Other works by Shim Simplina:

Reapers Chronicles
Reapers-Thirteen Brothers (published)
Reapers-The First Familiar (completed)
Reapers-Master of Souls

Nerd Diaries:
As Told by Nerdy (published)
How To Date a Nerd (completed)

Filipino Stories:
31 Days to Die
#LoveTeam

How to Date A Nerd is Published under Popfiction. Available in paperback (Philippines only) and ebook (via Buqo app).

PLEASE GET YOUR COPY!!!

Other published TsubameStories you must get:

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Hello there! (echoes and crickets sounds)

Uh... *awkward* So it's now or never. I've been dillydallying about this story for ages. But here it is. SO PLEASE GIVE IT A CHANCE. Tell me if it's worth doing and show some love if you think so. The whole story doesn't really have this sad feel. It's more comedy than romance but this is how it starts so... Yeah I hope you like it.

And the song on the RIGHT is the theme song for this book, just so you'd get a hint. I'd make a trailer but I'm practically crap at that, sadly...

IMPORTANT: This is a sequel so you may need to read the first book Life as told by Nerdy to understand what happened before this. Nevertheless, I'd try my best to make it enjoyable for the new readers. *fingers crossed*

DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS,

~shim

How to Date a Nerd

(A sequel to Life as Told by Nerdy)

by Shim Simplina

All rights reserved. 2012©

Prologue

Everybody thinks I live a perfect life. That I live in a perfect world. That all the cars and clothes make me the happiest guy in whole universe. I say they're wrong.

Leon Walden; young actor, musician, pop star. They call me many things but none of those brands fit the real Leon.

Every time a camera flashed, I'd have to act cool, smile and look like a million bucks. It didn't matter if I felt like sulking. I had to protect an image. People expected too much from me. After all those years of being a public property, I didn't feel like myself anymore.

Oh, I'm Leon Walden. I love my job. Everybody loves me. Not. I felt like a dummy who had to be amazing when the photographer said "Cheese!" or when the director yelled "Action!"

I was tired. So tired I felt like a robot running out of batteries. I needed to wrap up. I needed to hear that "Cut!" It was all of a sudden that being me wasn't so much fun anymore. I guess that's what happens when you're forced to be amazing all the time, not knowing how.

My only consolation was my music. It's my passion. Whenever I played, I could care less about deforestation and global warming and world peace.

Sometimes I got to thinking, would people still be nice to me and give me letters and pillow hearts and stuff if I wasn't Leon Walden? Fat chance. No one really knew me and no one bothered to know-except for Arthur but that's just because he's my Dad.

All my life I've been abnormal, putting up with a broken family-a crazy mother and a villain twin brother. Home schooling. Problems. Work. Lawsuits. People stalking me. And yes, I've tried partying with chicks-lots of them-and got drunk until I couldn't tell the difference between a girl and a lamp post. Besides that, I've got no real friends. I have no life. Yeah, yeah. Pathetic, I know.

Then she came. Sarah Littman.

It was my first day in Hopkinton High. It was extremely cold which annoyed me. Why did I have to be stuck in this town in the middle of nowhere? I squinted through the glaring white snow. Everything was covered with the white stuff like some giant from outer space just dumped all his dandruff on the street.

Grudgingly, I kicked a rock on the road. I knew I had to be here. I had to stay hidden, inconspicuous and normal. I had to be not me. As always.

That was when I saw her-a not so tall, pale girl with long dark-brown hair. She seemed to be picking something up from the sidewalk when a couple of boys in sports jackets threw slush balls at her. The girl didn't move a muscle. I guess she decided to ignore them as they sniggered past her.

She stood up, blankly brushing the snow from her hair. I noticed she was holding a small blue flower which she pressed in between the pages of one of the many books she lugged all the way to school.

The girl looked around, removed her eyeglasses and wiped them on her sleeves. She had storm-gray eyes with the vaguest hint of blue or green. I couldn't decide. She seemed to notice me looking and she met my eyes with a small smile that disappeared as soon as it had come.

That was when I realized that I wasn't wearing my fake glasses. They made my eyes hurt like hell. Hurriedly, I slammed the glasses on my face. The girl just nodded slightly to me and walked away staring at the ground. She didn't appear to have a clue who I was.

Genuine nerd, I smirked.

Only, there was something with the way she looked at me that made me want to smile. It was the first closest thing to a normal interaction I had in years.

When I walked in to my first class, I instantly spotted the girl when I peeked through the slightly open door. At the time, they were having a roll call.

"Sarah Littman," the teacher called and the girl raised a hand.

