NerdCrush


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Copyright © 2023 by Alisha Emrich
 Interior and cover illustrations copyright © 2023 by Taylor McManus
 Cover copyright © 2023 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
 Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
 The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
 Running Press Teens
 Hachette Book Group
 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
 www.runningpress.com/rpkids
 @RP_Kids
 First Edition: February 2023
 Published by Running Press Teens, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Running Press Teens name and logo are trademarks of the Hachette Book Group.
 The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out more, go to www.hachettespeakersbureau.com or email [email protected]
 Running Press books may be purchased in bulk for business, educational, or promotional use. For more information, please contact your local bookseller or the Hachette Book Group Special Markets Department at [email protected].
 The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Name: Emrich, Alisha, author. Title: Nerdcrush / Alisha Emrich.
 Description: First edition. | New York: Running Press Kids, 2023. |Audience: Ages 13+ | Audience: Grades 7–9. Identifiers: LCCN 2022019343 | ISBN 9780762480685 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780762480692 (paperback) | ISBN 9780762480708 (ebook) Subjects: CYAC: Identity—Fiction. | Cosplay—Fiction. | Self-confidence—Fiction. | Electronic mail messages—Fiction. | Love—Fiction. | African Americans—Fiction. | LCGFT: Romance fiction. | Novels.
 Classification: LCC PZ7.1.E486 Ne 2023 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022019343
 ISBNs: 978-0-7624-8068-5 (hardcover), 978-0-7624-8070-8 (ebook)
 E3-20221128-JV-NF-ORI
 
 
 
 
 To my parents, June and Steve. I couldn’t have written this without your love and support. Thank you both, for everything.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ONE
 PERHAPS IT WAS THE SILVER WIG OR THE BLACK LACE MASK obscuring her face, adding an air of mystery. Or maybe it was her name, Rel, that made him respond. Whatever the case, when Ramona Lambert got home from school on Friday afternoon to see the email icon blinking from her cosplay account, she couldn’t quell the anxiety twisting in her stomach. She took a deep breath. Her trembling, clumsy fingers slid over the keyboard, incorrectly entering the password three times before she eagerly opened her inbox.
 One new message. From Caleb Woolf.
 FROM: [email protected]
 TO: [email protected]
 DATE: Sep 27 at 2:34 PM
 SUBJECT: Um… hey
 Hey… so I was really surprised to find the drawing and the poem you left in my locker yesterday. The drawing is pretty cool. I’ve never had anyone do that before so I guess I’m flattered? And really curious about who you are. Do you go to Cedar Brook High by any chance? I think your costume is great, btw, because judging by your profile picture, I’m assuming that’s not what you really look like. Well, I can’t think of anything else to say at the moment… but maybe I’ll hear from you again.
 -Caleb
 P.S. I really liked your poem.
 After reading that last line, Ramona fell into a swoon across her messy bed, the words swimming through her mind. I really liked your poem. That was almost the same as saying he liked her. Well, not really, but she’d take it.
 With a happy bounce, she got up from her bed and sat at her desk again, planning to reread the email at least five more times when her FaceTime alert chimed. She grabbed her phone, and her best friend, Mandra, filled the screen with her short brown bangs and rectangular fuchsia glasses, a grin stretched across her face. “So, what happened? Tell me you didn’t chicken out,” she said.
 Ramona couldn’t conceal her own grin bursting through her pressed lips as she held the phone at a better angle. “I almost did. I got to his locker yesterday and I had the drawing in my hand, and I was thinking, am I really about to do this? But I did. And he responded! I just read it.” She felt a bit breathless and giddy and the words came out in a rush. 
 “And do you know what he said?”
 Ramona quickly recapped, adding extra emphasis on the bit about Caleb liking her drawing and her poem.
 Mandra clapped her hands together in excitement. “Have you emailed him back?”
 “No, not yet,” Ramona said with a sigh. “I don’t even know what I’ll say—I still can’t even believe I did it. When I left my email address on the bottom of the drawing, I didn’t really think he would write me. And I was freaking out a little, worried that someone might have seen me—”
 “—As would I,” Mandra interjected.
 Ramona nodded. “But then I was like, you know, it’s time to finally take a chance. And Rel finally gave me the courage to go for it. I should be proud for taking that step, right?”
 Mandra nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, definitely. That took major guts and you should definitely be proud of yourself. Though, to be fair, Caleb will probably spend the rest of the weekend wondering who the mysterious person is who left him the anguished love letter…” She gave Ramona an all too familiar look, a mischievous grin playing about her lips.
 Ramona sensed that Mandra was preparing for a monologue as her friend clasped her hands together, and Ramona pressed her fist against her lips to suppress her laughter, waiting.
 Mandra sighed, and in an affected tone, continued, “He’ll read the anonymous missive, never knowing, never suspecting it was you who wrote it. You, Ramona