The Summer I Became a Nerd - By Leah Rae Miller Page 0,69

but there are only descriptions of powers and how they relate to other powers. After only a couple of minutes, I’m just plain confused.

As Martha sets a pitcher of lemonade and some glasses on the table, Vera leans toward me to whisper, “This stuff is weird.”

“I know, totally weird,” I whisper back.

“It won’t be weird when I’m done,” Martha says. “You just have to look at it like an interactive movie or play. The basic plot points are already made up by the game master, and you get to figure things out. Which reminds me, what happened at the last game?”

I tell her everything about the bad things going on in town and that my character’s special knowledge about other races or whatever it’s called told me it’s probably a dark fairy doing all of it.

When I’m finished, she stares at the ceiling for a moment before picking up the phone that’s been resting on the table between us. She dials a number.

“Is Tommy there? Hello, Tommy, this is Martha. I have a player here that needs to know how many experience points she got for participating in the first game.”

Tommy’s answer does not make her happy. “No, two points can’t be right. She’s the one who found out that juicy tidbit about it being a dark fairy. I doubt anyone else had the Race Knowledge skill set.” She pauses, then, “Three? Need I remind you I only order the Grimore and the Infinites comic because you can’t live without it? I think five would be the correct reward for such a studious action.”

Another pause. “Low blow or not, I still hold the ordering form. Besides, do you want this next game to be mind-blowing or not?” I know he’s given in when she bounces in her seat and smiles. “You won’t be sorry, Tommy. And expect more calls from me. I’ll be needing some plot specifics if I need to run a scene.” She pours some lemonade as Tommy responds. “Yes, I know I haven’t done the game master thing in a while, but my membership is still valid. Don’t worry, I’ll be very conservative with the experience points.” She winks at me then says good-bye to Tommy.

“Did you just blackmail the game master?”

She shrugs. “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”

She opens the thickest book out of both stacks and thumbs through the pages, quickly finding the spot she’s looking for. She turns it around and the words “Dark Fae” stare back at me in big, bold gothic letters.

“By the way, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about.” I hope she’s going to like the rest of my plan.

#25

I spend the rest of the week on my bed, devouring the LARP books. I start with every section I can find about elves or the dark fae, but I’m done with those after the first day. I could probably stop there, but I don’t. The whole game world is so intricate and interesting that it sucks me in.

The dwarves hate the elves—of course they do, what fantasy world is complete without that—the dark fairies hate the bright fairies, and the vampires hate the werewolves. Everyone hates the lizardmen, and everyone loves the centaurs which isn’t very fair, in my opinion. Then again, the lizardmen apparently lick their own eyeballs. Whereas the centaurs grant wishes.

I also listen to Logan’s Show of Awesome every night. It gets increasingly clearer he isn’t exactly feeling very awesome right now. Every show is filled with super depressing music. His voice has lost its creamy quality, so he sounds more like my Aunt Sharlene, who smokes a pack a day. He stops asking his listeners to call in with their happy stories. Instead, he requests anecdotes about “The worst girlfriend you ever had” and “What made you be a jerk today?”

Terra and I reclaim our nightly phone call schedule. If I ever push her away again, I’m going to kick my own ass.

“What are you listening to? I love that song.”

“It’s the college station. Logan’s show is on,” I say with more than a smidgen of pride.

“Hold on.”

A second later, Logan’s voice echoes between my radio and hers, which would normally be annoying, but gravelly voice or not, it’s him. “We have a caller. Caller, we’re discussing when was the last time you told someone off. Go ahead.”

“Eek.” I can picture her nose crinkle up. “He does not sound happy.”

The caller’s voice echoes just like Logan’s did, but this