Chain Reaction 3.1.3: Amazing

     Nerd girl attacks me in the hallway at school the next day.

     "Where is it?! I know you have it!"
     Trey and Chaz laugh behind her. "Dayum, Alaric," Trey teases, "nerd girl really wants it." He laughs again. "If you don't wanna give it to her, I think I can move a few things around on my schedule."
     She ignores him.
     "What are you talking about?" I ask like I don't know.
     "My notebook! I went back to the park, and it wasn't there. I know you took it!" She looks close to tears.
     "Calm down, okay? Yeah. I picked it up because you forgot it." It's in my locker behind me. "I, uh, have it at home on my desk."
     Dirk starts teasing now. "Oooo... She's gonna get it on his desk." He joins Trey in the laughing. "Hey, Alaric, don't forget to set up the camera." The guys are loving this. They really are a bunch of morons sometimes. I've never wanted more for them to stop than now.
     Chaz's voice is a bit quieter. "I've never seen nerd girl up close before."
     Trey responds. "Yeah, that's what happens when you always sit at the back of the class."
     All of this goes on behind her, but she pretends she doesn't notice.

     I wish Chaz would join in the teasing. He keeps staring at her.
     "Why did you take it?" she asks me.
     "Well, I couldn't just leave it lying around, could I?" I pause, thinking. "I could... text you my address and you could come by and get it."
     "She's gonna get it," Trey laughs.
     "Would you two knock it off?" I can't take it. I feel bad about how I made this girl cry. I don't want my friends to make it happen again.
      They just laugh.
      She looks flustered. "I... um... I... Uh...."
      Chaz interrupts her, having made his way over. "I could get it from him for you."

     "Don't talk to me." She throws up her hand.
     Ouch. Harsh. If I weren't kinda pissed that Chaz is blocking, I might feel sorry for him. Can't he see that I'm talking to her? Why is he trying to get in the way?
     To me, she says, "I know where you live, I think. The 'big house on the hill.' I'll come by after school."
      Dammit! I almost had her phone number. "Okay." Maybe now I am happy Chaz got hit with the ice crystals she flung at him. He walks away from us.

     "Guys, shut up," I tell my friends, which of course, encourages them to continue.

     I survive the day, even with Trey and Dirk giving out cat calls when they see nerd girl at lunch.
     Before I leave, I sneak the notebook out of my locker. I wish I had more time to look at it. I just like looking at her writing.
     She's put her name on the inside cover, up in the corner: Kate Milligan.
     Kate? Her name is Kate? But that's so simple. Too simple a name for someone like her.
     "Kate," I say aloud, trying it out.

      Finally, she's here. "Hi, Kate!" For just a second, I worry that's not her name and that she was only doodling a fake name on the inside cover. But why would she do that?
      I notice she doesn't have an umbrella. It'd started getting dreary towards the end of the school day.

     "Where's your umbrella? Did you walk here?"
     "It wasn't raining when I left the house." Her expression is unreadable.
     "Oh. Well, here. Share mine." I start to casually wrap my arm around her, but she races away to prevent it.
     "No thanks. I'm fine."

     "Your notebook's this way." In my room. I smile.

     "Is this your room?" I hear behind me.
     "Yeah." Suddenly, I remember that I have childhood pictures of me on the wall. Maybe she won't notice them. There are so many other things to notice.
     I quickly pick the notebook up off my desk...

     ...and act like I'm handing it to her.
     "Thanks." Her fingers close on the other end of the notebook.
     But I don't let go. If I let go, she'll leave. I should've planned this better.
     She sighs. "Give me my notebook, Alaric."
     "But..." Think of something! "But I wanted to talk about it. What exactly is this great thesis you're working on?" We continue our tug-of-war.
     "It's above your head."
     "You know, Kate, I'm actually very smart."
     "Riiiiiiight."
     "No, seriously, I am. Try me." I grin.
     She sees right through me. "I don't have time to play games, Alaric. I need to seriously study my butt off if I'm going to accomplish my goals."
     "So that means you can't explain your thesis to me?" I still grin. In fact, I pull the notebook out of her hand and act like I'm reading the contents.
     "Hey!" She reaches for it, but I deftly maneuver it away from her.

     "Why won't you talk to me about it? Maybe I have some useful ideas." I stash the notebook in my inventory.
     "Because you're not really interested in my thesis, and we both know it."
     "Why won't you tell me?"
     She lets out a huff. "Fine. So far, it's 'The fact that unparticles can be measured because the "missing" energy and momentum after an interaction can resemble a distribution for a fractional number of massless particles proves they exist.' But I'm trying to work out the details."
     "There. Now, was that so hard?"
     She lets out a very exasperated 'augh!' sound.
     Then... she actually notices... them.
     "Are those pictures of you?"

