The Summer I Became a Nerd

#19

The next morning as I lie in bed, I tell myself this is all for the best, really. I couldn’t continue to indulge my nerdy

fantasies. What was I thinking? At least now Logan has to realize I’m not worth it. I’m going to do the right thing. I’m going

to leave him alone, go back to my life of secrets—but even those secrets are tainted now. How will I ever be able to look at

another comic book without thinking of him?

Then, there’s the whole Terra thing. By now, she has to know something is going on. What kind of best friend ignores the other

friend when she’s standing right there, smiling, and keeps her out of the loop when she starts seeing a new guy? That’s the kind

of thing I’m supposed to be excited about telling Terra. I’m supposed to dash over to her house and be all giggly about it.

Maybe I should call her and try to explain. But what would I say? How do I answer all her questions?

With lies, most likely. I’m fed up with lies.

I toss and turn, punch my pillow, scream into it, and dash away tears for two hours before finally deciding to roll out of bed. I

haven’t even made it to the bathroom when the house phone rings. Hope flashes through me—maybe Logan wants to talk—but then I

realize it can’t be him because he’d call me on my cell.

“Maddie,” my mom yells from downstairs.

“Yeah?” My heart starts pounding.

“You have a phone call.”

I run to Mom and Dad’s room and pick up the other handset. “Got it,” I call down to her as I press the on button. “Hello?”

“We need to talk, cheerleader,” a guy says in a voice that is unmistakable.

“Dan?”

“Yeah, it’s Dan, who the hell else did you think it was? Surely not Logan, because from what I’ve heard things aren’t going so

well in that department.”

So Logan is mad. I knew it. All the more reason to cut ties and leave the poor guy alone. “What do you want?”

“Like I said, we need to talk. Face to face. Come on over so we can settle this.”

“Um, I can’t today. Maybe—”

“Oh, no you don’t, you can’t pull the wool over my eyes. It’s like my dear old MeeMaw always says, ‘You can’t bullshit a

bullshitter.’”

He’s probably going to yell at me for messing with Logan’s head. And justly so. I should do what I do best: hide. But I feel

like I owe Logan more than that. If I’m in for a session of “dog the cheerleader” then I should own it.

“Fine.”

“Fine. See you in an hour.” He hangs up.

I throw on a T-shirt and shorts and head downstairs, hoping I’ll make it out of the house and over to Dan’s before anyone

notices I’m gone.

“Good morning, my beautiful daughter,” Mom says and I nearly jump out of my skin. “You never really told me how your date went

yesterday.”

“It was fine.” I’m getting real tired of that word. It’s a nothing word, and when people say it, it never really means what it

’s supposed to.

“Just fine? Where did y’all go?”

“Bowling.”

“That sounds like fun. You used to love the bowling alley when you were little.”

I just nod.

“And it was so nice that he came in to meet us. To be honest, I always hated that Eric never came in. Even Terra doesn’t come in

very often. I was starting to worry you didn’t want people to meet us.” She laughs, and I have to turn around so she doesn’t

see my cringe of guilt.

I don’t want Mom to get concerned, but it’s hard to put on a cheerful face. Not when Dan’s at his house, waiting to rip me

apart. Even though I’m making an effort to seem happy, I think she’s on to me. So, naturally, I lie. “Can I go over to Terra’s

today? We need to finish our signs for the concert.”

“Sure,” she says, still watching me closely. “You guys have fun.”

I’m about to get laid into by a squeaky, foul-mouthed geek. Not fun at all.

…

Last time I was at Dan’s house, it seemed like this huge, imposing thing, but now, with its purple and yellow “Go LSU!” sign

staked in the front yard, not so much. It’s still the biggest house I’ve ever seen, but it’s hard to feel intimidated by it

when there’s a multitude of wind chimes twinkling in the breeze.

I walk up to the medieval-looking front door and debate what to do. There’s a metal knocker hanging from a tiger’s nose, and

there’s a doorbell. I choose the knocker because when will I ever again get to use a tiger’s nose ring to announce my presence?

