#nerd!phil

“Come on Dan, be a little more excited about this project,” Phil says as he sits with Dan at the library. There’s quite a few books surrounding them on the table, but Dan hardly cares about any of these books.

“It’s English class. What’s so exciting about reading books?” Dan asks, scoffing.

“What?” Phil asks as he looks over at Dan with wide eyes. “Are you kidding? Reading books is so fun. There’s literally millions of books to read out there. Have you ever even read a book in your life?”

Dan instantly shoots a glare at Phil. “I’ve read a book,” he quickly defends himself.

“Sports magazines don’t count as books,” Phil adds. “I mean, like… a full length novel.”

“Did you not hear me, Lester? I’ve read a book,” Dan argues. “I’ve read the whole Harry Potter series.”

Phil raises his eyebrows. “Okay. I’m impressed, Dan, considering how long those books are,” he admits. “Well, maybe we could use the Harry Potter series for our project then. Although, I personally think that we should try a book that you haven’t read yet.”

Dan groans loudly. “Come on, dude. Why can’t we just pick a book that you’ve already read?”

“What? So I can do all the work? That’s not gonna happen,” Phil chuckles and shakes his head.

“The project is due in less than two weeks. How am I supposed to finish a book by then? Especially when I’ve got baseball practice all week. I’ve got a game coming up!” Dan argues. “I don’t have time to read.”

“Yes you do. You’re just making up excuses so you don’t have to read,” Phil argues back. “I’m not gonna do all of this project by myself. We’ve got hundreds of books to choose from. So, let’s pick one, okay?”

Dan sighs and he slumps down in his chair, knowing that there’s nothing he can say or do to get out of this project. Of course he gets partnered up with the biggest bookworms in the school. But to be fair, despite being total opposites, Dan actually doesn’t really mind Phil Lester. They have a few classes with each other, and most students don’t like him because he’s smarter and a “nerd”. Dan couldn’t care less. Phil’s nice, and they seem to be getting along with each other so far, which is all that matters to Dan.

“Have you ever read The Hunger Games series?” Phil asks as he looks over at Dan. It’s been about fifteen minutes, and they’re still trying to decide on what book they would use for their project.

“You know, I wasn’t kidding when I said Harry Potter is the only book series I’ve read,” Dan tells him.

“Well, if you liked Harry Potter, then you’ll love The Hunger Games. It’s got three books, but of course, we only have to read the first book for our project. I can read a bit of the first book if you want.”

“No, you don’t-” Dan looks over and sighs when he sees Phil picking up the book. “Phil, seriously…?”

Phil clears his throat before he starts to read the first couple sentences from the book.

Dan tries his best to drown Phil’s voice out so that he doesn’t have to listen to him reading this book. But, nothing seems to work. He looks up at Phil and glares at him, but then his face softens as he actually starts to listen to Phil reading. Phil’s voice is soft and calming, something Dan hasn’t noticed before now. As Phil continues reading, Dan can tell Phil is passionate about reading. Just like he is with baseball.

Phil looks up at Dan once he finishes reading, and smiles. “So, what do you think?”

Dan blinks a few times. “Um,” he clears his throat and can’t help but blush. “Yeah. We can use that.”

“Perfect! I’ve already read this book-” Phil begins.

“That’s not surprising at all,” Dan mumbles, and smirks when Phil glares at him.

“As I was saying,” Phil continues. “I’ve already read the book. It’s been awhile, so I get to read it again. So, you can have this copy since I already have the series at home. You better read this book too, Dan. Seriously. No cheating by watching the movie.”

“Wait, there’s a movie?” Dan asks as his head perks up.

“Crap. I thought you already knew that. That doesn’t matter. I’ll be quizzing you about book stuff once you’ve finished reading. There may be a movie but they always leave out important stuff,” Phil scoffs. “Drives me absolutely mental when they do that. You know?” Phil looks up at Dan.

Dan raises his eyebrows as he stares at Dan. “No, I don’t know,” he says.

“Of course not,” Phil rolls his eyes. “We should put the rest of these books away then.”

