Dylan started his sophomore year like the year before, by hanging out in front of his locker with his friends. Jake did most of the talking, as usual, since he was always on some sort of sexual quest and was eager to share. This morning he was complaining about his date with one of girls in their class, Flora Morgan.

"It's like we were both waiting for the other person to shut up so we could start talking, you know?" Jake said. "I'm just sitting there watching her mouth move and wondering when I can tell my story, which is tons funnier than hers, by the way, and she keeps cutting me off. Does that ever happen to you guys? Like you have to compete for an invisible microphone?"

"No," Sean said. "I'd just let her talk, to be honest. Flora is super hot."

"She's way too chatty. She's like a boombox with large eyes. Anyway at one point I said, hey, my parents aren't home, and she's like, oh my God that sucks, right? My parents are never home, either, and I'm like, so do you want to come over to my house, and she's like, but what's the point? No one's there for me to meet." Jake threw up his hands. "What's wrong with this girl? I don't think she wants to bang."

Dylan laughed. Jake didn't even like dating that much; he thought of it as a necessary evil to get to what he was really interested in.

Jake turned to Sean. "Then she starts asking about you. She wants to know if we're close and I said, yeah, Sean's awesome, he actually knows how to disable parental controls on my computer and now I can roam free in the internet world, for research purposes, of course—"

"Jesus, you told her that? Of all the things you could've said about me..." Sean sighed. "Now she must think I'm some kind of pervert."

"No she doesn't. She's so impressed. She thinks you're a genius. Anyway, I feel like a gatekeeper...she's using me because I'm more approachable and you're intimidating to talk to."

"Well, do you know Lauren Reed?" Sean asked, and Jake nodded. "She sits behind me in physics and yesterday she passed me a note, and she stared right at me and said, Sean, this is my phone number, and just when I thought, cool, I like straightforward girls, she said, can you please make sure Jake Lancaster gets it?" He shook his head. "That is brutal."

Jake laughed and with a hint of careless nonchalance, the two of them relished in their popularity with the girls. It was something they were well aware of but never acknowledged, just like how a true hipster would never call themselves a hipster.

Dylan was fine with having friends like them and it did nothing to his self-esteem. If anything, he even felt kind of proud. Besides, it was never about being voted Most Gorgeous to him but about having that particular person like him back.

That particular person was stepping into the hallway right now. All three of them stopped talking for a second, as if this moment was something sacred to be left uninterrupted.

"Twelve out of ten would bang," Jake said under his breath.

"You can't keep giving people a score above ten because that kinda defeats the purpose of having a scale," Sean said.

"I feel like it's unfair to only give her a ten," Jake said. "She looks like Rihanna."

Sean gave her an eight with an unconvincing explanation that she was too sexy, like sexiness was something with a limit. He claimed he liked the typical girl-next-door type, of which Jake snickered and asked if he meant Janet, and Sean scoffed and explained, not literally.

Dylan tuned them out. Whenever he saw her, his brain stopped and all he could think was, wow.

She was obviously not the first girl he felt attracted to. There was Janet and her guitar, Emily with her blonde hair and killer smile, especially after she taught him how to drive, his first kiss, Olivia Burton, and his second kiss, started with a simple game of truth or dare and ended in a two-week "relationship", during which he was convinced that love tasted like cherry lip gloss and smelled like peach shampoo.

He had been wrong.

They were nothing compared to her. To Sydney Miller. She was a freshman, and the first time he saw her, it was like all his previous memories of the opposite sex were wiped clean and he was allowed to start over again, by fantasizing about Sydney Miller, this scorching angel with wavy black hair and glowing skin and—

"I think she's a 34DD. I'm going to find out for all of us," Jake said, his tone grave like he had just been assigned a mission to save the world. "Dare me."

"You can't just walk up to her and ask her bra size," Sean said.

"Yeah," Dylan agreed. "You have to ask her very nicely."

