The Nerdy Girl (White Oak Creek High Book 1)

by Lee Wardlow

  I wasn’t so different. I didn’t need to save myself for anyone but me. It was my body. I could do what I wanted with it. If I wanted to be with Cal, I would damn well be with Cal.

  “You’re sweet and good, Abs. You need to wait.”

  “You’re ridiculous. Get out of my room.”

  I glared at my brother.

  “Do I need to have a talk with Cal?”

  “Do you want to keep your testicles?” I snarled.

  He laughed at me.

  I was being serious.

  “Fine,” he snapped. Then he left. I went to the window seat and slipped into the corner where Cal had held me yesterday.

  I had a text from Cal wanting to know how much trouble I was in.

  One, week grounding. No Cal. I can still watch you play Friday night. Nothing afterwards though.

  Damn.

  He said a month. Mom changed the sentence to one week.

  I’m sorry Abby. I’ll miss you.

  I would miss him too. When I didn’t respond, Cal called me.

  “Hi,” I whispered.

  “Are you grounded from the phone too?”

  I didn’t know for sure. I had only whispered because I didn’t want anyone else to hear me. I was reveling in the emotion that Cal was making me feel at just the sound of his voice. “I don’t know. I am feeling all mushy. That’s why I was quiet.”

  He chuckled. “Mushy huh?”

  “Yeah. I’ll miss you too. I really had a nice time at your sister’s apartment. She’s cool.”

  “She is. We’ll go there again once you’re ungrounded.”

  “Good, I’d like that.”

  “Next time tell me what time you need to be home,” he said.

  “Agreed.”

  I sat in the window seat, my legs stretched out in front of me, my ear pressed against the glass helping to hold the phone while I talked to Cal. We shared silly things about our childhood. I even told him about climbing in bed with Ty when I was afraid of storms when we were younger. He told me he was afraid of snakes and spiders. Still was. I had outgrown my fears of severe storms.

  It was getting late. I knew soon I would have to get off the phone and shower so I would be ready for school tomorrow. Mom and or Dad would check on me and I didn’t want them to catch me talking to Cal.

  “I wish I didn’t have to hang up, but I do. I still have homework to do. I really like you Abby,” he said.

  “I want to take a shower tonight.”

  “What I wouldn’t give to be a bug on the wall watching you take that shower,” he groaned.

  I inhaled sharply.

  “Relax Abby. You drive me crazy, but I won’t push you into anything. I want you to be with me for a long time. I’ve never felt this way about a girl before.” He said more things that were like what I was feeling.

  Overwhelmed.

  Excited but I already knew that.

  Falling hard.

  Couldn’t wait to kiss me in the morning.

  Scared.

  “I feel all those things too,” I admitted.

  “I won’t hurt you. Quit listening to the locker room gossip Abby. We all brag about shit that isn’t true.”

  “All right,” I agreed.

  “Abby,” Cal said.

  “What?”

  “Don’t break my heart either,” he declared.

  I didn’t know what to say. I had never thought of me hurting him. Cal was a high school jock. Popular and cool. I wasn’t in his league. “I won’t,” I promised.

  “I can’t wait to see you in the morning.”

  “I can’t wait to see you,” I answered.

  “Bye,” Cal said.

  “Bye Cal.”

  We hung up. I sat there for the longest time, holding my phone wishing I could still hear his voice. Pissed that I was grounded. I gazed at the stars twinkling in the sky. The moon hidden behind the tree that was right outside of my window.

  My door opened and I turned. “Abby getting in the shower soon?” Dad asked me.

  I nodded.

  “Are you mad at me?” He asked.

  I was and I wasn’t. Did it matter? He was the father. He was supposed to be the disciplinarian. He hated that role though. The one Mom always gave him because she hated it even more.

  “I’m fine,” I said.

  “Love you Abby,” he replied.

  “Love you too,” I responded. Then Dad backed out of my room and shut the door. I sighed. I think it was just as hard being a parent as it was being the kid.

  Chapter 10

  That week I was grounded Cal and I talked every night after we did our homework and ate dinner. We grew closer than if we had spent time together. I learned just how much his father being gone had hurt him.