“Seriously?” Dan whines. “You’re the one who pulled all these books out in the first place!”

“Because we needed all of them,” Phil argues as he stands up from his seat. “Now come on, Howell. Start grabbing these books.” He grins once Dan does as he’s told without arguing any further. Phil grabs a handful of books as well, and heads back over to the shelves, already knowing where each book goes.

Phil finishes putting books away before Dan.

“How did you do that so fast?” Dan asks when Phil walks up to him.

“I’ve read every book in this library,” Phil says like it’s nothing. “I already knew where they went.”

Dan rolls his eyes. “Ugh. You’re so annoying,” he says, though there’s a joking tone in his voice. “Here. Take this.” He hands Phil another book. “Be a dear and put that away, will you?”

“Fine. So demanding,” Phil mumbles as he goes to put the book Dan handed him away.

Dan can’t help the smile that forms on his face as he watches Phil walk away.

Maybe these next two weeks won’t be as bad as Dan thinks.

Over the next few days, Dan continues to focus on his baseball practice rather than his project with Phil. It’s not like he’s purposely trying to forget about the project. He just would rather focus on baseball.

“Don’t forget about that project, Daniel!”

Dan cringes as soon as he hears his mother’s voice from the kitchen, and he instantly regrets telling her about the project he has with Phil. Not only does he have Phil reminding him every day, but now his mum will surely make sure to bug him about it as well. “I know, mum!” Dan shouts before running up the stairs and heading straight to his bedroom. He shuts the door and flops down onto his bed.

Dan grabs his book bag and starts pulling stuff out. He stops when he pulls out The Hunger Games book. He sighs as he stares at the book, knowing he’ll have to start reading it eventually. This project is a big part of their grade, and he knows Phil will be pissed at him if he’s the reason why they failed.

Dan bites his lip and glances at The Hunger Games DVD resting on his dresser. Of course he went out and bought the DVD as soon as Phil told him that there was a movie. It’ll take him ages to read the book, especially with how busy he is with all of his baseball practices. They’ve got a home game coming up.

Dan sighs, remembering what Phil told him about quizzing him about the book, and then he remembers Phil’s soft voice reading the first couple of pages from the book.

“Fuck it,” Dan mumbles, leaning back against his pillows and opening the book to the first page.

When Phil gets to school the next morning, he’s surprised when he finds Dan at his locker, hardly paying any attention except for the book in his hands. This is the last thing Phil expected. He never thought that Dan would actually read the book. He thought for sure that he would somehow cheat.

Phil smiles, and heads over to Dan’s locker. “How’s the book?” He asks calmly.

Dan doesn’t even startle. “You know, it’s actually not that bad…” He looks up at Phil. “I’ve been reading it all night, and I’ve only got three chapters left. I didn’t think I would enjoy it, but… I have been.”

“You’ve been reading it all night?” Phil asks, raising his eyebrows.

“Mm-hmm,” Dan nods. “I have to read the next two books. “Do they have them at the library?”

“Of course,” Phil says, blinking a few times. “You know, I’m really impressed Dan.”

“What? I had nothing else better to do with my time. I figured… I might as well just read the damn book,” Dan shrugs and looks over at Phil with raised eyebrows. “It’s really not a big deal.”

“I know. I just thought for sure that you would somehow cheat your way out of reading,” Phil admits.

Dan chuckles and shakes his head. “I know how to read. I just don’t like reading is all,” he says. “But, maybe you’ve changed my mind, Lester. Not many people can do that, you know?”

Phil grins at Dan, and he goes to open his mouth to reply, but stops when a couple of guys from the baseball team walk up to Dan. Phil hates the boys on the baseball team. They’re all jerks who think they’re better than everyone else. Excluding Dan. He can be an asshole, but at least he’s nice.

“Howell, what are you doing hanging out with nerdy Lester?”

Dan rolls his eyes and closes his book, glaring at the three boys. “Shove off, Mikey,”

“And what the hell are you doing with this?” One of the other boys asks, going to take Dan’s book, but Dan quickly pulls the book back before he can, and he ignores the glare he gets from the boy. 

