Crushing On The Geek (Crushing On You)

by Sarah Adams

  Crushing on the Geek

  By

  Sarah Adams

  Copyright © 2013 Blue Ribbon Books

  All rights reserved.

  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  For questions and comments about this book, please contact us at CustomerService@BlueRibbonBooks.com

  Chapter One

  The last bell of the day echoed its high pitched squeal through the halls of Central Glade High School. Tamara hung back, walking slowly, contemplating each step she took. Other students passed her in a collage of blurs. She didn't know where they were headed, but it had to be better than room five eighty five.

  “It's only for two hours,” Amber said patting Tamara on the shoulder.

  “You sure you don’t want to come with me?” Tamara said managing a small giggle.

  “Positive!”

  “Some BFF you are!”

  Tamara wouldn’t be going to room five eighty five either if it was up to her, but the choice had been made for her. She rubbed her temples and then pinched the bridge of her nose.

  “I’ll be with you in spirit,” Amber said and bumped her shoulder playfully.

  “Ready?” Josh called out, waving to Amber.

  “Almost!” Amber called back and turned to Tamara, “Sorry, we have tickets for a four-fifteen movie. If we don’t leave now we’ll miss the beginning.”

  “Have fun,” Tamara said and leaned back against her locker.

  “Thanks, call me tonight, okay? Like eight-ish?” Amber said, walking backwards away from her.

  “Talk to you then.”

  Tamara slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed for the stairs. Why was Chess Club held on the top floor? What sort of school made students walk up four flights of stairs to get to a classroom? Central Glade

  School, that’s what school.

  Step by step Tamara made her way up the staircases. Her feet moved as if she had a bag of bricks tied to either ankle. Her usually swift feet dug their heels into the ground and would not move. This time last Friday Tamara was sprinting off to volleyball practice.

  “Time machine, please.”

  Mrs. Bailey, the school’s only volleyball coach, broke her leg while rock climbing the previous weekend. After a few days of unsuccessful searching the school board had given up on finding a replacement and disbanded the team. Their decision left Tamara facing the possibility of losing her scholarship. Her father worked for a large law firm that offered a scholarship program to the children of their employees. To remain eligible for the funding Tamara had to remain active in at least one extracurricular activity all four years of her high school career.

  The clause had meant very little to Tamara when she signed up with the program at the beginning of the previous school year, because she had planned to play volleyball throughout her high school career. Upon hearing the news of the team’s disbanding Tamara and her teammates had swarmed the principal’s office and even attended a PTA meeting. In the end, the girls were reluctantly forced to accept that volleyball was over for the year.

  Not sure what new club or team she should join Tamara spent many hours talking it over with Amber, but almost a week later when she was still undecided her mother put her foot down: Tamara would be joining the Chess Club. The resulting argument had lasted three days, but in the end her mother won.

  Tamara’s grandfather had been an expert chess player and Mrs. Kelly, the school’s English teacher and the sponsor of the Chess Club, had been her grandfather’s student. The team needed one more person in order to compete in an upcoming tournament.

  “It solves everyone’s problem,” her mom told her.

  “And it kills my social life. I’m never going to get a date to prom,” Tamara groaned.

  “Prom’s not for another two years, young lady, you can worry about it when it’s closer. Right now you need to worry about your scholarship.”

  Tamara took a deep breath and pushed the classroom’s heavy wooden door open. The room was expansive making Tamara wonder what teacher needed such space to teach. What the heck were they teaching? Her eyes darted around the room searching for Mrs. Kelly, but she hadn’t arrived yet.

  “Hey, Tamara,” Greg waved to her.

  Greg was the captain of the Chess Club who had spent most of freshman year flirting with Amber. It took Tamara months to convince Amber to tell him very bluntly that she was never going to date him.

  “Hey, Greg,” Tamara said and sat down her backpack.

  Across the room stood a large scale replica of a black knight piece with gleaming eyes that followed Tamara’s gaze as she tried to look away.

  “That thing’s creepy!” she said rubbing her arms to rid herself of the goose bumps that were rising on her skin.

  “Don’t insult, Sir Bedivere,” Greg laughed, “He’s our good luck charm. We owe him big time. He's the reason our team has never lost a tournament.”

  “It’s a little big to carry around isn’t it?” Tamara laughed.

  “We don’t carry him around. He lives here. The story goes that he showed up the day the town opened the school.”

  “Do you really believe that?” Tamara asked, crossing her arms.

  “No one knows where Sir Bedivere came from or who brought him here, but he is our good luck charm so no insulting him. It’s our first rule.”

  “Okay, don’t be so touchy!” Tamara said, leaning back against a desk.

  The rest of the club began to trickle in one at a time. It was already four o’clock and the meeting was supposed to begin at three forty five. Tamara hoped Mrs. Kelly wouldn’t make them stay late because of the late start. After all, she had arrived on time.

  Greg fell into conversation with his friends and Tamara sank into the background. It felt odd to stand outside of a group and look in. Most of the people in the club were guys, but two girls were in the mix too. One hung from Greg’s arm and Tamara had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. Tamara arched an eyebrow. Even nerds dated.

