Page 40 of True to You

“Why? Just because she does videos about comic books?” I try to keep my tone even, but I can feel myself starting to get heated. I stare at Oscar, and I can’t tell if he is doing it to poke at me because he saw me watching one of her videos or is really this much of a tool.

“Uh, yeah!” Yvette scoffs. “That’s perfect. A chess nerd and a comic book nerd? Absolutely perfect.”

I hate what I’m about to say, but I don’t want Izzy to be subjected to this. “Sarah, you’re cool with it? You seem to really hate that band geek girl?”

“I do,” she muses. “But I hate how popular Nerd Girl thinks he is. This works out even better.”

I sit there, grinding my teeth. Oscar laughs as Yvette writes. I want to yell at all of them. Tell them that Izzy didn’t think she was popular. She didn’t care what anyone thinks of her. And that makes her awesome. But I can’t say anymore. If I push harder, they’ll want to know why I don’t want to add her to the list. Maybe I can say we’re dating? But that’d be totally out of the blue. And what if they question her about it? It’d probably just turn into a big mess.

Yvette’s still writing, when Oscar looks over at me. “You cool with it, Matt?”

“It’s like whatever.”

The bell rings to signal the end of lunch, and I grab my bag, walking out of the room behind Oscar. We both turn the corner and Oscar suddenly stops without warning. I veer to move around him when I hear his words.

“Hey, Isabel, right?”

What? I stop next to him as he casts me a look. Izzy looks over at me then back at him.

“Depends who’s asking,” she replies, and I smile at the quip.

“The name’s Oscar. Hey, I’ve seen your videos before. About the cartoons and stuff, right?”

She lets out a small laugh and I’m sure Oscar thinks she’s flattered, but I can tell she’s annoyed. “Yeah.” She nods.

“Cool,” he says slowly. Wow, he’s really laying it on thick. “Hey, we should do a video sometime.”

“What?” Now her annoyance is obvious.

“Yeah, I mean, I’d love to get a little one on one camera time with you.”

“Hey—” I start, but Izzy cuts me off.

“You would, huh?” She gives him a flirty smile, which confuses me for a second. “I don’t know; you seem like the kind of guy who’d be shy around the cameras.”

“Oh no, babe.” He pulls out his phone, waving in front of her. “I got some samples if you’d like to see.”

“Ew.” She sticks her tongue out. “No thanks. I wouldn’t want to catch anything.”

I blurt out a quick laugh before stopping myself as Oscar’s head snaps towards me. Looking back at her, he smiles again, and I know he’s thinking about the prom court vote. “Whatever. See you around.” He looks back at me, giving me a nod.

For a moment, our conversation earlier never happened as we both watch Oscar stalk off in defeat, though his ego unaffected. “What was that about?” Izzy asks.

“Nothing. He’s an idiot.”

“Well, that goes without saying.” She smiles up at me. Then a painful silence hits between us. “Hey, I was thinking we should just meet up in the library for the rest of the week. To finish the assignment.”

I look over at her, and my chest squeezes in pain. Why couldn’t she just see past me wanting to keep some of my life private? And now with this joke vote? I still have a single shred of hope that maybe the girls will change their minds and go with Sarah’s first suggestion. The ballots aren’t sent out to classes until next week. Maybe they’ll go back to the band geek.

“Oh. Uh, yeah, sure.” I nod even though I want to say no.

“Okay, then.”

She gives me another smile, but this one doesn’t reach her eyes. She turns and walks away, and I let out a sigh, wishing things were different.

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