  He grew up playing sports his whole life having a natural ability like my brother. The difference was that it was his mother who cheered him from the sidelines. Sometimes his sisters too when they didn’t have their own activities.

  He saw his friend’s fathers rooting on their sons and missed his dad even more. I heard the hurt and the pain in his voice. He usually made a game here and there, but it wasn’t enough.

  Homecoming was Friday night. Mom had taken me dress shopping. We brought a light blue sparkly dress with long, sheer sleeves. The round neck snapped beneath my hair and zipped at my waist leaving my back bare. It was fitted to my knees then flowed to the floor in long layers that swirled when I twirled.

  She convinced me I was tall enough to wear some strappy silver sandals that sparkled too. The back of the dress was completely open which made me uncomfortable. I didn’t dress in sexy clothes and this felt so unlike me. I wanted to surprise Cal, so he hadn’t seen my dress.

  After the game, we were going to Mac’s. This was the first time that Cal had wanted to go to Mac’s since he had started dating me. After every game we went to my house or his and hung out. He finally got to see the basement without Tyson being at the house and was even more enthralled with our television in the basement.

  Next weekend, Tyson and I were turning sixteen. My brother wanted to have a party. I wasn’t good at parties. Cal was encouraging me to break out of my shell. He promised to be right by side the entire time.

  After the game which the White Oak Creek Cowboys won. I waited for Cal and Tyson. We were riding together to Mac’s farm where Coach Mac held a bonfire. I waited by Cal’s Impala. Aiden was one of the first out of the locker room. He started to walk by me although the look he gave me wasn’t pleasant. Then he came back and stopped in front of me.

  “Finally letting him out of his cage?”

  I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “I don’t keep him from going anywhere, Aiden.”

  We had even stopped eating lunch with Aiden and Luke. I was coming between his two best friends and him. The problem was they didn’t seem willing to share him.

  “Right,” he sneered. Aiden got closer. He leaned in so close that I wasn’t sure what he was going to do. “You must have some fine pussy to take Cal away from his friends.”

  I gasped. He laughed. “At least that’s what he says.”

  I knew he was lying. Cal wouldn’t say anything like that to them.

  Then I heard Luke and some other boys coming. He stopped by Aiden. “What are you doing messing with her? She ain’t worth your time. She’s got our boy’s head messed up. He’ll figure it out soon enough.”

  Luke grabbed Aiden around the neck loosely and dragged him away from me. I choked on my tears. It wouldn’t do for Cal to find me crying. I wiped furiously at my face, but they kept falling from my eyes. I needed to make sure that Mom and Dad stayed with me from now on until Tyson and Cal came from the locker room.

  Two of the cheerleaders walked by and mumbled something at me. I wanted to shout at them to shut up but like always like in my hometown before, I kept it inside.

  I chewed on my thumbnail a nervous habit I had since I was five. Too much pressure I put on myself to be perfect. Too much pressure creat
ed anxiety. It was tough being a teen at times with practically perfect parents and a brother that was a star athlete.

  That’s how I saw my life. Whether it was true or not was another matter. I set these expectations for myself. Goals and dreams that created this flurry of anxiety in the pit of my stomach. I was afraid of life afraid I wouldn’t reach them my self-imposed expectations. Afraid of everything.

  Then I saw them. I wiped my eyes one more time. Cal stopped in front of me. He was concerned. “Have you been crying?”

  “No.” I smiled at him, lying through my teeth.

  He cupped my face and gazed at me for several seconds. Then he kissed me. So tenderly. So sweetly. I felt my knees give just a little. I felt myself melting into him and Aiden’s words were forgotten.

  I groaned forgetting that Tyson was standing by the passenger door. “Get a room,” he grumbled. Unfortunately for my brother, he saw us together like this way too often.

  I chuckled against Cal’s lips. When he pulled away, he was smiling. “I love you,” he whispered. I was shocked so was he I could see. “I do, Abby.” His thumb caressed my cheek.

