Love and Fandoms (4 page)

"Actually,
they could say 'Hell no,' call me an idiot, and get the whole school to laugh
at me." Not that he actually believed that, but it was better than
admitting the truth, which was that no one at school could ever match up to
Mandy.

"You know
that's not going to happen, right?"

"Maybe it
wouldn't have in your day."

"Yeah, way
back in my day, the magical late 80s and early 90s, where everyone wore neon
spandex and acid wash jean jackets and did the moonwalk to school while banging
their head to grunge music."

Wyatt barked out a
laugh. "Wait, I knew about the neon spandex, grunge music, and the moon
walking, but
acid wash
jean jackets?"

"Oh, you
poor, innocent soul. I've sheltered you too much. Besides, today, your day,
you'd only get cyber bullied."

"Great
pep-talk, Mom. That makes me feel so much better."

"What? Like that's
a big deal for you. You can use your computer wizard skills to stop them."

"You mean
like blocking and unfriending them?"

"There you
go. See? More than I would have known to do."

"Whatever."

"All I'm
saying is you should enjoy your senior year. Why not get a girlfriend? You
haven't had one since you and Mandy Blake were so close in elementary
school."

Wyatt's face felt
like it burst into flames. Maybe Mom wouldn't notice, but there was probably no
way she didn't. Heck, the Wilsons across the street probably felt the heat.
"What? No, she wasn't my girlfriend. She was just a … girl … who was my
friend. Same as Luci Velarde."

"Sorry, kid,
but I remember with probably much more clarity than you. Luci was your friend
who was a girl, but Mandy was your girlfriend, even if you were too young to
think about it in those terms."

He stuffed a few
fries into his mouth so he didn't have to say anything for the moment. His mind
flashed back to that afternoon when he was eight years old, and Mandy not only
said she wanted to marry him some day, but had kissed him. Silly, innocent
stuff, but a memory he'd always cherish. How pathetic was that?

"Anyway,"
Mom said, "I won't say any more about it. Just thought you might want a
date before high school ended."

"I'll keep it
in mind."

She rolled her
eyes. "Finish your dinner."

They talked more
about each other's day while they polished off their meals. After he rinsed the
dishes and placed them in the dishwasher, he headed back to his room to finish
his homework. His mind flashed back to the day he kissed Mandy. Not because of
that, but because of Dad. That was the first time he'd fully realized something
was wrong with his parents' relationship. A few months later, they were
officially divorced, and less than a year after that, Dad was gone, a victim of
a single-person, one-car crash. Well, victim was sort of silly to say. Wyatt
doubted it was on purpose, but Dad was fully to blame, as heavily dosed with
booze as he was. Everyone was lucky he'd been the only one involved.

He took a deep
breath and reached for his laptop. He hated thinking about Dad, and did it as
little as possible. There were plenty of great memories, but the most vivid
ones were from that last year when he'd been drunk more than sober. He clicked
on Netflix and pulled up a Buffy episode. That would bury the bad memories for
the moment.

MANDY

Mandy walked
towards the school library about fifteen minutes after school ended. The three
of them decided to conduct their study sessions every Tuesday and Thursday,
starting today. She informed Wyatt and Kareem that she'd be a bit late this
afternoon since it was a running day in Sports Conditioning, and she'd have to
take a quick shower. It was too hot not to. Kareem said, "Good idea,"
while Wyatt mumbled something about how it was probably impossible for her to
stink. She giggled and told him she had stuff that would make her smell nice,
but she'd feel all sweaty and icky, so they could wait. Wyatt had blushed, as
he often did around her, which was adorable. She guessed he blushed around most
girls.

She showered
quickly, was done not long after school officially ended, but took a little too
much time getting ready. She wanted to look perfect, but not appear like she
took any time to make herself that way. Which was stupid since Alex wouldn't be
seeing her. She didn't know how long the study session would last, but the
library closed at four-thirty, so they'd be done and gone long before football
practice ended. She tried to tell herself she simply wanted to look good out of
pride or whatever, but that was a lie. She did it for Wyatt. When she reached
the library door, she took a deep breath, told herself it was no big deal, and
walked in, engulfed by the wonderful, intoxicating aroma of books.

They sat at a table
in the far back corner. There were a few other students at various tables, but
the library was mostly empty. Ms. Sanchez, the librarian, kept it open for
group projects and study sessions like theirs, so it'd see more traffic as the
year went on. Wyatt waved at her, and her stomach did a little flip.
Cool
it.
She smiled, walked over, and saw both boys had their math books on the
table. Though she was only one level behind them, no doubt she'd have no idea
how to work those problems, even if it was likely review for them. Probably
things she'd learn later this year.

"There's Miss
Incognito," Kareem said, earning a smile from her.

"That's much
better than the dork or geek I get from Alex and Luci when the show comes
up."

"You gotta
own those names," Kareem said. "Wyatt and I do. Someone calls us
geeks, and we give them a thumbs-up or a thanks. Besides, society has
practically made geek cool."