Dan opens the door a few seconds later and walks back into the house. No “Thanks for coming over,” or, “I hate you because you

were mean to my best friend.”

“Look, Dan, whatever you want to say just—”

He cuts me off by holding up a hand. “Don’t say another word. First we shoot each other. Then we talk.” He waves a hand for me

to follow. But I don’t have a tendency to run after people who threaten me with violence, so I turn around and head back down the

steps. “I didn’t mean literally, dumbass,” he yells from inside.

I look up at the sky and pray for patience before following him.

Inside, Dan stands on a winding staircase to my left, and in front of me is a uniquely decorated living room. A deer’s head is

mounted over the brick fireplace. A bear in an I’m-going-to-rip-your-face-off stance takes up the far corner. One wall is covered

in various stuffed fish.

“Your dad likes to hunt, huh?” I ask.

“Nope. He’s a taxidermist. Those are all things people requested to be done but never paid for.”

“What does your mom do?” She has to be a lawyer or something considering this house.

“Watches Home Shopping Network mostly.”

“I didn’t realize there was so much money in taxidermy.” I poke the bear’s paw, expecting it to attack.

“My dad is one of the best. Do you know how much talent it takes to stuff a giraffe?”

I shake my head.

“About twenty thousand dollars’ worth, my pom-pom-loving friend.”

The pieces of the puzzle slowly fit into place. “Wait, is your dad Taxidermy Todd? The Taxidermy Todd?” I can’t believe it.

Everyone knows Taxidermy Todd in Natchitoches. He’s the hometown boy who made it big.

“Uh, yeah.” He shakes his head. “You really don’t pay attention to things outside your own little world, do you?”

At first I want to deny it. But then I think of not remembering Corina at the restaurant and I have to own up to the fact that I

really haven’t been paying attention to anyone else. But I’ll only admit it to myself. No need to give Dan more ammo.

I follow him upstairs to his room, which is about three times the size of my own. The walls are papered with random posters

featuring anime characters and superheroes, and apparently, the guy really has a thing for Natalie Portman. On the wall across

from his bed, there’s a big flat screen. Beneath it is an array of almost every gaming system I’ve ever heard of along with

stacks and stacks of games.

Dan sits on one of the two black beanbag chairs in front of the TV and picks up a controller. The screen clicks on, and the words

“Shoot Your Face!!!” splash across it in bloody letters.

I sit in the other beanbag chair. “You know, I’ve heard these games can warp your mind.”

“That’s crap. I’m a well-adjusted teenager. Believe me, my parents had me tested. Now, pick up that controller and let’s do

this.”

He tries to show me what all the buttons do on the controller, but the only ones I remember are the right trigger fires my weapon

and Y reloads. I scroll through the different characters, but of course, there isn’t one woman. Finally, I settle on the biggest,

burliest guy. He has a blond Mohawk and is missing both front teeth. I name him Bob.

“I’m on the green team, and you’re on the red team,” Dan says as a grenade blinks in the middle of the screen, telling us the

game is loading.

“That doesn’t sound fair. Red isn’t really a color that’s easy to camouflage. Can’t I be on the—” Before I can finish, the

game starts, and Dan kills Bob immediately. “Hey! I wasn’t ready!” I tap random buttons to come back to life.

“Shoot Your Face does not wait for the whiny, cheerleader.”

“Stop calling me that,” I say just as my character explodes again. “Give me a chance to get used to this, at least.” Dying

twice in a row is driving my competitive spirit crazy.

“I didn’t do that. You blew yourself up with a grenade.”

“How could I do that? I don’t even know which button throws a grenade.”

“Obviously you don’t, because you didn’t throw it, you held onto that sucker. Bam!”

“Stop killing me!”

“But that’s the whole point of the game.”

After a while, I start to get the hang of things. Bob dodges and weaves, rolls and ducks. Dan talks a lot of smack, but at least

he’s not treating me like a stupid girl. It takes me two hours before I finally get Dan’s guy.

