Fun with Nerdy Girls 9 (Patreon)

As I working on the practice problem the day after my memorable night with Carrie, trying to focus on something more than the amazing memories I had collected, I felt something hitting on the back of my head, followed by a bunch of suppressed laughter. 

“Perfect,” I murmured. I finally got the attention of the bullies. I had been hoping that as students that were about to go to college, my cohort was above childish bullying like spitballs during the class, but it seemed that I was being unnecessarily hopeful. Being legally adults didn’t mean much to everyone as I had hoped, apparently… From the corner of my eye, I looked at the responsible party, only to see a few boys sitting in the middle of the class, completely ordinary other than the quality of their clothes, which was a cut above the rest. 

Rich kids, I realized. It wasn’t the first time I was dealing with those, and they usually came in three different veins. The first, and the smallest group, were the ones that were able to find something interesting to do with their life, be it sports, business, or classes, therefore the least annoying party between all, as even with their entitlement, they were too focused on their target to mess with others. 

The second group was the slackers. With the safety net of their family wealth combined with uncaring parentage, they acted out, but rarely in the confines of the school. They preferred to have long nights of car racing or drugs —depending on the size of their family wealth and the irresponsibility of their parents— to messing around in the classroom. Not because they were even close to maturity or respect, of course. No, they preferred to sleep in class rather than act out, resting during the day to lash out during the night. 

The last relevant group consisted of the ones unable to meet their families’ aggressive expectations or lacked the attention in the first place, but too cowardly to act out in a truly dangerous manner, and therefore, chose to act out in the school, usually not amounting to anything more than a minor nuisance. They were even rarely bullied in any worthwhile manner, choosing to conduct themselves in childish ways rather than a manner that might present them in a dangerous manner. 

From the way they glanced toward a redhead that was sitting on the opposite side of the class with a lovesick expression, it wasn’t hard to guess that they were using their casual bullying in a way to get her attention. She looked familiar for some reason, but I failed to recognize from where. 

Honestly, not the best way of attracting a woman. Not that bullying didn’t work to attract women —usually either the ones with problematic home lives, leaving them unable to truly separate negative and positive attention, or the ones who watched far too many romantic movies about beautiful princesses reforming the troubled bad boys through the power of their lives. It wasn’t a way I wanted to emulate, but it would be a lie to say it wasn’t effective. 

Unfortunately for them, my would-be bullies had the aura of petulant man-children rather than tragic bad boys, with all the disdain it evoke. Even the redhead, who didn’t dress or act like a part of the popular clique —despite her lovely face and beautiful hair— looked at them with derision, but the boys lacked the awareness to notice that particular detail. 

I sighed as I did my best to focus on the formulas on the whiteboard, expecting them to get bored. Unfortunately, they didn’t do so until the end of the class. 

When the bell rang, I gathered my stuff with deliberate slowness, trying to decide how to handle the situation. Unfortunately, teaching them a lesson publicly was not an option. The attention it would bring would have been annoying enough, but even worse was the risk of possible disciplinary action, something that would be a glaring problem in my college application, especially if their rich parents escalate the situation. 

I didn’t want to ruin the opportunity of a lifetime just to beat up a couple of dorks. But also, I didn’t want to let things go without payback as well, as it was how people suddenly found themselves as the favorite target of the bullies. 

Distracted by my thoughts, I didn’t notice a surprise visitor until a shadow fell on me. I raised my head, prepared to lash out to my bullies, only to stop myself as I glimpsed the sunlight shining on a lock of auburn hair. 

“Hi,” said the redhead who had been the target of my incompetent bullies. Normally, I would have been a bit weird by her sudden attention, but her apologetic expression, combined with the momentarily annoyed glare she sent toward the boys gave me an idea about her aim. Since none of the involved parties were high enough in the school’s totem pole, the rest of the class walked out, not paying any attention to our little fracas. Though, for some reason, she still looked a bit more familiar than the memorability that would be gained from a random glance at the corridor. 

“Hello,” I said with a charming smile as I noticed the angry glares of two annoying boys in the background, clearly jealous of the sudden attention I was getting. “How can I help such a ravishing example of beauty?” I asked, a bit louder than necessary, but letting my smile getting an amused edge to clue in about my aim. 

Her beautiful hazel eyes shone in understanding, suggesting that she understood my aim. “Oh, handsome, and still a gentleman. Aren’t you a rare treasure?” she said, just like my statement, a bit louder than necessary. “I just wanted to welcome you to our school.” 

“Very much appreciated,” I said even as I threw my bag on my shoulder. “Then, would you care to accompany me to the cafeteria?”

“My pleasure,” she said, and just like that, we walked out of the classroom, under the aghast realization of my incompetent bullies, realizing that they had managed to create the opposite effect they had been seeking. 

We walked silently for a while. Then, she looked back before starting to speak. “Sorry about Mike and Jerry, they can be a bit much.” 

I waved my hand. “Don’t worry, they are little more than annoying flies, and it’s not your fault in the first place that they are still stuck on playground tactics of flirting.” 

