The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth - Alexandra Robbins [162]
Regan nodded, speechless, as Wyatt continued. “That’s how the end of she and me sort of started. I started thinking, with you it was easy. It made sense from the get-go.” He looked up toward Mandy’s floor. “She’s poison.”
Regan fiddled with paper, moving it from her desk to her lap and back again.
“But us? We’re good?” Wyatt asked.
“I, um,” Regan stuttered, tears pooling in her eyes before she could stop them. Wyatt grabbed a box of tissues. “I’m going to hate myself for saying this later, but it’s just that before, I couldn’t take you seriously when you were with her.”
They sat in silence, neither one making eye contact.
“I think I really needed to hear that,” Wyatt said. “Talking to you, I realize I should’ve come straight to the source all along, instead of listening to everyone else. Our department is messed up. It’s so divided.” Wyatt checked his watch and stood up. It was two minutes until the bell. “Hey, Davis,” he said before he left, “it was good talking to you. Oh, hey, are you friends with Cesar on Facebook?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he’s been Mandy’s source, just so you know, about stuff about you. Do you have naked pictures up there?”
“What? On Facebook? I’m friends with my dad on Facebook.”
He shrugged. “Well, that’s what I heard, that’s all. That’s what’s going around.” Wyatt closed the door.
BLUE, HAWAII | THE GAMER
Blue was more content than he could ever remember. Not only did he now have an interesting, playful, caring group of friends who liked spending time with him, but, more significantly, he had found his connection. Blue believed that Michael complemented him perfectly and Michael said he felt the same. Michael admired Blue’s edginess, innovation, calmness, dedication, optimism, and sense of fun. Blue admired Michael’s discipline, stability, aspirations, and focus.
One day when they were driving to the beach, Blue asked Michael, “Can you do me a massive favor?”
“Mmhmm, sure.”
“Can you bribe me somehow to do my homework?” Blue asked. He was a month behind in English. “I can’t bring myself to do any of it. I have no idea why.”
“Okay. What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. You choose.”
“I’m not good at choosing!” Michael protested. “You’re the fun person here, the idea guy, remember?”
“But I think it’d be better if you chose.”
“Fine. Let me think.” After a few minutes, Michael said, “How about this: I’ll take you out somewhere nice for dinner. Like a real date.”
Blue scrunched his face. “Lame. That kind of stuff isn’t important to me.”
“Ugh.” Michael was silent for another few minutes. “Okay, how about this: I’ll come out to AP Gov only if you do your homework.”
Blue leaned back in amazement. “Oh, oh, ohhh. You’re pretty slick. Pretty crafty. Wow, that’s a sick deal. Thanks.”
Blue pulled an all-nighter and nearly caught up on all of his homework. Homework felt like unimportant busywork compared to the hours he was putting into preparation for SCH. He savored the chance to share his perspectives, to connect the dots of politics, economics, social science, and abstract philosophy, to show that he was much more intelligent than his grades reflected.
Increasingly, “the smart kids” turned to him for help. Blue was able to grasp SCH’s complex concepts more instinctively than the valedictorians. Gradually, Blue’s paternal instinct kicked in. He soothed internal gripes among team members. When they tried to exclude a devout Christian teammate, Blue made them stop talking about her behind her back and welcomed her warmly to the team. The others followed suit. They constantly told him “You’re the only mature one of us” because he never gossiped, and they admired him for it. He emailed pep talks to bolster the team’s enthusiasm for nationals and organized meetings and deadlines for their preparation. He set up a Wiki and a Facebook page through which the group