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    The Nerd
    The Nerd
    The Nerd
    Ebook33 pages30 minutes

    The Nerd

    By Alan Payne

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Albert Luderman was new in town. He didn't know the unstated rules. He was in for a big hurt. Or was he?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlan Payne
    Release dateAug 24, 2011
    ISBN9781466199019
    The Nerd
    Author

    Alan Payne

    Alan Payne is a freelance commercial writer and former military journalist. He lives on a private lake in Virginia with his wife, three dogs, and a cat. He is active in animal rescue and fostering.

    Read more from Alan Payne

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      Book preview

      The Nerd - Alan Payne

      The Nerd

      by

      Alan Payne

      Copyright 2011 Alan Payne

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this free short story. Although this is free, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this story, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com where they can also discover other works by this author.

      Thank you for your support.

      Half way through the fall semester of my senior year, Albert Luderman transferred into Richard M. Nixon High School. Albert must have come from somewhere in the Midwest, like Minnesota or the Dakotas, or another of those bleak, cold, icicle states that bred rosy cheeks, terminal acne, and pasty white skin. In southern Florida, Albert stuck out like a Klansman at an NAACP rally. I shuddered to think he might be one of the meek who would inherit the earth. He was about average height, but appeared frail inside a shirt that was way too big for him, and circled his neck like an oversized horse collar. With his black horn rimmed glasses, he looked like a Jimminy Cricket peering from a tortoise shell.

      Everything about Albert Luderman cried nerd.

      Until it happened.

      Albert was pretty smart, as I guess most nerds are. He rarely spoke up in class, but when he did he was light years ahead of the rest of us. So with his nerd brains and nerd looks he might as well have been served up on a sliver platter for the bullies of Nixon High, who found great sport in knocking nerds’ books on the floor, stepping on their glasses, jamming them against lockers. Good fun. Good laughs. Entertainment!

      The morning it happened wasn’t any different from any other.

      Mr. Swingle, the English teacher who loved to zero in on students and nail them with questions when it was least expected, was writing something on the black board when he suddenly spun around and harpooned Manny Sammon with a question about split infinitives, and told him to give the class an example. Manny Sammon wasn’t a mental giant to begin with, and being cross-haired in Mr. Swingle’s sights had him churning in his seat. Not a good sign—not on Manny Sammon, the undisputed Poobah of bullies: the exalted bone crusher of Tricky Dick High. He defined mean,

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