"Yeah. I love
seeing the shirts you guys wear each day." She looked at Wyatt while she
said it, and he blushed and looked down at the table.

"I'm
surprised your boy doesn't like all things geek," Kareem said. "Or at
least most things. We've got plenty of action, good stories, hot chicks …"

"Hot guys,
too," she said, earning a laugh from both boys. "He's mostly being stubborn.
If it's not a laugh-a-minute show like The Simpsons or Family Guy, or it's not a
sports match or something else sports-related, he won't even give it a
chance."

"His
loss," Kareem said.

"If you were
my girlfriend, I'd make sure to share as many interests as I could," Wyatt
said. His face went pale and his eyes wide, as if he couldn't believe he said
it.

She hid a smile
behind her hand and said, "You should talk to Alex. He could use that
lesson."

Kareem smacked
Wyatt's shoulder. "You could totally get a girl, dude. I think we both
know one who would say yes in a heartbeat if you manned up and asked her."

Mandy's insides
went cold, but she hid the feeling with a smile. She didn't want to know who
Wyatt liked and vice versa. She had absolutely no reason to feel that way, but
she couldn't help it.

"What about
Luci?" Wyatt asked. "I thought she'd love all the martial arts in Mister
Incognito."

"She actually
thinks they do a good job with that aspect, but she's being as hard-headed as
Alex. Her brother, Johnny, likes the show, too, so she'd lose her fun of
calling us geeks and dorks if she started watching it. I know she'd enjoy it if
she gave it a chance."

"So much
closed-mindedness in the world," Kareem said. "I ought to talk to her
for a few minutes."

"I can
arrange that," she said with a laugh. "So, anyway, how is our study
group going to work?"

"It was your
idea," Kareem said.

Before she could
call Kareem a smart ass, Wyatt said, "We'll work and talk. Kareem and I
always talk comics and fandoms when we do homework together."

"Sounds
great," she said as she pulled out her own math book and binder.

"So how did
you get into Mister Incognito?" Kareem asked.

"You used to
watch it when we were kids," Wyatt said.

They shared a
smile, and she bit her bottom lip before quickly stopping herself. Oh,
goodness, she only ever caught herself doing that when she really wanted to
kiss someone. Or, more specifically, when she wanted to kiss Alex. Or Channing
Tatum or Zac Efron, but they were givens, right? She couldn't get like this
with Wyatt. He wasn't her future.

"Yeah."
She gave an internal wince at how hoarse her voice sounded. She cleared her
throat and said, hopefully in a light, airy tone, "Remember how we always
wanted to act out scenes from the show, but Luci wanted no part of it?"

"And when she
wasn't around, we'd play the board game you had for hours."

"Oh, I forgot
about that. I probably still have that hidden in a box in our garage. Maybe I
should find it, and we can play again."

"It could be
pop culture homework," Kareem said. "Mr. Yong would be all for that,
I'm sure."

"That'll be
fun," she said. "Anyway, when the show first came on, my dad wanted
to watch, but my mom had no interest. It must have started at nine o'clock
because that was my bed time. Once a week, they'd let me stay up an hour later
to watch with him. So my love of it started because I got to stay up past my
bedtime, but it didn't take long for it to legitimately become my favorite
show."

"And your
knowledge?" Kareem said. "From what I heard, you might even be able
to challenge me or my boy here in a trivia contest."

"Probably
blow us away," Wyatt said.

"Trivia books
and things like that. My dad would buy them for me, and I'd devour them. Plus
I've seen each episode at least a half-dozen times."

"That's
great," Kareem said, "but time to branch out and watch other
things."

"I know.
That's why I'm here and looking forward to the class."

"Too bad we
didn't know you were so interested," Wyatt said. "We would have
picked you up a ticket to the comic-con."

"When's that?
Neither Alex nor Luci would go, but maybe I could tag along with you
guys."

"Sold
out," Wyatt said with a frown.

"Oh well. You'll
have to tell me all about it. When is it? Is it the San Diego one?"

Kareem shook his
head. "That one's in July. This is the 2nd Annual North Orange County
Comic Book Convention. It's in the beginning of October."

"Cool. Are
you guys going to dress in costumes?"

"Nah,"
Kareem said. "We'll just wear some sort of fandom shirt each day."

"We'll have
fun watching others cosplay, though," Wyatt added.

"Too bad Alex
won't take you," Kareem said. "He'd probably cosplay."

"Yeah,
right," she said. "You wouldn't catch him dead doing that."

"Does he ever
wear a team jersey when he goes to sporting events?" Wyatt asked.

"He's taken
me to a few Angels and Ducks games, and he always wears a hat and jersey."

Wyatt and Kareem
looked at each other, nodded, and said, "Cosplayer."