  Those three little words melted me. Broke me. Lifted me up. I felt my heart swell in my chest and slam against my ribs. I loved Cal too or thought I did. Who knew at my age what that emotion was, but it felt like love to me? “I love you too,” I responded.

  He tugged me to him and held me tight.

  “Can we go to Mac’s? You too can have your moment later.”

  Too often we were a party of three. That needed to change. I think Dad must put Ty up to it to keep an eye on me and Cal.

  I stepped back and shook my head. Cal just smiled at me. He was so easy going. We got into the Impala and headed out to the farm where Coach Mac lived.

  The night was cool. I was cold so Cal wrapped me in his arms to warm me. Coach told me he thought Cal was playing better since we started dating. He was more focused. He slapped Cal’s shoulder and walked away.

  Cal kissed my cheek. I looked across the fire and saw Aiden and Luke watching us. They were not happy that we were together. I looked over my shoulder at Cal and he kissed me again. He always seemed to be doing that.

  I covered his arms wrapped around me with my own. “Are you bored yet?”

  “No,” I insisted. “Not at all.”

  “Don’t lie to me.” Cal chuckled.

  “Cal what’s going on with you, Aiden and Luke? I hardly see you with them anymore.”

  I glanced up at him. He looked across the fire then at me. “I know they said shit to you, Abby. I don’t like that. I wouldn’t do that to them if they found a girl they liked.”

  “They feel I’ve taken you from them,” I said without thinking.

  “Is that what they said?”

  They had said worse, but I wasn’t admitting that to Cal. I wasn’t telling him about the intimidation or the vulgar shit they had said to me. Cal didn’t need to know that.

  “Something like that,” I replied.

  I watched his gaze travel across the fire. “You’ll tell me if they talk shit to you. Right Abby?”

  “Of course,” I lied.

  I couldn’t make things worse between them. They were lifelong friends and the rift between them was getting worse because of me.

  “Don’t they have dates for tomorrow night?” I asked.

  “Luke does,” Cal responded. He rocked us together. Our bodies tight against each other. “Aiden’s going with the other guys who don’t have dates.”

  “Who is Luke taking?”

  Cal chuckled. “Head cheerleader. She broke it off with him,” he nodded in Tyson’s direction who was talking to the previous quarterback right now. They had become friends.

  “Delia is going with Luke?” I was surprised by that.

  “She goes where the players are. Luke’s a player. Johnny is sitting the bench right now. Although, Coach might play him next week as a wide receiver which will be a huge surprise to her.”

  “Is that why he and Tyson are now friendly?” I asked Cal.

  He nodded. “They’ve been running plays together for the last three weeks and they’re getting pretty, good.”

  I didn’t know that but there wasn’t a lot I knew about football, so any news about the team was a surprise to me.

  Tyson and Johnny moved over by us so they could talk football with Cal. I did get bored then listening to them talk about the game and the plays that were huge tonight.

  “I need to go to the bathroom,” I said.

  “In the house, on the main floor just to the right of the kitchen,” Cal told me. As I started to walk away, he said, “Wait, I’ll go with you.”

  “I can go by myself,” I teased him.

  He smiled. “It’s dark walking up to the house. Be careful.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Abs want me to go with you?” Tyson asked.

  Johnny laughed at them both.

  I shook my head at them. “I’m fine. I can go to the bathroom by myself. I’ll be right back.”

  I tugged my sweater tighter around me and began the walk through the trees towards Coach Mac’s house. A two-story, eerie looking farmhouse sitting in the distance. In the dark. Windows showed no light. A white, two-story surrounded by acres of apple trees.

  I didn’t get far before something hit me in the shoulder. Hard. It left a stinging in my shoulder. I rubbed the spot and looked behind me, but no one was there.

  I glanced into the distance where Tyson and Cal stood with Johnny talking near the fire. The house was still a good hundred yards or more away. I contemplated going back and getting one of them to go with me, but I was a big girl. I took a few more steps when something else hit me in the back.

  It hurt too also leaving that painful, stinging burn. Tears formed in my eyes. I looked around and realized that the offending object was an apple that was lying at my feet. I peered into the darkness and didn’t see anyone, so I walked on. It wasn’t long before I was pelted with another apple. This time it hit me in the head. That one hurt worse than the first two.