“It’s called a book, Alex,” Dan replies sassily. “I’m reading it for my project in class. What do you want?”

“Well, Howell, some of us wanted to have our own little practice before the home game this weekend, and we thought we’d come ask if you wanted to join us?” Mikey asks.

“Sure, that sounds-” Dan glances over at Phil and bites his lip slightly when he sees the look on his face. “Uh, actually. I just remembered that I promised Phil we could work on our book project this week. But, maybe I can join if there’s some time on Friday? A little extra practice can’t hurt anybody.”

“Really? You’re blowing us off to do school work with nerdy Lester?” Mikey asks angrily.

“Seriously, it’s like I don’t even know you anymore Howell,” Alex adds. “Forget it. We don’t need you.”

“Coach would disagree with that,” Dan replies with a smirk.

“You shut the fuck up,” Mikey snaps. “Come on boys. We need to go practice.” He grabs the other two and the three boys walk away without saying another word.

“Wow. I- I can’t believe you just did that, Dan...” Phil says with shock. “They already hate me enough, but you don’t want your own teammates hating you. And, isn’t the home game pretty important?”

Dan laughs, and looks at Phil. “What? We’ve been practicing all last week. I don’t need more practice, and besides… we need to work on the project. We only have a week left and we haven’t even started. Look, I’ll have the book finished by the end of the day, and we can start working on the presentation.”

“Okay then, if you’re sure. Shall we work on the project at my house or your house?” Phil asks.

“Mine,” Dan replies. “What’s your number? I’ll text your my address, and you can come over tonight.”

“Okay,” Phil grins, and pulls out his phone so that he and Dan can exchange numbers.

“I’ll text you my address when I get to class,” Dan says.

Phil gasps. “Oh no. I’ve got to get to my locker. I’m going to be late. See you later, Dan!”

Dan raises his eyebrows as he watches Phil take off towards his locker, and he can’t help but laugh.

****

Dan and Phil work on the project for two days at Phil’s house during the week, working on putting together a poster filled with facts and pictures, and an essay attached along with it as well.

Dan comes to the realization that Phil isn’t as bad as people have made him out to be all these years.

Despite being a nerd, they actually have quite a few things in common with each other. The two boys love the same type of music and watch the same movies. They’ve bonded over how much they love Muse. Dan’s never gotten along with someone like Phil, mostly because he's too worried about his reputation. But now, he doesn’t really care about what other people think. It’s his decision to hang out with Phil.

Dan even invites Phil to come to the home game the baseball team are playing. Of course Phil agrees, even though he’s not really into sports. He still wants to support Dan. Dan would do the same for him.

“You came,” Dan grins when he spots Phil at the game. The game is just about to start any minute now.

“Of course. I said I would come, didn’t I?” Phil grins at Dan.

“You did, yeah. But, I also know that sports aren’t really your thing,” Dan points out.

“That is true. But, how bad can baseball be? Maybe I’ll end up liking it,” Phil shrugs lightly. “Like how you ended up liking the book we read for our project. Can you believe we finished the project in two days?”

“Even when we kept getting distracted by Muse,” Dan laughs. “We did a pretty damn good job though.”

Phil nods. “Yeah. We should celebrate. Maybe we can hang out tomorrow if you’re not too busy?”

“Actually, there’s a party after the game tonight if you wanna come? I’ll be there,” Dan says.

“A party?” Phil asks, biting his lip nervously. “I- I don’t know. I’m not really a party kind of guy, you know?”

“Well, um, just... let me know if you want to come by the end of the game. We can ride there together,” Dan sighs. “I really have to go now. The game’s about to start, and coach will kill me if I’m not over there in time.” He laughs, and smiles one last time at Phil before turning around and heading towards his team.

Phil takes a deep breath as he watches Dan, and then turns around to go find a seat.

In the end, their team ends up winning. They absolutely destroyed the other team. Even though Phil doesn’t know a thing about baseball, he understood the basics and actually enjoyed the game.

