My Geeky Boyfriend

Chapter Ten

You know, there's always Kevin. My little speech in the parking lot this morning, actually worked. Well, that's if you could call it a speech. The photos and videos which were being passed around, reduced to a bare minimum. Even Yolanda didn't go her usual route of trying to probe for details. Although maybe it had something to do with the warning stare I threw her when earlier, she made to approach my chair in class.  But in all, everything was going great so far. My friends totally bought all I told them, which in my defense, weren't exactly lies.

Now, all that's left was to get through lunch break, act like Hawk and I were a sweet new couple, and of course, hope my friends didn't figure out we were faking.  Ok, maybe everything wasn't really as great as it sounded in my head. But on the bright side, things could get a whole lot worse.

"Stephanie."  

And it just got worse.  I didn't know how, but I managed to get a not so awkward smile on.

"Hey."

My friends shared knowing glances, and quickly excused themselves. Sam turned to mouth, "awkward," but was quick to continue walking when he glanced behind him.  I could not agree with her more; this was going to be quite awkward. In the past, I'd dated a bunch of guys whenever Bryce and I broke up, but we both knew they were in no way serious. But now, things were kind of different. Although were they really different? Hawk and I were anything but serious. But of course, Bryce didn't know that.

"So," he started.

"So," I repeated, mentally smacking myself afterwards for not thinking of a smarter response. Bryce, however, just chuckled.  

"How are you doing?"  

"Great," I answered, trying not to add, 'well, asides for the fact that I'm dating a guy who I first spoke to four days ago.'  But the answer I gave, must have been good enough for him. That is judging by his saying, "that's nice."

 "Yeah." I wanted to add, 'where is Ava?

Do you know she's trying to hook up with you? Do you like her? Can you see yourself loving her, tell me!'  

But choosing to not appear as a crazed girl, I kept those questions to myself and just stared at him instead; the both of us trying to act like the entire situation wasn't awkward at all.  And just when I was thinking of how to break the ice, Bryce beat me to it.

"So, you and Moose, huh?"  

"Yeah, it just kind of happened," I mused with a small chuckle.

"But right now, we're uhm..."  

What was that expression Eliza used when describing her relationship with Axel? Oh yeah!  

"We're just testing the waters, getting to know each other better," I finished.  

"Sounds nice," he mused which a gentle smile, and I could only nod.  

"Bryce, I..."  

"Stephanie, I..."

We said simultaneously, leaving us to chuckle softly.  

"You go first," I suggested.

 "I'm sorry if I've been acting pretty weird these past few days. I would be lying if I said I wasn't mad at first, but then I realized I didn't want what happened to get in between us. I mean, we're still friends, right?"  

How could I forget what a sweetheart Bryce could be? I found myself smiling for real this time. The words: "of course we are," rolled smoothly off my tongue.  

"I mean, we totally kickass in PE, who else would I be able to have that with?"  

"Well, you know there's always Kevin," he offered, a playful glint in his eyes.

"Kevin? Forget kicking a*s, I'll end up kicking his a*s instead," I huffed, earning a small laugh from Bryce.  As if on cue, I felt an arm being placed around my shoulders.  

"Did I just hear my name and a*s together? Stephanie, you naughty girl! I always knew you wanted some of my fine, black ass."  

I didn't need to look behind me to know who it was; the amused look on Bryce's face gave it away. Besides, after living with that annoying voice for more than half of my life, I could probably recognize it in my asleep.  I made a face at his cheeky expression, slapping his hand away from my shoulder with:

"you wish!"  

But he just laughed. What else could I expect from him?

"Bryce, my man!" He swaggered, laughing alongside Bryce as they both did that weird guy handshake thing.

"Well, I have to go now."  

"You're not having lunch with us?"  

Why the hell did I ask that? But for some reason the words left my mouth before I could even think of stopping them.  Bryce didn't seem to mind though, a gentle smile played on his lips as he explained that Ava wanted him to work on their assignment together. 

Ava! 

Assignment?

