Beauty and the Geek Boy

Chapter 40-Will

*Geek Boy*

Catherine's words filled my skull as I started to speak.

You make girls feel like crud because you don't notice them, but it's not like there's anything wrong with me. I'm perfectly fine.

It's you Will. You don't trust people, or rather, you can't trust people. You're screwed up so bad that you couldn't open yourself up to anyone even if you tried.

You picked a girl you wouldn't have to open up to.

She was wrong.

I trusted Ellie. I wasn't going to hurt her because I was scared. I wasn't going to ruin our relationship because the memory hurt.

Catherine was wrong. She had to be.

*

7 years ago

I was bent over my latest drawing, my fingers flying over the page as I sketched the mountain photograph that stretched over two pages of my wild habitats book. I dropped the pencil as I finished. Picking up the sketchbook, I held it up in front of me, trying to imagine I was my teacher looking at it.

I scowled. It was horrible.

I tore up the pages, scrunching them up.

"Mom!" I yelled.

James, five, looked up from his blocks and grinned. His dark hair was overgrown again—mom always forgot to take him to the hairdresser. He retrieved the scrunched up ball and started playing with it.

Mom wandered out of the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron. Her long brown hair was dishevelled, tumbling down her torso in curls. Beneath the blue patchwork design and floral dress, her stomach was large and curved. She was seven months pregnant, which was partially why she was at home today. Dad had insisted that she take a break from all the motivational speaking until the baby was born.

"What's wrong sweetheart?"

"I need to draw something in person," I said impatiently.

I felt a jab of guilt at the way I'd said it. It wasn't her fault the drawings weren't working. I was just stressed. Mr. Kilinski had demanded we had a landscape drawing to show the class by tomorrow, and every one of the dozens of drawings I'd sketched today had just been wrong.

She started to slip off the apron. "How about we go down to the park then? You can draw the swings and the people and everything."

The park was only a few minutes away, and we could walk there.

I shook my head rapidly. "No. We need to drive down to see the mountains." I needed a natural landscape and, since we lived in the city, it was an half an hour drive to anything that wasn't built artificially.

Mom frowned, glancing at the clock. "I'm too pregnant to drive honey. If you wait another two hours, your dad will be home from his business trip and he can take you down there."

"No," I complained. "That's too long. We have to go now."

She frowned. "Will..."

I started to whine.

"Okay, okay," she mumbled. She headed towards the stairs. "Jed!" she called. "Jed!"

After a beat, the sound of heavy footfalls answered. A second later, my rumpled looking older brother stood at the top of the stairs. His hair was dishevelled and there was stubble growing on his face. He hadn't ventured out of his room for the last few days since his team had won the football game on Friday. Mom had let him skip school yesterday, and lied to the office ladies, telling them that he was ill.