Page 13 of True to You

Chapter 7

Izzy

The rest of Saturday is a blur. I can’t believe it. Matthew Hillard, our class president, is a nerd. At school, he’s one of the popular guys. One of the jocks. And he isn’t an ass about it either, like some jerks that look down on others. He’s someone that helped out freshmen when they were being picked on by jerks like Jeremy McCormick. I even heard a rumor that this poor junior, Leslie Haggens, went to homecoming with her date and after two dances the ass ditched her because one of the cheerleaders was flirting with him. She sat alone while her friends were dancing when Matt walked over to her and asked her to dance.

I have no idea whether or not it’s true, but I believe it. That’s just the kind of guy he is. Like when he accidentally grabbed my boob and felt bad about it. If it had been another guy at school, he might’ve tried to get all conceited or make some stupid joke. But Matt seemed genuinely embarrassed. That’s not to say, he couldn’t come off as cocky when he wanted to.

He knew how to flash his pearly whites and ruffle his hair just enough to have girls dropping their panties for him. As far as I know, he’s had a couple girlfriends, but he isn’t a player. He’s just a guy. A popular guy that played football, basketball, and was ASB president. And he’s a nerd. He cosplays.

I don’t know how I do it, but I keep the secret from Cindy after I meet back up with her after her panel. On Sunday we only stay half the day because our flight is in the early afternoon. I film some more stuff for my channel, and when we board the plane, Cindy has her earbuds in when she pokes me in the arm.

“What’s wrong with you?” She pulls out one of her earpieces.

“What?”

“You’ve been in a daze all day. Actually, you seemed a little weird last night too.”

“I did not.”

“Yes, you did.” Her eyes pop open with a smile. “Oh, my God; did you get a guy’s number?”

I scoff. “Uh, no. If anything, it was the opposite.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing, forget it.” I have to change the subject. Otherwise, I’m definitely going to tell her. “So, you have fun?”

“It’s was ah-mazing.” She smiles brightly. “Izzy, I’m going to marry Jared Padelecki one day.”

“Right.”

“Oh, I swear - it’s going to happen.” She floats off into a daydream, before wrapping her arms around mine. “Thanks so much, this was a blast.”

“Don’t thank me, thank my dad. Remember?”

“Right, definitely. Although, it might seem weird, me giving him a kiss, so definitely give him a hug and kiss for me. This was so much fun. You think V’s gonna be mad when we get back.”

“Nah, she’ll be fine. To make sure, I got her a Thor keychain.” Cindy gives me an unconvinced look. “Okay, it’s really just Chris Hemsworth shirtless, but he’s Thor. It’s that scene where he’s in the water in Age of Ultron?”

“Oh, right.” She giggles. “She’s gonna love it.”

I nod as Cindy puts her music back on, and I open up my laptop. I have a list of everything I want to talk about on my next video. I took a bunch of pictures and videos of the convention and the contest. Matt’s in some of them, but he’s fully covered in his costume, so no one will know who he is. I remember how he reacted and frown. Why was he so embarrassed? Would he have begged me if I would have said no? Not that I would’ve, but he seemed so desperate. I know he’s Mr. Popular, but so what if he is a nerd. I’m a nerd, and I love it. And it seemed like he did too before he realized I was there. I could tell from his body language that he was having fun. As nice and as hot as he is, not owning up to something, especially something you love, is a major turn off.

By the time I get home, I decide to work on my video a little. I know it’s going to be longer than my normal ones because I’m adding pictures and video clips I filmed. As I start going through the clips, I get to one of Matt. I pulled out my phone right before the contest began and started filming all the cosplayers. He looks like he’s having so much fun, messing around with his little brother, who I assume Isaac is.

I try to dismiss the feeling and resume editing. I’m definitely not going to out him, but now I wonder if he ever watched my channel. Knowing that he’s into comics, I guess it’s a possibility. There are other people at school that watch my videos. If he has, I wonder what he thinks of them. Or me.

No.

I’m not going to start thinking about him and what he thinks of me. He won’t even be who he really is to his friends. I close my laptop and decide to go to bed all while wondering what this makes us now. We obviously weren’t friends friends, but I know his secret now. Does that mean we are secret-friends, or something? Will he even talk to me at school? He never went out of his way to before, but neither did I. Will that change? I fall asleep trying to figure this guy out.

---