Courting the Nerd_A Rumor Has It short story

by RH Tucker

  “Yeah,” I agree, but I feel defeated. I guess my promposal dreams are gone with the wind. But maybe I can’t still get the date I want.

  Chapter 5

  Sam

  “I still say you should make a move today,” Quinton says.

  He and Kelsey are walking with me as we head toward the ASB room for today’s event. It’s a scavenger hunt so there won’t be any crowds around to cheer anyone on. Each court couple teams up to find the clues and the team that finishes first gets the extra votes for king and queen.

  Kelsey scoffs. “I don’t care what you think you saw yesterday with Izzy and Matt, Quinton. There’s no way they are going to prom together. This isn’t She’s All That, where Natalie is Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sam here is Laney Boggs.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  She giggles, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “Sam, it’s true. You know I love you, but this isn’t some movie.”

  “I was talking about calling me the girl in this situation.”

  “Oh.” She looks away.

  “And now I can’t even watch that movie anymore without thinking she’s me. Thanks a lot, Kels. I like Rachel Leigh Cook.”

  Both her and Quinton start laughing.

  “I’m serious, Sam.” Quinton pushes my arm. “She doesn’t have a date. You guys are court couples, so why not?”

  “Why not? Um, I can think of a huge, meteoric reason why not.” Both of them just stare at me, like they have no clue what I’m talking about. “You guys! I’m the joke vote! There’s no way Natalie Frazier would go to prom with the joke vote. She’d sooner go dateless than go with me.”

  Kelsey pinches my arm. “Sam, if you down talk yourself again I’m gonna slap you across the face.”

  “Kelsey, you just compared me to Laney Boggs.”

  “I was just messing around. Do I think Natalie likes you? No. But that doesn’t mean should couldn’t be interested.”

  “You guys are nuts. I’m just calling it like I see it. I don’t plan on changing for her or anyone else, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what I am. And for the record, I will not be the Laney Boggs to her Zack Silver.”

  Quinton laughs. “You do like that movie, don’t you?”

  “It’s the ultimate teen movie from the nineties.” I laugh.

  As we turn the corner, I see Natalie at the end of the hall walking toward the classroom with her friend, Mia. I offer her a friendly wave, but she just raises her eyebrows and gives me a small smirk.

  “Do it,” Quinton whispers to me, laughing.

  “Shut up,” Kelsey reprimands him.

  We all reach the door at the same time, and I hold it open for Natalie.

  “Text me later,” Mia tells her.

  “Good luck.” Kelsey gives me a hug.

  “Yeah, good luck,” Quinton smirks, and we exchange our high-five-combination-handshake, which involves bumping knuckles, waving our index finger in a circle, and then silently shooting each other with said finger.

  Turning around, I see Natalie watching us, just on the inside of the room, and she giggles.

  “What, too nerdy for you?” I ask, rolling my eyes and walking past her.

  “What? No.” She follows behind me and sits at the desk next to the one I choose, which surprises me. “Sorry, I wasn’t laughing at you. I was just … that was cute.” I frown, almost rolling my eyes at her again. “Sorry, not cute. Sweet? I don’t know, I’m just saying that was nice. And it’s nice your friends are supporting you this week.”

  With her words, she looks away, and a small frown crosses her lips. “Your friends are, too.”

  “I don’t know about that. I mean, Mia is, but Emily’s been …” She trails off. “Sorry for the stupid comments she’s made.”

  I lift my shoulders. “It’s not like I haven’t heard them before.”

  She nods. Quinton’s words come to mind, and I wonder if he’s right. He swears Matt and Izzy were flirting yesterday, but even if they were, Matt seems to be a whole lot nicer than Natalie. It’s almost like he actually wanted to be Izzy’s partner. I honestly think Natalie would’ve sacrificed a newborn baby to get a new court couple if that had been an option.

  Mr. Garrison calls everyone to attention. He and Greg cover the rules of the scavenger hunt, and they hand out an envelope to everyone with our first clue. While Greg goes over a couple more details, Natalie’s phone chimes, and she checks her messages. Her entire demeanor changes. She violently taps her screen and grimaces at her phone. It goes off again. She reads whatever the message is before wrapping her fingers around it and letting out a frustrated growl.

