WYATT
As he and Kareem headed off
towards the math building and third period Calculus, Wyatt did everything he
could to get his breathing back under control without Kareem noticing. He
hadn't been that close to Mandy for that long since elementary school. He was
such an idiot! Not only was she so far out of his league that he probably
shouldn't even be allowed to so much as glance her way, but she was dating the
coolest guy in school. Practically married to him, as far as he could tell. To
top it off, they were going to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor together
next year. He wasn't bitter about it, though. Good for her. Alex was an awesome
guy. He could have chosen to be a mega-jerk, a real super villain, but he
didn't. Because of that, Wyatt really was happy for Mandy.
"What did you hear about
the comic book class?" Kareem asked, knocking him out of his thoughts.
"Nothing new," Wyatt
said. "Like I said, Mr. Yong plans to teach it a lot like a college
course. But he said as much last year when he announced it."
"Yeah, he's never tried to
hide his dream of becoming a professor at a university. I wonder if he's going
to use this in his portfolio or something."
"Dunno. Maybe." Wyatt
looked over towards the senior quad and caught sight of Mandy again, once more
losing his breath. Damn it, he was being stupid. She was just a girl, a person,
and she shouldn't affect him like this every time he so much as thought about
her. But she did, and had since junior high, when he effectively lost her. Her
shoulder-length wavy blonde hair framed her gorgeous face in that perfect way
that meant she could be a model if she wanted to, at least in his eyes. He'd
certainly buy whatever she was selling. Her skin had a nice tan from playing
soccer all summer. As far as he could tell, from the close-up view a few
minutes ago, she didn't have a blemish on her. He tended to see that on people
since he had such a battle with acne when he was younger. He didn't judge
anyone based on their good, bad, or neutral skin, but he noticed. That wasn't
all he noticed about her. He saw her whenever he shut his eyes — her piercing
blue eyes, her heart-shaped face (he looked online to see what that meant, and
it was a dead-on description), her muscular legs and athletic body, crafted by
so many years of soccer, her cute button nose, and her lips, thin on top and
full on the bottom. It all added up to his perfect girl, enhanced ten-fold by
her wonderful personality. He held back a chuckle. Thinking like that made him
feel like a stalker.
Luci was as pretty as Mandy, but
he never thought of her as anything other than an old friend he never talked to
anymore. She stood about the same height as Mandy, probably five-five or
five-six, and had a chiseled body from years of Taekwondo. She wore her dark
brown, almost black, hair in a ponytail. Even as far back as elementary school
he couldn't remember a time she didn't prefer that style. The thing he enjoyed
most about her appearance was her smile. When she let it loose, she lit up
everything around her. Even though she could kick mega-butt, her smile (and his
past friendship with her) meant he'd never be afraid of her.
"Hey, it's Pizza Face and
the Hindu Terrorist," someone shouted. Wyatt put his head down and kept
walking, and Kareem did the same. It was Duncan Thomas, one of the Pigs. While
all three of them — Holden Greenfield and Tyler Navarro rounded out the trio —
could certainly be called pigs because of their boorish behavior and slovenly
appearances, they earned the name on the football field and wore it with pride.
They got down and dirty in the mud blocking for Alex and the running backs.
Neither Wyatt nor Kareem meant it as a compliment when they said the nickname,
though.
The three yelled more horribly
racist things to Kareem and more unflattering words to Wyatt, but both kept
going, ignoring it all. Only when the words stopped and the laughter faded did
they relax, though they kept up their double-time pace all the way to the math
building. Once they reached their destination, both burst out laughing.
"What a bunch of
idiots," Kareem said. "I don't think they actually know what Pizza
Face means. Your face has been clear for a long time. I wonder if they think
you actually got pizza on your face once."
"Probably, but I didn't get
the Hindu thing. That was new."
"I think they meant
Muslim." Kareem looked about ready to lose himself to a fresh batch of
laughter.
"That makes sense. Sort
of." Now Wyatt couldn't control himself, and more giggles poured out,
getting Kareem started again. What made it funnier was that Kareem wasn't just
a Christian, but one of the leaders of the teen group at his church. Pretty
much the whole school knew that — he'd been named after his dad's favorite old-time basketball star, Kareem Abdul Jabar,
not for religious reasons — but it was too much to hope for the Pigs to have
picked up on it.
Other than his religion — or
what the Pigs perceived it to be — they also picked on Kareem because of his
appearance. Not because he was black (though their taunts and insults more
often than not went there), but because he was as skinny and scrawny as Wyatt.
Both shared an awful lot of qualities with pre-spider bite Peter Parker. Kareem
was the same height as Wyatt, both five feet, eleven inches — they'd measured
each other two weeks ago so they could put their precise stats into character
creations for a video game — and kept his hair short, almost buzzed off.
If the Pigs weren't so big and
mean, their stupidity might deserve some pity. He had no idea how they kept their
grades up enough to remain on the football team. Though, now that he thought
about it, all three had been held back twice, once in junior high, and once as
freshmen.
"We ought to see if Alex,
Mandy, and Luci will let us hang out with them," Kareem said. "I
doubt the Pigs would bother us then."
"Yeah," Wyatt said
with a grin, but butterflies swarmed his stomach. There was no way he'd survive
that much time so close to Mandy. They'd never had a class together, so he
wasn't sure how he was going to handle Comic Book Pop Culture with her in it.
Maybe she wouldn't affect him this hard if he started talking to her every day.
Because, yeah, him starting conversations was such a strong point. In a way, he
was looking forward to her going to Michigan. The daily chance of running into
her would be gone, so he could move on. Not that he often ran into her now, and
she only lived a block or so away, but with most of the country between them,
the chance would be absolute nil. Of course, he'd probably find another pretty
girl to obsess over and start the cycle anew. Maybe he should own up to the
fact that he was hopeless.
"Earth to Wyatt,"
Kareem said, waving his hand in front of his face.
"Sorry. What?"
"Just wondering if you read
last week's Danger Squad yet, Mr. Space Cadet. What, are you thinking about a
girl?"
He took in a sharp breath, and
shook his head hard. "No."
"Sure, sure. You don't have
to tell me if you don't want. I told you about my future girlfriend, but don't
think you need to share. I'm only your best friend."
Wyatt opened his mouth to say
something, but he didn't know what. Before he could, the bell signifying the
end of break sounded, and Mrs. Neely, their Calculus teacher, opened the
classroom door. Instead of saying anything about Mandy or making up a lie about
some other girl, he said, "Yeah, I read the Danger Squad ish. It was a
good one."
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