Note: This is my entry for the Knowledge is a Virtue contest.
Dylan and I were cruising around the schoolyard. It was pretty early in the morning, maybe 5 o’clock in the morning but we didn’t care. We were heading to the Library. Instead of finding it locked, like we anticipated, it was unlocked but there seemed to be a few older kids in there. Three of them, donning the green Astronomy Club vests so I could tell these guys must be the Nerds. “Watch out for them.” Kirby had told us, with a smirk. They looked friendly enough to me. They appeared to be playing some sort of game. But Dylan never paid any mind what anyone said. “I wonder what kind of game those guys are playing.” He mused aloud, but only so that I could hear him. He lifted his left arm, the one I now recognized as his watch arm. Curious, he walked over to get a better look. I followed. This was strange for Dylan, who usually was very cautious and attentive around cliques.
“Hey there.” A boy, who was watching the game said. We both nodded and waved, trying to look as casual and friendly as possible. The boy was one of the Nerds. He was rotund and a ginger, wearing big round glasses. Dylan looked amused by the attention, as he was by attention of any kind. Just at that moment though a group of girls walked by. Dylan took off his hood and hat, instantly flipped his dark brown hair, and leaned against a bookshelf in an attempt to look cool. Some of the girls smiled at him and he winked. The girls walked over to their own corner among the bookshelves. The ginger looked at Dylan admirably. “I wish the ladies looked at me like that…” he said. “My name’s Algernon, but everyone calls me Algie around here. And those are my friends Cornelius and Fatty.” He said, gesturing to the two boys playing the game. “I’m Lyell and that’s Dylan.” I said, gesturing at Dylan. Dylan nodded, still trying to act cool, placing his hat and hood back on.
The two who were playing the game stopped to look at us. One I recognized as Fatty Johnson. The other was a lean black boy that reminded me of Steve Urkel. Judging on his appearance this one must be Cornelius. Dad had told me a bit about the Nerds. And he didn’t say anything like what Kirby told us. “All you have to do is look cool and be nice and the Nerds will like you.” Dad said.
Easy enough for us to look cool. Dylan was wearing his favorite black hoodie and his favorite San Francisco Giants cap, looking as cool as possible. He wore the hat with the bill facing forward and the hood on over the hat. He also wore black jeans and his favorite blue Nike Dunks. He looked pretty cool alright. I was wearing a red flannel and black jeans, also donning shiny red and black Nike Air Jordan Spizikes. I was wearing a hat too, a Chicago Bears cap that Dad had bought me. Okay we looked really cool in fact. I think despite the fact we were short and obviously kids we still knew how to play it cool.
“Ooooh…I have to go to the bathroom again! But if I do someone’s bound to pick on me!” Algie wailed. I gave Dylan a significant look and he seemed to notice. “Come with us Algie. We’ll make sure no one bothers you.” Dylan said. “Really?” Algie cried, looking from Dylan to me. I nodded. “Yeah just come with us.” I replied. “Oh thank you! I won’t forget this!” Algie cried. “Now c’mon.” Dylan said, gesturing for us to follow.
We walked outside, Algie followed looking somewhat frightened. Almost immediately afterwards a Bully came running up, seeing Algie. But when he saw Dylan and I walking with Algie he made an abrupt U-turn and headed the other way. No one at this school was dumb enough to mess with both Dad or the Murdock brothers for that matter. Messing with Dad around here was like a death wish. So in that way we had given Algie protection. It was as though we put a force field was around him. Dylan had met his dad yesterday, the 16 year old Dane, who was feared at school. Dane believed Dylan easily. At any rate, so long as I was Beckett’s son or pretending to be his cousin, I was protected. So long as Dylan was the son of Dane and the brother of Devon, he was protected.
We led Algie in the building, and finally to the bathroom. As he did this, Juri walked over. “I heard you guys were escorting some Nerd around.” He said. “Yeah what about it?” I asked. “Aren’t you guys afraid of getting caught escorting him around?” Juri asked. “No…why should we?” Dylan replied, slightly indignant. “Your reputation..” he started, but Dylan said. “I don’t give a damn about my rep. I’m trying to help people out.” He retorted. “Besides what’s so wrong with Algie? He didn’t do nothing to you.” I added. Algie came over, having just finished washing his hands. “If you want to get to him you’ll have to get through us.” Dylan said, putting his fists up. I did the same. “Fine…do what you want.” Juri said, leaving.
“W-wow thanks guys.” Algie said. “No problem Algie.” Dylan said. We went back to the library. Algie then proceeded to tell the other Nerds in great detail how we stood up for him against Juri. They were surprised but they praised us highly for our courage. These Nerds…these guys…they were alright. Dylan and I then spent the rest of the day playing Grottos and Gremlins with them. We didn’t care what people thought of us. We were having fun, and that was what counted.