Nerds in Love

The people just got out of the movie theatre premiering Star Wars: The Clone Wars. There is a couple that stood out from the rest of the crowd. Their names are Teddy and Jenny, and they are nerds. They both wear plain, 1950s style, black glasses. They also have braces and light freckles. They are nerds in a stereotypical sense, though they are not happy with it but learned to accept it.

Teddy is 14 years old. He has brown hair in a flattop. He wears a vest over his white tucked-in t-shirt. He wears high pants with a belt.

Teddy loves to read comic books and plays video games. He is into fantasy ‘Dungeons & Dragons’-type role-playing games. However, he doesn’t want to play with other nerds, so Jenny plays with him.

Jenny is the same age as Teddy, only six months younger. She has long brown hair that reach the back of her waist, and wears an Alice band on her head. She wears a shirt with rolled-up sleeves, a plaid poodle skirt, and saddle shoes. She wears her socks up that reach just below her knees.

Jenny is an excellent chess player and knowledgeable about computers. She is the top student in her math classes. But she avoids joining the chess club, computer club and math club, they’re full of complete nerds!

“Wow, that was the best Star Wars yet!” Teddy exclaimed.

“You said it!” Jenny answered. Though she wasn’t as big a fan of Star Wars she admit the movie, and the franchise, was great. She is not interested reading comic books or role-playing games. She considers those things nerdy. But she did had a Princess Leia doll when she was little, and Teddy has no one to play with. No guy friends. So she would play with him so he won’t be lonely. It makes Teddy happy, which makes Jenny smile.

They walked down the street. Jenny locked onto his left arm and lay her head on his shoulder.

They have been best friends since second grade. In fact, on their first day of school they were wearing their new glasses.  Each of them were upset by it.

Flashback…
“I don’t want to wear my glasses, the kids will make fun of me!” Teddy complained.  To make things worse, Teddy's parents bought his clothes for him - he's wore a white T-shirt, a bowtie, and khaki pants on his first day. His parents believed he should dress more conservative.

He came to the playground. He saw three kids playing with trading cards. He went up to them and asked if he’d play with them. "Get out of here. We don't need a nerd telling us about trading cards!" “Yeah get out!”

Teddy walked away in sadness. Everytime he asked another kid if he'd play with them, they’d laughed at him and point, calling him “nerd”, “geek”, “four-eyes”, and “bookworm”.

He found a quiet place to sit down and started crying.

“I’m NOT a nerd! Why do I have to wear these stupid things? I hate them!” Teddy said to himself. Then he was surprised to hear the same thing somewhere else. “I hate wearing these stupid glasses. I hate being called a nerd, I’m NOT!”

Teddy got up and saw a sad girl with pigtails sitting on the ground with her knees up. She had on the same kind of glasses as he. She was also wearing a collared shirt, a jumper dress/plaided skirt, and knee socks. He decided to talk to her.

“Hi, what’s the matter?” Teddy asked.

“Nothing.” she said, not looking at him.

“It doesn’t look like nothing.” he said as he stood next to her.

“You don’t like your glasses do ya?”

“No I don--!” She was caught in silence when he saw the boy wearing glasses like hers. “Oh, uh, never mind.”

“It’s my glasses right?”

“I, uh…” she blushed.

“I know, they make me nerdy. I hate that. My parents made me wear them.”

“Mine too. Why did they do this to us?”

“I don’t know. Oh, my name is Teddy, what’s yours?” he asked extending his hand.

“Jenny.” she answered and grabbed to shake his hand.

“Jenny huh? That's a pretty name."

"Thanks." she blushed again.

"Can I sit with you?” Teddy asked, hopping she’d say yes.

“Um, okay!” Jenny replied. She wanted someone to be with. They started talking about life until it was time to get to class. They were heading to the door when the other kids surrounded them.

“Ha-ha! Love nerds! Love nerds!” the other kids chanted.

“We’re not nerds! And we’re not in love!” Teddy and Jenny shouted in unison.

“And they even think alike!” said a blonde-haired little girl in a pink dress and a big pink bow. “That is so nerds.” The other kids laughed.

