Chapter Five
MANDY
Mandy walked towards the school
library about fifteen minutes after school ended. The three of them decided to
conduct their study sessions every Tuesday and Thursday, starting today. She
informed Wyatt and Kareem that she'd be a bit late this afternoon since it was
a running day in Sports Conditioning, and she'd have to take a quick shower. It
was too hot not to. Kareem said, "Good idea," while Wyatt mumbled
something about how it was probably impossible for her to stink. She giggled and
told him she had stuff that would make her smell nice, but she'd feel all
sweaty and icky, so they could wait. Wyatt had blushed, as he often did around
her, which was adorable. She guessed he blushed around most girls.
She showered quickly, was done
not long after school officially ended, but took a little too much time getting
ready. She wanted to look perfect, but not appear like she took any time to
make herself that way. Which was stupid since Alex wouldn't be seeing her. She
didn't know how long the study session would last, but the library closed at
four-thirty, so they'd be done and gone long before football practice ended.
She tried to tell herself she simply wanted to look good out of pride or
whatever, but that was a lie. She did it for Wyatt. When she reached the
library door, she took a deep breath, told herself it was no big deal, and
walked in, engulfed by the wonderful, intoxicating aroma of books.
They sat at a table in the far
back corner. There were a few other students at various tables, but the library
was mostly empty. Ms. Sanchez, the librarian, kept it open for group projects
and study sessions like theirs, so it'd see more traffic as the year went on.
Wyatt waved at her, and her stomach did a little flip. Cool it. She smiled, walked over, and saw both boys had their math
books on the table. Though she was only one level behind them, no doubt she'd
have no idea how to work those problems, even if it was likely review for them.
Probably things she'd learn later this year.
"There's Miss
Incognito," Kareem said, earning a smile from her.
"That's much better than
the dork or geek I get from Alex and Luci when the show comes up."
"You gotta own those
names," Kareem said. "Wyatt and I do. Someone calls us geeks, and we
give them a thumbs-up or a thanks. Besides, society has practically made geek
cool."
"Yeah. I love seeing the
shirts you guys wear each day." She looked at Wyatt while she said it, and
he blushed and looked down at the table.
"I'm surprised your boy
doesn't like all things geek," Kareem said. "Or at least most things.
We've got plenty of action, good stories, hot chicks …"
"Hot guys, too," she
said, earning a laugh from both boys. "He's mostly being stubborn. If it's
not a laugh-a-minute show like The Simpsons or Family Guy, or it's not a sports
match or something else sports-related, he won't even give it a chance."
"His loss," Kareem
said.
"If you were my girlfriend,
I'd make sure to share as many interests as I could," Wyatt said. His face
went pale and his eyes wide, as if he couldn't believe he said it.
She hid a smile behind her hand
and said, "You should talk to Alex. He could use that lesson."
Kareem smacked Wyatt's shoulder.
"You could totally get a girl, dude. I think we both know one who would
say yes in a heartbeat if you manned up and asked her."
Mandy's insides went cold, but
she hid the feeling with a smile. She didn't want to know who Wyatt liked and
vice versa. She had absolutely no reason to feel that way, but she couldn't
help it.
"What about Luci?" Wyatt
asked. "I thought she'd love all the martial arts in Mister
Incognito."
"She actually thinks they
do a good job with that aspect, but she's being as hard-headed as Alex. Her
brother, Johnny, likes the show, too, so she'd lose her fun of calling us geeks
and dorks if she started watching it. I know she'd enjoy it if she gave it a
chance."
"So much closed-mindedness
in the world," Kareem said. "I ought to talk to her for a few
minutes."
"I can arrange that,"
she said with a laugh. "So, anyway, how is our study group going to
work?"
"It was your idea,"
Kareem said.
Before she could call Kareem a
smart ass, Wyatt said, "We'll work and talk. Kareem and I always talk
comics and fandoms when we do homework together."
"Sounds great," she
said as she pulled out her own math book and binder.
"So how did you get into
Mister Incognito?" Kareem asked.
"You used to watch it when
we were kids," Wyatt said.
They shared a smile, and she bit
her bottom lip before quickly stopping herself. Oh, goodness, she only ever
caught herself doing that when she really wanted to kiss someone. Or, more
specifically, when she wanted to kiss Alex. Or Channing Tatum or Zac Efron, but
they were givens, right? She couldn't get like this with Wyatt. He wasn't her
future.
"Yeah." She gave an
internal wince at how hoarse her voice sounded. She cleared her throat and
said, hopefully in a light, airy tone, "Remember how we always wanted to
act out scenes from the show, but Luci wanted no part of it?"
"And when she wasn't
around, we'd play the board game you had for hours."
"Oh, I forgot about that. I
probably still have that hidden in a box in our garage. Maybe I should find it,
and we can play again."
"It could be pop culture
homework," Kareem said. "Mr. Yong would be all for that, I'm
sure."
"That'll be fun," she
said. "Anyway, when the show first came on, my dad wanted to watch, but my
mom had no interest. It must have started at nine o'clock because that was my
bed time. Once a week, they'd let me stay up an hour later to watch with him.
So my love of it started because I got to stay up past my bedtime, but it
didn't take long for it to legitimately become my favorite show."
"And your knowledge?"
Kareem said. "From what I heard, you might even be able to challenge me or
my boy here in a trivia contest."
"Probably blow us
away," Wyatt said.
"Trivia books and things
like that. My dad would buy them for me, and I'd devour them. Plus I've seen
each episode at least a half-dozen times."
"That's great," Kareem
said, "but time to branch out and watch other things."
"I know. That's why I'm
here and looking forward to the class."
"Too bad we didn't know you
were so interested," Wyatt said. "We would have picked you up a
ticket to the comic-con."
"When's that? Neither Alex
nor Luci would go, but maybe I could tag along with you guys."
"Sold out," Wyatt said
with a frown.
"Oh well. You'll have to
tell me all about it. When is it? Is it the San Diego one?"
Kareem shook his head.
"That one's in July. This is the 2nd Annual North Orange County Comic Book
Convention. It's in the beginning of October."
"Cool. Are you guys going
to dress in costumes?"
"Nah," Kareem said.
"We'll just wear some sort of fandom shirt each day."
"We'll have fun watching
others cosplay, though," Wyatt added.
"Too bad Alex won't take
you," Kareem said. "He'd probably cosplay."
"Yeah, right," she
said. "You wouldn't catch him dead doing that."
"Does he ever wear a team
jersey when he goes to sporting events?" Wyatt asked.
"He's taken me to a few
Angels and Ducks games, and he always wears a hat and jersey."
Wyatt and Kareem looked at each
other, nodded, and said, "Cosplayer."
She laughed and made them
promise not to bring that up to him. Wyatt pantomimed locking his lips with a
key, like he used to do when they were kids, and her heart fluttered again. She
really needed to stop letting him affect her so much if they were going to keep
this up twice a week, not to mention class together every day.
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