, Davina was staring at herself in her room mirror with amazement. She didn't know she would like wearing something like that. All white wasn't usually her preference of clothing.

Her mom had bought her a high-waisted white pleated skirt that stopped a few inches above her knee and a white, breathable turtleneck shirt to pair. To complete the look, she was wearing knee-high white flat boots. Her golden jewelry was small yet enhanced the look. Her face was left mostly bare with lip gloss being the only thing Davina had been able to allow on her face without feeling the need to itch it off.

Her mother clapped excitedly. "Oh. You look so beautiful, honey. Do you like it?"

"Yes, I like it. Thank you, Mom," Davina said, holding onto her skirt and twirling. Davina wanted to run all the way to school and show Leo what her outfit looked like. Imagining his reaction made her heart speed up.

"You're blushing. What are you thinking about?" Her mother teased.

"Leo's reaction to my outfit," Davina answered truthfully.

Her mom blinked once, twice, and then burst into laughter. "I still get taken aback at how honest you are sometimes." Davina's shoulders fell at her mother's words. She hated that she had ruined the happy, bonding mood they had created. Her mom held her shoulders gently. "Davi, I'm alright. I love you the way you are. Your honesty is part of your charm. Even Leo knows that."

"How do you know what Leo thinks?"

Her mom stared at her in silence for a second and shook her head. "You'll see," she said cryptically and handed Davina the jersey. "Put this on. Jaiyana's probably waiting."

Davina quickly obeyed. Her mom lastly handed her a bag with her wallet, phone, a baseball cap and headphones just in case she needed to hide. In a minute, Davina was walking down the stairs to meet her impatient best friend who was standing by the door, tapping her feet repeatedly.

Upon seeing Davina, she let out a sigh of relief. "There you are. We need to meet the boys before the game." Without letting her respond, Jaiyana pulled Davina to the car and threw her into the seat.

As Jaiyana sped to school, Davina put on her headphones. She turned to Jaiyana to speak and noticed something. "You're wearing Valentine's jersey." Jaiyana was wearing a similar white and gold jersey over black trousers. Davina couldn't see the back of the cloth but she was almost sure that it was Val's.

Jaiyana lost control of the car for a split second, making it swerve a little to the right. After a few, loud apologies to the drivers beside them, she cleared her throat and turned to Davina. "Yeah." Suddenly, a blush appeared on her face. "Val actually asked me out."

"You two are dating now?"

"No. We are just going to dinner tomorrow. He asked me out this afternoon after lunch. I said yes."

Davina blinked, momentarily confused. "What's the difference?"

"Well. We are not officially dating, just...you know...testing the waters, I guess."

Davina frowned, taking a few seconds to formulate her response. "So you two can date other people during this period?"

Jaiyana's eyes widened, a brief angered look flashing behind them. "What? No. That would be cheating."

"Can't you only cheat on someone you're dating?" Davina asked.

Jaiyana's defensiveness sizzled out as she mulled over Davina's words. "I-I don't...Maybe...I suppose so."

The car remained silent until they pulled into the parking lot. By then, Davina had figured out why Jaiyana had withdrawn into herself. She knew that her bluntness tended to hurt people a lot. Most times, she hardly cared but not when it came to her best friend. Besides, she was in the same boat as Jaiyana. Leo kissed her but didn't say anything about a relationship. Davina was unsure about how to interpret the gesture and whether she should consider it important at all.

"Valentine is always staring at you during lunch. He also beats up and yells at Damian when you ask him to. I overheard Damian teasing him because he liked you since tenth grade–"

"Val has liked me since tenth grade?" Jaiyana asked, sounding breathless. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened.

Davina nodded. "I also don't see Val with other women, unlike Damian and Leo. I like him. He's a good guy for you."

Davina came out of the car when she finished speaking to an empty parking lot. She knew—from what Jaiyana had told her—that most of the school would be on the field now. She turned around to find the girl in question and didn't expect herself to be pulled into a hug so suddenly.

"Thank you," Jaiyana whispered against Davina's shoulder. "You have no idea how much that means to me." Davina smiled and hugged her back. She was glad to have done something right for Jaiyana. "Come on. They said they wanted to see us before the game."

Jaiyana and Davina ran towards the boys' locker room. As they got closer, they began to hear some of them speaking.

"Yo, Val, I heard you gave out your jersey tonight. Who's the lucky girl?" someone said.

Davina glanced out of the corner of her eye just to see Jaiyana's red cheeks.

"Yeah, you too, Smith. I saw you give the Aspie," another one said.

Jaiyana's bashfulness turned into righteous anger. She was about to march in there if Davina had not pulled her back.

"Call her that again and I'll crack open your skull," Leo said. Without seeing him, Davina could feel the threat in his voice. The thought made her smile widen.

"Now you're blushing?" Jaiyana teased.

"Will she be here though? I heard she doesn't come out for things like this because of the crowd," another with a gentle voice said.

There was a low chuckle. "I don't think so but I do hope she comes."

"She did come," Damian remarked, looking straight at where Jaiyana and Davina were poorly hidden.

The girls stepped out slowly from behind the door but remained outside. Davina's eyes met Leo's surprised ones. Her gaze flitted over his body in a second. He looked surprisingly good in his football uniform. "Hi."

"You wore it," he said, staring at the big eight in front of the jersey.

"You gave me to wear, did you not?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd wear it." He walked to her, his eyes assessing her as he approached. "And you're wearing a skirt. Unusual but not unpleasant at all."

Davina turned around, the skirt swishing around her legs. "I find that I enjoy the freedom of movement, unlike trousers."

"So you'll wear more skirts going forward?"

Davina's eyes narrowed at the hope in his voice, wondering why he would be so excited at a change in her wardrobe. "Yes. I want to."

His eyes darted to her legs which were covered with her boots. On any other day, he would be staring at...staring at...her bare legs. She slapped his arm to jolt his attention back to her face. "You pervert."

His ears turned red. "I-I am not a pervert."

"You definitely are," someone behind Leo said. That was when Davina seemed to remember that there were other people in the room, half of whom were staring at her. She squeaked and stood behind Leo.

Leo pulled Davina into a loose embrace and glared at his teammates. "Look away."

"She's pretty and standing there. I can barely control my eyes," one of them said.

"You wanna repeat that, Ryan?" Leo asked.

"No, sir," Ryan muttered shakily.

"Leo, the match will be starting soon. I dropped by to show you my outfit. Also, I think my mom wants to meet you. Mother slipped that this was a date and my dad and brother weren't very pleased. I don't think you need to be worried about David. He's fourteen." Davina paused trying to remember what she was talking about at first. "Right. Jaiyana and I need to go."

Leo blinked at Davina's rambling. She felt the urge to brush her hair ends with her hands but withheld since there were many people in the room. She glanced at Jaiyana who looked perfectly content in Val's arms as they shared a hug.

"Good luck," Jaiyana said and leaned up to peck Val's cheek before scurrying out of the room, causing Leo's teammates to let out whoops and catcalls that itched Davina's ears, despite the headphones on.

Davina stood at her place in the doorway, watching the interaction curiously. Slowly, she grasped Leo's shoulder and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. "Good luck." His bright smile made one appear on her face. "Does that make you perform better?"

"Hell yeah," Leo whispered.

"Language," she said before turning around and waving. "I'll see you later."