  Tamara ran her fingers through her hair extensions and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She just wanted to get it all over with: the meeting, the being compared to her grandfather, and having to admit to a room packed with nerds that she couldn't even play chess. Okay, so that wasn’t totally true. Tamara knew what the pieces were called, that knights moved in an L shape, and the queen had to protect the king.

  That wasn’t much to go on. Her stomach flip-flopped just thinking about the laughter that was sure to follow her words. At least the others were here because they wanted to be here and not because their mom’s had forced them into it. Tamara crossed her arms and watched a small murder of crows flying by, trying not to think about how lame she felt. In fact she couldn’t think of another time she had felt this lame.

  “When are we going to get started?” Tamara asked.

  “Our other new member should be here soon. Mrs. Kelly has a dentist appointment so she won’t be here.”

  Tamara nodded and turned her attention back to the crows, but they were gone. Even they didn’t want to stick around and watch her reputation fall to pieces. The door swung open and Tamara looked up, drawing in a sharp breath. The guy entering the room was taller than her by at least a head and looked like he engaged in exercise that didn’t include moving pawns around a chess board.

  The newcomer was a stark contrast to Greg and the other guys in the room. Their arms
were skinny and Tamara was pretty sure she could bench press most of them. The newest arrival on the other hand, looked like he could easily pick up Tara. His thick brown hair was cropped short making the gaze of his dark brown eyes even more intense. A grin tugged on the corners of Tamara’s mouth. What the hell was a guy like him doing here, in geekville?

  “Hey, Hayden!” Greg called out.

  “Sorry, I’m late,” Hayden said dropping into a chair. Tamara’s eyes followed him as he leaned back resting on arm on the chair’s back and stretched his legs out.

  “Not a problem. We’re just glad to have enough people for the tournament,” Greg said.

  Murmurs of agreement sounded here and there reminding Tamara that she was standing in room five eighty five.

  “Okay guys,” Greg said turning towards the larger groups, “Most of you know Tamara Page and some of you have already met Hayden Bradley. Even if you haven’t you haven’t, you have now.”

  The group laughed and Tamara rolled her eyes.

  “With them we have enough people for the tournament which will take place one week from tomorrow. Hayden participated in Chess Club at his old school, but Tamara hasn’t played before. We have two weeks to whip her into shape so let’s get started,” Greg said and turned Tamara and Hayden, “I thought I’d watch you guys play a game. That way I can see where you are and give you pointers if you need it. We don’t expect you to be an expert by next Saturday, but we would like it if you knew the basics at least.”

  Hayden crossed the room and retrieved a chess set. Tamara's eyes followed him as he moved. Was he here as a joke? He carried the chess set close to his body and traced the box’s design with his finger tips.

  “It’s not as hard as it looks,” Greg told Tamara who was still holding her breath. It was odd that no one cared that she didn't know how to play. The volleyball team wouldn’t even accept girls who hadn’t played at least one year in middle school. That's why chess wasn’t considered a sport.

  “Well, I don’t know much.”

  “That’s okay. Everyone has to start somewhere,” Greg said, sliding into a chair, “What do you know?”

  Tamara quickly recounted her limited knowledge of the game as Hayden rejoined them and set up the board one piece at a time. His fingers traced the contour of each piece as if he were committing it to memory. Tamara felt heat creeping up her neck onto her cheeks. She wished she had paid more attention when her grandfather had tried to teach her to play.

  “At least you know to protect the king,” Hayden chuckled.

  Tamara crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

  “No, seriously, I’ve met people who don’t even know that.”

  “Sucks to be them,” Greg said, leaning back in his chair.

  “You’re playing white so you go first,” Hayden said.

  “I know.”

  “Are you going to take your turn? You can only move a pawn to start with. They normally only move one, but on the first turn….” Hayden began to explain.

  “I know that!” Tamara said and moved a pawn forward two spaces.

  “If it were me I would have moved the pawn to the left of that one,” Greg said.

  “Well, it was me, not you!”

  “No, it's okay, just remember for the next game.”

  “No, not that piece! If you move it there he could capture it in like three moves, maybe even two!”

  “Then let him have it, if he's going to go through all that trouble for one little pawn!”

  “Don't move that one either!”

  “Greg! Please! Shut up! I can't think!”

  Greg fell into silence, but out of the corner of her eye Tamara could see him covering his eyes and making pained faces with every piece she moved.

  “Greg, quit making faces every time I try to make a move! I can’t concentrate with you doing that! You're acting like I'm about to cut the wrong wire and blow us all up. It's just a game!”

  “Sorry, I know it’s a bad habit. You’ve passed up a lot of good moves though. I can't help it! It's too painful to watch you surrender pieces like that. Some of them could have gone on for six or seven turns, maybe more. It's hard to watch pieces get captured too early in the game.”

  “Maybe I would have seen them if you weren’t looking like I was about to murder a kitten!” Tamara said.

