by RH Tucker
“Next up, he runs Pops-A-Lot podcast, one of the biggest podcasts on pop culture. It’s Ryan Chancellor!” The crowd roars a little louder. “And finally, two ladies that really need no introduction. They are the queens of the cosplay world. Megan and Misty Masquerade!!”
To no one’s surprise, they receive the biggest cheer from the crowd, and the MC starts the contest.
Chapter 5
Matt
As we stand on stage, the crowd is cheering all around us, but it sounds like a muffled roar. Everything’s hard to hear with the helmet on and with the face shield down it’s hard to see too. I’m looking down at Isaac a lot, just checking on him, and he looks like he’s loving it.
The MC starts making announcements, but I’m not sure what he’s talking about. Then he pauses and the crowd cheers. I turn around and can barely see him introducing the judges. The only ones I know are there was the Masquerade girls, because they were already sitting at the judges’ table when we walked in. I think the other two judges are a guy and a girl, but it’s hard to see through the eye slits. The crowd cheers again after the MC says something else.
“Isaac, let me know when they call me.”
“What?” he yells.
I lean in closer, yelling through the helmet because I don’t want to lift the face shield yet. “Tell me when they call my name!”
“Okay!” He gives me a thumbs-up.
There’s about twenty of us that are registered for the contest, and we’re towards the back of the line, waiting while each contestant goes on stage and does their thing. The Street Fighter guys are separate contestants, but they put on a little karate show. There’s a Harley Quinn who struts around with a huge mallet. Another guy jumps on stage, and I can’t tell what he’s wearing at first, but after straining my eyes through the eye slits, I can see it’s a character from Attack on Titan. A piece of me wants to lift my mask to get a better look at all the costumes, but I want to stay in full character.
I hear the MC say something, and it sounds like Iron Man, but I can’t tell. I look back down at Isaac, and he’s shouting at me. I look back at the MC, and then back at Isaac again and he’s giving me a thumbs-up.
I hit the stage and walk around, pulling out a couple Iron Man poses and the lights on my palms shine out. I hit a little button I put on the side and stand as tall as I can, pointing my chest out to the crowd, and the light on my chest comes alive, shining over them. It’s muffled again, but it sounds like they are really digging the display. I hit one more Iron Man pose and then walk off stage.
Isaac grabs my arm, yelling into the side of my helmet, “That was totally awesome!”
The rest of the contestants go up on stage and pose for the crowd, each one getting a round of applause. When the last gets back in line, the MC gets back on to the mic. I try to focus, so I can hear what he’s saying; it sounds like it’s something about the judges deliberating.
Isaac pulls on my arm. “Matty, you’re totally gonna win!”
“Wouldn’t that be cool, huh?”
“What?”
“I said, that’d be cool!”
“Yeah!” He smiles, nodding.
IZZY
The MC gets on to the microphone and announces to the audience that it’s time for our deliberation.
“Oh, my God!” Megan cries out. “That Groot was awesome!”
“Totally,” Ryan agrees. “But what about the Iron Man? Those light effects were pretty sweet.”
“And that Harley Quinn looked almost identical to Margot Robbie,” I chime in, wanting to add to the discussion.
“Okay,” Ryan says. “It sounds like we got our top three. So, what do you two think?”
“Well, okay,” Misty goes first. “As awesome as the Groot is, it looks like a lot of papier-mâché. I’m not saying that’s bad, but Harley Quinn and Iron Man’s outfit both looked handmade with a lot more detail.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “I mean, where does anyone even get a mallet like that. She had to have made it.”
“Okay, so between Harley Quinn and Iron Man, who’s was better?” Ryan asks.
All four of us look at each other, silently deliberating with ourselves. Megan speaks up first.
“As much as Harley strutted her stuff, that Iron Man armor was spot on. Plus, the lights?”
“Yeah,” I agree again. “The chest light was so bright I thought it was an actual arc reactor.”
Everyone laughs.
