The Summer I Became a Nerd - By Leah Rae Miller Page 0,60
in the backseat. Once we hit the interstate, I duck down behind Rayann’s seat to change my shirt. It’s kind of hard to get comfortable in it because all the painted parts are stiff.
Terra and Rayann start practicing the chant that was my idea, and I try my best to memorize it since this is the first time I’ve heard it. After their third recitation, Rayann pipes up. “Are you getting all this, Maddie?”
“Yeah, I… I got it.”
Terra glances at me over her shoulder. “Should we do it again? You know, in case you’ve forgotten how to cheer, too?”
Rayann’s eyebrows shoot up as she looks between me and Terra. To cut off the questions I see brewing in her eyes, I quickly say, “No, no, I got it. Really.”
“It’s pretty awesome, right?” she asks, still watching me too closely. “It just popped into my head the other day. It’s a good thing it did, too, because we didn’t have anything else. I mean, we weren’t even sure you’d show up, Maddie.”
I glare at the back of Rayann’s head. As if I need her to remind my best friend how much I suck. I put a hand on Terra’s shoulder. “Terra, I—”
She cuts me off by handing Rayann an Allison CD. “Make it loud.”
Okay, I can take a hint. I keep quiet, staring out at the passing wilderness as we barrel down I-49. Before I know it, we’re waiting in the car line for a parking spot at the coliseum.
I trail behind Terra and Rayann as we make our way up to the ticket desk with the rest of the Allison fans. They’re mostly girls the same age as us with the occasional young boy stalker-type and lots of parents who look like they’d love to be anywhere but here.
I know exactly how those parents feel.
As we find our seats, I realize how bad of an idea this was. Terra asks to trade seats with Rayann, but Rayann doesn’t want to sit by me either. I feel like crap for ruining this experience for Terra, so I try to talk to her one more time.
“Terra, just let me say I’m sorry, please.”
No answer. She just stares straight ahead at the empty stage.
“You’re not being fair. I’ve been dealing with a lot of stuff lately.”
“Oh really? And what? Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? You pretended like I didn’t even exist the other day!”
Rayann’s head whips toward us on full alert. She doesn’t even try to hide her excitement. Drama pirate ahoy! “What’s going on?”
“Maddie’s been avoiding me for God knows what reason, though probably because she’s seeing a guy she didn’t tell me about. Like she doesn’t trust me or something. And now she’s trying to apologize, but she can’t seem to think about anyone else but herself.” I seriously fear for my life during her rant because she keeps throwing her hands in the air. Angry, hand-talking Terra is way more dangerous than drunk leave-a-bruise-on-your-arm-talking Terra.
Rayann gasps. “You’re cheating on Eric? With who?”
“I’m not cheating,” I snap. “Stay out of this, Rayann.”
“Don’t bite her head off. At least she talks to me. At least she knows the cheer you were supposed to come up with.”
When the hell did Terra start sticking up for Rayann? What kind of bizarro world is this?
“You’ve been avoiding me,” Terra says so quietly I almost don’t hear her. “Why, Maddie? You’re my best friend.” She sounds so sad I want to hug her, but she probably wouldn’t let me.
I sigh. “It’s just that I didn’t think you’d like this new guy, is all.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Terra says, her eyes narrowing. “You’ve been avoiding me because you think I’d be so shallow as to not like this guy because of some dumb shirt?”
I open my mouth to respond, but it takes me a second. “Well, when you put it that way, it makes it sound stupid, but—”
“That’s because it is stupid, Maddie. And that’s not even the worst of it. Did you ever consider that maybe you aren’t the center of the world? That maybe, just maybe, I have crap going on, too? Crap that I should be able to talk to my best friend about? But have I been able to talk to you about it? No, because you won’t answer your phone or return my calls. Because apparently, you’ve been off committing social suicide by dumping Eric. I mean, who does junk like that? Only you, Maddie, only you.”