You walked in with your friends and felt oddly out of place. They were all on the bowling team, and you were just tagging along to help them practice for their championships. They walked ahead, discussing strategy and you stifled a yawn. It wasn’t that they were boring, it was more that you had no idea what they were talking about.

            You were a mediocre bowler. You couldn’t tell a strike from a turkey. The only thing you were closely acquainted with was the gutter ball. You have quite a lot of those whenever you played. One of the girls tugged on your arm.

            “Hey, we’re going to set up at the lane towards the far left, okay? If you want to play, go get some shoes and we can teach you too.”

            You stared at her. “It’s alright. You know I would only hold you guys up. I’ll sit by the benches and catch up on my reading. Pale Fire makes my head spin.” She smiled uncertainly. “Don’t feel bad for me! Just think of my revenge when I drag you to my poetry recitals. And you come to all my track meets anyway. So go and win that championship.” At your urging, the five of them finally gave up and went to practice.

            You took out a highlighter and proceeded to go through the book you had to read for literature. Your head started to nod forward. This was the craziest book you’ve ever had to read. Who cared about Kinbote and his insane ramblings about Zembla? If anything, the poem had you lost and now the commentary was making your head spin.

            A shadow crossed you and stayed there. You looked up. “Oh, are you reading Pale Fire?” The boy pushed up his glasses. “I love Nabokov! Granted, I heard the translation is a little off, but things are always better in their native language. This man is a genius. Do you agree with Boyd’s Shadean theory? Or do you think that it was not a focus on the afterlife at all? How far in are you?” He was rambling at top speed.

            “Youngjae! Stop bothering random strangers,” another male came up behind him. He looked disapprovingly at the bookworm in front of you and apologized. “Sorry, this guy here can be a little enthusiastic when it comes to foreign literature.”

            You nodded your head. “It’s quite alright. If anything, he helped me understand a little bit of the story. And, yes, I do think Shade’s poem was an obsession with the afterlife.” Youngjae beamed but was quickly dragged off by his friend.

            You went back to reading but a series of happy squeals from the far left lane caught your attention. One of your friends came running back and dragged you. “Come on, you have to see this! Jun made a grandma’s teeth.”

            Grandma’s teeth? You raised an eyebrow and she giggled. “Look, that entire row is still standing. But it’s the only one. Try to see if you can knock it down with a perfect carry.”

            “A what with a what?”

            “Basically, have some fun, girl! We saw you reading and honestly. We’re at a bowling alley. Come on.” You nodded reluctantly and went along. They shoved your fingers through the three proper holes and you took a step forward. You recalled some of their proper forms and released the ball. Gutter ball.

            You sighed and signaled for another one. This time, the ball hit all but one. “Great! That’s a blowout. Now try to go for a curve towards the right. Throw your arm out like this.” She demonstrated.

            You managed to get it perfectly and the lane of boys next to you clapped. You bowed to them, recognizing the guy who had so enthusiastically praised Nabokov earlier. You were tired and started to walk back towards the benches. There was someone sitting there.

            You sat a little distance away from him but noticed that he was reading the same thing you were. He was reading intently, writing notes in his notebook. Your mouth fell open. If that Youngjae guy had understood it, this guy really got it.

            “Hey, care to explain to me how we figured Hazel died?”

            He looked up and smiled. “Oh, hey. So you’re the girl Youngjae was talking about. Sure. I’m Daehyun. I studied Nabokov’s style. If you read, you’re going to see he’s a bit fantastical with interesting characters.” Daehyun bent over and pointed at certain highlighted sections as he explained the entire poem to you.

            He flipped back between Kinbote’s commentary and showed you all the different connections you had missed. “Look, the judge’s children are A,B,C,D. But their order is D,C,B,A. How would he have know that he would only have four kids?”

            You looked up, mind blown. “Whoa, I never noticed.”

            He smiled gently. “Not a lot of people do.” You closed your book and rubbed your eyes.

            “Why aren’t you playing with them?”
            Daehyun smirked, and for the first time, you recognized a more mischievous side to him. “Because if I do, then I would beat them all.”

            “Really? I can’t play for the life of me. Maybe you can teach me. My friends tried and I’m hopeless. But you seem like a great explainer.” Your ears turned bright red at your suggestion and Daehyun stood.

            He stretched a little and held out his hand for you to take. You took it, fully aware that your friends were nudging one another. They gave conspicuous winks and giggled. The guys raised their eyebrows.   

            “Whoa, how in the world did you get him to come out and play?” Youngjae sounded impressed. “This guy never-”

            Daehyun covered his mouth. “Shh, don’t give away my secret. I have to impress her first.” Daehyun took the ball from Youngjae and made a perfect form. You held your breath and your friends gathered to watch us well. But when he released, it was a gutter ball.

            Maybe this was just an unlucky shot. But Daehyun turned to you and grinned bashfully. “That’s the extent of my skills. I just wanted to have a premise for asking you out on a date.” He smiled shyly at you and you decided that he had the most beautiful smile in the world.

requested by friedt0fuu

sorry for all the references >-<

it was the nerd in me coming out

LOL i wrote a 24 page essay for this book T__T