The Nerd in the Corner

Chapter 13: Bad Girl Gets Lung Cancer

"Quite rare of you to spend your Saturdays in any outdoor activity," she remarked, patting my shoulder in a manner that never fails to irritate me. While her presence in my life is greatly appreciated, she just provides me with displeasure.

The comment serving facts caused my breath to turn into a sigh. "To be honest, I wish it wasn't a Saturday."

Molly nodded, fully anticipating my response. "Also, I couldn't greet you personally the other day because of urgent matters. Forgive me, but congratulations on getting full marks on your final defense! You and your group, especially you, were great out there. The PowerPoint left everyone in the room speechless. Heck, even the panelists!"

"You let nothing slip by, though honestly, delivery is the most important."

She speaks the truth, but... "While I agree that is undeniably correct, you can't just straight up abandon your ppt. It's like the face of your paper that you present to your panelists."

The other did not spare a second to laugh right after the last word. "I think all that matters is that you're able to defend your paper. After all, I've never come across a panelist before that has praised the researchers for having pretty visuals."

Gee. I can't say a word against that.

"Anyway," she directs her attention to the people who were silently watching our conversation, "looks like we have quite the crowd today."

"I'm Vanessa. Nice to meet you all," — she introduces herself before having eye contact with a certain someone — "except for you, Diane, of course."

Lucas took the opportunity to greet her first. Ever the extrovert he is. Even so, I bet the brat just wanted to flaunt his teeth. "It's nice to meet you too, Vanessa. I'm Lucas, a good friend of Eliza. This is Ken, Xavier, and Jaxon."

And then they shook hands.

"Eli, you didn't tell me you had such a handsome friend!" That's because I don't have one.

I sighed. "Molly, you ought to be more on the lookout for fake news."

Lucas looked visibly confused. "How so? We walk home together more often these days."

"That's because your soccer practice location is near the academy." That's right, there's no meaning in it.

"Oh, what's this?" Nonetheless, it looks like someone has different ideas. So much so that they took me into a nearby corner to whisper, "Do you happen to like this guy?"

Before I could even deny anything, she starts speaking again. "Oooh, you don't have to worry about that. I'll be your wing woman."

"Molly, no. There's nothing between us."

"Really? Not even oxygen?"

"You know that's not the point."

"But you don't just randomly walk home with anyone. This guy gotta be something." She just wouldn't let up.

"You're AroAce, right?" she asks as if trying to clarify something at the back of her memory. "Can't you just un-AroAce yourself for this guy who's literally an Angel? I mean, he's gorgeous, has manners, a soccer prodigy since he was seven, and is the son of a multi-millionaire. There's gotta be some exceptions."

My head shook with a frown. "No, it doesn't work like that." In the first place, how did she even arrive to that conclusion?

"I see." Having finally understood, she redirected her gaze toward the boy she just called an angel. "Are you single?"

I also see where this is going. My years of experience reading manga, watching anime, and writing fiction have allowed me to be three parallel universes ahead.