The other kids had been calling them nerds from that day forth. It was also the day Teddy and Jenny became best friends. They have stuck together ever since, always together. They were the only friends since no one wants to be their friends because of their nerdy appearances.

When they were twelve years of age. Both of their parents took them to the dentist to get their braces.

The next day, Teddy went to Jenny's house to walk her to school. Jenny came out unhappy.

“What is it Jenny?”

“This.” she answered showing her teeth quickly.

“Really? Me too.” he said showing his teeth quickly as well.

They both looked at each other and smiled, exposing their braced teeth, until the burst out laughing. Now they looked like real nerds.

The next year, before graduation Teddy took Jenny to the gym to get a little privacy. He wanted to tell her something important.

“What is it Teddy? What do you want to tell me?” Jenny asked in confusion.

“Jenny… we’ve been friends since the first day of second grade.” he said while holding her hands.

“I know. You’re my best friend. Heck you’re my only friend, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

Teddy smiled, “Exactly, I feel the same way. Except…”

“Except what?”

“Except that I want us to be more than just best friends!”

Jenny was shocked by his tone of voice.

“Jenny… I love you. I mean it, I’m really in love with you.”

Jenny was blown away by what her best friend just said.

“And I want us to go steady. To take our relationship to the next step. We’ve been getting crap from everyone for calling us nerds. But we’ve endured that for so long, together. We’re going to be in high school soon. We’ll be getting even more crap there. But together we’ll face it, and will tell them that we are NOT nerds! But what I want to know is… do you love me?”

Jenny just stood there remaining silent, staring at Teddy through her glasses. Her hands still in the grips of Teddy.

“Jenny? Are you all right?” Teddy asked worriedly.

Jenny still stood there. Still silent. Still staring at Teddy. He was getting more worried.

“Jenny say something please.”

After what seemed like an eternity, Jenny finally moved and freed herself firmly from Teddy’s grip. For a moment Teddy’s heart was crushed. “She doesn’t love me. I was so stupid to think otherwise.” Teddy thought.

But then his hands were grabbed by Jenny with a much tighter grip.

“Oh Teddy…” Jenny said with happiness in her voice. Her eyes watered, staring into Teddy’s eyes through his glasses. She held his hands closer to her heart.

“I… I… I… I DO love you!” she smiled, showing her braced teeth. Teddy felt his heart healed like magic.

“Deep down I’ve always loved you! More than a best friend! More than like a brother! I want to spend the rest of my life with you! I want to be your girlfriend! I want you to be my boyfriend!”

“Oh Jenny!”

“Oh Teddy!”

Their heads came closer together. Closing their eyes. Their lips together. They shared their first kiss.

“MMMMMmmmmMMMM--” The lights went on. “Mmm?” Before Teddy and Jenny knew it, they were surrounded by practically the entire school.

“Oh give me a break.” said Stella, the little blonde girl back in second grade was now the most popular girl in school. She was the queen bee in this school, at least until graduation. She was head cheerleader. She was also a complete airhead. She and her little group of mean girls made fun of Jenny. They always threatened to spread an awful rumor about her and Teddy if she didn’t do all their homework.

“But I got to admit that is so romantic, in the most nerdy way possible. This will definitely go to the video yearbook.” she said holding a video camera.

Teddy and Jenny were shocked and embarrassed. Their faces turned red. They couldn’t believe they would do this to them.

“Attention everybody! The nerds finally confess their geeky love for one another!” announced a blond-haired football jock. He was captain of the football team and the most popular kid in school. He and Stella have been a couple. They loved to harass and humiliate Teddy and Jenny. He forced Teddy to do all his homework for him and not to tell anyone or he would beat him up.

Everyone started laughing at them. “Love nerds! Love nerds! Love nerds! Love nerds…”

Their faces were so red they couldn’t stand it. They ran out of the gym. They ran out of school. They each ran to their house.

Jenny ran to her bed and put her head on the pillow. She started crying all day in her room and not wanting to come out.

