The Bad Nerd

CHAPTER THREE

"Dude, I'm telling you. Jerry only punched her once and she didn't even seem fazed by it. I say she punched him 7 times before he was out like a light. When Jerry woke up, he was beyond pissed but he didn't say anything about fighting her again." Two guys sat behind me talking about what happened last night. I didn't really pay attention to who was there so I didn't know if they knew that the 'her' they were talking about was right in front of them. From the way it sounds, they didn't. That was the way I liked it.

"I mean, he did deserve what he got. He did say some f****d up things to her. Hopefully, Marcus keeps his words of encouragement to himself whenever he fights her. We don't want him to end up like him." The other guy responded before the teacher walked to the back of the classroom trying to figure out who was talking. For the rest of the class, I listened to three different pairs talk about what happened. I'm not sure how many people went last night but all they could talk about was me. There were comments about how I should help them train, how someone should put me in my place, or how I had a cute butt.

The only thing I pretty much cared about was what was said about Marcus. If I heard correctly, eventually I would have to fight Marcus. I don't know if he was there last night or if he saw me fighting. If he did, then I hope he's ready to have his ass handed to him.

The bell soon rang and people began to spill out of the classroom. Of course, everyone bundled up together, making it hard for others to get out of the room. "Excuse me," I mumbled softly as I pushed myself through the group but they simply shoved me back. I was trying my best not to punch someone in the back of their heads right now.

It wasn't long until I was finally out of the classroom and walking through the hallway. It was currently lunchtime so everyone was either making their way towards the cafeteria or out to the parking lot to drive to get food. If I had thought about it, I would have borrowed my dad's car so I could leave campus but I was running late and had to run to school.

"I guess I'm gonna have to check her out tomorrow when we train." A voice came from around the corner. I could have easily walked the other way but the topic they were talking about stopped me from walking. "Do you think she's gonna be there?" The first voice chuckled. "Of course, she's going to be there. If she doesn't show up, she gets put on probation. It was in the rules when she signed the contract." He was right. If I didn't show up for my first train session, I get put on probation. I won't be able to fight for the next 4 fights. Not fighting also means not getting money.

"You're right. Anyways, do you want pizza or Chinese?" At that moment, I decided to no longer listen to their conversation. To make it seem like I hadn't heard anything, I waited for the other voice to answer before walking around the corner. Marcus and one of his friends, I believe his name was Vincent, were standing there, watching me walk past. "Hey, isn't that the chick that came back like a couple of days ago and got embarrassed by Mercedes?" Vincent asked, trying his best to whisper to Marcus. Someone truly needs to teach that boy how to whisper.

I didn't dare look back at them because I didn't want it to seem like I was listening to them. Also, I didn't want to look at Marcus. I could feel his eyes burning a hole into the back of my head. "Yep. That's also the nerd that dressed up as Captain Underpants. Let's just go get some food. I'm tired of this place."

Marcus could tell he had gotten to me. If there was one thing I wish I could change about my past, it would be that. That and the fact I ever trusted Malcolm. Speaking of Malcolm, I haven't seen nor heard from him since Spanish class. Hell, he barely said anything to me when I was in that class. Which was a good thing. Lord, who knows what I would have done if he tried anything.

Lunch flew by and now it was time for Biology. It was still lame but at least it had some interesting.

"Move nerd." A female voice demanded as I fell onto the ground. I looked up from the ground and noticed one of Mercedes's friends, Sara, standing there looking like a rejected s*x doll. "I know that I look beautiful but I'm not into girls." She laughed while flipping her hair and walked off, the sound of her heels clicking on the ground bouncing off the lockers. I collected myself off the ground and took a deep breath. "Why don't you say anything?" Malcolm asked. When I turned around, a deep frown began to form on my face. "Why does it matter to you? Last time I remembered, you were embarrassed to be my friend and to be seen with me." I mumbled, pushing my glasses up my nose.

At the same time, I tried my best to walk around him and head to the cafeteria but was stopped by Malcolm grabbing my arm. "Listen Indigo, just because I'm not your friend anymore doesn't mean that I can't say something when it comes to you. We both know that you can easily handle those girls so why don't you stop holding your tongue and say something back?" Before I could answer, my arm was snatched from Malcolm and my body was pulled into another one. "I don't know if it was me but I can clearly see that she doesn't want to talk to you. How about you just leave her alone and go run to your little round-a-bout?" The voice spoke, his voice taunting Malcolm and begging him to say something back.

Instead, Malcolm looked at the person then down at me. "This isn't over." He whispered before walking away. "He's right, you know. You should really learn how to speak up instead of being quiet." The person said as he let me go. "I appreciate you for saying something but if I wanted a white knight, I would have gone to Lewis and all of the other nerds," I mumbled as I turned towards the person. There stood the devil himself. "Well, I think we both know that they wouldn't do anything. You can't even do anything yourself. " Marcus replied, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. I have never wanted anything more than I want to smack the smirk off his face. I could feel my face twisting in order to make a frown but I couldn't let him know that he was getting to me.

