How to Date a Nerd

Chapter 11 - We Went Commando on the School Janitor

"Boys, I think we just found ourselves a ride," Reed said grinning.

* * *

"Can you please remind me why I'm doing this?" Ricky groaned as he manoeuvred his truck to Hopkinton High. His voice was a bit too high-pitched for a full-grown man that if you just listened, he'd almost sound like your Grandma in a bad hair day.

Rolling his eyes, Chuck hit him jokily on the shoulder. "Because, Ricky, it's exciting and you don't get much excitement in your old boring life, do you?"

I wasn't okay with the Ferguson brothers bullying Ricky Burns into our plan. But it wasn't like I had much room to think about human rights and world peace. It was an emergency.

"And, you can hang with us for a change," Reed added, giving me a rueful face. It was his idea. But I didn't think he was enjoying it either.

Ricky seemed to think about it for a moment. Then he flashed a nervous grin. "Okay... But just to be clear, we can't get arrested. It will damage my smooth permanent records and since I'm nineteen this would be considered a criminal act. I would want to land on a decent college."

"Blabbity blah," Nathan muttered. "Lily-livered."

I nudged him to shut up. Really, I'd no idea what he meant by lily-livered. Brits and their weird jumble of words. Ugh.

"Getting arrested? Not on my list. But we did tell you to practice running for your life," I said when the school came into view. "Park here," I barked when we reached the turn to the parking lot.

It was a Saturday, meaning no make-up summer classes. The school grounds were practically empty. I almost expected tumbleweed to pass by. It was getting dark. My celestial watch read fifteen minutes past five. Perfect timing.

We all moved out of the truck. Chuck, Reed, Nathan and Ricky were looking intently at me. Seriously, we huddled together-a practice insisted upon by the Ferguson brothers since they so missed football.

I cleared my throat and began the rundown. "Chuck, Reed; you know the drill. We'll break in while Ricky and Nathan wait in the truck. Hopefully, we won't need a getaway. I'll come with you to breach the area. If Lynch is still in, you know what to do. If everything goes smoothly and we get out, we'll commence phase two. If not-"

"Go on without you?" Ricky butted in, his lips shivering. He looked pale, almost green like he was ready to throw up.

"No," Chuck and Reed said in unison. "If not, run like hell and we do Plan B."

"Okay... What's Plan B?" he asked wringing his hands.

"We'll make it up as we go along," said Nathan impatiently. "So that being said, men, it's been an honor working you."

"Overkill!" Chuck grinned. "We're like some Special Ops team. This is so cool."

We ran to the back gate, trying to remain unseen. If we used the front entrance, we'd have to cross the parking lot and people might spot us. Once we got there, Reed reproduced the keys and fumbled with the locks. His hands were shaking. I couldn't blame him. The ramming in my chest wasn't so good either.

"Relax, bro," Chuck grabbed the set of keys from his brother's hand and unlocked the deadbolt, smiling coolly when we heard the soft click that meant we were in. "See?"

Grinning widely like idiots, we got in and darted behind the dumpster down Bio Lab's sliding window. I made a mental note to use it as an emergency escape if things went out of hand. Chuck led us to the backdoor commonly used by jocks as a shortcut to the football field. He unlocked it. No sign of Lynch so far so we pushed through.