The Summer I Became a Nerd

#28

“Stop!” Sorenson yells again as he steps between us. “That last hit doesn’t count, and you know it, Kelsey. She’s allowed to

reload on magic.”

“But I hit her fair and square!” Her voice is so high I expect to see the neighborhood strays come jogging up any second.

“That was not fair, you hit her. For real, you hit her,” Dan says.

The crowd begins to murmur. I hear words like “ejected” and “suspension” thrown around.

I sit up. “No. I’ll take that last hit.” Her not crossing her fingers was one thing, but I’ll be dammed if I win the whole

shebang on a technicality.

“Are you sure? A move like that is cause for ejection from—”

I don’t let Sorenson finish. “I’m sure.”

Something hits my arm, and I look around thinking one of Kelsey’s friends has decided to enter the fight. But it’s just one of

my own energy bolts lying on the grass next to me. Another one hits my leg, then another lands by my hand. The surrounding players

are searching the ground for my ping-pong balls and tossing them to me. One person, the only female dwarf in the game that I’ve

seen, actually brings me a handful.

“Kick the crap out of her,” she whispers to me, then returns to the crowd.

I scoop all the balls back into my bag. I stand up and dust the grass and dirt from my clothes. Everyone applauds like I’m an

injured basketball player that just got up off the court.

Kelsey stands by Sorenson, grasping and releasing the hilt of her sword. She huffs like she just ran all the way to the Hot Topic

store in Alexandria.

Sorenson faces me and in his most distinguished British accent, says, “Are you prepared to continue the battle, elfling?”

I straighten my back, square my shoulders, and look from side to side at all the painted and made-up faces around me. They all

seem to lean forward, eyes unblinking. There’s only one person I’m looking for, though. Logan stands by Dan with the same look

of disbelief as everyone else.

“Let’s do this,” I finally say to Tommy. “And don’t call me elfling, Gandalf.”

The crowd cheers as Kelsey and I face off again. Her skin has turned an apple red, which, with her black ensemble, is not a good

look. Not that I can really say anything. My hair probably looks like a bird’s nest complete with dead grass from my tumble on

the lawn.

She snatches her character sheet from Sorenson. When she glances over it, her frown confirms my suspicions. If I’m right, Kelsey

’s character should be close to incapacitation. Just one or two more hits and I’ll be able to bring my plan to fruition,

hopefully.

Sorenson steps back to the sidelines. “Resume!”

I wait for Kelsey to make a move. Instead of charging, she says, “I heal.”

The rules state that, depending on a character’s level, they can only dodge attacks while they heal. The higher the level, the

shorter the amount of time they can’t retaliate.

“It’ll take you five seconds,” Sorenson says, which means her character isn’t as awesome as she’d like everyone to believe.

“One one thousand…”

I throw a ball, but she’s ready. She dodges easily.

“Two one thousand. Three…” The crowd joins Sorenson in counting.

This is my last chance to tag her before she heals a substantial amount of health points potentially putting me at the

disadvantage. I aim at her left thigh, head toward her, and swing my arm. She darts to her right, but fails to notice I didn’t

actually throw the ball.

“Four one thousand…”

My arm follows her motion, and the ball still in my hand easily connects with the exposed skin on her upper arm. She screams like

I really did just slam an energy bolt into her.

“You’re down!” Tommy says, and the crowd hoots and jumps. Dan is shaking Logan by his jacket as he throws his head back and

howls.

I look at Kelsey, and she’s staring at me like I just dropped out of the sky.

I shrug and say, “Sorry,” as sincerely as possible.

Once the crowd calms down, Sorenson steps up to us. “What do you want to do with your prisoner, Laowyn?”

“I cast the elven incantation Change of Heart,” I declare.

“No way!” Kelsey says.

“Hold up.” Logan holds out his hand to Sorenson. “Let me see her sheet. There’s no way she can have that spell.”

Sorenson looks at me for my permission to let Logan see my character sheet. I nod. Logan takes it and scours it.

I’m not surprised he doubts me. This specific spell is super expensive, hence why I had to get the potions from the bright

fairies instead of getting the healing power. When he shakes his head in disbelief, I stand next to him and point at my experience

point expenditure log.

“Did I do it right?” I ask.

His bright blue eyes lock with mine. “How…”

I lean in so close our noses are almost touching. “Ask your mom.”

He blinks a few times, then gives my sheet back to Sorenson. “Looks good to me.”

“Uh-uh,” Kelsey says. “Let me see that thing.”

“It has been approved by two game masters and another player. There’s no need for you to look at it,” Sorenson says.

Kelsey’s mouth drops open.

Sorenson straightens my character sheet. “Now, Maddie, you do realize this spell takes health points to initiate and if you use

it now, it’ll kill you, so—”

I pull out the index cards from the bright fairies and shove them against Sorenson’s chest.