“Dan! That was awesome!” Phil exclaims when he and Dan meet up after the game. “You killed it!”

Dan laughs as Phil pulls him into a hug. “Thanks. I can’t believe it,” he pulls away from the hug and kisses Phil without thinking. His eyes widen as soon as he realizes what he’s done, and he quickly pulls away.

“Um, I-” Phil mumbles as his cheeks turn bright red. “Dan?”

“I’m so sorry,” Dan quickly apologizes, his cheeks equally as red. “I- I have no idea why I just did that.”

“It’s okay,” Phil tries to reassure him. “It’s not like I’m complaining about it.”

“What?” Dan asks, blinking a few times as he looks up at Phil. “You’re saying you liked it?”

“The kiss? Um, y- yeah,” Phil mumbles as he looks down at his feet. “So-” He coughs awkwardly. “Um… about that party?” He looks up at Dan again. “I think I want to go. I’ve already texted my mum.”

Dan smiles, and nods. “C- Cool. Yeah. The party… We should, um… go to that. Fuck,”

Phil giggles, and Dan almost melts at how adorable Phil is.

“We should talk about the kiss though, shouldn’t we?” Dan asks as they start walking together.

“Yeah… maybe. But, let’s enjoy the party tonight, yeah? You’ve won the game. We should celebrate you,” he says, and throws his arms around Dan, and smiles even wider when Dan leans against his touch.

“Crazy, huh? Who would have thought people like us would end up becoming friends?” Phil asks, grinning as he looks over at Dan.

“So, you’re saying we’re friends now?” Dan asks.

“If that’s okay with you?” Phil bites his lip nervously. “I understand...”

“Relax,” Dan lets out a laugh. “Of course it’s okay with me, you big doofus.”

Dan lets out a big yawn as he sits at his table, waiting for Science to class. It’s Monday, and Dan absolutely hates Monday’s. Though, he’s pretty sure everybody hates Monday’s. He’s always seems to be so tired from weekend activities and just generally unmotivated.

But, if there was one good thing about going to school though, it was that Dan gets to see Phil Lester, the most adorable and cutest boy Dan has ever seen. He’s secretly had the biggest crush on him ever since middle school, and now they were Sophomores in high school.

Dan’s not exactly friends with Phil either, though he does talk to him every once in awhile. Sometimes they’re paired together in some classes which is always the highlight of Dan’s day.

Phil is so kind, despite the fact that some other students bully and tease him. He’s also super sweet, and he’s a little bit nerdy, and also very clumsy, but that’s what Dan loves about the boy. Dan only wishes that he had the guts to ask Phil out on a simple date, but he’s too afraid of being rejected by him. He’s already had too many rejections in his life that he doesn’t want to risk the chance of being rejected again.

Dan looks over when another student walks into the classroom and sits straight up when he sees Phil.

Phil looks over and smiles at Dan. “Good morning Dan,” he greets cheerfully, and Dan wonders to himself how anyone could be so happy at this time of day, especially on a Monday morning.

Dan can already feel his cheeks turning bright pink from blushing. Phil literally only said three words to him and he’s already blushing, but he couldn’t help himself really. “Morning,” he replies shyly.

“Did you have a nice weekend?” Phil asks as he places his books on his desk.

“It was alright, I guess. Just played video games all weekend,” Dan mumbles with a shrug.

“Wow. Sounds like you had an exciting weekend,” Phil jokes.

Dan looks over at Phil and sticks his tongue out at him. “What did you do then?” He asks curiously.

“My weekend wasn’t that exciting either, if I’m being honest. I went to the library at one point,” Phil laughs, and Dan can’t help but smile the second he hears the beautiful sound.

“The library?” Dan asks, raising his eyebrows. “Sounds like you had a wild time.”

“Hey! The library can actually be- oh no. Who am I kidding? The library is boring,” Phil chuckles. “And I have to go back to the library again today because I forgot one of the books that I wanted to check out.”

