Tara was a freshman and somehow impossibly shier than Avery. She didn’t seem to panic the way Avery does, but I guess a good-looking, popular senior such as myself was too much for her to handle.

Sweet girl, as far as I can tell, but she’s never managed to say more than three words to me. The first time I spoke to her directly, she turned scary-red and almost fainted. She’s gotten a little better over the last two weeks, but not much.

“You down to crash a debate club meeting and witness a little science in action?”

Tara couldn’t get any words out this time, but she managed to nod her head, so I turned back to Avery. “The nerd herd has spoken, Aves. We’re all here for you. Time to find your inner Rocky.”

“You guys, no one is going to punch Aiden in the face, okay?” Avery rubbed at her temples like her head was starting to pound. “I’m not mad at Aiden. Hurt, yes; confused, very; but I’m not angry. Just because he hurt me, doesn’t make it okay for me to hurt him back. He had every right to want a little space from me. I can also understand the need to pull away for his girlfriend’s sake. If I was in her position and my new boyfriend had some girl that he’d been best friends with since birth, I’d be more than intimidated by her.”

“Come on, Avery!” Libby groaned. “You are not actually condoning the way he treated you Thursday night, are you?”

“Lib. They wanted to win. If I really was causing contention and distracting their team, then I can understand them wanting me to leave. He was really polite about it, at least. I don’t think he was angry that I showed up. I just feel bad that I messed them up. I heard they lost the debate.”

“They lost the debate because they suck!” Libby said. “And Aiden sucks for having no regard for your feelings whatsoever! He’s a jerk, Avery! How can you not be mad at him?”

“I’m just not, okay? Can we please drop it? I’m done working on the experiment for the day. We’re supposed to be helping Grayson with his physics too, and he’s got a make up quiz tomorrow on Newton’s Laws.”

This seemed to stop everyone. I wasn’t sure why they were suddenly all staring at me until Brandon said, “Did you really fail a quiz on Newton’s Laws?”

Okay. So they were staring at me because they all thought I was a moron. “What?” I asked a little defensively. “Like it’s easy? ‘Don’t steal’ I get. ‘Red means stop’ makes perfect sense. That Newton guy was smoking some serious crack when he made up his laws. When the hell will I ever use that stuff anyway?”

Avery patted my hand, but the rest of the nerds gaped at me and then shot each other a bunch of looks full of hidden meanings.

“This is not good,” Levi said gravely. “Our president is dating a simpleton. Imagine if the guys over at Payson High find this out?”

“We’d lose all our street cred,” Brandon agreed. “It’s going to be bad enough having to take him to the science fair.”

“Geeks have street cred?” I asked, only slightly offended. “And what will be so bad about having me at the science fair?”

“You’re a popular. A beautiful people. A jock. No offense, but that’s very bad for our reputation. Why do you think we were so happy to keep your presence in our club secret?”

I laughed in astonishment. Who knew?

“I happen to appreciate your beauty,” Libby announced. “As well as your willingness to sink to our level of nerdiness for Avery’s sake, even if you won’t own up to it to your friends. Your devotion makes up for your less-fortunate qualities, but I’m sorry, we simply cannot have a member of our science club not understand the basic laws of motion. This is a science club emergency.” Libby looked around the group. “It’s time Grayson gets his first lesson in applied physics.”

I was scared when the geeks dragged me out to the parking lot, but as it turned out “applied physics” was just some nerdy version of bowling. Actually, as far as punishment for failing a class goes, I could have done a lot worse than having to attend science club.

Once we were at the bowling alley, I caught Avery watching me as I laced up my bowling shoes. She did that every now and then during science club as if she still expected to see Aiden’s face instead of mine. It always made me a little sad when I noticed her missing my brother, so I did my best to put a smile on her face every time it happened.

“What? No pool hall?”

Her answering smile was small, but it was real.

Libby snorted. “Not if you want a chance at winning.”

Brandon puffed out his white-dress-shirt-clad chest and threw an arm around Avery’s shoulders. “Avery is a master pool player.”

“So I noticed.”

The knowing look I shot Avery made her blush. It hadn’t been her pool skills I noticed that night so much as the way she looked every time she leaned over the table to take a shot. I’d most likely have the same problem bowling today. Too bad she wasn’t still wearing that dress.

I changed the subject before I started drooling. “So which one of you is the genius nerd bowling prodigy?”

“Actually, none of us are very good bowlers,” Levi said. “It’s just one of the more simplified ways to explain Newton’s Laws of Motion. Athletes tend to be kinesthetic learners, so hands-on demonstrations usually work much better than lectures.”

Kinesthetic learner? Was I supposed to know what that was?

Levi sighed, reading the confusion on my face. “Kinesthetic learners are people who learn by physically carrying out an activity rather than just watching a demonstration or listening to a lecture. Judging by the way you cannot ever sit still for more than five minutes, I am going to assume that you are either a kinesthetic learner or you suffer from ADHD.”

He seemed to want an answer to this. “Uh . . . I’m not ADHD.”

“Good. Then this should work.”

“What should work?” I was starting to get scared again. If it weren’t for the amused look on Avery’s face, I might have bolted from the building.

“Since you are most likely a kinesthetic learner, for this study session we will have you physically put Newton’s laws into motion.”

“Uh . . . okay . . .” Sometimes their geekspeak was too much. Why couldn’t he just say, “I think you’re a moron, so I’m going to dumb it up for you with something I think you can relate too like this dense inanimate object.”

I wanted to be pissed off, but Avery was still sitting across the lane from me with this adorable grin on her face, so I couldn’t find it in me to be offended by her smart friends.

“So, beefcakes,” Libby said, startling me from my Avery staring. “How’s about you pick up your ball, and let’s get this party started. I happen to be a visual learner, so I am quite excited to have some eye candy to enhance my learning experience for a change.”

That finally did it. I smiled. “You frighten me, Libby. You really do.”

“She frightens us all,” Brandon said, and then looked at me. “So, Grayson, my physics-ly challenged friend.” He snorted. “Newton’s first law of motion. What is it?”

I sighed, recognizing the beginnings of actual studying. I had hoped “applied physics” was really just code for “bowling,” but I guess not.

Everyone was waiting for me to answer, so I tried to remember what I knew of Newton’s Laws. “What goes up, must come down?”

When the entire group groaned, Avery took pity on me. “That’s a rough translation of the law of gravity.”

“Well, can we start with that one? Because that’s the one I sort of understand. Gravity I get.”

I got another round of groans for this, and Avery giggled as she explained why that was wrong.

“Gravity isn’t one of the three laws of motion, but those are just as simple. Here . . .” At my look of doubt, she got up and handed me my bowling ball. “Is this ball going to throw itself down the lane?”

Was she messing with me? “Is this a trick question?”