Teddy ran to his room and lay on his bed. He grabbed a pillow and hugged it. He’s been crying in his room for the rest of that day. The day what was supposed to be the most happiest day of their lives turned into a day of sadness and humiliation.

They got over that by the time they graduated middle school, but it still hurts them. Now that they're in high school they have faced a lot of harsh realities of high school life, such as being declared the biggest losers in school. Their being an official couple is known by all the kids in school, lowering their social status even further. But they won't let that ruin their love for each other.

… end flashback
That is why they're on their date right now.

Teddy looks at his calculator watch. It’s only 8:15 AM. They still have some time before going home. Teddy decided to have a bite to eat.

“Hey Jenny.”

“Yes, Teddy?”

Teddy smiled, “I’m getting kinda hungry. What do you want to eat?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Whatever you want.”

“How about some pizza?” His eyes smiled at her through his thick glasses.

“That’ll be great!” Her eyes smiled back at him through her thick glasses.

Quite a few people stared as they walked through to an empty table.

“Hey Stella, get a look at those nerds!” the blond jock said to his girlfriend, pointing to their table.

Stella looked at them and said, “Like, ewww!”

While they take a bite of their slices, they were staring at each other. They caught their glances and continue eating with flushed faces, and it’s not from the heat of the pizza.

“NERDS!!” shouted the blond jock.

Everyone in the restaurant laughed. Jenny looked at Teddy, her eyes watering. Their face became frown with anguish and depression. The “Nerd” calls just won’t stop. No matter how much they deny it, they realize they really are nerds. There is no point fighting it.

They quickly left the restaurant as soon as possible. Teddy hold Jenny’s hand and continued walking until they came pass a window of a closed store. They caught their reflection. What they see is who they really are. Now more depressed they walked to a bench and sat down.

“They’re right Teddy. We are nerds.” Jenny said.

“I know.” Teddy said. “Look at us. I can’t believe our parents make us dress like this.”

“Yeah I look like I thought to be going to a private school or a Catholic school.”

“The jocks make me do their homework. I was never good at schoolwork, but now I’m starting to do extraordinary well. I can come up with an answer in my own head.”

“The girls always push me around, making my glasses fall off. And they either break them or slide them out of the way when I get close to them.”

“All I ever do or think about is Star Wars, Star Trek, Dungeons & Dragons, the Lord of the Rings, comic books, and stuff like that.”

“I’m starting to become obsessed with those things. Even I think they’re nerdy.”

They still sat there in depression.

“We maybe nerds, but we never joined any nerd groups.” Teddy declared.

“You’re right. We’re total nerds, but we don’t want to be socializing with other nerds because we don’t want to be total losers!” Jenny said standing up.

“Yeah! And so what if we’re nerds. We’re still better than those dumb jocks and cheerleaders.” Teddy said standing up, holding Jenny’s hands between their hearts. “Most of all, we got each other. And I mean what I said that day, we’ve endured a lot of crap about them calling us nerds. And they’re right. But we’ve endured it together and we always will.”

“I remember Teddy. That’s why I love you, you’re the smartest boy I have ever known.”

“Well you’re the most intelligent girl I’ve ever known.”

They’ve embraced in the most heart-warming hug.

“Come I’ll take you come.” Teddy said to Jenny.

They arrived in Jenny’s house. Teddy and Jenny grabbed each others’ hands and stared into each others’ eyes. They stared for almost a minute, but it seems like a very long time. They started to grin at each other showing their braces to the other. It made them giggle.

They pucker up and kiss on the lips.

“Good night, queen of the geeks.” Teddy said, bowing.

“Sweet dreams, my nerdy prince.” Jenny said, closing her door.

Teddy is on his way home. Thinking what a wonderful date this turn out to be. “She really is hot in those glasses.” Teddy said to himself.

Jenny stared out her window, already in her pajamas, looking at Teddy. “He is very handsome in those glasses.” she said to herself. She walked up to her bed. Covered herself in her fluffy blankets. Shut off her lamp and slumbers, thinking about her future husband. Darkness covers her room full of sci-fi and fantasy action figures, posters, and other memorabilia.

The End