Fun with Nerdy Girls 44 (Patreon)

It was finally Monday, lunch break, and after a long morning filled with classes, I finally picked my tray — though the cafeteria food barely had enough calories to qualify as a snack. 

I was certainly glad that I had sneaked a couple of protein bars in my bag. 

Though, as I moved, I couldn’t help but be amused by the lack of attention from the crowd. It wasn’t the first time, but still, the sensation of being ignored was … different. As the quarterback in my last school, every step of me was watched — sometimes with admiration, but mostly with impotent envy, hoping for a mistake. 

I might as well be invisible in my new school as I walked toward the corner table, where the nerdy group of girls that I had found myself mixed with — in more ways than one — was sitting. 

Yet, as I got closer, I could feel that a mood different than their usual cheer ruled the table. 

The simplest difference came from Carrie’s attitude. After the memorable weekend we shared, there had been considerable changes in her mood. The last time, she was excessively shy, afraid that one of her friends would realize just how far we had gone. 

Naturally, after everything she had managed to accomplish during the weekend, she had no such fear of getting revealed.

And, speaking of achievements, in terms of confidence, Sarah’s expression took a great step back. Even in the short distance I needed to cover, I had caught her sending hesitant glances to Carrie, her gaze a mixture of guilt and confusion, though whenever her gaze caught Naomi’s sharp expression, it mostly recovered, gaining a smug undertone. 

Naomi was angry, and if her gaze had been pointing at me, I might have felt bad, thinking that I had pushed her to something she wasn’t prepared for. Yet, considering her angry gaze was firmly on Sarah, tightening further whenever Sarah’s smirk made another appearance, it was clear that it was the fact that she had ‘lost’ in their little competition more than anything else. 

Irene, unlike others, had no change in her usual cheerful expression except a slight confusion considering the changed mood of the table, trying to understand what was different. 

Yet, despite the great spread, I found Ida’s the most interesting. It wasn’t her blush, which was almost a constant fixture on her face, but the way her gaze was bouncing between me, Naomi, and Sarah, her beautiful dark eyes deliciously wide. 

If I were to guess, someone had spilled the beans to her about our Saturday adventure. 

“Hi, girls,” I said cheerfully, doing my best to maintain my casualness as I plopped between Ida and Carrie, which made Naomi look at Ida with a momentary panic. “So, how was the weekend?” 

Allowing me to guess who spilled the beans. 

Carrie was first to answer. “Excellent,” she said. “The game night was so much fun, wasn’t it Sarah?” 

Sarah’s expression of guilt was thick, luckily for her, the rest of the table turned their gaze on Carrie, shocked by her attitude. “What game night?” Irene asked. “And why wasn’t we invited?” 

The suggestion of invitation triggered shy reactions of Naomi and Ida as their gazes met, but, considering they hadn’t turned that to Carrie, they were yet to guess anything about the Friday adventures. They were just thinking about a similar adventure the next night. 

Carrie started to explain as she looked at Irene, though, at this point, I was familiar enough with the curl around her lips to understand her objective. “Well, well, we were supposed to have a study session, but Sarah decided to join us at the last second, so we played some board games. Nothing too interesting.” 

“Yeah, nothing too interesting,” Sarah echoed as she looked down, doing her best to hide her face, therefore missing Carrie’s satisfied gaze. 

“Ignore Sarah, she’s in a bad mood because I won,” Carrie said. Well, technically, I was the winner, both in the board game and in general, but I let Carrie have her little victory. 

After all, from a certain perspective, it was certainly a shared achievement. 

“Hey, it’s not good being ignored just because you have a hunky new friend,” Irene said, shaking her finger toward me in mock disapproval. “I feel neglected. Just don’t tell me that you guys had other events.” 

“We didn’t,” Carrie said, then turned her gaze to Naomi. “If you discount a small shopping trip to pick Naomi some new exercise clothes while Chad gave his ideas, of course.”

This time, Irene’s disappointment was not so mocking. “Hey, maybe I’m really getting neglected,” she said, her frown getting deeper. “Also, why did you guys invite Chad to the shopping trip? It’s not exactly the favorite activity of men.” 

“Because he exercises even more than Naomi, so he knows a lot about exercise clothes,” Carrie answered. 