“Oh. I’m not doing anything today. I can go for you. What book do you need?” Dan asks, looking over when other students start piling the room. People are probably going to make fun of him for talking to Phil, but… he doesn’t care. Phil is nice and Dan wants to talk to him. Those other people are just jerks.

“Wait… really?” Phil asks, a little surprised at Dan’s offer.

“Mhm. Sure, why not?” Dan nods. “Mum says that I need to get out more anyways. I’m sure she’ll be pleasantly surprised if I tell her that I’m going to the library today after school.” He giggles.

Phil chuckles. “Wow. Thank you. Here- I’ll write down the book that I need,” he grabs a piece of paper and then he hands it to down. “I’ve never known someone who’s willing to go to the library before.”

Dan shrugs as he grabs the piece of paper and stuffs it in his pocket. “I’m not like other people I guess,”

“Normal is overrated anyways. Oh, and… here’s my library card,” Phil says as he hands the card to Dan.

“Who in the world actually has a library card?” Dan asks, raising his eyebrows as he looks up Phil.

“Shut up,” Phil mumbles as his cheeks turn pink, he then sticks his tongue out at Dan. “Well, see you later. Dan!” He waves to him before grabbing his books and walking over to his seat.

Dan smiles before also sitting in his seat. He takes out his notebook and starts doodling in his notebook. Maybe today won’t be so bad after all. He actually talked to his crush. That’s a good start to the day.

Dan doesn’t see Phil again for the rest of the day, which he finds disappointing. But after school finishes, Dan texts his mom and heads straight to the library to get the book that Phil that wanted. Dan can’t even remember the last time he actually willing went to the library.

Hell, he can’t even remember if he’s ever been to the library before period.

Dan sighs quietly as he walks into the library.

“Mr. Howell?”

Dan jumps at the sudden voice speaking to him. He looks over and sighs in relief when he sees it was only the librarian who had spoken to him. Maybe he had been in the library before since she knows his name.

“Um, y-yes?” Dan asks shyly, turning to look at her, and secretly hoping he wouldn’t be in any trouble. Although, he knows for a fact that he’s not doing anything wrong… yet.

“I’m surprised to see you in the library. Anything I can help you with, dear?” She asks kindly.

“Um, my friend Phil-” Dan digs into his jeans pocket and he pulls out the paper Phil had given him. “Yeah, my friend Phil is looking for a book. I offered to go to the library for him.”

“Phil Lester? He’s such a sweet boy,” the librarian smiles.

Oh, I know he is, Dan thinks to himself. Phil is definitely the sweetest boy.

“What book are you looking for?”

“Um, The Hunger Games?” Dan looks up at her. “I don’t know that book.”

“Of course. Phil told me he wanted to start reading that series,” the librarian smiles. “Let me show you…”

Dan follows the librarian towards the books and watches as she looks through, and then pulls out a book.

“Let me check you out,” she says before they walk back over to her desk. She takes Phil’s library card and checks out the book for Dan. “There you go. You should also try reading the series. It’s very good.”

“I’m sure it is. I just don’t read much,” Dan replies honestly, shrugging his shoulder. “Thank you, though.”

“Well, you should give it a shot. You might surprise yourself,” she smiles.

“Yeah… I might give it a read later,” Dan looks down at the book, examining the cover for a quick second. By the cover, it does look kind of interesting.

“Well, have a good day,” she says, waving to Dan as he exits the library.

The librarian was nice, maybe Dan will take interest in reading this book. It would make his mom happy, since she complains all he ever does is play video games all night.

As soon as Dan got home, he sat down in his bedroom and had accidentally read the entire book overnight. He’d gotten so invested in the book and couldn’t put it down which is odd because Dan never reads books.

“The book was great,” Dan says the next morning in class, as he hands Phil the book.

“Huh?” Phil asks as he looks up at Dan, a little surprised. “Did you actually read it?”

“Yeah,” Dan replies, blushing. “I… I’m sorry but I just couldn’t help myself. The librarian said that it was a good book so I started reading it once I got home and then I just… couldn’t put the freaking down. It’s like, really good. I’ll definitely have to check out the other books sometime.”

