The Nerd Daughter

Mason Jamie “The Child Prodigy” Sanders

That is my name, well at least Mason Jamie Sanders is, and the Child Prodigy is a nickname since that is what I am. I am only 15 and I am a senior, you’re probably thinking that I get bullied by the other seniors, but that is farther from the truth. In actuality, all of my friends are seniors, again you might think that they use me to do their homework, it isn’t. I made these friends when I was getting pushed into a locker on my first day of school, needless to say they became not only my friends, but older brothers and sisters I’ve never had.

I was putting my stuff into my locker when I heard the familiar voice of George yell from across the hall, “Jimmy” he yelled I groaned, ever since I told him that my parents were considering naming me James he insisted to call me Jimmy when he could. I shook my head once he was near, “Do you have to scream like that, couldn’t you wait until you actually made it near me” I asked, he pouted, “What’s the fun in that?” he asked. Derek stood behind him and smacked the back of his head, his face was stony, but that changed once he stood next to me and greeted, “Hey Munchkin” out of all the guys he was the most protective and nobody messed with me, because the last guy who did ended up in the hospital.

Another reason why he declared for that position was because I reminded him of his little sister who passed away and I was okay with that, it was his way of coping, “Hey Big Brother” I said hugging his waist. Susie Q, Lily, and Tyler made it before the bell rang and since Susie and I had first period together, we waved goodbye to them and left towards our first class. As Susie and I walked to our first period I thought about how different I was from Susie Q and Lily, I wasn’t pretty like them.

My hair was black, thick and frizzy, I wore glasses, I didn’t have flawless skin, and I was chubby, not fat but I wasn’t at the weight I was supposed to be at fifteen and I was only 5’5. Anyways, I was taken out of my thoughts when Susie hip bumped me, “Earth to Jimmy” she said, I rolled my eyes, “Yes, Susie?” I said, “You were in space” she retorted. I bit my lip, “Sorry, it’s just I’ve been thinking for the past couple of weeks about something and it hasn’t left my mind” I wasn’t necessarily a lie, I just didn’t want her pity, “Well what is it?” she asked concerned. I didn’t get a chance to tell her when our English teacher walked in, ‘Saved by the bell’ I thought.

After class Susie Q seemed to have forget about what I was talking about, so I continued upon my day without any thoughts of my life until lunch. By the time lunch rolled by I didn’t want to go the cafeteria so I told Tyler that I would seem him later and walked outside to the bleachers. Once I got there I placed my backpack by my feet, I always sat at the top when I felt like being alone, I took my book out which was Harry Potter at the moment and my apple and picked up where I left off, and soon I was in my own little world.

Derek’s POV

Tyler walked into the cafeteria without Jamie, I furrowed my eyebrows, “Where is Jamie?” I asked, Tyler chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head, “She said she wanted to be alone and left” I clenched my fists, “and you let her?” I grunted, “Well, it’s not like she gave me a choice she left pretty quickly” I sighed heavily, I grabbed my backpack and left the cafeteria, the students quickly moved out of the way as they saw me stomp my way to find Jamie. I sighed, as I looked for her there was only one person who knew my real feelings for her and that was my mother, when I first met her I didn’t harbor those type of feelings, because she reminded of my sister who had passed away way to young, since they became our next door neighbors, but now they’ve developed into something more.

She may not have looked like any of the other girls, she may not be thin, she may not have flawless skin, but I didn’t care. She was caring, nice, smart, and unselfish and I liked that, but I could never tell her because I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. I shook my thoughts when I walked outside when I saw a small blur of a person on top of the bleachers, I walked towards the bleachers and as I got closer I smiled, seeing her reading her book and eating her apple. She hadn’t realized I was already standing in front of her until I cleared my throat, and she jumped which caused her to drop her book and choke a little on her apple. Once she composed herself she smacked me, “You jerk” she said.

I chuckled, “Sorry, munchkin” I said, but then I asked, “What’s wrong?” she looked at me confused, “Nothing’s wrong” she said, I looked at her with narrowed eyes and said, “I’ve known you since you moved next door, so tell me munchkin” I said, she sighed, “I want to meet my father” she said bluntly. I furrowed my eyebrows, “What brought this on?” she bit her lip, “I found some old pictures of mom and there was a guy next to her and they seemed so happy, and I want to know what happened” I looked at her and nodded, I sat next to her and placed my arm around her waist, and scooted her closer to me, “Do you know anything about him, like a phone number or something?” I asked, she shook her head no, “Well, how about this, if you are so adamant about finding and meeting your father why don’t we do like a road trip out of it.”

She looked at me confused, “We?” I nod my head, “Yeah, we’ll go with you wherever it is to find our dad, I mean let’s take the year off and make an adventure out of it” I looked at her as she contemplated it, “What about school?” she asked, I rolled my eyes, “Jamie, those schools will always be there, I mean you’re a fricking’ genius no matter what you do, those schools are competing to have you in their school” I told her, and once I finished she smiled, “Okay, but you have to convince all of our friends to do it or no go” she said sternly, I chuckled, “I doubt that’s going to be a problem” We continued talking about how she was going to find out who her father is and she starting making plans in one of her blank notebooks that she dubbed, ‘The Road Trip of a Life Time’.

The bell soon rang and we both left to our last class which I had with her, which was AP History, “Oh man, this class is so boring” she giggled, “Only because you don’t like the teacher” he scoffs, “Excuse me, but it is the teacher who doesn’t like me” “Whatever” she said.

