#NERD
The Hashtag Series #1
Never judge a person by their status.
Rimmel Hudson isn’t an ordinary girl. She doesn’t care about her hair, clothes, or the color of her lip-gloss. She volunteers at the local animal shelter and spends more time with her furry friends than anyone on two legs. People are too judgmental, but animals love unconditionally.
Her time at the shelter is cut into when she’s told she has to start tutoring on campus to keep her scholarship for veterinary medicine. She tells herself it’s all part of the path to get her where she wants to be in life.
And then she meets the person she has to tutor.
Roman “Romeo” Anderson is probably the most well-known student at her entire college. He is practically a football god, from a prestigious family, rushing the most popular frat on campus… and he has no clue she’s alive.
Rimmel and Romeo are from completely different worlds. Worlds that usually run parallel and never intersect.
Until now.
Romeo didn’t get his name by staying home on Saturday night. When beautiful women throw themselves at you, you do the honorable thing and show them a good time. Tutoring was just something he had to do to stay on the team until he was drafted by the NFL.
Romeo never thought he’d be totally charmed by Rimmel. He never thought a girl like her would intrigue him like no one else. But he can’t date a #nerd—can he?
He thinks maybe he can. It’s everyone else who has a different idea.
With the odds stacked against them, can Romeo and Rimmel find a way to bring their two completely different worlds together, or will Rimmel’s #nerd status stand in their way?
#nerd
The Hashtag Series #1
by Cambria Hebert
#NERD Copyright © 2014 CAMBRIA HEBERT
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form without written permission except for the use of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Published by: Cambria Hebert Books, LLC
http://www.cambriahebert.com
Interior design and typesetting by Sharon Kay
Cover design by MAE I DESIGN
Edited by Cassie McCown
Copyright 2014 by Cambria Hebert
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-938857-63-8
Table of Contents
Contents:
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Dedication
To all the #Nerds out there.
And for anyone who’s ever loved one.
#NERD
Chapter One
Rimmel
Being nervous was stupid.
I wasn’t a stupid person; even still, I couldn’t shake the nerves coiling in the pit of my stomach like a cornered poisonous snake. The paper clutched in my hand trembled like the coloring leaves that dotted the trees outside in the cool autumn air.
I didn’t want to be here. I’d probably rather be anywhere else. But the choice wasn’t mine today. In fact, it wasn’t going to be between the hours of five and seven p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the foreseeable future.
Saying no wasn’t an option. This “job” was presented to me as something I had to do to keep my scholarship. Considering none of the other scholarship recipients (that I knew) were practically ordered to tutor struggling students, I wondered if this really was a requirement.
Not like I would say anything, though. I hated confrontation; it made my stomach hurt. And I certainly wasn’t going to argue with the dean over what I needed to do to keep my free ride. So I agreed. It was only a few hours a week, right? And I’d get points for doing a good deed.
Inwardly, I cringed.
Everyone knows the nice guy always finishes last.
Once I was good and committed to the tutoring, I was given a sheet of paper—the same sheet I was now crushing in my nervous hand—with a list of the subjects the student needed help with. Math, English, and history.
Geez, it was like half this person’s schedule. Did they do no studying on their own?
Then I saw the name.
There it was, typed neatly at the top of the paper, right there in black and white. It appeared so simple, just letters arranged in a row. I remember being slightly shocked the second I read his name that fireworks didn’t appear overhead and the marching band didn’t storm through the hall, playing the university’s fight song.
“You want me to tutor Roman Anderson?” I’d squeaked, and the pathetic sound reminded me of the nickname my nervously high voice had earned me in high school.
Mouse.
But this wasn’t high school, and I didn’t squeak anymore. Okay, not much.
“Is there a problem with that?” the dean had asked, choosing to ignore my shock.
Yes! He’s like way out of my league. I cleared my throat again just to be sure my voice was normal when I spoke. “I guess I’m just surprised he needs a tutor.” There was no reason to even pretend I didn’t know exactly who he was.
Everyone knew Romeo.
“Being the incredible athlete that he is, football takes up a great deal of his time. We thought it would be best if he had some additional help with his academics,” the dean replied.
“We?” I asked.
“Myself and the coach.”
Ahhh.
So basically, Mr. Perfect was failing, and the school was freaking out because it was football season and they needed their best player and crowd drawer on the field. And who better to stick with the job? The scholarship girl with the perfect average. The girl with no life.
