The chess club. She retched. Was it possible to be nerdier than choosing to play chess? Spending time on it willingly? Jen made a beeline for the cafeteria line, when someone walked into her. Her handbag fell to the floor along with who bumped her. “Watch where you’re going, nerd!” she screeched, picking up her back, and seeing Rowena Winkleman rubbing her knee.
“Sorry, Jennifer,” Rowena muttered, before pulling herself up.
“Be careful, dickweed. What, could you not wait a few more seconds to get to your stupid chess club?” she scoffed.
“No, actually, I couldn’t, because I actually have a brain capable of intelligent thought, unlike you, so I can enjoy the intricacies of a game of chess,” Rowena spat back. For a nerd, she had spunk.
“Did you just call me stupid?” Jen towered over the short, frizzy haired girl, who shrunk back a little. “Try to get this through your ugly head, bitch. I am better than you. I’m better looking than you, I’m better at sports than you, I’m better at picking friends than you, and I’ve never played your dumb game, but I’ll bet I’m better at chess than you too, get it?”
Rowena stared up at Jen, indignantly. “Are you going to prove it?”
“What?” Jen said, blinking.
“Prove you’re better at chess than me, with some stakes. If you beat me, I’ll give you my limited edition, tri-force of power Nintendo 3DS XL,” the other nerds at the chess table gasped.
“Rowena, no!” One of them whispered.
Jen scoffed. “Why the hell would I want that?”
Rowena took out said console. “Because it has every Pokemon game loaded on it, Ocarina of time, and it’s signed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Even if you don’t want to play with it, on ebay that’s worth at least a thousand dollars.
If this were a cartoon, Jen’s eyes would have turned into dollar signs. “Alright, I’ll bite. And if you beat me?” she asked, smugly.
“Then you have to come to the chess club every day until the end of term,” the little nerd said, with a challenging tone in her voice.
Jen rolled her eyes. “Forget it, I’m out,” she said turning away.
“What’s wrong, Jennifer? Scared of a nerd?” Rowena taunted, eliciting oohs from the students.
Jen growled. “Ughhh, fine. I’ll play your dumb game.” She pushed some geeky boy, his name was Tobias, she thought, and sat down, leaning on her arm as Rowena set the board up.
“I’ll let you go first, Jennifer,” she said, smiling smugly.
Jen rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she pushed a pawn forward 2 spaces.
“Typical,” Rowena muttered, moving a knight.
The game was boring for Jen at the start, but the thought of the thousand dollars must have inspired her, because she started to think about every move for longer and longer, even managing to take Rowena’s queen and pull herself out of check. She began thinking of strategies, and predicting Rowena’s moves, thinking 2 steps ahead of her. Eventually, she moved a rook and leaned back. “Checkmate,” she said smugly.
Rowena spluttered, trying to get out of check, but to no avail. Jennifer Smith, stereotypical brainless cheer girl, had beaten Rowena, captain of the chess club, on her very first game! “B-but… you… how?”
“I beat you, nerd, now hand over the thing,” Jen smirked, clicking for the Nintendo. Rowena’s eyes welled up with tears as she gave away her most prized possession. “Oh my god, are you crying? Over a Nintendo? What are you, five?” Hah!” she got up and made her way over to the cafeteria line. “Hey, if any of you nerds wanna bet expensive crap, I’d be happy to take it off your hands,” she laughed and joined Tammy in the line.
“Uhh, Jen?” Tammy said, raising an eyebrow. “What the hell was that? And what are those?” she asked, looking at Jen’s new frames.
“These are the only frames I have until my contacts come, and that was me winning a grand off of blind luck!” Jen laughed, despite knowing luck wasn’t the only culprit.
“Nice!” Tammy high-fived her. “You still coming to practice after recess?”
“Of course,” Jen assured her, before picking up an apple and some pasta.
The lunch bell rang, and Jen began walking to the locker rooms.