  “I think I’ll go see how everyone else is doing. Maybe play Cindy or something,” Greg said and left the table.

  “Checkmate.”

  “What?”

  “Checkmate.”

  “What? How did you do that?”

  “Simple.”

  “Let’s start again,” Tamara sighed, “If we have time.”

  “We have plenty of time. That whole game only took six minutes.”

  “Six minutes? It felt like an hour, but that might have been because Greg was acting like I had his life in my hands. I know I suck at this, you don’t have to rub it in,” Tamara said.

  “I wasn’t. I was just saying,” Hayden said.

  “Whatever, let’s give it another go.”

  “I’ll play white this time,” Hayden said pushing the black pieces across the table to Tamara, “If you have questions you can ask, you know.”

  “Thanks,” Tamara grinned.

  “Greg made me nervous too. I’ve known a lot of people like that. They make great players, but horrible teachers.”

  “He’s not a bad guy, but he makes it very hard to concentrate,” Tamara said and watched as Hayden made his first move.

  Seven minutes later Tamara knew she had no moves left.

  “Checkmate.”

  “Seven minutes that time.”

  “Don’t focus on your knights so much. They’re good pieces, but it’s okay to lose them.”

  “I don’t know about that. If Sir Bedivere sees me sacrifice a knight he might eat me,” Tamara laughed quietly.

  “He told you about the statue too then?”

  “Yeah, Chess Club is weirder than even I thought it would be.”

  “I know a lot of teams, even pro sports teams, have superstitions, but I don't know that I like it. It's like they psych themselves into losing if something goes wrong with it.”

  “Okay, guys. I think we’ll cut this meeting short, just don’t mention it to Mrs. Kelly. It’s Friday and I want out of here as much as you guys do,” Greg said.

  “Thank You!” Tamara said, jumping to her feet.

  Hayden opened his mouth to speak, but Tamara was already out of the room, sprinting down the steps two at a time. Many of the sports teams held practice on Friday afternoon and Tamara didn’t want to be seen with Greg and the others. Hayden was cute, but he was still part of the Geekville. She pulled her cell out of her back pocket intending to call her mom to let her know the meeting ended early.

  “A new text?” Tamara said out loud.

  “Sorry. Can’t pick you up. Big sale at g-store in next town over.”

  “Damn it,” Tamara said and shoved the phone back into her pocket.

  Tamara’s mom, Mrs. Page, couldn’t resist a sale or a coupon. This wasn’t the first time Tamara was forced to walk home so her mom could shop. Her dad was working late, because he had a high profile case going to court soon.

  Tamara zipped her black hoodie and readjusted her backpack. Tamara normally didn’t mind the two mile walk between the school and her house, but the autumn air was growing cool and the breeze cut through her with every step. She pulled her sleeves down over her hands and walked quicker. The weight that had ridden in her stomach on the way to Chess Club had dissolved, allowing Tamara to move freely.

  Startled by the bellow of a car horn, Tamara looked over her shoulder and waved at the unfamiliar black car. Her father’s coworkers got new cars more often than Tamara bought shoes. The car came to a stop beside of her and the window buzzed as it rolled down.

  “Need a ride?” Hayden grinned.

  “Sure,” Tamara nodded.

  She sprinted around the car and slid
into the passenger seat. After fastening her seat belt Tamara shoved her hands deep in her pockets trying to warm them.

  “It’s so cold already,” Tamara said, “It’s only October fourth By Halloween we’re going to be wearing winter coats.”

  “Nah, it’s just a cold front moving through,” Hayden chuckled, “It’s not as cold as it could be. Some places get snow this time of the year and that’s every year, just not a freak occurrence.”

  “Did you move from somewhere like that?” Tamara asked, imagining for a moment being snowed in with him. Her eyes settled on his lips and she swallowed hard. Hayden was the cutest nerd Tamara had ever met.

  “Yeah, we moved here from North Dakota because my dad finally finished law school. The best job offer he got was here, so here we are.”

  “I think our dads may work together,” Tamara said, “Roberts and Sons?”

  “Yeah, that would be the one,” Hayden laughed.

  “Do you like it here?”

  “It’s okay” Hayden shrugged, “I mean it’s not bad.”

  “You don’t like it,” Tamara laughed, “It’s okay. So you were part of your Chess Club at your old school too?”

  “Yeah,” Hayden nodded.

  “What got you into Chess?”

  “My dad plays. I took to it easily enough and it just stuck,” Hayden said.

  “Cool.”

  “What about you? You’ve never played before and you suddenly want to start?”

  “I need an extracurricular activity to keep my scholarship.”

  “Why chess, though?”

  “That’s complicated. I wanted to do drama or maybe softball, but my mom insisted I do chess because the team needed one more player,” Tamara admitted.

  “That was nice of you,” Hayden said.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Tamara laughed.

  “It’s not that bad is it?”

  “Well, I’ll be surprised if any of my friends talk to me tomorrow,” Tamara said.

  “Oh, you hang out with that crowd,” Hayden tapped his fingers against the steering wheel as he spoke.