  “Everything okay?”

  “No,” she snaps at me. “Ugh, what a bitch,” she mutters under her breath.

  “Okay, go!” Greg calls out to everyone, and we tear open our envelopes.

  I read it quietly to Natalie, who still seems to be fuming over whatever her text message was.

  “Slow and steady win the race, as long as you keep the proper pace. But rhythms can be fast or slow, so watch the notes as the melody floats. Hmm, I think it’s the band room,” I say.

  “It’s the choir room,” she responds, but it’s not a suggestion. It’s a demand.

  “But the band room makes more sense. Plus, they are right next—”

  “It’s the choir room!” she yells at me.

  “Fine, whatever,” I acquiesce, and we head to the choir room. When we get there, I pull at the door handle, but it’s locked. “Told you.”

  “Shut up.” She turns around to walk down the hall to the band room, not even waiting for me.

  “Hey, are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m fine, Sam. Stop asking me that.”

  “Okay, it’s just, you seem really pissed off.”

  “Well, you would be too if—” She cuts herself off and clenches her fists together, letting out another annoyed grunt. “I can’t believe she’d do that.”

  “She who? And what’d she do?”

  “Nothing.” She grabs the handle to the band room and swings it open. Inside, we scan the room, and I see a podium where some papers are. There are a group of envelopes, so I grab the one that has our names on it.

  “Okay. Maps show the way, and X marks the spot. But to navigate the waters of life, a guide’s words can mean a lot.” I look at her, but she’s not paying attention, as she replies to something on her phone. “Guidance counselor’s office?”

  “Sure, why not.”

  I shrug, and we head off to the counselor’s office where a Student Aide sits behind a desk.

  “Cool, you guys are third,” he says with a smile. “Names?”

  “Sam and Natalie.”

  He flips through the envelopes. “All right, here you go.”

  Natalie seems to be paying more attention and waits for me to read the next clue. “Don’t you worry, don’t you fret. Just shoot straight, nothing but net. I think it’s basketball. So, maybe the gym.”

  She lets out a sigh. “That seems too easy. Net could mean anything. They have nets for water polo.”

  “Water polo?”

  “Yeah, Dustin is— Ugh.” She shakes her head. “Whatever then, not water polo. Oh, soccer! It’s a soccer net.”

  “Soccer net? Natalie, you can’t be serious. ‘Nothing but net’? That’s a basketball expression.”

  I stand there, folding my arms. She’s upset about something, that much I know, but this is insane. I almost want to tap my foot with impatience, but I don’t. A few students walk by us and I eye her carefully, trying to refrain from yelling at her. Her body language tells me she either doesn’t know I’m getting frustrated or doesn’t care.

  Leaning on her hip, she scrolls through her phone one more time, before blowing out a puff of air. Her eyebrows go up, and with a slight shake of her head, she looks at me like I’m the weird one. Like I should definitely see the correlation between a soccer net and a well-known basketball phrase.

  “Basketball is so obvious. It has t
o be the soccer field.”

  “You’re overthinking this.”

  “And you’re not thinking enough.”

  We continue standing there, eyeing each other, daring the other to counter our arguments. I finally speak first. “You’re insane, it says net.”

  “I know! As in soccer net!”

  “That’s not what it means!”

  “Yes, it is!” We both stare death rays at one another. She breaks the silence this time. “Ugh!” She throws her hands in the air. “Fine! Let’s go to the stupid basketball courts. When you’re wrong, and you will be wrong, I want an apology.”

  “Whatever!”

  We head to the basketball courts and head inside of the gym. Carter Dixon stands under one of the hoops and smiles over at us. “What’s up, guys?”

  I look over at Natalie, rolling my eyes. “Told you.”

  She replies silently, mimicking my words back to me, curling her lip. Carter hands me the envelope, giving us both a suspicious stare. I start to read the clue under my breath when Natalie interrupts me. “I can’t hear you.”