She laughed and
made them promise not to bring that up to him. Wyatt pantomimed locking his
lips with a key, like he used to do when they were kids, and her heart
fluttered again. She really needed to stop letting him affect her so much if
they were going to keep this up twice a week, not to mention class together
every day.

The conversation
flowed until four-thirty, all of them actually making a pretty good dent in
their homework. She enjoyed Kareem's sense of humor and Wyatt's shy demeanor
but well-timed quips. They didn't talk much more about pop culture, but caught
up with each other's lives. When Ms. Sanchez called it a day, Mandy wasn't
ready to be done, but was happy they'd be doing it again on Thursday.

WYATT

He and Kareem
stepped into Another Dimension Comic and Game Shoppe. There wasn't anyone
browsing the books, but a half-dozen junior high kids sat at the tables in back
playing collectable card games. They'd dropped Mandy off — she didn't yet have
her driver's license, but planned to get it sometime before she left for
Michigan — and then Kareem asked him if he wanted to hit the comic shop. New books
weren't due in until tomorrow, but any trip to AD, as he and Kareem called it,
was a good stop.

As they looked
through the X-Men books and debated which current series was the best, Allyssa
Shaw walked in. She was the one Kareem was trying to set him up with. She was
smart and almost as much of a geek as the two of them. Plus she was pretty,
with her long, wavy light brown hair, sparkling green eyes, and curvy but
athletic body. She didn't play any sports at school, but from what he
understood, she spent plenty of time at the gym, and it showed. He should have
been happy to go out with her, but he couldn't. She wasn't Mandy. Which was
stupid, but there it was.

"Hey,
guys," she said, coming over to them. "Trying to get new books a day
early?"

"I
wish," Kareem said. "I've been avoiding the Comic Pals message board for
two weeks because I don't want the new Dark Knight spoiled."

"Yeah, that
was quite the cliffhanger last ish," Allyssa said.

"Don't think
it'll be anything major continuity-wise," Kareem said, "but it's
making for a good story."

"I don't
think they even get the new books in until Wednesday morning anyway,"
Wyatt said.

"Makes the
temptation to sell early a bit less, eh?" she said, giving him a wink.

His heart gave a
little flutter. It wasn't nearly as strong as when Mandy smiled at him, but it
was something. Maybe he should let Kareem set him up with her. They really did
get along, and he couldn't deny the attraction. Something to think about,
anyway.

"What do you
guys think of Mr. Yong's class?" she asked, browsing through some books.
Wyatt couldn't see which from his angle.

"I think it's
cool," Kareem said. "I like how he throws topics out and hangs back
while we discuss them. I'm looking forward to seeing what movies and TV
episodes he brings in."

"And it's a
plus that the only homework or tests we have, to go along with participation, are
a five and ten-page paper on any topic," Allyssa said. "The only
problem will be narrowing it down."

Wyatt chuckled.
"Kareem asked Mr. Yong if he could do more for extra credit."

"What did he
say?"

"He said
there was no doubt I'd get an A, so there was no need. But I might do an extra couple
anyway just to hedge my bets."

Allyssa rolled her
eyes. "You realize he has no interest in reading your extra papers, right?
Especially since they'll probably be 20-page diatribes about how you could make
whatever show, comic, or movie better if you wrote for them."

"Well, I
could," he said.

She reached across
the stacks and nudged Wyatt. "How can you stand to listen to his pompous
attitude day after day?"

"You get used
to it," he said, earning a laugh from Allyssa and a scoff from Kareem.

"I noticed
you two taking Mandy Blake under your wings. Did her big strapping boyfriend
threaten to pound you if she didn't get an A?"

"Nah,"
Kareem said. "Mandy's a geek at heart. She just needs some help getting up
to speed."

"She's a
Mister Incognito expert," Wyatt said.

"I've heard
she's into the show, but I'll have to see expert to believe it."

"You should
come to our study sessions after school," Kareem said. "Looks like
they're going to be every Tuesday and Thursday in the school library for the
foreseeable future. We do our homework and talk shop."

"We had our
first one today, and it was a lot of fun," Wyatt added.

Allyssa shrugged
and smiled. "Yeah, if you guys don't mind, I'd love to join."

"Cool,"
Kareem said, while Wyatt smiled at her. She smiled back in a way that made him
feel a little bit light-headed. That was good, right? Mandy used to be the only
one who could do that to him.

"I should get
going. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

They said goodbye,
and when she was gone, Kareem said, "Dude, she's into you. Why won't you
ask her out?"

"She's being
polite," he said, but he was pretty sure Kareem was right.

"Dude, there
was nothing polite about it. She was practically undressing you with her eyes.
Don't ask me why she'd even want to do that, but she was."

"Whatever. Do
you think Mandy will mind we invited Allyssa to join the study group?"

"I don't see
why it would bother her. Allyssa knows almost as much as we do. That's why she
wanted to start this in the first place, right?"

Yeah, that made
sense. And with Allyssa there, Mandy's presence wouldn't affect him as much. Or
at least he hoped.