Chapter Four
MANDY
Mandy sat on her bed working on
math homework, which consisted of nothing but review problems. It was mostly
busy work, though it was getting her back in the math mindset, so she decided
it was worth the time.
She'd almost finished when her
phone buzzed with a text message. She picked it up, expecting either Luci or
Alex, but found one word from Dad. "Dinner." She rolled her eyes, but
couldn't keep back the smile. It would have been easier for him to call up, as
her door stood open, but where would his fun have been in that? She texted back
"potassium," which took only a tap of the "p" before the
word showed up on her quick word bar. She texted that to him enough to where
her phone knew.
Her texting habits had been such
where she would type "k" for "okay," but it drove him nuts,
so he began texting her "potassium." When she asked why, he told her
it was the same as typing "k." It didn't take long for her to realize
that k was the symbol for potassium on the Periodic Table of the Elements. So
now it was their thing, and his lesson had stuck. She always typed
"ok" in texts to others because typing "k" made her laugh
too much.
She set her homework aside and
headed downstairs. Whatever dinner was smelled great. She got to the table and
found chili-topped baked potatoes, one of her favorites. She knew the grilling
about her day was coming, but Mom and Dad let her fix up her potato with
cheese, chopped onions, and sour cream before they started in.
"So?" Mom asked.
"How was your first day as a senior?"
"Fine. Actually looks like
it'll be easier than past years. Trig/Pre-Calc looks tough, and Honors Language
Arts will be a lot of reading, but it should be fun. Most of this semester's
assignments will be an author report and book reports on five of his or her
works." She frowned. "AP only has to do three."
"You knew what you were
getting into when you signed up for Honors," Dad said.
"I know."
"Have you decided on an
author yet?" Mom asked.
"Not yet. Luci had a great
idea of doing J.K. Rowling."
"You've certainly read
those enough," Mom said. "You could probably finish the reports by
this weekend."
"Yeah, but if I decide to
go that route, I'll want to compare and contrast the books and movies. And I'll
probably make one of the reports on her non-Harry Potter book. I've never read
that."
"Good idea," Dad said.
"I enjoyed the Potter movies, but I'm guessing you'll skewer them."
"I liked the movies,
too." She gave him a wink. "But, yeah, compared to the books, they're
garbage. Besides, Kareem Reynolds gave me the idea for comparing and
contrasting them, so I don't want to do it if he does."
Dad scoffed and muttered,
"Literary nerd."
Mom rolled her eyes at him, but
chuckled. She then reminded them to eat before dinner got cold. Mandy did, and
nodded her approval. She guessed the chili was the premade stuff from the
organic market Mom shopped at and hoped she'd keep getting it. It certainly
wasn't the generic canned junk Dad would buy.
"Who's Kareem?" Mom
asked. "Is he new? I don't remember you ever mentioning him."
"No, he's been there since
seventh grade. He's Wyatt's best friend. I guess I've never had anything to say
about him."
"I wish you could have
stayed friends with Wyatt," Mom said. "He's a nice boy. I
occasionally see him, and we always share a smile and wave. You two used to be
such good friends."
"Yeah," Mandy said.
Her stomach clenched up a bit as she thought back to that late summer day so
many years ago when they'd shared their first kiss. As far as she knew, it was
Wyatt's only. She'd never seen him with another girl, anyway. Did he ever look
back on it as fondly as she did? "Guess we drifted apart. We have a class
together this year, though. The Comic Book Pop Culture one."
She took another bite of her
chili potato while Dad asked. "How does that class look? Any Mister
Incognito?"
"Maybe. Mr. Yong said we'll
talk a lot about sci-fi and fantasy pop culture. He said it was easier to name
the class after comic books."
"Think he'd mind if I sat
in sometime?"
She laughed and said, "I
don't know, but I can assure you I'd be mortified."
"Even better."