  “Oh, are you actually playing now? Because so far, it’s been me reading, guessing the right clues, and all you’ve been doing is biting my head off.”

  She’s about to reply with something but stops as Carter clears his throat. I continue to glower at her, while she seems to get embarrassed. “Sorry, okay?”

  “Whatever,” I mutter and start reading the clue out loud. “From way up high, the stars shine bright. But the brightest stars shine when given the spotlight. Just be sure to dress the part.”

  She looks like she wants to answer but hesitates. I think it’s the drama room, but I wait because I’m getting sick and tired of getting into an argument with her. I decide that no matter what she says, we’ll go to wherever she thinks it is. I don’t care if she thinks it’s Mrs. Carrol’s science room, if she says it, I’ll go.

  Her pissed off attitude seems to have deflated, and she meets my eyes for a moment, before staring down at the ground. “Drama room? But … I don’t know, what do you think?”

  I grin. “Yeah. I thought drama room, too.”

  “Okay,” she answers, offering me a slight smile.

  “Good luck, guys,” Carter says as we take off.

  We’re halfway across campus when both of our phones ring.

  “Damn it.” She grimaces as she pulls out her phone. Whoever texted her earlier has certainly put her on edge.

  “I got one, too.” I pull out my phone, and we meet each other’s gaze at the same time. Greg has sent out the text, letting everyone know a team has won. “Well, there goes that.”

  “Yeah,” she replies. “Hey, I don’t want to go back to— I mean, I want to finish this.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “I just …” Her eyes dart back and forth like she’s trying to think of an answer. It has to be because of the text messages. “I just do. Want to join?”

  “Um … sure.”

  Chapter 6

  Natalie

  How did my life get flipped entirely upside down in a matter of forty-five minutes? When the lunch period started, I still had a shred of hope that Dustin would ask me to prom. Sure, I wouldn’t get my promposal, but I’d still get the guy. That’d be fine. Then Mia texted me, saying sorry and that she just found out. I was about to text her back, asking what she was talking about, when I received the next text. From Emily.

  Emily: Hey, girl. Sorry, I wanted to tell you yesterday but wasn’t sure how. I’m going to prom with Dustin. He asked yesterday and we … well, we hooked up. Sorry. Please don’t be mad.

  Don’t be mad? Was she serious? Without thinking, I replied back.

  Me: BITCH

  She replied with a barrage of text messages. She knew I liked him. This last month, whenever his name came up, all we’d talk about was how much I wanted him to ask me to prom. She never said anything. Not that she liked him or that she was even interested. I might be a little more understanding if she had, but she didn’t. This came completely out of left field and hit me right in the freaking face.

  “You okay?” Sam asks again. I don’t answer as we walk into the drama room. Mia has been in drama all four years, and this clue said ‘dress the part’, so I assume it’s somewhere in the wardrobe closet upstairs.

  “It’s over,” Mrs. Douglass, the drama teacher, calls out to us as we walk in.

  “I know, I still want to finish it though,” I answer her. We make our way up the stairs. “What can I say,” I tell Sam as we reach the door, “I’m an over-achiev— Oh!”

  Opening the door, I see Matt and Izzy kissing. No, more than kissing, they’ve got a full-blown make out session going on. As my voice echoes through the room, they break apart, and Izzy’s embarrassed expression meets mine.

  “Sorry!”

  “What? What is it?” Sam says, and I can feel him lean over my shoulder, looking into the room.

  “Nothing, nothing. Let’s go.” I turn around and usher him down the stairs.

  “Whoa,” he says with a surprised tone. “Was that Matt and Izzy in there?”

  “Shh!”

  He chuckles. “Wow, I guess Quinton was right. Go Izzy.”

  I give him a confused stare. “Go Izzy?”

  “Come on, Nat. You know she’s the joke vote. But she’s getting her mack on with the class president. Gives the rest of us some hope.” He laughs.

  “There are so many things wrong with what you just said.”

  He quirks an eyebrow at me. “I’m listening.”