Phil smiles, genuinely happy that Dan liked the book. “That’s great. I’m so glad you liked the book!”

“Yeah, me too. I never really read books, like ever, but this one was interesting,” Dan shrugs.

“Cool. We should talk about it once I’m done finishing the book,” Phil suggests. “Like, a little book club.”

“Okay. That sounds fun!’ Dan grins and nods. In reality, Dan would rather be playing video games but honestly, any chance he can to talk to Phil, he’ll take it… even if it means talking about a book.

Surprisingly, Dan had seen Phil again right after the last bell rang for school to end.

“Shoot. I forgot to give my paper to the teacher. Now I’m going to be late,” Phil groans.

“For what?” Dan asks curiously as he looks over at Phil.

“My mom wanted to take me shopping after school,” Phil tells him. “She has to work later tonight so if we don’t leave now then we won’t get as much time shopping as we wanted to.”

Dan frowns, instantly feeling bad for Phil. “Oh, I can take it for you,” he says.

Phil raises his eyebrows as he looks over at Dan, surprised. “Wait… really?” He asks.

“Yeah,” Dan nods. “I’m not doing anything important tonight so I can just take it for you. No problem.”

“Wow,” Phil laughs. “You’re really a lifesaver-” He reaches into his backpack and hands it over to Dan. “It’s my extra credit assignment that was due today for Mrs. Wellington. She’ll know it’s from me.”

“Okay. I’ll get this to her right now. You go have fun shopping with your mom,” Dan says.

“You’re the best. Thank you Dan,” Phil smiles and hugs Dan, before quickly taking off.

Dan’s eyes widen after Phil hugs him, and he can’t help but blush. Phil’s never hugged him before. Maybe he should do more things for Phil if that’s the reaction he’s going to get.

Dan giggles to himself and quickly takes off towards Mrs. Wellington’s classroom.

“Oh, hello Daniel. Shouldn’t you be heading home right now?” Mrs. Wellington asks.

“Oh, I will be after this. But, um… Phil needed to drop this off so I offered to do it for him,” Dan walks over to the desk and hands Mrs. Wellington the assignment. “He forgot to give that to you earlier in class.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful. Thank you, Dan. I’m sure he appreciates you bringing this to me,” she smiles at him.

Dan shrugs, though a smile is on his face. “I just wanted to help. I’ll see you tomorrow Mrs. Wellington,”

“Have a good day Dan,”

Dan walks out of the classroom with a huge smile on his face, still buzzing over just a simple hug from Phil. He knew that it probably didn’t mean anything to Phil but it meant a lot to Dan.

Over the next few weeks, Dan continues hanging out with Phil. They’re becoming quite close friends now, but Dan’s crush on Phil deepened the more time he spent with him. He’s just too terrified to ask him out because he’s afraid that Phil will say no and stop being friends with him.

You see, Dan’s been rejected before. His father left him and his mom when Dan was only three years old, and he continued to not want to see Dan even as he grew older. Time and time again, Dan desperately tried getting in contact with his dad but he always rejected him. He just wanted to know why his dad hated him so much. Dan’s dad took his brother with him, and now Dan’s brother hates him as well.

Dan lives with his mom now. They get along with each other but they argue a lot.

Dan doesn’t have very many friends at school. People usually reject him when he tries being their friends, but he’s not very surprised at this point anymore. He’s just kind of… accepted it, sadly.

Phil quickly notices Dan doing little things for him, whether it be offering to throw away his lunch trash or helping him with an assignment that he needed help on. It was little things, but Phil notices them. He appreciates Dan for being so kind but he can’t help but feel bad that Dan does all these things.

“Let me take your library book back. It’s fine. I’m the one who got it for you,” Dan offers.

“Dan,” Phil groans. “You’re so kind, but… why do you always offer to do all these things for me?”

Dan blinks a few times as he looks up at Phil. “I… I don’t know. I just like helping,” he replies nervously.

“No, that’s not it. There’s something else. You’re always doing stuff for me. Is there… a reason?” Phil asks.