And so here I was sitting at a table in the university library, waiting on Mr. Perfect. I glanced at the watch fastened around my wrist. Then I checked the time against the large clock hanging on the wall. The times matched up.
Romeo was late.
Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo…
I snorted. It was so loud it startled a girl at a nearby table. She jerked back in her seat, causing her chair to teeter dangerously backward and hover over the ground. I watched as she grappled for the table ledge, her hands grasping instead to the thick book open before her.
The book wasn’t a good anchor.
She yanked it right off the table as her chair barreled toward the ground
. The chair, the girl, and the book made quite the clatter when they hit the ground. Everyone in the general area turned to stare.
You know you’re a clumsy person when you cause other people to fall down.
I started to get up, to help her, but the daggers she shot out of her eyes froze me in my tracks. I sat back down. Her face was flaming red as she huffed to her feet and packed up her stuff. Before storming off, she picked up the large book, and I had a sudden vision of her swinging it at my head.
Instead, she wrapped her arms around it and glared at me again.
“Sorry,” I whispered.
If her stomps to the other side of the library were any indication, I was pretty sure I wasn’t forgiven.
Well, that was eventful.
And a waste of time. I glanced at my watch again and wondered if I would get out of tutoring if he didn’t bother showing up.
Since I was already here, I figured I could at least do some of my work, so I bent down to retrieve my notebook out of my bag. When I sat up, I saw him.
He was standing just inside the glass doors that led outside. His shaggy blond hair was darker than usual because it looked damp. The ends of his hair curled up at the base of his neck, above the collar of his jacket. A navy-blue backpack was slung over one of his shoulders and his insanely large hand was curled around the strap, holding it in place.
Romeo was tall, well over six feet, with broad shoulders that tapered into a narrow waist. He wasn’t a bulky guy; he played too many sports for that. But even so, it was obvious his body was all muscle.
He was looking around, his blue eyes sweeping the room, likely looking for his tutor. I felt my cheeks heat when he glanced my way, and I ducked my head. But then I realized this wasn’t the time to be shy. I needed to tell him I was his tutor.
Holy hell, I was going to get to talk to him! Embarrassment burned the back of my throat. Talking to guys wasn’t something I did very often.
I looked back up to wave at him, but Romeo had already looked away. I wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t very noticeable. I wasn’t the kind of girl that drew eyes and held a stare.
I watched him another minute as he looked over his shoulder at the tables on the other side of the room. The girl who fell out of her chair was watching him, her eyes eating up his face.
Could she be any more obvious?
Romeo caught her looking and his mouth pulled into a slow smile. I bit the inside of my lip as little butterflies fluttered around my stomach. He wasn’t even looking at me with that charming half smile and I was affected.
Ugh.
I didn’t have time for this.
I snatched the paper with his name and information off the table and marched toward him. Halfway there, I collided with the corner of an empty table and the unforgiving edge jammed into my hipbone. In the center of the table was a cup filled with pens and pencils and the force of impact knocked it over.
Writing utensils rolled across the wooden surface and some rained down onto the floor.
Sharp pain burned through my hip and I drew back, fighting the urge to double over as I rubbed the sore spot.
That was going to leave a bruise.
Doing my best to ignore the pain, I walked around the table to where the pencils were scattered on the floor. Bending down, I began scooping them up with my hand.
One pencil had rolled farther away than the others, and I had to stretch my arm all the way out to reach for it. Just as I was about to snatch it up, two overly large feet wearing a pair of Nikes appeared right beside it.
I pushed my glasses up on my nose and followed a pair of jean-clad legs all the way up, past the familiar jacket, to full lips and a chiseled face.
“Need a hand?” he said, tipping up the corner of his lips. Amusement sparked in his jewel-like blue eyes.
I opened my mouth to reply, but no sound came out. I tried again.
A little squeak escaped instead of actual words. I slapped my lips together and went back to collecting pencils.
And this was why I preferred animals to people. So much easier to talk to.
A rich chuckle floated over my head and my cheeks heated even more. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if my hair caught on fire from the force of my embarrassment.
He crouched down and reached for the rogue pencil the same time I did. Our fingers collided.
Electricity jolted through my hand and bolted up my arm. Shocked, I gasped and fell back. All the pencils in my hand clattered on the floor around me.
Romeo gave me an odd look and then picked up everything in like three seconds flat.
I guess having large hands like that is useful.