I jump up and start doing a happy dance. “Yes! I got you! Bob is the man!”

Dan drops his controller and flops back in his chair. “Thank God. That took forever.”

“Let’s go again.” I expertly scroll through Bob’s weapons, arming him with a flame thrower.

“Maybe later, I’m thirsty.” He rolls out of his chair and onto the floor, then hops up and leaves the room.

I catch up to him on the stairs. “But I was just getting good. Come on.”

“All shooting faces and no fluids makes Dan a very dull boy. You want some sweet tea?”

The kitchen is huge, of course. I take a seat at one of the fifties-style, red bar stools behind the granite-topped island. Dan

fixes a couple of glasses of tea with plenty of ice.

He sits down two bar stools away. “So, feel any better? I’ve found Shoot Your Face is a perfectly healthy outlet for teenage

angst.”

“Who said I was feeling angsty?”

“I figured you wouldn’t be very happy after how your date went yesterday.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Logan seems to think you had a horrible time. And I can understand why because, ‘She turned down NerdCon and doesn’t want to

see me again.’ That’s how he put it.”

This is not exactly the person with whom I want to discuss my love life, but who else do I have at this point? “I had a great

time. It’s just… There’s other stuff going on with me. It’s all confusing and stupid, and I just don’t know what to do

anymore.”

“Aw, poor cheerleader. Listen, I didn’t call you over here to soothe your aching bloomers. I called you over here because I want

Logan to be happy. He deserves it. If it means getting the girl he’s been hardcore pining after, then damn it, I’m going to make

that happen.”

My heart melts a little. “He’s been ‘pining’ for me?”

“You are oblivious, aren’t you? I guess I can’t really be pissed at you. Logan never had the balls to say anything to you. You

kind of fell into his lap at the shop. He couldn’t freakin’ believe it. It was like the kid was getting a BB gun for Christmas

when you walked in there.”

“So, he did tell you before I ran into you at the shop?” Why am I not surprised?

“Of course he did. He couldn’t keep that a secret. But it doesn’t matter now because you’re screwing all this up. And I’d bet

my life-size Queen Amidala poster that Kelsey is with him right now, healing his wounds. The girl has a way of getting under Logan

’s skin, and I heard her talking to her crew of Goth fairies at the game the other night after y’all left. She’s after him

again, and I have to admit, that chick knows how to get what she wants. She might not get it fairly, but what’s the saying? All

is donkey balls in love and war?”

“All is fair in love and war. Why do you think she’s after him again? What did she say?”

“What does it matter? It’s not like you’re going to do anything about it, are you? You won’t even go to NerdCon with him.

Which is a travesty, by the way. I mean, who turns down a V.I.P. pass to NerdCon? Not that I’m complaining. I’ll appreciate it

more than you would anyway.”

Is he baiting me? Getting me all riled up, basically calling me a coward, so maybe I’ll run to Logan?

I don’t know if he’s crafty or if he’s just a jerk, but it’s working.

“I wanted to go. But I made important plans for that day I can’t bail on. And he wouldn’t listen to me even if I did go over to

the shop. I had my chance.” I try not to picture Kelsey dressed as a dark fairy, hanging on Logan’s arm with that sneer on her

face.

“See, here is where my knowing him like I know the Star Wars prequels comes in handy. You are, like, his dream girl. If you go

explain, be honest about all this ‘stuff’ or whatever that’s going on with you, he’ll get over it. I know it.”

“I just can’t, okay? I don’t want to hurt him anymore.” I head back toward the stairs to go up to Dan’s room for my flip-

flops and phone.

“So Kelsey was right when she said you don’t really like him? That you’re just using him to make your boyfriend jealous?”

I pause, one foot on the bottom step, and I can feel my cheeks heat up.

I knew it. The dreaded ex was badmouthing me for no good reason. While I was standing there in my blue tights waiting on Logan,

she was slandering my good name. And I don’t like it.