The Summer I Became a Nerd - By Leah Rae Miller Page 0,79
them back, but he covers them with his own, keeping them in place. My blue face paint has transferred to his nose and cheeks making him look slightly frost-bitten.
“Finally,” he says, voice ragged. I like this tone a lot more than his normal, smooth radio voice.
“Finally what?” My voice is just as shaky as his.
He opens his mouth to say something, but Kelsey shouts, “No freakin’ way!”
Sorenson stands slowly, still staring at the table. “I can’t believe it,” he says in a whisper. Then he turns to the crowd, which I now realize has been deathly quiet this whole time. “Six out of seven rolled high number! The spell is complete!”
The crowd roars. People rush forward to congratulate me, shaking my hands, slapping my back.
“That was the best thing ever!” a guy vamp says, his yellow contact covered eyes wide.
“I can’t believe it. You’re one badass mamma-jamma,” a lizard girl says as she squeezes my shoulder.
Dan shoves through the sea of people. “That was the most donkey-butt crazy shit I’ve ever witnessed!” He punctuates every word by bonking my head with his gigantor sword.
“Excuse us,” Sha-ra says, and people hop off the porch and the steps to make room for her and her crew.
She puts a hand on Kelsey’s shoulder. Kelsey looks up at her with frantic eyes, then jumps up and backs away.
“No, no, this can’t be happening.” She shakes her head the whole time.
“Don’t be afraid, sister,” Sha-ra says. “You are one of us now. We’re going to have to do something about your wardrobe, though.”
As Sha-ra drags Kelsey off the porch by the arm, Kelsey searches for her murder. “Avenge me! Avenge me!”
“Uh-uh,” Sorenson says. “Don’t act out-of-character. She wouldn’t say that now. The second the spell was cast, your character became bright. She’d be thankful for Laowyn’s actions.”
I cover my mouth and look around to see if Logan notices the humor in the whole scene, too, but I can’t find him.
I try to wade through the crowd, searching each face for him, but every player has something to say to me.
“That took a lot of guts, elf,” a broad dwarf says and claps me hard on the back.
Another vampire, this one tall with a top hat and a monocle, stops me. “You are welcome at the Critory clan’s castle anytime, Lady Laowyn.” I nod respectfully, trying to stay in character even though I have no idea what he’s talking about.
Finally, the players start to dissipate, moving back inside or to the backyard.
I spend the next thirty minutes looking for Logan, but he’s nowhere to be found.
#29
I tossed and turned all night. And I blame it all on Logan Scott and those perfect boy-lips of his. Sure, I won. I defeated the evil fairy and saved the day. I can’t wait to go to the next game and be heralded as a hero. Facing Logan might be tough, though, seeing as what I did wasn’t enough to save our relationship.
I looked for him but never found him. He also never called. I know, because I stared at my phone most of the night, waiting. His disappearance has to mean something. Most likely, “Sorry, Maddie. He got what he came for and now he’s over it.”
“So, today’s the big day,” Mom says when I come downstairs. It is six o’clock in the morning, way too early to be wearing my scratchy, maroon and gold cheer uniform, but even though Logan isn’t interested any more, I’ve worked too hard on this part of the plan to let it go. It’s too important to me and everyone involved. So, I have to be there on time, thirty minutes from now.
“Yep.” I’m surprised my sleep-deprived brain can even say that simple word.
“How’d it go last night? Did you stop the evil…what was it?”
“Dark fairy. Yes, I did. Everything went as planned.” Except for the part where I was supposed to get Logan back. That went completely against the plan.
“Good, good. You know, I just love you in your uniform. You look so nice, you have such a cute figure and the bow with the ponytail is—”
“Cut it out, Mom. I don’t think I can take all the gushing this early.” I give her a playful love tap on the shoulder.
She returns the tap with a slight push on my arm. “Fine, be grumpy.”
As I slather some raspberry jam on a slice of buttered toast, she leans against the counter and watches me with a grin.