  “First off, I know she’s the joke vote, but I know you saw what she wore at the pep rally. Izzy is hot, especially for a nerd, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. She calls herself that. It’s her brand.”

  “Okay.”

  “Secondly, gives the rest of us hope? What is that, Sam? You’re not terrible looking.”

  “Gee, what a ringing endorsement. Maybe I’ll make a shirt; ‘Hey, ladies. Guess what? I’m not terrible looking’.”

  He says it with a chuckle, and it makes me laugh. An honest and full laugh. “Okay, that came out wrong, but you know what I mean. Joke vote aside, you’re a good guy, Sam.”

  “Man, you should work as a brand manager for Pepsi or Starbucks. Your commendations are spot on. Can you write me a letter of recommendation to Caltech? I got in already, but I’m sure they’d love to hear in addition to my extracurricular activities and high GPA, that I’m a good guy.”

  “Holy crap.” I stop walking, too stunned to laugh at his joke. “You got into Caltech? That’s … that’s awesome.” All he does is shrug. “Seriously, Sam. Congrats. Me and Mia and …” I let out a groan. “Emily, we all applied and didn’t get in.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I’m going to UCLA.”

  “No.” He looks at me. “About whatever’s going on. You seemed pretty pissed off.”

  “I am, or, I was. No. I am. It’s just …” I scowl down at the ground, letting out a huff. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Okay.”

  “And, anyway, you didn’t let me get to the third thing that was wrong with what you said.”

  “All right, carry on then.” He chuckles, waving his hand for me to continue and starts walking again. I follow along.

  “You said ‘mack’.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “Sam.” Tugging at his arm, I stop him from walking. “Please, whatever you do. No matter what choices you make the rest of this month, this year, or your entire life for that matter. Please, please, please. Never say you caught someone ‘getting their mack on’.”

  “What?” He lets out a laugh. “Why not?”

  “It’s just … everything that could be wrong about it is wrong about it when you say it.”

  “Oh, you mean because I’m a geek.” His laughter dissipates, and he flashes me a perturbed stare.

  “Well, yeah, kinda.”

  “Man, you really are on a roll with the compliments
this afternoon.”

  “Nooo,” I laugh. “I don’t mean it negatively. It just doesn’t fit you. It’d be like me talking about how I got my twerk on last night.”

  He stops walking, and his head snaps over to me. Suddenly, he lets out a huge laugh. “Oh, wow. Okay, point taken,” he says through laughter. “For the record, I would like to see that.”

  Did he just say he wanted to see me twerk? I can’t help the flush I feel hit my cheeks. It must dawn on him what he just said, because he clears his throat, going quiet all of a sudden.

  This entire time we’ve been walking, I’ve been following him. I didn’t want to go to my next class after lunch because Emily’s class is right next to mine, and I always see her. I really don’t want to deal with her yet. But we’ve stopped now, and I realize we’re at his locker. I know this because Emily’s locker is three spots down from his. I don’t see her there, so I turn my back and face him, hoping to avoid her if she shows up. But I know my face is probably still a little red.

  “Um,” he coughs again. “Anyway, I guess we’re all done with prom-week stuff.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “I really am sorry we didn’t get you any extra votes toward prom queen.”

  “It’s fine,” I let out a small scoff. “I didn’t really campaign this week, and I know Yvette’s going to do whatever she can to try and win it anyway, so whatever.”

  “Right.” He stares at me, pushing his glasses up, and then gives me a lopsided grin.

  With the running around we did, his hair isn’t plastered down, and the slight breeze pushes it along his forehead. After everything that’s happened today, this entire week actually, I see the Sam his friends must know. The kind-hearted guy who jokes around. He’s put his foot down enough while arguing with me, that I know he isn’t a pushover, but he’s calm at the same time. He’s sweet. I have no idea who he’s taking to prom, or if he even has a date, but I think of Dustin. Dustin always flirted with me. I would’ve sworn he was going to ask me out, but he never did. Then he goes and not only hooks up with Emily but asks her to prom. Sam would never do something like that.