Revenge of the Geek by Piper Banks Page A

we were there. He raised a hand.
    “Greetings and salutations,”he said.
    “Hey, Finn,”I said. “Hi, Phoebe.”
    “Hi,”Phoebe said, waving.
    “We’d join you, but Phoebe and I want to spend some quality time together before cheerleading practice starts,”Finn said, pointing at his girlfriend with two fingers.
    “I didn’t know you’d joined the cheerleading squad, Finn,”Charlie said.
    “Very funny,”Finn said.
    “There are guys on our squad,”Phoebe said. “They hold us up during the lifts.”
    “But do they get to have pom-poms?”Finn asked.
    “No. Only the girls have pom-poms,”Phoebe said, seemingly unaware that Finn was joking around.
    Charlie smirked, and nudged me under the table.
    “Two lattes, one skinny, one full fat, and one slice of carrot cake,”the barista at the counter called out.
    “That’s us. Catch you ladies later,”Finn said, turning to grab the proffered plastic tray.
    “Bye!”Phoebe said perkily.
    They turned and went to sit at a table by the window.
    “Don’t stare at them,”I instructed Charlie.
    “I can’t help it,”Charlie said. “She’s feeding him carrot cake off her fork.”
    “So?”
    “So it’s hideous. And I think proximity to Phoebe is causing Finn’s IQ to drop. Maybe she’s a succubus,”Charlie remarked.
    “A succubus drains away her victim’s life energy, not intelligence,”I said.
    “Okay, then, she’s an intelligence succubus. I have to get out of here,”Charlie said, standing. “Are you ready to go?”
    “Sure,”I said. I actually wanted to talk more about my disappointing Ampersand assignment, but as long as Phoebe continued feeding Finn carrot cake in full view, I wasn’t going to get the best out of Charlie.
    Chapter Six

    I was still determined to befriend Nora, but she continued to elude me. She walked into Mrs. Gordon’s Nineteenth-Century American Literature class just as the bell was ringing and disappeared as soon as class was over. As lit was the only class we had together, I didn’t expect to see Nora again for the rest of the day, unless I happened to bump into her at lunch. So I was surprised when, just as we were waiting for physics class to begin, she walked in.
    She headed straight for Mr. Forrester’s desk and handed the teacher a note. He took it from her, looked it over, and then gave her a curt nod.
    “Take a seat,”Mr. Forrester said.
    Charlie, who was sitting next to me, nudged me.
    “I think that new girl is joining the class,”she whispered.
    “I didn’t think we were allowed to switch classes once the semester started,”I replied.
    Charlie shrugged. “Maybe the rules are different if you’re new.”
    Nora turned and nervously looked around for an open seat. Because we so frequently worked with partners in physics, we sat at tables instead of desks. Each table had room for two students. Charlie and I shared a table at the back of the room. Finn sat in front of us with Tate Metcalf. The table next to ours was empty, so I waved at Nora and gestured for her to come sit next to us. She gave me a grateful smile and slid into the empty seat.
    “You can work with Charlie and me,”I whispered across to her.
    “Thanks,”Nora whispered back.
    I smiled at her, but before I could say anything else, the bell rang. Mr. Forrester stood, clearing his throat wetly. Forrester was a thin, stooped man who favored short-sleeve, button-down shirts—today’s was a hideous brownish yellow—tucked into adjustable-waist pants.
    “Today we’re going to begin the fascinating study of kinematics,”Mr. Forrester said. He held his hands in front of him, fingers spread, looking like a magician about to perform a trick.
    “Sounds absolutely thrilling,”Charlie muttered as she opened up her laptop and prepared to take notes.
     

    As I drove home from school that afternoon, I tried to pinpoint where, exactly, the smell in my yellow car was coming from.
    Is it in the seats? I wondered, rolling down the window. If so,