Yeah, right! I knew just what kind of assignment she had in mind. But my sweet Bryce obviously had no idea. Or...oh no! What if he did?  Well, it wouldn't matter anyway. This wouldn't be the first time Bryce's dated after one of our breakups. But his relationships were always shorter lived than Eliza's. And after a few days, we always got back together. It was pretty much the pattern.  And that thought made me smile to myself. Bryce left soon after, to go work on his 'assignment.'

"Peanut, I have something really serious to discuss with you."  

And I almost forgot about him. I made an exaggerated show of rolling my eyes before walking away from him. But he just walked up to me again.  

"Did you just walk away from me when I was pouring my heart to you?" He mock gasped.  

"Yup. That's exactly what I did. We both know that whenever you say, 'super serious issue,' it just ends up being something really stupid," I answered, staring pointedly at him.  

"You meanie! That's not true. Ok, tell me one time that happened."  I c****d a brow in response to his challenge.  

"Fine, then. How about when you told me you had a super serious issue when in reality, you were worried your Batman costume for Halloween, made Batman's ears look like horns? Or how about when you told me you had a super serious issue, which was actually that you found the new teacher, Miss Lena, to be hot, and you were worried you were forgetting about your 'love' for Miss Jennifer."

I stopped to throw him a smug grin.

"Should I continue?"  

He just made a face and huffed. Typical Kevin. 

Kevin Thompson - star quarterback of our school, standing at 6'2 with dark shiny skin, curly black hair, a physique which many would kill to have, and a face which for some reason, girls considered handsome.  But to me, he was that one annoying friend I've had since I was seven. Our mums were good friends, so growing up, we always spent time together. The first time we met, his mum brought him to our home, and that was when he saw me in my worst state - a jar of peanut butter which I'd almost emptied sitting in front of me, with my mouth plastered all over with the thick brown paste.  Hence, the nickname Peanut began. And since then, our relationship was a really sweet one. If I wasn't painting his action figures pink, he was shaving my dolls' hair off. See? Sweet. 

Here in school, people considered him to be some kind of s*x god, which was the weirdest thing I'd ever heard. I mean, who would ever want to have s*x with him? He was the craziest guy I knew.  But apparently, he had a considerably large female fan club. And since in his words, "Attention should be shared," Kevin basically had a new girl every two days.

And each and every time, he was certain he'd finally found love. Well, that's until two days later when he was with another girl.

"Alright, maybe there've been a few unserious issues. But this time, I'm for real."

"Fine, go on," I sighed, preparing myself for whatever silly thing he was going to say this time.

 "Ok, so here's the thing. I've been thinking a lot about my love life."

 "And?"  

He chuckled.

 "Always so impatient, B. Anyway, after much thinking, I realized it needed a reevaluation."

"And you just realized that?"

I questioned, my face set in a duh expression.  He threw me a playful glare in reply.

"Just let me explain, Peanut. So, you're our school's head cheerleader, and I'm the quarterback. In a perfect world, we should be together, right?"

"Kevin, ten seconds - that's all you get before I hit you with my purse."

I raised my purse in mock attack, but the sound of his voice stopped me.

"Wait, wait. Just give me a minute," he said between chuckles.  

"What I'm trying to say is that you screwed the popular girl equals popular boyfriend illusion. And now, I'm determined to do the same. That's why I've decided that my next girlfriend would be a nerd. Because as I recently found out, nerds and bad boys like myself, usually make a great match."  

I blinked rapidly, not knowing what to say. I knew whatever Kevin would say would be something stupid, but I just never imagined it'd be something this stupid. I actually found myself laughing.  

"A great match, seriously? Well, please, do tell me of any girl who thinks you're her 'bad boy,' I'll make sure to show her that video where you were crying ''mummy, help me'' when I pulled that prank on you," I said between giggles, while he just huffed.  

"Well, I was nine, you meanie."  

"If you say so, Kevin," I singsong, to which he made a face in response.

"So, where are you going to get your nerd from?"

Just then, Holland Kathy walked past us, throwing us a small smile as she did.  When she was a few steps ahead of us, Kevin exclaimed, "what a sign! Stephanie, I think Holland is the girl for me."  I would have chuckled at his antics if I didn't grab the meaning of what he said.

Oh no!  

"What? Holland?"  

"Yeah, she is pretty and nice. And also, really smart. Like really, really, smart," he answered with a smile.  And she's also the girl Hawk really, really wants. 