She just shrugged, which worked perfectly to communicate her own uncaring distaste about their childish behavior. Then, after a moment’s silence, she managed to surprise me. “You’re not like I expected,” she stated suddenly, without a preamble. 

It was a weird statement, and if it came from someone else, I might have answered it tersely. However, in my books, being a cute redhead earned enough points to tolerate a dash of quirkiness. “How so?” 

“Considering how well you’re getting along with your new tutor, I expected another nerd unable to speak with a new person without stammering at least a word in every sentence. You’re certainly more smooth than I expected,” she said. 

It was a weird statement, but her focus on my new tutor finally allowed me to remember where I had seen her before, though at a distance. She was one of Carrie’s friends that had been giggling around her just before I met her in the library the first time. 

Since she was Carrie’s friend, I was willing to cut her some slack. 

“D-does t-this help?” I suddenly stammered even as I crouched a bit, bringing my books to my chest like a shield, trying to look like a fearful nerd trying to avoid his bullies. 

That earned a burst of laughter. “It helps a bit,” she said. “So, what brings you to Sunny High?” That launched a small discussion about my transfer, which I answered as directly as possible, though she spoke more than I did even as she was the one seeking answers. She was rather chatty, but luckily, not in an annoying way. 

Then, I made the mistake of saying I wasn’t interested in one of the more recent fantasy blockbuster TV series. “How!” she gasped in shock. “The Dragon Sword is the most amazing TV series, ever! It has magic, it has action, it has politics!” 

“Maybe I should watch it,” I said, even as I decided to mess with a little. She wasn’t doing well in hiding her interest in interrogating me about Carrie, but I didn’t really want to talk about it with Irene before I could better understand their relationship. “They say TV series even better than the books,” I said. I didn’t really know about it, nor did I care, but I remember last year some of the fans in the school coming blows on the topic. It was clearly something that divided the fans. 

Irene proved she was one of those fans that took the issue seriously, as it triggered a lengthy explanation, that while the TV series was groundbreaking, it was only in terms of the silver screen, and ultimately, it could never rival the majesty and the complexity of the books. 

Her explanation continued as we arrived at the cafeteria, and while I intended to move to my own table, she grabbed my arm and dragged me toward her table. A table that was already filled with the rest of their little clique, including a very familiar blonde. 

“We have a new guest today, girls,” said Irene as she pushed me to a seat, far too aggressive than I had expected her to. “He thinks that the TV show for the Dragon’s Sword better than the books.” 

The table seemed to share my opinion, as a collective groan escaped their mouth. “That’s enough, Irene,” said Sarah immediately as she laughed. “We don’t want to chase the only boy that’s willing to sit on the table with us weirdos.” 

Irene pouted, but under the laugher of the rest of the group, she was barely able to say anything. Meanwhile, I could see Sarah poking Carrie several times in an effort to make her speak, but Carrie was busy blushing, unable to say anything. 

Her reaction was extremely cute considering we had spent a majority of the night —and a short yet delicious encore in the morning— testing her flexibility for a number of positions in the bed, against the wall, and in the shower… She was no doubt dealing with those vivid memories, which overwhelmed her capability to suppress her shyness when she was among her friends… 

Sarah, however, clearly misunderstood the reason for her shyness, so she was trying to push Carrie to speak. After half a minute, she sighed. “Let me introduce our little team of misfits,” she said. “You already met our resident fantasy nerd Irene,” she said, pointing at the curvy redhead that had been bombarding me with various inconsistencies between the book and the TV series. 

“I’m Naomi,” burst in the other brunette girl on the table. Though, unlike Sarah, her skin was dark enough to suggest mixed heritage, and her curves were significantly more attention-grabbing. “Yoga enthusiast.” 

“You mean health nut,” Sarah cut in with a smirk, making Naomi frown playfully. “Never let her drag you to a mall, or you’ll learn there’s just how many stores that sell supplements and weird accessories.” 

“Hey, they are not weird,” Naomi cut in, but she was ignored. 

Sarah then pointed at the brown-haired girl with eyes that betrayed another mixed heritage, this time Asian. “And this is Ida, our cute exchange student. Never agree to join her for a gaming session unless you have a weekend to waste.” 

“Hey,” Ida said with a cute, barely audible exclamation, but she was smiling. 

“And you already met with our nerdy honor student, Carrie,” Sarah said, slightly frustrated as Carrie was still skipping the opportunity to speak. 

With that, the group started talking hesitantly, no doubt trying to process my presence, while I examined the unique beauty of the girls I was sharing a table with. Before meeting with Carrie, I would never have paid attention to such a group due to their relatively obscure look, lacking the make-up and the trendy clothing to highlight their beauty, but after Carrie, I realized just how big of a treasure trove it was. 

Especially since Carrie and I were not dating, but I was teaching her about the various aspects of intimacy. As I listened to the group dawdle on an inane nerdy topic, I was already wondering whether it was possible to have a guest visitor in our tutoring sessions…