Free Love and Fandoms by CJ Zane Page A

back scampered twelve yards, and the public address announcer said his
name was Brandon Barnes.
    "Brandon?"
Kareem said. "No, we'll call him Bucky." That was after the
character, Bucky Barnes, in the Captain America comics.
    Wyatt laughed,
while Allyssa rolled her eyes. "So original with the nicknames."
    "Hey, it's
not my fault. Anyone with the last name Barnes should be called Bucky. I think
it's a law. Or it should be, anyway. Maybe it'll get voted on next election.
Don't shoot the messenger."
    "Thor help us
all if you're ever elected to some sort of office," Allyssa said. "It's
anyone's guess what crazy things you'll try to push through."
    Wyatt chuckled and
nudged her shoulder with his, which she gave right back to him. They looked
each other in the eyes and held the gaze for a few seconds until both blushed
and turned back to the game. This was the time to put an arm around her, but he
chickened out. Again. Instead he glanced back towards the center of the crowd
to see if he could find Mandy. He couldn't.
    On the next snap,
the quarterback again handed the ball to Barnes, who ran right up the middle,
untouched, and sprinted for a 38-yard touchdown. They leaped to their feet with
the rest of the crowd, but Wyatt had no doubt they were the only three who
shouted, "Go, Bucky!" Luckily there was so much noise that no one was
able to hear their geekiness.
    Without Alex in
the game, Coach Kraft, the team's head coach, sent out the kicking team.
"And there go the cheerleaders," Allyssa said as the girls ran from
their spot on the track surrounding the field to behind the goalpost.
    "Let me
guess," Kareem said. "You have a problem with the cheerleaders."
    "Actually,
no, not in general."
    "But?"
    "Well, I
mean, some of them let it go to their heads, and …" She broke out a pretty
accurate Gollum from Lord of the Rings impression. "We hates them."
    Wyatt couldn't
help himself. He threw out his best Smeagol (another Lord of the Rings
character) impression. "No. Theys is our friendses."
    She scrunched her
face up to say something else, but lost it and spit out laughter. Kareem and
Wyatt joined her. When they calmed down a bit, she said, "I wasn't
expecting that. That was awesome."
    "Your Gollum
was spot on," he said.
    Kareem shook his
head. "You two are huge geeks. You realize that, right?"
    "I'm
surprised you didn't drop in some Elvish or Dwarvish," Allyssa said.
    "You guys
didn't give me a chance."
    "That's what
I thought," Allyssa said. "So is this our Friday nights? Giving
players geeky nicknames and holding conversations as characters from different
fandoms?"
    "Yeah,"
Kareem said. "That and watching Captain Michigan and his underlings wipe
the snot out of the various other poor football teams."
    "You have a
problem with that?" Wyatt asked her, and then, without thinking, wrapped
his arm around her shoulder.
    They both froze
for a second, and then she leaned against him. "Nope," she mumbled,
laying her head on his shoulder.
    Kareem gave him a
discreet thumbs-up and mouthed, "Nice." On the field, the Yorba
quarterback threw an interception, which the Stingers second-string defense ran
back for a touchdown.

CHAPTER TEN
    MANDY
     
    Mandy sat in the
passenger seat of Luci's car as they headed to the keg party. They talked
mostly about the game, which ended 100-0. It had been 84-0 at the end of the
first half, and Coach Kraft inserted Alex back in for the first two possessions
of the second. Another couple of quick touchdowns and two-point conversions
brought the score to an even 100. After that, Coach Kraft put out the
third-team offense and basically ran out the clock. The Yorba team also looked
like they wanted to go home, as they ran safe plays that kept the official game
clock moving. It worked for both teams in the end, as there was no more
scoring.
    "Everyone
should be happy," Luci said. "Maybe Alex won't get too drunk, and the
Pigs won't start a fight."
    Mandy let out a
humorless laugh. "That would be something. I'm guessing