Instead, I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. "Great. Looks like I won't be able to get lunch." I sighed, sliding my phone back into my pocket and rubbing my temples. "Here." Marcus shoved a bag into my arms. "They gave me extra food. There are two egg rolls if you want them. I told them that I didn't want it but they gave it to me anyway." He shook his head then walked off. "Alrighty then." I looked inside the bag and saw the food sitting inside. "Indigo!" A voice screamed just before I was tackled onto the ground. Coughing, I rolled over and pushed the person off of me. "Jesus f*****g Christ. Next time just tap me on the shoulder." I coughed once more before looking at the person.

"I'm sorry. I was just super excited to see you." The person responded. Shaking my head, I stood up. "Jesus, Janice. I can't stand it when you do that. I can barely breathe now." I placed a hand on my chest as Janice stood there, smiling as if she just won the lottery.

"You will not believe what just happened. Lewis asked me to come over to study!" She squealed happily, ignoring that I was glaring at her for knocking my lungs into my back. Janice has had a crush on Lewis for the longest but never got the guts to ask him out. It wasn't until junior year that she began talking to him.

We began walking towards the doors as she kept going on about how she hoped something happens at his house. I kept hearing small sentences but I was too out of it to pay attention. "Hey Janice, I need you to do me a favor. There's this guy I fought last night. His name is Jerry Dawson. He's been threatening me since I've beaten him up. Find out where he lives, his job, if he has a family. Anything." Janice stopped her rambling about Lewis and nodded her head. "Got you. I have everything done by 8 tonight. If you're not home, I'll just leave it with your dad." She leaned in and hugged me before walking off. It's always easy to get Janice to change topics whenever hacking or finding someone's info is involved.

The sound of my stomach growling pulled me out of my thoughts. "I hope that my food is good," I mumbled as I pushed the doors open and walked over to a bench. Luckily, none of my food had spilled out and my egg rolls were good. My next class started in 20 minutes so I had just enough time to eat and call my dad. After I finished eating, I headed towards my locker but stopped when I saw Marcus standing there with his back pressed against the door. "You mind moving?" I tilted my head to the side and crossed my arms over my chest. A small chuckle escaped his lips as he moved out of the way.

