A few weeks ago, it seemed like high schooler Alice Reinhold’s worst fears had become reality. Comic-Con was only a month away, and Alice still hadn’t found someone to take her to the big event. But rather than giving up hope, Alice took a bold step that will likely make this the most memorable pop culture fandom experience of her life: she bet her friends that she could transform Brad Kaplan, the most popular guy in school, into a complete nerd in time for him to take her to Comic-Con.
When Alice told her friends she was thinking about taking Brad to Comic-Con, they had their doubts. Brad plays lacrosse, has the strongest jawline in the senior class, and apparently doesn’t know that much about science fiction or the Marvel universe. Alice thought she was making progress when Brad agreed to watch a few episodes of the CW series The Flash with her after school, but the whole time Brad kept asking why the Flash doesn’t use his superpowers to play for a Big 12 school. Clearly, Alice has a long way to go if she wants to avoid embarrassing both Brad and herself this year.
Just when things started to look hopeless, Alice had a breakthrough when she asked Brad to flatten his hair a bit and try on a pair of wire-frame glasses. It turns out, with glasses and a different hair part, Brad actually isn’t that eye-catchingly attractive. Alice has also been inviting Brad to play Dungeons and Dragons with her friends after school, and although he was hesitant at first, Brad is now pretty invested in his character and even plays with an accent that seems to be what he thinks dwarvish would sound like. Wow. At this rate, Brad should be putting together a passable Diablo III cosplay in no time!
Of course, the possibility of disaster still looms. Just a few days ago, Brad overheard Alice talking with one of her friends about the bet, and he was so hurt that it looked like he might never rate Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood favorably as a faithful adaptation of the original manga ever again. But, after tracking Brad down, curled up alone at his team’s end of the year lacrosse banquet, Alice delivered a heartfelt speech about how, while taking him to Comic-Con did start out as a bet, she really had grown to respect him as a fellow adherent of nerd culture, and all in all it seemed like Brad was able to forgive her.
Hopefully, this pair gets to Comic-Con okay. We wish Alice the best of luck with Brad, and also with Damien, who she is currently teaching soprano saxophone as part of a bet to take the least-rhythmic kid in her class to the Monterey Jazz Festival this year. You can do this!
— MA ’19