The Nerd and The Frog

Butterfly

Alan laid back onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling in silence. His dad didn't ask much, considering he was coming from Nicolette's house. Granted, he could tell that something was bothering his son, but he wouldn't press him until he was ready to talk. Alan knew his father's expressions enough to read what he was thinking, so he created small talk to pass the time during the drive.

In the darkness of his bedroom, his mind raced through everything that happened today. From the encounter with Thomas, the history of what he did to Jonathan after he left, the whole issue with Daniel and the fact that he was still lying to him, along with the possibility of a girl having a crush on him.

The.... fuck.... everything is coming at me at once....

He turned to lay on his stomach, burying his face into his pillow for a few seconds, before turning to the side to release a deep sigh. It felt like everything was crashing down on him, and it was only one day into the bet with Daniel. He sat up in bed quickly, turning on his bedside light to reach over to grab a notebook and pen from his nightstand drawer. He immediately wrote a list:

-Make it through the bet with Daniel.

-Tell Thomas our deal is off.

-Tell Mika I'm not interested.

-Get Thomas to go away. Forever.

-Tell Daniel the truth.

Alan looked over the list calmly, breathing a sigh once again after he closed the notebook. He grabbed his cell phone and sent a text to Nicolette.

Alan: I have a plan to ruin Thomas. But, I need your help.

-

The next day, Alan dressed in a similar fashion as the previous day, wearing a light blue polo, and slim fitted dark-wash jeans with a pair of white Reeboks, excluding his glasses. Of course, the stares were still there, but not as strong as yesterday. Surprisingly, Thomas did not bother him. Granted, he hadn't seen him at all the first half of the morning, nor did he get a text from him. Normally, they had classes together later in the day, so there was a strong chance that he would encounter him. He chatted with Nicolette on the bus, since she was curious to what he meant by his text message last night. He discussed his elaborate plan in detail and she agreed without hesitation, filling in any weak points with her own solutions.

Ok... just that's one item off my list. Just have to work through the rest.

The other thing he had to work on was telling Mika that he wasn't interested.

That should be pretty easy...

He caught sight of her while walking down the hallway to class and waved at her as he approached. She was dressed in a pair of red hightop Converse and a red and white striped t-shirt dress, her long black hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Hey! How are you?" she asked, a warm smile on her face.

"Hey there... I'm good." Alan spoke politely, trying his best to mask his nervousness. "Do you have time to meet in the library at lunch? I... uh... wanted to ask you something... in private."

She blinked in surprise, a pause between them occurring before she spoke again. "Uh... sure. What time?"

"If you could, it would be nice to meet right at the start of lunch. Is... that ok?" he asked, hearing the bell ring not too long after.

"Of course, that's fine. I'll see you then." she replied happily, before walking away.

"Ok, thanks!" Alan stated as she left.