Dan sighs and looks down at his hands. “Whatever. Just forget it,” he mumbles, shaking his head.

“Dan,” Phil frowns and he reaches over to gently place his hand on Dan’s knee comfortingly. “You know that you can talk to me about anything. What’s going on in that mind of yours?”

Dan stares at the hand on his knee with wide eyes, before taking a deep breath and looking up at Phil.

Should he really tell Phil the truth, or just lie? But, he couldn’t lie to Phil. Phil doesn’t deserve that.

“This is going to sound silly, but…” Dan bites his lip nervously. “I’ve had like, a giant crush on you for the longest of time but I was always too afraid to say anything because I didn’t want to be rejected again. So, once I realized that offering to do things for you would mean that I get to hang out with you more… so, I did it. I was being nice while also getting to hang out with my crush. I know. It’s stupid… go ahead and laugh.”

Phil’s eyes widen slightly as he stares at Dan. “Wait… really?”

“Yes, I know. It’s stupid. I’m sorry,” Dan snaps, crossing his arms against his chest. “It was a stupid…”

“No, Dan…” Phil laughs. “I just… I always thought you were straight!”

Dan blinks a few times as he looks up at Phil. “Seriously… Me? Straight?” He bursts into laughter, grabbing a hold of his stomach as he falls back from laughing so hard. “That’s really funny, Phil!”

“Okay, in my defense… I’ve never seen you hang around boys,” Phil argues, pouting.

Dan looks up at Phil, wiping his eyes from laughing. “When’s the last time you’ve seen me talk to a girl? Never. I’m literally like the gayest boy in the school and I take pride in that,”

“Is that so? Well, I’d like to fight you for the title,” Phil smirks.

Dan blushes. “Oh, whatever, Lester,” he says shyly. “So, great… now you know I have a crush on you.”

“Which is kind of funny, y’know? Because I also have a crush on you,” Phil smiles. “How about a date?”

“Huh?” Dan asks, a little surprised. “Wait… you’re actually being serious?”

“I’m being serious,” Phil nods. “I want to take you on a date. How about… after school? I’ll text you,”

Phil on the other hand didn’t mind being inside on sunny days like today as he was inside most of the school holidays and weekends either reading a book or watching documentaries, anime or horror films. Phil is what the people at his school call a nerd; he didn’t really have any friends besides the nice new kid named PJ who sat with him at lunch. Phil was grateful for PJ and his kindness because before PJ showed up Phil ate lunch by himself like the stereotypical nerds in those cheesy daytime movies.

Phil was about to go back to listening to Mr Brancher when he felt a vibration in his jean pocket, grabbing the phone out of his pocket when he knew Mr Brancher wasn’t paying attention, thinking it was his step brother Alfie texting him to tell him that he was going out after school and that Phil had to walk or take the bus home, but when he looked at the message it didn’t say ‘Alfie’ it was an unsaved number.

Phil studies the phone number but he was sure he didn’t know anyone with those set of digits, curious he opened the text:

Unknown Number: Hey! Jack said you’re coming to the party tonight, if you’re there I want to catch up ;)

Narrowing his eyes at the text message ‘is this a joke?’ Phil thought to himself

Mr Brancher cleared his throat causing Phil to look up from his phone quickly only to come face to face with Mr Brancher “Mr Lester are you getting some sort of important text that you must answer it during my class time?” Mr Brancher asked in that assertive ‘I’m a teacher listen to me’ voice

Blushing bright red as his class snickered at him, Phil shook his head “No sir, sorry sir” he said quickly shoving his phone back into his jean pocket

“Now as I was saying...” Mr Brancher went back to his speech as Phil looked back out the window sighing his mind travelling back to the message he had received

‘Should I reply?’ he thought ‘It could just be a stupid prank’ thinking about it more wondering just how it could be a prank and coming up blank ‘Maybe they just have the wrong number, it would be rude to not let them know wouldn’t it?’

The bell rang signalling it was lunch time and breaking Phil from his deep thought.

‘Maybe I’ll ask PJ’ with that thought he stood up and headed to the cafeteria

-