I wanted to say something but I knew that it was exactly what he wanted. Instead, I ignored his existence as I opened my locker and pulled out my chemistry book. "You know, everyone around here talks about you and how big of a nerd you are. Honestly, you're nothing like a nerd. You're more like an outcast, a wallflower." He stopped talking once I slammed the locker shut. "And you do know that I don't care, right? If I did, I wouldn't have come back after being gone for 3 years. Now, if you don't mind, I have a class to get to." Not letting him get another word out, I walked off.

~~~~~

Two hours and a half later, I'm finally free from school. I had 3 hours to rest before I had to go train. If it wasn't mandatory, I would skip and sleep the rest of the day away. Sighing, I put my earbuds into my ears and began walking home. Cry by Ashnikko began blasting, drowning out the rest of the world. Walking home to me was peaceful. I was finally able to get time to myself without Marcus, Malcolm, Mercedes, or anything else being a pain in the ass. That was until the earbud was pulled out of my ear and Marcus's voice drifted into my head.

"You know if you keep listening to music that loud, you'll lose your hearing when you're old." He dropped the earbud and slipped his hands into his pocket. "Well, that means I won't have to hear you talk. Now, if you excuse me." He could tell I was irritated with his presence but he enjoyed it. He was one of those guys. "Well, I was going to offer you a ride home." Marcus shrugged, walking back to his car and opening the passenger door. "Come on, get in." Instantly, I shook my head. He has already seen my house when he dropped Vi off and I can't have him asking questions. "I'm good walking home. Plus, I don't know what or who you've done in your car. Don't want to sit in any unknown stains."

Marcus threw his head back and laughter soon poured out his mouth clearly enjoying the small interaction. "You know what, you're pretty interesting. Guess I'll drop you off another day." He closed the passenger door then walked over to the driver's side. "Until then." With a wave of his hand, he disappeared inside the car and drove off. Thankfully, I wasn't followed home and was able to get inside with no problem. Who knows what would have been said if Marcus followed me and realized just who I was. Stretching, I dropped all my things down on the couch and walked into the kitchen. It would be a few hours before I had to leave to train. Might as well relax as long as possible.

I grabbed a leftover slice of pizza and tossed it into the microwave. While it was warming up, I walked up to my room to change into something more comfortable. Tank top and shorts were always a go-to. The microwave went off at the same time the doorbell rang. "Ugh, I'm coming!" I yelled as I hopped down the stairs. Before answering the door, I made sure to grab the slice of pizza out of the microwave. "Indi, open the same door!" Sidney yelled from the outside. Rolling my eyes, I opened the door and bit into the pizza. "I should have left your ass outside. Who do you think you are screaming at me like that?"

Sidney simply laughed as she walked into the kitchen, looking through the cabinets like she lived here. Exactly what best friends do. "Anyways, I'm going with you tonight even though there aren't any fights tonight. I just wanna see my best friend scare some grown-ass men." I couldn't help but chuckle at her excitement. Although Sidney didn't grow up in this lifestyle, she wasn't scared of it. Even when we happened to be kidnapped for an hour when we were supposed to be at the mall. She just kept saying how she was gonna turn this into a movie when we're older.

"Alright. We're gonna leave around 7 so that way I have enough time to eat. Once we're there, you're gonna have to sit in the back and stay quiet. If anyone finds out if you're there, I'm gonna have to kick their ass." Sidney simply just nodded her head before grabbing a glass and fixing herself some apple juice. We continued to talk for a while before finally getting ready. It didn't take us that long considering that it was only a training night.

We left 20 minutes before 7 that way we could stop and grab dinner since Sidney decided that her nearly eating all the food we had in the fridge wasn't enough. When we finally got to the training gym, Sidney took her food and found a nice, quiet room away from the wandering eyes. I, unfortunately, had to deal with all of them. I could hear whispers, wondering why I was there despite me showing them the night before. I wasn't going to let those grown men try to bully me out of this place. I deserve to be here just as much as they do. Hell, any woman deserves to be here.

As I was placing my things in a locker, a tall figure stepped up beside me. "Well, I take it that you're the girl who beat Jerry's ass last night." His voice was smooth like cocoa butter. It was pretty hot, not gonna lie. "That's me," I answered in a flat tone. I didn't care about how hot his voice was. If he was planning on being an ass, I wanted to let him know that I wasn't going to let it get to me. "Good going. It was about time someone finally gave that man an ass-whooping. If you hadn't done it, I would have."

I let out a small laugh. As if he would have done it. Before her, she could tell that Jerry had been untouched for a while. There was no way this guy was going to do anything. "Yeah. Whatever you say, man." I closed the locker and finally looked at the guy. He was absolutely breathtaking. His skin was golden brown, his teeth were glistening white, and his curly dark hair lay on top of his head. "Huh, I guess the guys weren't lying. You really are cute. I'm Jayden. Nice to meet you." He held out his hand to me. "Indigo," I replied, shaking his hand.

We stared at each other in silence before hearing someone clear their throat. Almost immediately, we both broke eye contact and looked at the person. Of course, it was Marcus. "I'm sorry to be interrupting your special moment but I need to get through to change." I rolled my eyes and walked out of the locker room. "You just had to be the first one to meet the new girl, huh?" I heard Marcus say but not Jayden's response.

The night went by slowly. Jerry had been on the other side of the gym silently glaring and mumbling to himself. Marcus had been working out with Jayden all night so I didn't get another chance to talk to Jayden. I occasionally had someone come up to me to ask what made me want to fight or how long had I been fighting. Once training was over, I quickly got Sidney and left before I could get any more questions. I only wished that I had gotten another chance to talk to Jayden.

"So, how was it? Did any of those men try to touch you? Did you have to beat anyone up?" Sidney asked as soon as we got in the car. "No, Sidney. It was fine. Everyone just stayed to themselves besides the people who had questions for me." I wasn't going to tell her about Marcus or Jayden just for my sanity. If I had told her about either of them, I wouldn't have heard the end of it. Especially if I had told her about Marcus and that he goes to my school. She'll swear that it is a match made in heaven.

We got to my house relativity fast. Sidney didn't feel like going home so she just texted her mother to let her know she was staying the night. Her mother hated that she was hanging out with me again but knew that she couldn't control her. Hell, I don't know who could control Sidney. I don't even think Sidney could control herself.

Sidney hopped into the shower before me even though I was the one who desperately needed to shower. She said something about having to sit in that room made her feel sticky. I just chose to not fight about it with her. Sighing, I flopped back on my bed just as I got a text from Janice. '

Sorry about the delay. Had some difficulties but I got the information. Jerry Dawson, 33 years old. Originally from Orlando, Florida. He's divorced, has been for the past 4 years. His wife caught him cheating with her twin sister. Two children, Lisdney who is 12, and Jayden who is 23. His son also trains at the gym with him. He currently lives with Jayden in a two-bedroom apartment downtown. He works at the local computer store as the manager. If you need any more information, let me know.'

Well, damn. That cute guy I had met just so happens to be his son. That's just unfortunate. I laid my phone down on my pillow and let out an annoyed sigh. "Whatcha all grumpy for?" Sidney asked as she walked out of the bathroom, wrapping a towel around her hair. "Life just got more complicated," I stated. Sidney just shrugged and sat down not even bothering to ask any more questions. I hopped up and walked out of the room heading to my sister's bathroom. She was gone for the night which meant that we would have the house to ourselves since my dad was working late.

The rest of the night went by fine. Sidney ordered some pizza and we stayed up for a while watching movies before we eventually fell asleep. I was suddenly woken up around 4 am to the sound of someone knocking on the door. It definitely not my dad seeing as he has his own key. Making sure not to wake Sidney up, I got out of the bed and crept downstairs. I slowly approached the door and looked out the peephole. Confused by who was at the door, I opened it. "Mom, what are you doing here?"