When I realized I was just sitting on the floor like a complete weirdo, I scrambled to my feet and looked at him. He was already turning away.
“Wait,” I said.
He glanced at me again.
I held up the severely wrinkled paper. “I’m your tutor.”
The doubt in his eyes kind of made me mad. Did he think I wasn’t smart enough to tutor him?
“See,” I demanded, shoving the paper in the space between us.
That half-smile thing he did resurfaced, and he took the paper out of my grasp. “What’d this paper ever do to you?” he said, taking in its crumpled appearance.
I scowled. For starters, it was forcing me to talk to him.
He sighed and I thought he muttered something beneath his breath, but I couldn’t hear what it was. “All right, then, Teach,” he said, motioning for me to take the lead. “Let’s get this over with.”
Obviously, he didn’t want to be here.
That made two of us.
Chapter Two
Romeo
The sounds of the locker room were always the same. Laughter, catcalls, and men ribbing each other rose above the sound of the showers running in the back. The air was humid from the constant running water, and the scent of sweaty jerseys permeated the room.
Basically, it was home.
I was one of the last ones off the field tonight and most everyone else was already out of their uniform as I walked through the room toward my locker. A couple damp towels snapped me on the ass as I went by, and I promised revenge later.
Laughing, I swung open my locker door and turned just in time to see something fall out and land near my feet.
What the hell?
The sounds of the room faded to the background as I picked up the cream-colored envelope with a black wax seal on the back. My pulse picked up when I recognized the crest in the seal.
Inside was a matching cream-colored card, completely blank on the outside. I lifted the bottom to reveal the inside.
TONIGHT.
That’s all it said. No signature. No other writing. Just one word.
But I knew what it meant.
I grinned and gave a loud whoop. A couple of the guys echoed the sound. Beside me, my teammate and friend Braeden leaned in to look at the card.
“Aww, shit,” he said and slapped me on the back. “You’re in, dude.”
I held up my fist so we could pound it out. “Hells yeah,” I said.
“You know Alpha Omega is like the most exclusive frat on this campus,” he said, reaching into his locker to pull out a T-shirt.
Everybody knew that. It’s one of the reasons I wanted in so bad. I didn’t think it would happen, because last year—my freshman year—I didn’t get in. That had been a bitter pill to swallow because my father and grandfather had both been members.
I never did find out why they never let me in, but obviously, whatever it was didn’t matter now.
This was the opening I needed. From here I knew I could make it in.
“Congrats, man,” Braeden said, slamming his locker door closed.
“Anderson!” Coach yelled from the door of his office. “Get your pansy ass in here!”
The usual oohs and awws followed me as I walked into the office and Coach slammed the door. “There a problem, Coach?” I asked.
�
�Your grades suck, Anderson,” he said, blunt.
“It’s only the first month of the semester,” I argued, even though yeah, my grades sucked.
“Last year you were points away from getting kicked off the team.” He leveled me with a harsh stare. “I’ve already spoken to your professors. You’re already headed down the same path this semester.”
I sat in the chair near his desk. “It’s hard to find time to study with all the practicing I do,” I hedged. It wasn’t exactly a lie. I got up early to work out, then fueled up, went to classes, and then had football practice for several hours each day. And some days we had more than one practice.
“I hear you’re rushing Alpha Omega.”
How the hell did he find that out so fast? I’d only just gotten the note.
He looked as if he’d smelled a bad fart. “You’re my star player. I know exactly what you’re up to.”
“I—” I started to make some excuse, but he held up his hand and sighed.
“I get it, Anderson. School sucks. You’re here to play football and chase women.”
I grinned.
“I was your age once. But the hard truth is you can’t play if your grades don’t come up.”
That wiped the smile right off my face. “But, Coach.” I sat forward in my chair, ready to beg. Football was my life.
“Relax,” he intoned. “You’re still on the team. You’re still starting, and I intend to keep it that way.”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
“You now have a personal tutor. You’ll meet in the library every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for two hours after practice.”
“Two hours!” Holy shit, that was brutal.
“I mean it, Anderson. The team needs you. You’re the best player we have, and the dean wants a championship this year.”
I wanted a championship too. It would draw in the NFL scouts. The NFL was my endgame. Hell, it was my only game.
“Fine,” I muttered. This was going to suck.
“You start tonight,” Coach added, then pointed at his door for me to get out.
#Nerd (Hashtag #1) Page 1