“I agree,” Ryan says. “Sounds like we got our winners in place?” He looks at us and we all nod.
Ryan calls over the MC and tells him our results.
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen, the results are in!” The crowd responds with another round of cheers. “Coming in at third place…I Am Groot!”
The crowd erupts, and Groot makes his way back up on stage.
“Coming in second, the judges said this one was a tough call, but she’s definitely not one to mess around with. Harley Quinn!” Another round of cheers. “And finally, our first-place winner tonight, and this year’s Big Apple PopCon cosplay champion…” the crowd goes silent as the MC looks at the line of cosplayers. “The Armored Avenger, Iron Man!”
The crowd lets out the biggest cheer yet, but Iron Man doesn’t move. He’s looking around, unsure what’s going on and I see the little Ninja Turtle standing next to him jumping up and down in excitement. He pulls on his arm and screams at him, but I can’t hear over the roar of the crowd. Suddenly Iron Man stands straight and looks around. He must not be able to hear very well with the helmet on, and just from his movements he looks seriously surprised. He walks over to the MC and waves to the crowd. Ninja Turtle stays behind and looks at whoever Iron Man is with reverence.
“What do you say, Iron Man? We all know Tony Stark came clean at the end of the movie, so what do you think? Let’s take a peek under the hood.”
The crowd cheers more, and Iron Man plays up to the crowd, acting like he isn’t sure if he should. He shrugs and then lifts the front of his helmet, then completely takes it off. His back to us, he waves to the crowd, soaking in the adulation.
“Congrats, Mr. Stark,” the MC says, before motioning back to us. “And let’s give it up for our fabulous guest judges this year!”
I look out to the crowd and give another wave, taking all the admiration in. Sure, most of it is for the other judges, but this is just too much fun. Groot, Harley Quinn, and Iron Man both turn around and start to give us applause. I look at them, smiling, when my eyes meet with Iron Man’s. Suddenly, a shocking smile makes my jaw drop. Iron Man isn’t Tony Stark. It’s Matt Hillard.
I can’t keep the smile from my face. He stares back at me, almost in horror. And shock. In horrified shock. Our popular, student council president is a cosplaying nerd. No. Freaking. Way.
Chapter 6
Matt
Speechless doesn’t begin to describe how I feel, standing there staring at Izzy Jacobs. Dumbstruck, maybe? Here I am, three thousand miles away from home, not a care in the world about having fun at a comic convention because no one I know should be here. In New York. But there she is, staring back at me with the same shocked eyes. Only her lips are turned up in a grin. A surprised smile while my jaw just hangs open, nearly scraping the floor I’m standing on.
The crowd is still cheering all around us as Isaac skips over to me, jumping around in total excited.
“This is amazing!” he yells out gleefully.
“Come on.” I grab his hand and hurry to the end of the stage.
“What are we doing? Matty, where are we going? You still need to get the cup.”
“The what?”
“The cup, Matty. You need the cup.”
I look down at him as he looks behind us. I turn around to see Izzy walking over to us, holding a golden championship cup, almost like a mini Stanley Cup championship trophy in hockey.
Izzy makes eye contact with me and waves. I feel like running away. I’m hot from the suit, but I know that’s not wh
y I’m pouring sweat.
“You weren’t going to leave without your trophy, were you?” Izzy says, a playful tone in her words.
“No way!” Isaac cheers on. “Oh, look at that. That’s awesome!”
“And who’s this?” She looks down at Isaac. I just stand there, my mouth still open, unable to form words.
“I’m Isaac,” he says proudly. “Matty, I can’t believe you won!” He looks back up at me.
“Yeah, Matty,” Izzy smiles and turns her head to the side. “You won.”
She sticks her hand out to hand me the small trophy. My arm moves slowly, inch by inch, as I extended my hand to hers.
“Congratulations.” She smiles, and it sounds genuine. “The costume is amazing.”
“Thanks.” I’m finally able to form words. Well, a word, as I take the trophy.