“Really, more than Naomi?” Irene asked, surprised. Her surprise was understandable considering I was wearing a loose flannel shirt that made me look slightly pudgy. 

“Sure, if you don’t believe it, why don’t you give a squeeze to his biceps,” Carrie said. Naomi looked at Carrie in surprise, but Sarah didn’t share it as she had seen Carrie being much more adventurous when it came to showing off her ‘boyfriend’. 

“Hey, I feel objectified,” I said, but that didn’t prevent me from leaning forward to present my arm to Irene, curling it hard to maximize the bulge of my biceps. 

It would be a lie to say I didn’t enjoy the way Irene’s eyes widened as her hand tried to wrap around, only to fail. “You got to be kidding me,” Irene murmured as her hands started dancing up toward my shoulders. “Are you wearing fake muscles?” 

“Do you want me to remove my shirt in the middle of the cafeteria, so you can be sure?” I suggested, which made her blush. 

And she wasn’t the only one who blushed. 

“N-no, of course not, I was just joking,” she stammered. 

“Good, maybe I should change seats with Ida?” I said. 

“W-what? Why?” Irene asked. 

“Because you don’t seem to intent on stopping your grabbing,” I said, which made her jerk away panicked, realizing just how long she had been grabbing my arm. 

“S-sorry,” she stammered as I took my seat. 

“Don’t worry honey, being molested by a beautiful girl is hardly a chore,” I answered, my word choice hardly helping her to keep her mood down. 

“Maybe you should ask him to help with your cosplay, weren’t you talking about how you didn’t have anyone to accompany you as the barbarian king, what’s his name?” 

“Not a barbarian king, he’s Grutnar, the great warrior Savior of the Steppes. He’s offered kingship but he rejects it because…” Irene answers rapidly, only to stop herself halfway as her gaze turned to me, blushing. “The accuracy is important,” she added in a soft voice.

While Irene was busy blushing, Naomi leaned down and whispered a question to Carrie. A question that I was able to hear thanks to our closeness. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Well, since you didn’t want to get the benefits, maybe someone else should have a try,” Carrie answered, which, considering Naomi’s sudden frustration, implied that Naomi didn’t tell Carrie just how far she had gone that night, nor the assistance she had received in the process. 

Meaning, that Carrie knew what Naomi had done, yet Naomi didn’t know that Carrie knew. 

And, Carrie was developing to a point that was just merciless enough to leverage that information asymmetry to her own objectives. 

Her current objective, somehow trying to add her redheaded friend into our weird relationship… 

I didn’t intervene because… Well, I didn’t really have a reason to do so, not when I was the one enjoying the benefits. And considering I actually lost a bet to Carrie — after her surprisingly insidious trick about prime numbers — and as a forfeit, I had to seduce the last two members of their little group of friends, I wasn’t in a position to reject her help.  

 “Well, I wouldn’t mind helping you. I’m free this evening, how about you?”

And just like that, the table broke into another burst of shocked gazes. Irene blushed, unable to react to the rapid development, her gaze bouncing between me and Carrie. Naomi was not too different, though hers were bouncing between Carrie and Ida. Ida was just looking at Naomi, her eyes wide as she no doubt thought about the story she had listened from her best friend. 

Yet, the most interesting one belonged to Sarah. Her gaze was firmly on Carrie, a suspicious glare added to her shock. As the only person who was aware of the full extent of Carrie’s meddling, she was starting to realize that it might not be as accidental as she might have first thought. 

Luckily, considering her actions with both Naomi and Carrie, she didn’t exactly have a pristine mind herself, enough to make her keep her mouth shut and turn her into an observer. 

“Sounds good,” Irene answered, which was the end of it. 

Or, what was supposed to be the end of it, before Ida interrupted with her soft, cute voice. “M-maybe I could come as well, I have a few costumes from games… And I can bring my camera.” 

Irene looked less than enthusiastic about that idea, which was good news about where her mind drifted immediately, but I wasn’t going to miss the amazing opportunity. “Sure, the more, the merrier,” I answered with my best seductive smile, enjoying their gazes dipping down, their imagination wild… 

Amusingly, only Irene thought that I was being hypothetical…