Please Don't Set My Heart Aflame

Chapter #3: Ryan Taylor

It's only third period, and I have yet another class with Butt Boy. Pre-Calc. I don't know why, but for some reason, he just sticks out to me. I'm not sure if it was his sense of humor, his strange personality, his charming smile...

Snap out of it. The guy is stupid, and you know that.

I don't even know how he made it into advanced English and Math with me. His attitude isn't exactly an A+, and he seems about as dumb as they come.

But there was something off... And I just couldn't put my finger on it.

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"Hey, new girl," he said. His tone didn't sound harmful, to my surprise. He wasn't talking to me, though. I kept my head in my book. "New girl." Who was he even talking to. "New girl!" He tapped my shoulder and I turned around, surprised.

"Y-Yeah...?" His sudden touch startled me, and I wasn't used to talking to people this high on the Popularity Food Chain. But I've never seen him this close... And he was gorgeous. "I-It's Taylor, right...? I'm Jessica..."

He pulled a face. "Taylor? Where'd you get that from?" He was silent for a moment, but cut me off just as I was about to speak. "OH! That's my last name! Haha!" He rubbed his neck with a grin.

Honestly, this boy must have the IQ of a cucumber. Not the Veggie Tales kind, I mean an actual cucumber.

But he was so amazingly good loo-

Shut up!

I just want to get through. I don't need romance or any of that crap in my life, anyway.

He held out his hand with a genuine smile. "The name's Ryan. Ryan Taylor. Nice to meet ya, Jessie!"

I shook his hand gently and with a blush. Jessie? Nobody's ever given me a nickname, before. Nobody really cared to, and my parents liked Jessica too much to call me anything else.

Not that he's ever met me, before.

But could he really be that bad?