1
" Dan has what amounts to my entire life in the palm of his hand. He’ll see our chats. He’ll see the texts I sent to Beth about him and my plan. And what did I think was going to happen? Did I really think I could pull off some only-works-in-movies shit?
“Do you think it could be possible that Dan didn’t mean to hit me with that basketball?” The question flies out of my mouth, and I don’t remember thinking about asking it.
She scowls, looking me up and down. “Are you okay? I mean, I can tell you’re not. Was he that big of a jerk last night?”
I shake my head and pick at my nail polish. It’s not chipping yet, but it’s inevitable, so why not just go ahead and get it over with? “No, I’m fine. He was fine. I just… I don’t know.”
She puts a worried hand on my shoulder. “What happened, Z? Tell me.”
I let my forehead hit the surface of my desk. It hurts. “He has my phone.”
A bit of time passes where she doesn’t say anything. I just wait for the moment of realization to explode from her.
“Holy shit! Don’t tell me your chat is on there!”
There it is.
I nod my head, which probably just looks like I’m rubbing it up and down on my desk.
“Please tell me it’s password protected or something.”
I shake my head, again seemingly nuzzling my desk.
“Zelda, do you have your homework?” Mr. Drew asks from above me.
I pull out my five hundred words on the importance of James Dean in cinema from my backpack without even looking and hand it to him. Mr. Drew has a big thing for James Dean.
“Are you…okay, Zelda?” he asks a bit uncomfortably.
Good old Mr. Drew. Concerned about his students but very much not well versed in actually dealing with them.
I raise a hand and wave him off. “I’m good. As you were, Drew.”
“Right. Okay then.” He moves on.
Beth rubs my back. “It’s going to be all good in the hood, babe. Don’t worry. Dan won’t be interested in your phone. How did he get it, by the way?”
I turn my head just enough to let her see my face fully. I’m not sure if she sees a woman at the end of her rope or a girl who has no idea what to do next, but she pulls her hand back like she just touched a disguised snake. I’m so not in the mood to describe the sequence of events that led up to the worst moment of my life, and she knows it. "
― Leah Rae Miller , Romancing the Nerd (Nerd, #2)
4
" The second I step into The Phoenix, Zelda hits me with another one of those stupid glares of hers. Well, I’m not one to keep things bottled up. The question is out before the bell over the door stops ringing. “Why, why, why do you keep looking at me like that?”
She glances at the others around her like she doesn’t know full well I’m talking to her. “Who? Me?” She puts a dainty hand to her chest.
I go into a long speech as I walk down the center aisle of the shop. “Cut the innocent act. You’re up to something. Every time I see you, you either look at me like you want me to burst into flames or like you know a secret about me. But the thing is, I’m an open book, I have no secrets. So, either you really do want me to burst into flames or you have, like, eye Tourette’s. Like you don’t have control over them. And if that were the case, then why have I never seen you randomly cross your eyes or blink rapidly?”
Her brows knit together and her lips purse. Then her face relaxes and she freaking crosses her eyes. She turns to everyone else. “I have no idea what this guy is talking about.”
They all laugh way too hard for my liking. Logan crosses his eyes, too. “Dude, are you okay? Do you need a glass of water? Maybe a cup of tea?”
“Ha ha, it’s all so funny, but I’m serious!” My arms fling out in exasperation. “She’s up to something.”
Zelda shakes her head and scoffs. “Whatever, Dan. "
― Leah Rae Miller , Romancing the Nerd (Nerd, #2)
8
" This is pitiful. You realize this, right, Dad?” I ask.
He concentrates on the video playing on his tablet, which he’s watched about five times. “We can do this. It can’t be that difficult.”
“Why don’t we just call Mom? I bet—”
He holds up a hand and gives me a stern look. “Absolutely not. Let me try again.”
Mom comes into my room then, and I let out a relieved sigh. “Give it to me,” she says.
“I’ve got this, Layla.” Dad holds the object of our frustration out of her reach.
She shakes her head. “Why don’t you just borrow one of your dad’s ties, Daniel? I’m sure you can tie one of those.”
“Nope,” I say for millionth time. “It has to be a bowtie.”
“Why?” Dad whines.