She looks like she wants to say more, but she doesn’t. I know I have to say something though. If this gets out at school, I’ll never live it down. I’ve hidden it from everyone for so long, and now it was all going to come out.
“Hey,” I say before she turns around.
“Yeah?”
“Please,” I grit my teeth, thinking how stupid I’m going to sound.
I know I shouldn’t worry about what people think, but I do. I’m senior class president. Three-year varsity football player. I know I have a rep at school, a rep I actually like. And since I do have it, I’m determined to keep it until we graduate.
“Izzy, please don’t tell anyone about this.”
She furrows her brow as her amber eyes peer into mine. “What?”
“Please, don’t say anything.”
“Matt, it’s not that big of a—”
“Yes. It is.” I cut her off, swallowing the ball of fear in my throat.
She studies my face again as if I’m a math equation and she’s trying to figure out the solution. But there’s only one solution. Silence. And I can’t make that happen, only she can. She must have filmed stuff during the convention for her channel. I didn’t see her filming me after I took my helmet off, but that doesn’t matter. She could just tell everyone in her next update. I’m imagining it now. ‘Hey, Woodbridge High, guess who our resident closet nerd is? He’s a major fanboy who everyone thinks is Mr. Popular, but is really just a big geek. It’s Matt Hillard!’ I know at least few people at school that watched her videos, and that’s all it’d take for my name to get spread around.
“Fine.” She looks at me, but the puzzling look is gone. She almost has a disappointed look on her face.
“Thanks.”
She gives me a curt nod and then turns around and walks away. I should feel relief, but as I watch her walk away, I just feel a wave of shame wash over me. I wish I could be as brave as her. Not care what people think of me. But I do care. I’ve grown comfortable with who I pretend to be at school, and I don’t know who I am if I’m not what I pretend to be.
Isaac and I already have plans with our mom for Sunday, so we both knew that we weren’t attending the last day of the convention. Even if we were, I probably would've worn a hoody all day and hoped I didn’t run into Izzy. So many emotions twist inside as we are out at lunch before mom drops us off at the airport. Shame. Embarrassment. Disappointment. All at myself. But replaying the events of what happened in my head, I know I would’ve done the same exact thing if it happened again. I just can’t let people find out.
“Honey, is everything okay?” my mom asks, as she takes a bite of her salad.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” I lie.
“It was so awesome, mom,” Isaac starts again. He’s been talking about the cosplay contest nonstop. “There was a Groot and a Batman and a—”
“Okay, Isaac,” I snap. Both his eyes and mom’s shoot over at me. “Sorry.”
Thankfully, Isaac isn’t too hurt from me cutting him off. “You won, Matty. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, buddy.” I try to brush it off and take another bite of my burger.
Mom tries making small talk, while Isaac keeps going on about everything he loved about the convention. I know she can tell something is bothering me, but she never presses for any details.
We get to the airport and mom gives Isaac a hug, before embracing me.
“Honey, I know something’s bothering you.” She puts her hand under my freshly shaven chin.
“I’m fine.”
She lets out a small sigh. “Okay. Just remember, you can talk to me.”
“Mom, you’re three thousand miles away.”
“That doesn’t matter.” She snaps her hands to her waist. “Okay, well, maybe a little.”
“Seriously, I’m all good.”
She brings her hands up to my face, one hand on each cheek. It’s hard to believe she used to carry me, and now I tower over her by five inches. “My baby boy. I haven’t been there like I wanted to be these past few years. Just remember, be true to yourself. It makes everything else so much easier.”
I don’t know if the universe was somehow channeling through my mother, she’d been spying on us at the convention, or it was just mother’s intuition. But I close my eyes and swallow a ball of nerves.
“Thanks,” is all I say, wishing I could follow her advice but knowing I can’t.
