Yep. Second story is for NERDS. Hopefully you've read NERDS, or, even better, the Kane Chronicles as well as NERDS! Like to thank the NERDS stories I've read for this to come true. Behold, The New NERDS.

~Gemstone

It was a light morning at Nathan Hale Elementary. Jayne McFee was just trying to avoid bullies, as she did every day. But today, she had made friends. They were also nerds, like her. Alex Romano, who was a wonder with tools (he had made his locker a monster), Hazel Lynn, who acted more like an animal than a person, Grace Olicer, who was distracted by every single noise, Jason Katropis, who had oversized, funky glasses, and Kyle Aratrix, was great with shooting a bow and arrow or gun, and almost always hitting the target.

Now, even though they were alone in the hall during lunch break, they were on high alert. And then they heard the bullies coming. "Where the heck are those nerds?" asked the leader, Draco Rilloi. So Jayne and her friends did the only thing they could to save themselves: they jumped into unused lockers. Suddenly the floors disappeared, and Jayne was falling, out of that dark, cramped locker and into a circular chute. At one point, Jayne reached the floor and fans turned on, driving her into a side chute, until she finally landed in an overstuffed red chair. The others were there, too, in the same red chairs. "Hello," said an old man. "Welcome to the playground."

Jayne and her friends got up, searching around the room in wonder, until a nice young lady wandered up to them. "Hello. I'm Miss Katat. You all have been chosen for the National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society, more commonly known as NERDS. Here, we change your weaknesses into strengths. For example, Jayne, your intelligence would help you by our nanobytes increasing it. Not like a previous NERD… never mind that. But who will volunteer?" Miss Katat asked.

Timidly Hazel volunteered. She was led away, and then came back with silver feather wings! "What about school?" Jayne asked. "I can fold them. Shouldn't be a problem," Hazel confirmed. "I'll go next, then," Jayne announced.

It was a circular room, the upgrading room. Jayne sat down in a chair. "Searching for weaknesses," said a strangely calming voice. Jayne saw herself emerge, all the way until the brain. "Weakness detected. Think happy thoughts," said the voice, and then Jayne blacked out.

. . .

When Jayne awoke, she felt smarter. She wondered back to her friends and waited as they received their upgrades. "Well, team, I suspect Benjamin's told you your code names," Miss Katat assumed. Everybody nodded. Hazel was Liger, Alex was Silversmith, Grace was Listener, Jason was Seer, and Kyle was Arrowhead. Jayne herself was Einstein.

Later, Jayne learned Alex's upgrades were he was amazing at building stuff really fast, Grace could hear whatever she wished to, Jason could see people's aura's with his glasses on, and when Kyle shot, it would always hit its mark.

Miss Katat led them to a private room, sat them down at a table, and left, telling them to figure out a leader for their team. Jayne was surprised it was up to them. "I know," Grace said. "The leader could be…"

Who will it be? Who do you want it do be? Maybe its Jason… maybe its Jayne… I know who it is. Find out next chapter.

~Gemstone