He reads them and grins. “You sneaky little elf. All right, these potions put you at full health. You’ll survive the casting,

but only barely.” He throws his arms up to get the chattering crowd’s attention. “For those of you who aren’t familiar with

the incantation called Change of Heart, Maddie will need to roll seven different dice. It’s extremely difficult to complete this

spell because of what it does. It completely changes the target’s sensibilities. If your character loves winter, after this

spell, she’ll love summer. If she loves order, after this spell, she’ll love chaos. If she is dark, after this spell, she’ll be

bright.”

The crowd’s chattering gets louder as Sorenson explains things. I look up at Logan. He’s still staring at me with a bewildered

look on his face.

Sorenson continues. “This spell is not only hard to cast because it saps your health, it is considered nearly impossible because

you must roll perfect on five of the seven dice.”

He forgot to mention that the five dice have to be the five highest-rolling dice. I have to roll a twenty on the twenty-sided die,

a twelve on the twelve-sided die, a ten on both ten-sided dice, and an eight on the eight-sided die. I don’t even want to try to

calculate the odds on this or my brain will explode.

“Do you have a set of dice? I think I have a spare upstairs,” Sorenson says to me.

I pull out Roy G. Biv. “I have my own.”

The crowd parts for Sorenson, Kelsey, Logan, and me as we head up to the porch. Tommy clears a coffee table that looks more like a

Dumpster treasure than a table. I kneel down in front of it, and Kelsey pulls up a chair.

“This is never going to work, you know that, right? You’re going to knock yourself out, I’ll wake up before you, and chop your

head off,” she says.

“Not if I chop yours off first,” Dan says from the steps.

I just smile and rub the dice in my hands. They click together creating a twinkling tune.

Sorenson kneels down. I can feel Logan standing above me.

“Here I go,” I say.

Everything goes into slow motion when the dice fall from my fingers. Each one bounces a couple of times then rolls along the

table, one after the other, their rainbow colors reflecting the dim porch light. I force myself not to watch them as they come to

a stop. When the last one leaves my hand, I stand and turn around, putting me face to face with Logan.

He’s not watching the outcome either. His eyes sparkle like the dice, bright and sigh-inducing. His brow is furrowed, though,

making me wonder what is running through his mind. I find out soon enough. His fingertips lightly touching the sides of my neck

are the only things I feel as the dice are totaled behind me. The creases between his eyebrows disappear as the smile that struck

me as irresistible the first time I saw it in The Phoenix appears. I breathe in his scent, and my eyes drift shut like I just

caught a whiff of hot chocolate on Christmas day. I forget where I am when his perfect boy-lips brush against mine.

Then, we kiss. We kiss like no else exists, like we were made for each other, like there’s nowhere else in the entire world

either one of us wants to be.

When we break apart, my heart goes into overdrive. I lean into Logan, resting my forehead against his. Somehow, my hands slipped

under his jacket and are now flat against his chest. I try to pull them back, but he covers them with his own, keeping them in

place. My blue face paint has transferred to his nose and cheeks making him look slightly frost-bitten.

“Finally,” he says, voice ragged. I like this tone a lot more than his normal, smooth radio voice.

“Finally what?” My voice is just as shaky as his.

He opens his mouth to say something, but Kelsey shouts, “No freakin’ way!”

Sorenson stands slowly, still staring at the table. “I can’t believe it,” he says in a whisper. Then he turns to the crowd,

which I now realize has been deathly quiet this whole time. “Six out of seven rolled high number! The spell is complete!”

The crowd roars. People rush forward to congratulate me, shaking my hands, slapping my back.

“That was the best thing ever!” a guy vamp says, his yellow contact covered eyes wide.

“I can’t believe it. You’re one badass mamma-jamma,” a lizard girl says as she squeezes my shoulder.

Dan shoves through the sea of people. “That was the most donkey-butt crazy shit I’ve ever witnessed!” He punctuates every word

by bonking my head with his gigantor sword.

“Excuse us,” Sha-ra says, and people hop off the porch and the steps to make room for her and her crew.

She puts a hand on Kelsey’s shoulder. Kelsey looks up at her with frantic eyes, then jumps up and backs away.

“No, no, this can’t be happening.” She shakes her head the whole time.

“Don’t be afraid, sister,” Sha-ra says. “You are one of us now. We’re going to have to do something about your wardrobe,

though.”

As Sha-ra drags Kelsey off the porch by the arm, Kelsey searches for her murder. “Avenge me! Avenge me!”

“Uh-uh,” Sorenson says. “Don’t act out-of-character. She wouldn’t say that now. The second the spell was cast, your character

became bright. She’d be thankful for Laowyn’s actions.”

I cover my mouth and look around to see if Logan notices the humor in the whole scene, too, but I can’t find him.

I try to wade through the crowd, searching each face for him, but every player has something to say to me.

“That took a lot of guts, elf,” a broad dwarf says and claps me hard on the back.

Another vampire, this one tall with a top hat and a monocle, stops me. “You are welcome at the Critory clan’s castle anytime,

Lady Laowyn.” I nod respectfully, trying to stay in character even though I have no idea what he’s talking about.

Finally, the players start to dissipate, moving back inside or to the backyard.

I spend the next thirty minutes looking for Logan, but he’s nowhere to be found.