The Nerd's Revenge (Completed)

Chapter 14: The Art of Awkwardness

Chapter 14: The Art of Awkwardness

A few weeks passed uneventfully. Pierce and Jo had gotten used to seeing each other and didn't fight as much as they did in the past. In fact, it was normal for them to sit in the dining room table and do homework together. Pierce enjoyed it more than he would have liked to admit. In fact, most of the time he'd look forward to being able to spend some time with Jo in the evening.

However, not everything was as great as Pierce would have liked. There was a certain person, someone he had never even thought of before that had inserted himself in between. This individual was Grayson. He'd often show up to the Peter's house claiming to hang out with Joel. His excuse was childish, and it didn't take long before Pierce began to see that his true intentions were directed toward Jo. The mere thought had often upset Pierce, who would make a lame excuse of his own to go to his room.

Jo and Grayson's relationship had also progressed, and it had made Pierce oddly uncomfortable. He knew that the growing feeling in the pit of his stomach was not alright, and he did his best to not let it show. However, it had begun to get difficult. Mostly due to the increasing number of times that Grayson invited Jo out.

It was a Thursday evening, and Jo sat in front of him. She had been working on a report for her Chemistry class. Pierce had finished up with his own homework for the week and had been pretending to work on some fake essay to be able to sit and look at her. He knew that his growing interest in Jo was something he possibly could do nothing about. The feelings had grown beyond his control, and that day when they held hands he had been able to prove that he had a crush on her. Of course, there was also Joel himself who had given him the extra push.

"You like my sister, don't you?" Joel said one day. Jo had gone to the bathroom, and Pierce had stared after her as she left. Joel had been sitting with them, and had the opportunity of noticing it.

Pierce shook his head, a little to violently for his own good. He knew that it was possibly unbelievable that he wouldn't when he had stared like a dumb sheep at her.

Joel chuckled and nodded. "Sure, you don't." He said before going back to his homework.

Pierce sighed. He knew that confessing his feelings would not do him any good. He and Jo were too different from one another. She also seemed happier every time she came back from spending time with Grayson, so it was obvious that she could not see Pierce the same way.

"Pierce," She called, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"What is it?" He asked, looking stupidly at her.

Jo smiled at the look of his face and shook her head. "I didn't get to take notes for Math class, can I see yours?"

Pierce nodded. He took his white binder and passed it toward her.

"It should be in one of the pockets." He said, before he went back to look at his laptop.

After a few seconds, he looked back at Jo. She looked carefully at the binder, going through the pages trying to find the notes. Eventually, she found them and began to take out her math journal to begin writing.

Pierce looked away again. He didn't like to stare at her for too long. He felt like a weirdo, looking at someone he could never even have a chance with.

"Jo," he said, looking over at her once again.

Her gaze was fixated on the notes, but she gave him a small nod of acknowledgment so he could say what he was going to say.

"uhm...You and that guy Grayson, you've been spending some time together."

"Yeah..." She nodded, a little absentmindedly.