Jamie’s POV

After AP History Derek and I walked to where his car was since he was the one that gave me a ride, Tyler and Derek were the only ones with cars, and so once we got there Derek and I had smiles on our faces, “What’s with the Joker smiles?” George asked, “We want to run something by you guys, while we go eat some pizza” I said, “PIZZA!” Tyler yelled and ran to his car, once inside he stuck his head out the window, “Well what are you waiting for?!” he screamed, we laughed and followed his lead. We made it to our favorite pizza place and sat at our favorite table, “Hey, well look who it is the breakfast club” the manager of the pizza parlor teased, laughter covered the table “Ha ha, very funny Mario” Tyler said dryly. He clapped him on the shoulder, “I’m just fucking with you guys” he said, “You ordering the usual?” we all nodded, “All right, will be out soon” he left us while a waitress brought our drinks. “So what is it that you wanted to tell us?” Lily asked, leaning into George.

I looked at Derek since he was the one that needed to tell them, he sighed, “Well, Jamie here had confided in me to tell you that she wants to find her dad” Lily and Susie Q gasped, and Tyler and George eyes softened, “So, we were wondering why not make it into like a road trip” At the suggestion of road trip the guys hollered, “Hell Yes!” Lily and Susie Q were a little hesitant, “I don’t know I mean what about school, and our parents” Susie asked, “That’s where I come in, I mean all I have to tell them is that it’s for me, I mean all of your parents love me ever since I helped you guys keep up your grades” Susie Q and Lily finally nodded. “So do you know anything about you dad?” Tyler asked.

I smiled nervously, “That’s what I wanted to ask you, since you kind of a tech savvy guy I was wondering if you could help me” I said to Tyler, he sighed, “I guess, but I need some info” I looked into my backpack where I had the picture, “All I have is this and there are some writing on the back” I held it out for Tyler to take, “I’ll see what I can do” “When are we going to go on this road trip?” Lily asked, “After graduation” I said. “That’s only like a year away, so whose paying for this, I mean we need money and a car” Lily said. Lily was always the cautious one, always making sure we weren’t going to get hurt, “I have got that covered, I started making plans with Derek on everything, and here is what I got” I placed the notebook on the table and showed them.

“So the number one thing is a car, and since the biggest car we need is a van we can either rent one out or use two cars which would be Derek’s and Tyler’s and switch between drivers” I suggested, “I think a van is better, it seems like more money with two cars” Tyler said, “Okay, so I’ll check out car rentals once we’re done here. The Second thing is money, I have some money saved up from birthdays and spelling bee money that we can use” I said, I wrote down how much money I had, “it could probably last us half the trip if we didn’t stop at any hotels”. “Well, we could all pitch in, I mean we got to have money somewhere” Tyler said, “Don’t worry about money, I got this handled” George said all of a sudden, we all looked at him, since he’d been quiet for a while.

“What do you mean?” I asked, he sighed, “There’s been something I’ve been keeping from you guys” he said sadly, “I’m not from the Bronx” confusion filled the table, Mario came by with the pizzas, “Enjoy guys” he smiled, we all thanked him and once he left I said, “What does that mean Georgie?” he placed a piece of pizza on his plate and continued, “Exactly, what that means, I’m actually from the upper east side, I convinced my parents on letting me go to a public school” Tyler glared at him, “Were you too good for private school, you wanted to slum with the poor people?” Tyler scoffed at him.

“Stop, that’s not fair, maybe he had a good reason” I said trying to stop the tension from rising, “I did, I hate rich people, they think they’re better than everybody else, but here I can be myself, a dork a weirdo without being judged or looked down upon” he said, at that point we all knew how that feels. Tyler wasn’t buying it, “Whatever” he said, “I understand” I said, “But I am little disappointed that you weren’t honest with us” “I understand and if you guys don’t want me on this road trip I understand too, but I will still pay for everything” he said. “How about we just let this simmer down a little for the next couple of days and we’ll talk again” they all nod and we continued talking about the road trip while eating pizza.

After we were done eating and paid for it, we went our separate ways, and since George told us the truth about who he was and out in the parking lot was a black slick car waiting for him, Tyler, Lily, and Susie Q left without saying goodbye to George, Derek and I, on the other hand did, “Thanks for understanding” he said while hugging me, “Don’t thank me, I just know how you feel” After he left Derek and I left to where we lived which was an apartment building. We were next door neighbors, so he always waited for me to enter first before he went into his, I didn’t want to go in my house where my mom was probably finding ways to make me feel bad.

And sure enough there she was sitting on the kitchen table waiting for me. “Well, look who it is miss piggy” she sneered, “Come here to get more food” I went over to the refrigerator and grabbed a water bottle, she scoffed, “You think that drinking water and eating fruits are going to make you look better” I closed my eyes so no tears fell. “I don’t care mother, I’m going to my room to finish my homework” I stated, “I don’t see why that boy next door hangs out with you, he could do so much better” I looked at her as she smirked, “He’s a friend” she snorted, “goodnight mother” I said as I slammed the door to my room. With the door finally closed I let the tears fall, I walked into the small bathroom that was connected and decided to shower, which was my way to cry without being heard. Once I was finished, I changed into some pajamas and sat on my bed, no one knew about what was going on at home, not even Derek, they already do so much for me, I didn’t want to burden them with more.

There were times, where I wanted to end it all, but I always thought of Derek, Lily, Susie Q, Tyler, and George, they wouldn’t understand or they would be mad, and then I’d back out from doing it. I hoped the year went by quickly because I don’t think I can handle any more of this verbal abuse from the person that is supposed to be taking care of me. Since I hit puberty, she has made me feel like I was nothing, and that is the only reason why I am the way I am, I eat my feelings and as unhealthy as that is I can’t help it.

If I do find my father I hope that he nothing like my mother, Valary DiBenedetto.