How to Date a Nerd

Chapter 19 - The Day SMS Became Overrated

It was like a time bomb, set into motion
We knew that we were destined to explode
And if I had to pull you out of the wreckage
You know I'm never gonna let you go

Chapter 19 – The Day SMS Became Overrated

 

“Of course we’re going,” Chuck grinned, eyes shooting up before chuckling to himself. “We’re on his imaginary VIP list since we’re his football buddies.” He shot me a look. “Except you, Leon. He hates you. No offense.”

We were heading home, straight from Ricky’s house right after his Gran-gran yelled at us to go home already. It looked like the old lady was having a major heart attack when she chased us off the lawn, waving her walking stick angrily. Gran-gran was old, but extremely dangerous so we took off. Poor Ricky.

“None taken.” I shrugged keeping my pace along the sidewalk. “And I’m not going anyway.”

“Well, you should,” Reed said, giving me a slap on the back. “Sarah will be there. Don’t tell me you’re just going to stick with the best friend trump card? Poor Sarah. Matt will totally take advantage of her. Who knows what he’ll do to her once she’s downed a few drinks?”

“Scaredy-cat!” Chuck caught up with me, ramming his shoulder on my back.

I doubled over on the sidewalk, coughing before lunging to his direction. Luckily, I managed to put him in a headlock under my good arm. He tried to flail and elbow me on the ribs but I kept my grip tight, making sure that he won’t reach my broken arm. Something told me that working out was such a good idea.

“O-okay,” he cried, face pale. “You win!”

With that, I let him go, flashing a smug smile as I did. Chuck and Reed made up that game. Kind of forced me into it, actually. They’d been ambushing me all week with their line backer moves. And every time, I had to defend myself. The point was, if I was serious about rivalling Matt, I’d have to be able to actually last thirty seconds of mortal combat with him just in case. Or die trying.

“That’s three loses in a row, bro,” Reed noted, raising an eyebrow to Chuck with a smirk.

“Four,” I corrected, bumping knuckles with Reed.

“He’s getting cocky all of sudden,” Chuck grumbled, resting an elbow over Reed’s shoulder while massaging the back of his neck. “Maybe I shouldn’t always go easy on him. He used to be such a wimp. Now look at him. Damn, he grows up so fast.” He pretended to wipe invisible tears on the sides of his eyes.

I let out a snort. “Maybe going to Matt’s party won’t be all that bad. But just to look after Sarah.”

“Right…” they chorused, exchanging meaningful looks and their super-secret handshake.

Why couldn’t I shake off the feeling that they were planning some sort of sabotage? I should stop them. On second thoughts, good luck, Matt.

As we passed by the garage, Dad was just revving the engines of his R8. He gave me a little salute before putting on a new pair of Ray Ban shades and hurtling towards the road, burning rubber against the concrete. Gone to Boston again, I thought. He’d been getting in touch with my lawyer a lot lately. Covering up my tracks. Cleaning up my mess. Soon, I’d have to show up in Sonnet Records and wow them with my newly composed set of potential chart-toppers. Which were as of the moment, non-existent. And there was this matter about the movies shoots. Bummer.

My arm was healing faster than expected. Which was both good and bad news. For the good part, I’d finally get to throw out the cast and the sling. Meaning, I could get back to composing again. The bad news was that my time with Sarah was almost over.