I could not have Kevin's taking an interest in Holland.  

"You can't be serious," I said, laughing as though he said the silliest thing ever.

"Although, it'd be nice if some of her smartness could rub off on you, but Holland and you can't go well together."  

"And why is that?"

"Come on, Kevin, Holland is too good for you. She's like that sweet, beautiful flower, and you're like that mushroom that somehow manages to grow in a garbage dump."  

"i***t," he said between laughs, with me echoing the throaty sound.

"And besides," I continued.

"If you're really looking to go for a nerd, you should go for one who isn't really popular."  

My eyes caught Clara Hardy clutching her notes as she walked with one of her study group buddies.

My brain quickly lit up with an idea.

"Uhm...how about someone like Clara Hardy? I mean, don't you also wonder what she does asides jotting down notes every second of the day?"

I didn't realize I held my breath as I watched Kevin's thoughtful expression, until I released it after his face broke into a grin.

"You know, B, you can be so smart when you want to be."

"And you are always annoying," I replied with an exaggerated sweet smile, before walking away, leaving him to chortle from behind me.

"Anyway, I'm really looking forward to meeting your new boyfriend," he singsong when he caught up with me. 

I immediately stopped from walking and turned to him.

"Kevin, I know it'll be hard for you, but try not to make any stupid remarks in front of Hawk. Don't trouble him or make him uncomfortable."  He held his chest, feigning hurt.

"When have I ever done that?"

But when he saw the pointed stare I threw him, he chuckled.

"Ok, I won't do anything of that sort, seriously."  

And would you look at that? I always knew Kevin had it in him to be understanding. We might banter all the time, but he'd always have my back.

"So, how come I've never seen you at any party before?"  

I stabbed my food, trying to deceive myself into thinking it was Kevin's eyes. What was that thing I said earlier? Oh yeah, 'he'd always have my back.'  Yeah, he'd always have my back, only to stab it!  He'd been acting like one of the dads in those teen fictions I read sometimes, who always went all:

"what are your intentions with my daughter?"

"Do you even have a plan for your future?"

 "Are you a secret assassin?"

Ok, maybe not those kinds of questions. But he'd been going all investigative mode. And maybe Hawk could take him seriously, but I could see the teasing tilt in his eyes when he stared at me - a clear sign that he was enjoying himself. 

Typical Kevin.  

"Well, when you've spent all your lunch breaks behind the bleachers, you're not exactly going to be at the top of the party invite list," Hawk answered with a soft chuckle. 

My lips twitched into a smile at his reply. I don't know why, but I liked that he wasn't embarrassed about his unpopularity. And from the looks on everyone else's faces, it was clear I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"Screw party invites, you my friend, are coming to Tommy Henderson's party tonight," Kevin chimed, smiling good naturedly at Hawk.  

"Yeah, Hawk, you should totally come. I can't promise it'll be fun though; we all know Tommy's parties are as boring as boring gets," Beck mused in her usual matter-of-fact way.

Although, her face seemed devoid of any emotion, I could sense a ghost of a smile on her lips, which in Beck language, meant she actually liked Hawk.  I kind of figured it out earlier on when Hawk answered, 'uhh...yeah,' after she asked him:

"would you sleep with a hot vampire even if she'd suck your blood dry the next day?"  

Yeah, that's just Beck for you. Sam and Eliza took...well, let's just say more normal approaches.

"And we can get to hang out more," Kevin piped.

"You mean you can get to make him join you in your stupid drinking games," I said, staring at Kevin with a knowing smile.  He held his chest in mock hurt.

"What? Do you really think I'd do something like that?"  

"Yeah, totally," we chorused. 

He turned to face Hawk.

"You see Hawk? They always g**g up on me," he whined playfully, to which Hawk just chuckled.  

"So, you're coming right?" Kevin asked after he was done with his dramatics.  Hawk threw a small stare at me, and I nodded in reply to his silent question.

"Yeah, sure, I'd love to," he answered, smiling.  So, I guess I was going to a party tonight with my boyfriend.

Although, for some reason, I could not help wondering what'd happen at this party. I had a feeling it was going to be...eventful.