"You two," Mom said,
shaking her head, but not able to hide her own smile. "Did you get to
spend much time with Alex?"
"Home Ec, break, and
lunch."
"Did you warn your Home Ec
teacher?" Dad asked.
"About what?"
He raised his eyebrows.
"Blow up one microwave and
you're branded for life. How was I supposed to know that bowl had metal in
it?"
"Because I warned you on
multiple occasions?" Mom said. "But that's beside the point. I'm sure
you'll do a wonderful job."
"I say it's a good thing
Alex is taking the class, too," Dad said. "You can let him do the
cooking next year and save your kitchen from burning down."
Mandy hurled her napkin at him.
He casually caught it, wiped a blob of chili from the side of his mouth,
thanked her, and tossed it back. She rolled her eyes, but didn't give him any
more satisfaction than that. Not that he needed it, judging by the smug grin he
wore. As they finished eating, she described the rest of her day and heard a
couple of stories from their days at work before excusing herself upstairs to
continue on her homework.
She finished her math, and then
jumped on her computer to research which author she might like to choose for
her report. First, of course, she had to stop by Facebook. She browsed her news
feed, which mostly consisted of obligatory first day of school posts, and then
turned her attention to Chat to see if Luci or Alex were on. They weren't, but
she noticed Wyatt's name. She'd seen him available for Chat before, but she'd
never done anything about it. He hadn't, either, but it wasn't like he would.
From what she knew about him, taking initiative wasn't his strong suit.
A thought popped into her mind,
and she clicked his name to start a conversation. She typed, "Hi, Wyatt.
Hope your day went okay." She said hello to him in fifth period, but they
hadn't had a chance to talk.
It took only a few seconds for
him to reply.
WYATT: Hi,
Mandy. Good first day for me. How about you?
MANDY: Good for
me, too. Pop culture class looks like it'll be fun.
WYATT: Yeah.
I've been looking forward to it all summer.
MANDY: Me, too.
Though I know next to nothing compared to you and Kareem. Probably most people
in class.
WYATT: From
what I've heard, when Mister Incognito comes up, you're going to school
everyone.
She laughed at that. It might be
true. She had a few Mister Incognito trivia and fact books that she'd read over
the years, and most of the information stuck. And it didn't hurt that she had
every available season on DVD, and every episode from last season, which wasn't
yet for sale, on Instant Video.
MANDY: We'll
see. I hope Mr. Yong chooses to talk about it.
WYATT: I'm sure
he will. It's a big part of pop culture.
MANDY: Yeah.
She took a deep breath before
typing the next part. Hopefully he wouldn't think her a total dork for asking.
MANDY:
Hey, do you think you and Kareem might be interested in doing an after school
study session once or twice a week? It'll help me become a bit more well-rounded
in fandoms, which seems to be our main homework for the class.
WYATT:
That sounds great! I'll ask Kareem, but I'm sure he'll be happy to do it.
MANDY:
Excellent! We can do other homework, and talk sci-fi, fantasy, and comic books
at the same time.
WYATT:
When shall we start? And is the school library the best place?
MANDY:
Library works for me. I have Tuesdays and Thursdays open. I'm happy to do it on
one or both each week. We can nail down specifics tomorrow.
Wyatt's next response didn't
come as quick, but when it did, it made her heart give a little pitter-patter
that only Alex had ever caused. Well, since they started dating in eighth
grade, anyway.
WYATT: Looking
forward to seeing you tomorrow. Signing off.
MANDY: Me, too.
To both.
She then logged out of chat. Her
hands were shaking a bit. What in the world was going on? Yes, she'd always
kept tabs on Wyatt from afar, which she had to admit probably meant she had
feelings for him, but he shouldn't affect her like this. Especially when she
not only had Alex now, but a bright future with him, too. She let out a sigh,
closed her laptop, and grabbed her iPad so she could watch some Mister
Incognito. That would help clear her mind. She could look up authors for
Language Arts later.
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