     "Uh... yeah." Plum.
     I hear a smile in her voice. "You were so cute!"
     Were? "I guess."
     Suddenly, I wonder if she's stalling now. "Where does this door go?"
     Oh no. As if the pictures weren't bad enough...

     She gasps in delight. I'd given my bedroom a makeover, but I left this room alone.
     "Is this your... You had a playroom growing up?!" She's making little girlie noises as she talks.
     "Yeah." I'm so embarrassed, but I follow her in the room anyway.

     "You have no idea how I used to dream of having a room like this when I was a kid. A room full of toys. And a dollhouse!"
     "Um. It was my sister's." My sister Diamond who is having dinner with Dad tonight.
     "You have a sister?"
     "Half-sister." I watch as Kate explores the playroom, and a mild panic starts up that I can't think up another excuse to stop her from leaving. In the meantime, she pummels me for information: every drawing, every toy, and we stop at Mr. Bun-buns.

     I chuckle. "Well, if you like it here so much, you're welcome to stop by any time."
     Her eyes widen a fraction. "Oh. I, um, I probably should be going." She looks around. "My notebook?"
     I lie. "It's in my room."
     As she turns, I make a move that I will later debate whether or not it's brilliance or insanity. At any rate, it happens. I stick my foot just slightly behind her, and she goes careening to the floor.

     And I catch her.
     "Oh!" She swallows. "I must've tripped."
     I could kiss her right... now. "Yeah."
     She must've read my expression because she scrambles madly to get herself to stand. I end up helping her, and I manage to get my arms around her.

     "Oh," she breathes when she realizes what's happening. Her one arm stays up around my neck. I wish she'd do the same with the other. "I, um..."
     I really want to kiss her this time. She hasn't said anything else. Is she waiting for me to do it?
     "Alaric, do you think this is-"

     She makes a little noise when I tighten my arms around her and cover her lips with mine. Her other arm slowly winds around me, and she kisses me back.
     Yeeeeeeeesssss. This is just want I wanted it to be. I get even more daring and go in deeper, using my tongue, and it's so. good! It just makes me want more, so my hands start moving. First to her hair and butt. Second... well, apparently the first thing pushed her limit because she starts trying to break free.
     "This is crazy!"
     "No, it's amazing."
     "Alaric--" I stop her again by leaning down and kissing her, but she backs up.

    "I... I can't." She unwraps my arms.
    "I disagree." Wow. I was so trapped in her eyes that I failed to notice, at first, how amazing her lips are. She tries to back up another step, but I manage to get my arms around her again, pulling her back to me.

     She makes a little cry noise. Oh no. She cried yesterday because I didn't kiss her. Now she's crying because I am?! "You don't understand," she manages to say.
     "I don't understand what? That you've apparently been hiding in plain sight all this time?" Where is that 'legendary' Goth charm? C'mon! I plumbing need it!
     "I'm not the kind of girl who has time for a boyfriend."
     Just keep talking... and kissing. "I'm... pretty low-maintenance."
     She actually lets out a little laugh with that. "But I am." Meaning she's the kind of girl who doesn't have time for a boyfriend. She shakes her head no, and my stomach knots up.
      No. No no no. Not now. Not when it's so good. "Kate... we can figure this out. Don't let... ambition prevent you from enjoying your life now." That was brilliant. I go in for another really good one, kissing her breathless apparently.

     "Honestly," she says into my shirt, "how is this supposed to work?"
     I hold her head. Don't. No negatives.
     She continues, "Could you honestly see the two of us together? At school? Hanging around your friends?"
     Plum! Dammit! No! They're not even really my friends. They're just some imbeciles I hang out with. "Yes. Yes, I can see it." Suddenly, Kyra's voice echoes in my head, "This isn't you." Dammit. She's right. Although I have fun, it's not me. Deep down, I'm just like Kate. How can I get that across to her?
    "I don't know how because I just can't." She pulls away, but I pull her back.
    "No. Kate. Listen. Just listen, okay?" My heart races. "I'm not really like them. I'm just... trying to be like them. Deep down, I'm really a nerd."
    "So... So that's the way of it. You're really a nerd. You're saying you're really a nerd, like ME." She shoves away from me. "Because that's who I am, isn't it? I'm just 'nerd girl'!" She races through Diamond's old room and out onto the balcony.
     Oh plum!

     I catch her. "No. That's not what I meant."
     "I know exactly what you meant!" She's caught my parents' attention. They're staring at us from the first floor. Maker, I hate them. "And for that matter, how can you be true to anyone else when you're not even true to yourself!" I have to use a good bit of my strength to hold onto her.
     "Wait. Just wait."

     I reach into my inventory and pull out her notebook. "Here." She takes it.
     "Thank you," she says through her tears.

     And I let her walk away.
---------------------------------------------------------
Don't ask me to explain the thesis. I read a Wikipedia article on something that looked interesting and smushed together some "stuff." :) If it makes no sense, chalk it up to suspension of disbelief.