  I heard laughter then. I stepped behind a tree and peeked around. I didn’t see anyone, and I was still far from the house but close enough to Tyson and Cal I could return to them. I turned around and tried to get back to the fire.

  Three boys stepped out from behind a tree. Aiden, Luke and another I couldn’t remember his name. I saw Delia and her cheerleader buddies standing to the left between a group of trees. Off to the side, sniggering as usual like they had some big secret about me that they thought was funny.

  I stepped to the right and the boys did too.

  “What do you want?” I asked. I just wanted to return to Tyson and Cal.

  “Nothing Abby. Weren’t you going to the bathroom? We can walk you there,” Aiden offered.

  “I changed my mind,” I said twisting a strand of hair around my finger. A nervous habit of mine besides the fingernail biting.

  I wasn’t wearing my glasses again tonight. My hair was down and straightened. My dark tresses flew about my face as the wind picked up, whistling through the trees.

  “Come on Abby. You can walk to the bathroom with us,” Aiden insisted.

  He shoved me backwards. I almost tripped over my feet. I looked over Aiden’s shoulder and saw Johnny pointing at us. I turned and began to walk towards the house hoping to avoid a confrontation between Aiden and Cal.

  Aiden shoved me again. I did trip that time. I didn’t fall to the ground, but the girls laughed at me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Johnny, Tyson and Cal were now moving at a fast jog towards us. Aiden hadn’t realized it yet.

  “Stop Aiden,” I said softly.

  He shoved me forward again. This time, Cal was close enough to see him and hear him. “I don’t take orders from you, bitch.”

  “Aiden,” Cal snapped at him. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the boys separate. Cal walked to me and put his arm around my shoulders drawing me into his body. “Are you okay?
”

  “I’m fine,” I responded.

  “You’re not,” he whispered. “You’re trembling.”

  “What the hell, man,” Tyson shouted. “You were trying to hurt my sister?”

  Johnny shoved Tyson back to keep him out of trouble.

  “Ty, I’m fine.”

  “What do you see in her?” Aiden asked Cal. “I mean seriously when you could have one of them why her?” He pointed to the cheerleaders standing off to the side.

  I could feel the tension growing in Cal. I might not look like the cheerleaders Aiden had pointed to. Made-up. Teased out and wearing the latest fashion styles but Cal made me feel pretty. He told me I was beautiful.

  “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me, Aiden.” I was behind him now. He had released me and now stood in front of me. “Why can’t you be happy for me?”

  “You forgot your friends,” Aiden sneered.

  Then he took a step forward and shoved Cal. He stepped back into me. “Baby, I’m sorry,” he said when I gasped because he had tromped on my toes.

  “It’s okay.” I clung to his bicep trying to hold onto him while I tried not to cry. I didn’t want to make things worse.

  Cal pulled out of my grasp and turned on Aiden. He sucker-punched him in the mouth. Then Luke and Aiden jumped Cal, hitting him while taking him to the ground. Tyson and Johnny jumped to Cal’s defense.

  “Stop,” I shouted. “Please, just stop.” Nobody listened to me. They kept punching and hitting each other. Wresting around on the ground.

  Coach Mac was running towards us with some of the other football players. They were coming to break up the fight that I somehow caused without meaning to.

  Coach grabbed Aiden by the belt of his pants. He wasn’t a small man, but Aiden wasn’t small either.

  “Stop it, right now,” Coach shouted.

  The fight went out of Aiden. He tossed him aside like he weighed nothing. Then he grabbed Tyson and pushed him away from the melee. Cal and Luke weren’t giving up. Johnny gave up on his own. Two of the defensive linemen had to separate Luke and Cal. Blood dripped from Cal’s eyebrow onto his shirt.

  “I want to know what happened here.”

  “Ask Aiden,” Cal snapped at Coach.

  Their coach turned to Aiden. He was fierce. I had seen him on the field giving the boys a look that made me want to run and hide. He dropped his head. “Nothing coach,” Aiden replied agreeing with me.