Sarah. I smiled. So that's her name, I thought. I was secretly glad even if I didn't really know her.

As the teacher told me to come in, I kept my eyes on the floor. I'd never been to a normal school before. Just the thought of it made my stomach lurch. Murmurs filled the room. Dad warned me that someone might've leaked info about my enrolment to this school so I had to be careful.

When the teacher introduced me, I took cautious steps to the front. Everyone was looking at me. That wasn't good. I pulled down my cap so it covered most of my face.

"You're not Leon Walden," a smiling girl from the front said and the rest of the students laughed.

One didn't though. Sarah looked at me with some hint of masked understanding. Like she was worried but she didn't want anyone to notice.

The teacher started to say something but I tuned him out. Another girl wanted to see my hair. The rest of them seemed to be jeering. They wanted to see if I was a blond. I panicked.

Luckily, Dad thought a step ahead and had my hair back to its normal color-black. That should be entertaining. So I removed my beanie and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw their disappointed faces.

Suckers!

As I was asked to introduce myself, I saw some girls from the third row throw bits of paper to Sarah's direction. The teacher, Mr. Collins didn't seem to mind. Or maybe he was blind... or stupid. She just stayed quiet and did not complain. Ugh, I'd never understand chumps.

Leonard Dunn, I reminded myself. I go by that name.

"S-sure... I- I'm Leonard Dunn, f-from Oregon," I stuttered. My fake dental braces kept on grazing the inside of my mouth. It was a torture device, really.

When the teacher told me to occupy the empty seat at the third row, I asked for a seat near the window. Luckily, the boy sitting there didn't mind. I was seated next to Sarah. I already know someone from my class. That was a bit comforting... and normal. Maybe I could talk to her some time-like a normal boy would. Or maybe not.

She was throwing glares at me while doing her seatwork. That made me a little nervous so I looked away. I didn't realize I was tapping my pencil on my table a little too louder than I intended.

Her forehead creased when she handed a little note to me. I barely read it before throwing it away. What was her problem? For some reason, I felt like sprinting out of the room. Even so, I kept still on my seat-or at least tried to. I couldn't seem to concentrate. She had me distracted.

We didn't end up as buddies when the class was over. We ended up in detention because I threw a notebook on her face. Sadly, it was a bull's eye. I didn't intend it to hit her. It was just a reflex. Plus, she was just too wimpy and annoying.

How lucky could I get? And it was just the first day of my normal life. Maybe I wasn't built for normal. To make things worse, by some twisted chance, she found out my secret. She discovered that Leon Walden and Leonard Dunn were one and the same.

That wasn't supposed to be good.

I tried to bribe her but she put down my offer. I think she was even offended. There was something in her honest eyes that made me guilty-I mean, really. We tried scaring her off. We tried kidnapping her. We tried befriending her. But she was hard to figure out. I was starting to go nuts! Maybe she didn't just care. I knew I should be relieved but it didn't feel right.

My manager told me to pretend to like her-make her fall for me so I could monitor and dictate her every move. She resisted that too- at first-but I wanted to know what she was planning. So I persisted and used all my charms until I had her spinning on the palm of my hands. But as it turned out, there was no plan whatsoever. In the end, it seemed like Sarah didn't intend to divulge my secret for some reason. And as my plans began to unroll, the weirdest thing happened-I fell for her. Ironic. The predator fell for his prey. I had no idea why or how. It must be the chemicals kicking in... or mind control.

From then on, I swore to be by her side as long as she wanted me to be. To be honest, I couldn't see myself otherwise.

And now after more than two years that we've been together, I started to doubt everything. But mostly, myself.

It took some courage to look at her pale face while she lay motionless in the hospital bed. The lifesaving equipment connected to her beeped like a time bomb. But then, it was a proof that she was still somewhere in there. A life support machine kept her chest rising and falling. I couldn't do anything as I watched her from the glass pane of the intensive care unit. It was killing me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Freddy, Sarah's Dad.

"Go home, Leon. Get some sleep," he said.

I shook my head and gazed back at Sarah. "I'm fine."

"You've been here for two days straight. It wouldn't do us anything good if you get sick," he urged.

"I want to be here when she wakes up," I insisted.

If she wakes up. Something in me nagged but I shrugged it away before I could think of banging my head on the wall.

Sarah would wake up. She would for me. I sat down on a chair and let my head droop on my hands. It was my fault she was in that hospital bed. I made her life miserable. I put her life in danger.

I pressed my hand on the glass panel. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I breathed.

"Sarah, wake up."

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