“Because bowties are cool. "
― Leah Rae Miller , Romancing the Nerd (Nerd, #2)
13
" You have to tell him at some point. It’s like a Band-Aid—you should just rip it off. If you don’t, it’ll haunt you forever. Or he’ll find out from someone else, which is worse.”
Mom comes in then with a tray of tea for all of us. “I couldn’t have put it any better myself, Beth.”
“What?” I ask, almost spilling the hot tea onto my precious laptop.
“Beth’s right. You need to just ’fess up and take things from there.” She blows on her tea, calm as a spring breeze. “I knew it had to have something to do with a boy. You never get sick. A broken leg or a concussion I would’ve believed, but not a virus. And I could tell by your demeanor that this was a sickness of the heart, not the body.”
“There you go again with your romance novel logic.” I shake my head.
She points a scolding finger at me. “Don’t discount romance novels. What do you think that stuff you write for your blog is? You call it ‘fanfic’ but it could absolutely be categorized as romance. Love, finding that other person who understands you, is a part of everyone’s life. Some of the most beautiful and poignant words I’ve ever read have been in romance novels.”
“Okay, first off,” Beth says, “we’ll talk about your fanfiction another time. Secondly, your mom is totally right. ’Fess up already. "
― Leah Rae Miller , Romancing the Nerd (Nerd, #2)
14
" As I pass Logan’s room, I catch a glorious purple glow. My curiosity gets the best of me. I walk in and flick on the light switch. On the wall above a bookshelf hangs something truly magnificent. Delicately, I pick up the Mace Windulightsaber replica. It reminds me of those super expensive knives professional chefs use that are weighted perfectly for precision. I take a step back and brandish the weapon at a poster of Aragorn from Lord of the Rings on the wall.
“Don’t worry, your highness. Your Jedi escort will see you to safety,” I say in my best Obi Wan accent.
“The force is strong with this one.” The words come from behind me.
I whip around out of pure freaked-out instinct, swinging the lightsaber in a big arc. It clashes with one just like it, except it’s blue. I look up into Dan’s smug face and wish these lightsabers weren’t replicas. Sure, it’s a cute face, but it’s a face I’m not in the mood to deal with at the moment. I swirl my saber to move his out of the way and put the point of it to his chin.
“Don’t make me slice your nose off, you scruffy-looking nerf herder.” I’ve always wanted to call someone that, but the opportunity never presented itself until now.
He tosses his lightsaber onto the bed and holds his hands up in surrender. “I yield, but only because that is a limited edition. "
― Leah Rae Miller , Romancing the Nerd (Nerd, #2)
17
" Heated seats or talk radio? Or music? I can do all of them at once if you want.” He starts flipping switches, making the corresponding sound effects. Leave it to Dan to turn his super fancy Range Rover into the USS Enterprise.
My body betrays me and I snuggle deeper into the warming leather seats. “Where are we going anyway?”
“Why, the happiest place in Natchitoches, of course.” He waves his hands in a broad gesture to encompass the whole town.
I panic for a second when he doesn’t immediately put his hands back on the wheel. “Oh my God, will you be careful!”
He smiles at me then glances down at his knee, which can apparently steer just fine. “I’d never endanger your life, fair lady.”
I roll my eyes and take a relieved breath. Something walks into my thoughts and takes a seat. Is he…flirting?
“Looks like no matter how hard you try, you can’t stop talking like you’re in the middle of a LARP game.” I find myself scratching at my nail polish again, so I tuck my hands under my thighs.
“I didn’t know I should be trying to not talk that way. In fact, I try to find every opportunity to practice my verbal skills. I can’t seem out of practice when Craytor returns again.” He holds a fist up in the air. “Heads shall roll, maidens shall be rescued, and elves shall be insulted!”
I make sure he sees my blank stare followed by a slow blink before saying, “Right. You never said where we’re going.”
“The Phoenix, of course. We don’t exactly have Disney World Natchitoches.” He puts on an über-cheesy smile, which is way more endearing than the fake mischievous one he tried back at school.That smile turns on the heated seats around my heart. Oh God, did I just think that? Gross.
He nudges my arm. “Get it? Because I said the happiest place in Natchitoches. And that’s a well-known advertisement slogan for—”
I hold my hands up. “I get it. Really, I get it "
― Leah Rae Miller , Romancing the Nerd (Nerd, #2)
