Deviating from the Norm (A "Freaks and Geeks" Fanfic)

Chapter 21 - The worst liar in the history of the world...

Somewhere along the way, Nick had started dating a new girl. It came as a huge shock and surprise to everyone, especially since he just dropped it in our laps like it wasn't a big deal at all. It was most certainly a big deal. Sara Fennik was a bit of an outsider, but not the kind of outsiders we were. She didn't have a clique, she didn't have many friends, and, in most cases, she simply didn't know how to fit in. The absolute worst thing of all about her though was that she was head over heels for disco. She was the classmate Nick had seen at the Discotheque when we were bowling at Milliken Lanes. The same spot where Daniel, Ken, Lindsay and Kim had went to heckle the disco dancers and found our drummer getting his groove on. The day after he was found out, when everyone (except me) decided to drop by his house to give him shit about his new passion, Sara was right there with him (practically sitting on his lap, from what I was told), and Nick introduced the gang to her as his new girlfriend. Not only were they dating, but they had been together for nearly two weeks without anyone finding out. I had to hand it to them, it was quite the feat, and one that I will likely never know how they pulled off. The idea of keeping their relationship under wraps was Sara's idea, mainly because she wasn't sure how to fit in with the rest of Nick's friends and she wanted time to adjust instead of just jumping in with both feet. If things hadn't been so crazy over the past couple of weeks (my predicament with Kim, the madness of the vice president's visit, Ken's relationship worries, etc.) we all probably would have noticed that Nick wasn't around nearly as much as he used to be.

Once I found out they were an item, the reality that something had been building for a long time finally hit me. He would always compliment her when they passed each other in the halls of school. Whether it be about her shirt, her hair or her smile, Nick always found something to applaud about her on. I honestly couldn't tell if he was really into her, using her as a means to make Lindsay jealous or a mix of both (considering their interesting history). Regardless, with our friend dating her, Sara trying to fit in with the group became our new reality... nightmarish as it was.

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"Are you guys coming to the disco on Friday night?" Sara asked as Ken, Daniel and I huddled around the lockers while she and Nick cuddled together in front of us.

With a shit-eating grin on his face, Ken asked, "Why would we do that?"

Sara explained that our mutual friend was entering the dancing contest at the club and it was going to happen at the end of the week. None of us could have been more ecstatic... because it is hard to be more of something when you were never even experiencing it to begin with. Nick was still embarrassed that we now all knew his dirty little dance secret; the way he looked almost ashamed as Sara invited all of us to watch him on Friday night gave that away. Honestly, the whole thing was just awkward. Sara tried her best to hang out with us, but you could tell she just didn't get what we were about and she tried too hard to emulate what she thought we expected her to act like. It was somewhat agonizing, but none of us wanted to say anything to Nick because, well... if she made him happy, we wanted him to be happy. Judging from Ken's increasingly agitated state over the subject though, it was only a matter of time before he wouldn't be able to stop himself from saying something.

During lunch, Mr. Lacovara walked up to Lindsay and I just as we had grabbed our lunch trays, congratulating my brainy friend on joining the 'one-percent' club, telling her he was one back in 1956 and that it had done wonders for him.

Yes, I mocked internally, this magical club got you a mediocre job at a shitty school. Way to go.

I almost erupted in laughter after witnessing him make a spectacle of himself by turning full-force into a student and basically exploding their lunch tray all over both of them. He only made it worse by raising both hands in the air and claiming responsibility, calling himself a 'clumsy clod' before helping the student clean up. Lindsay gave me a sturdy punch to the arm as I stood beside her, presumably feeling sorry for the bumbling teacher.