Isaac plays on his iPad the entire flight home, just like he did the entire flight to New York, and I’m left to my own thoughts. I checked Izzy’s channel for any new videos, but she hasn’t posted anything yet. I don’t have any reason to think she won’t keep her word about not saying anything, but I don’t really know her that well. We have a class together, and that is pretty much the extent of it. Of course, I also know who she is because I watch her channel. But we aren’t friends. Friendly? Sure. Friends? No. So I’m just praying she is as honest and as she is cute.
Chapter 7
Izzy
The rest of Saturday is a blur. I can’t believe it. Matthew Hillard, our class president, is a nerd. At school, he’s one of the popular guys. One of the jocks. And he isn’t an ass about it either, like some jerks that look down on others. He’s someone that helped out freshmen when they were being picked on by jerks like Jeremy McCormick. I even heard a rumor that this poor junior, Leslie Haggens, went to homecoming with her date and after two dances the ass ditched her because one of the cheerleaders was flirting with him. She sat alone while her friends were dancing when Matt walked over to her and asked her to dance.
I have no idea whether or not it’s true, but I believe it. That’s just the kind of guy he is. Like when he accidentally grabbed my boob and felt bad about it. If it had been another guy at school, he might’ve tried to get all conceited or make some stupid joke. But Matt seemed genuinely embarrassed. That’s not to say, he couldn’t come off as cocky when he wanted to.
He knew how to flash his pearly whites and ruffle his hair just enough to have girls dropping their panties for him. As far as I know, he’s had a couple girlfriends, but he isn’t a player. He’s just a guy. A popular guy that played football, basketball, and was ASB president. And he’s a nerd. He cosplays.
I don’t know how I do it, but I keep the secret from Cindy after I meet back up with her after her panel. On Sunday we only stay half the day because our flight is in the early afternoon. I film some more stuff for my channel, and when we board the plane, Cindy has her earbuds in when she pokes me in the arm.
“What’s wrong with you?” She pulls out one of her earpieces.
“What?”
“You’ve been in a daze all day. Actually, you seemed a little weird last night too.”
“I did not.”
“Yes, you did.” Her eyes pop open with a smile. “Oh, my God; did you get a guy’s number?”
I scoff. “Uh, no. If anything, it was the opposite.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing, forget it.” I have to change the subject. Otherwise, I’m definitely going to tell her. “So, you have fun?”
“It’s was ah-mazing.” She smiles b
rightly. “Izzy, I’m going to marry Jared Padelecki one day.”
“Right.”
“Oh, I swear - it’s going to happen.” She floats off into a daydream, before wrapping her arms around mine. “Thanks so much, this was a blast.”
“Don’t thank me, thank my dad. Remember?”
“Right, definitely. Although, it might seem weird, me giving him a kiss, so definitely give him a hug and kiss for me. This was so much fun. You think V’s gonna be mad when we get back.”
“Nah, she’ll be fine. To make sure, I got her a Thor keychain.” Cindy gives me an unconvinced look. “Okay, it’s really just Chris Hemsworth shirtless, but he’s Thor. It’s that scene where he’s in the water in Age of Ultron?”
“Oh, right.” She giggles. “She’s gonna love it.”
I nod as Cindy puts her music back on, and I open up my laptop. I have a list of everything I want to talk about on my next video. I took a bunch of pictures and videos of the convention and the contest. Matt’s in some of them, but he’s fully covered in his costume, so no one will know who he is. I remember how he reacted and frown. Why was he so embarrassed? Would he have begged me if I would have said no? Not that I would’ve, but he seemed so desperate. I know he’s Mr. Popular, but so what if he is a nerd. I’m a nerd, and I love it. And it seemed like he did too before he realized I was there. I could tell from his body language that he was having fun. As nice and as hot as he is, not owning up to something, especially something you love, is a major turn off.
By the time I get home, I decide to work on my video a little. I know it’s going to be longer than my normal ones because I’m adding pictures and video clips I filmed. As I start going through the clips, I get to one of Matt. I pulled out my phone right before the contest began and started filming all the cosplayers. He looks like he’s having so much fun, messing around with his little brother, who I assume Isaac is.
