The Bad Boy Experiment

1

Author: Kaylee

The Bad Boy Theory is a topic that has sparked interest in nearly everyone at one point or another. Whether it was about dating one or becoming one, everyone has thought about it. But what is the attraction everyone seems to show for these 'bad boys'. Now, to test this theory, one must change from a good boy, to a bad boy. That's where we come in.

"Please Dan? Just for my social experiment. You don't have to keep it up for more than a month." A shopping centre brunette haired girl pleaded.

"Zoe.. You know I'm not cut out for this. I'm tall, nerdy, whatever else, but I'm not a bad boy. No one would fall for it." Dan countered.

"Then no one falls for it. Doesn't matter! I just need an A. No one would believe me if I did it. They know I'm doing an experiment, they just don't know what."

Dan rolled his eyes with Zoe tightly holding his hands together. It was an odd sight given that Zoe was popular, pretty, skinny, and dating Alfie who was pretty much the most athletic guy Dan had ever known; then Dan was just that one kid who no one really knew the name of but would maybe recognize the face. As said, an odd sight.

"Fine. So just what do I have to do to fake being a 'bad boy'?" Dan caved.

Zoe smiled and led Dan out of the school and into her car. It wasn't long before Dan figured out they were going to the shopping centre.

They pulled into the lot and hopped out of the car. Zoe grabbed Dan's hand and tugged him along awkwardly into the clothing section on the shopping centre.

After countless hours of putting on and taking off, walking in and out, picking up and putting down, Dan finally had enough clothes to look somewhat passable for 'punk', or at least a druggie. The entire look was incredibly careless, despite the amount of time spent on it. The clothes mainly consisted of band shirts, beanies, ripped jeans, drug references on shirts, and sweatshirts that were meant to not be zipped. There was also a leather jacket that Dan was told to wear whenever possible.

Dan was to wear converse and eyeliner as much as possible, and if his parents asked about his recent change to tell them that it's something he's wanted to do for a while.

It was a blessing that they didn't have uniforms at their school, otherwise this bad boy business would've been a whole lot harder.

At the end of their 'spree', Zoe dropped Dan off at his house.

"Dan, don't forget. November 1st is tomorrow. We need to do this starting tomorrow. I'll text you." Zoe reminded and drove off.

Dan nodded and carried the dozens of bags into his home, only making one trip, but struggling a bit with it.

—

With eyes shut, Dan took a deep breath and sauntered into the school. He got the attention of.. well a shorter statement would be the one about whose attention he didn't capture. The nobody that was invisible for so long was now suddenly the topic of conversation. The rose in a daisy field.

The clothing he'd chosen to wear on this particular day was a pair of ripped jeans, a black band tshirt with an unzipped hoodie, a pair of converse, and as it would always be, the black leather jacket. He also wore black eyeliner that he had to google how to put on. This would be the typical look for Dan for the oncoming month.

Like every other day, Dan tried to avoid looking at anyone and sat down in his first class without being talked to. He could hear his peers whispering about him. The term whispering would be used lightly in this situation.

A taller girl who was still shorter than Dan, approached him.

"Um.. Hi, I'm Katie." She giggled.

Dan was about to politely introduce himself, then he remembered one of Zoe's instructions.

Bad boys aren't nice.

"I'm going to call you Kat, kay?" He stated uncaringly.

"Um, actually.." She began.

"Um actually what Kat? You know what Kat? You've never spoken to me before, why is that? Do I attract you?" Dan somewhat growled.

It made him feel awkward but it was for a good cause. He'd apologize in the assembly that was to be organized for the experiment at the end of the month.

"Well.." She giggled some more. "Um, my friends over there, we, uh, think you're super attractive. Yeah." Her face turned bright red and she rushed back to her friends.

Dan was in awe. No one ever said he was attractive before.

The day went on just like this. People would whisper, some girl would approach, Dan would call them out, Dan would feel awkward and move on. At lunch Dan had a full table of girls who fought for a while about who would sit next to him. It was an experience.

Once the final bell that ended school sounded, Dan rushed to his locker to grab his jacket before any of the girls could follow him home. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around sighing, expecting it to be another girl. Needless to say, it wasn't; however, it was Phil.

Phil, the goody goody who had it all. Money, intelligence, popularity, pretty much anything you could ever want. He earned it too. It was his idea when he was just 12 years old to invent some new line of smoothie mixes. They turned out to be really good and when his father pitched the idea, everything went uphill for the Lesters.

The only question Dan had was, why would Phil be standing beside what he knew as a complete bad boy. Dan was about 90% sure Phil stayed away from anyone who would even similarly resemble a bad influence in attempt to protect his image.

They held a perhaps comparable popularity level as of that day. They girls that hit on them were maybe the same? Other than this, they were opposites. So why would Phil and Dan ever communicate?

Phil didn't speak. He handed Dan a yellow piece of paper then scampered off to whatever land he came from previously so that no one would even know he came by other than Dan.

The girls started crowding by and laughing at everything he said soon after.

He texted Zoe the events of the day, leaving out the Phil part, which he was still very confused about. She was going to write everything in a journal to turn in when this was over.

The girls dissipated to walk or catch a ride home. Dan looked at the mysterious page that had been given to him.

Please meet me at 3:00 pm at the Big Tree outside the school. I'm sure you know which one I mean. Right? I need to ask you a question Dan.

~Phil Lester

It was nearly three and Dan was curious. He made his way briskly to the tree. Phil was there reading.

"Um hey?" Dan called out.