Jake laughed cooperatively at his lame joke as they headed for their morning class. "I don't have to ask her. I'll just take a peek at her bra tag when she takes it off for me."

Dylan knew he was all talk and no action. Jake wouldn't try anything since Dylan's crush was so transparent, especially after he slammed right into a water fountain by sneaking way too many glances at Sydney. He heard a few giggles around him and cursed silently.

"Dude, you're smooth. Have I taught you nothing?" Jake sighed dramatically, bending down to help pick up Dylan's books.

"Well, the good news is," Sean said, "you caught her attention."

Dylan looked up from his scattered notes and captured Sydney's dark eyes from a distance. Her gaze stayed on him for a half second before she looked away, only to turn back a second later, tossing him a small smile right before she disappeared into the classroom.

◇

While Dylan caught Sydney's attention by making a fool of himself in the hallway, Sydney caught everyone's attention by, well, being Sydney. She kept a low profile and wore nothing too tight, short, or sheer, but to some of the leering upperclassmen, she was a challenge wrapped in her American Apparel sweater and an old pair of Keds.

Sydney had the kind of power to turn a school gym into a construction site; she elicited a series of catcalls just by doing a simple stretch. Dylan stayed silent the first time he witnessed it, since it stopped soon enough anyway.

The second time took place in the parking lot. Sydney was heading inside when she was stopped, and Dylan could hear it loud and clear even though he was nowhere near her.

"Hey, cutie. Nice rack," one of the senior guys said.

"I know." Sydney straightened her back, barely slowing down. She sounded more bored than creeped out. "Thank you."

"What do I have to do to get a piece of that?" another asked with a laugh.

"Sorry, but this is not for you," Sydney said.

She seemed like she was handling herself fine, Dylan thought. She must've had a lot of experiences dealing with douches like them. She already told them to stop harassing her, and she was walking away, ignoring them, probably planning on reporting to an authority as soon as she possibly could.

He should stay out of trouble, he told himself. One more detention and he could get kicked off the basketball team. He almost controlled his anger when he heard a snap, and just like that, his sanity snapped right with it.

That was the sound of them snapping her bra strap.

◇

Dylan sat in detention. His knuckles hurt and so did his stomach. His handwriting was ugly enough as it was, but now his swollen fingers made it even harder to hold the pen. Frowning in frustration, he tried to finish off his English assignment when a chair was pulled back next to him.

Sydney sat down.

Dylan swallowed, trying to get over how stunning she looked. He told himself to play it cool, count to ten, think like Jake, take a deep breath, and then he raised his eyebrows. "So what did you do?"

"I said something rude in class." She shrugged. "But I did it on purpose so I could get detention."

"Why would you do that?"

"I want to check out the idiot who got into a fight for me. You look like shit, by the way."

Dylan smirked. "Hey, you should see the other three guys. They are seniors, may I add, and I'm the only one medically fit enough to sit in detention."

Sydney crossed her arms and frowned. "Wait, are you proud of this?"

"Kinda, yeah."

"You're an idiot," she said again. This was their first conversation and she'd already insulted him multiple times. "Were you defending my honor or something? I don't need you to defend me."

"I wasn't defending you," Dylan said. "I was just pissed because they're assholes that deserve it and apparently I have some anger issues."

"People die everyday from fist fights. It's not worth it."

"I don't want to brag, but I'm very good at this."

Sydney lifted her chin. "What if one of them had a knife? Or a gun?"

Dylan didn't answer, not because he was ready to back down from this argument, but because she looked breathtakingly radiant when she was angry. He stared at her until she looked away, lowering her head to rest her chin on one upturned palm.

"So, um..." She blinked, not looking at him. "Does it hurt?"

"Very much."

"Where?"

"My heart, mostly. You called me an idiot and didn't even say thank you."

Sydney was silent for a second. "I was getting to that," she said finally. "I want to ask you if you're free to hang out sometime...I feel like I owe you an ice-cream, at least."

Dylan feigned a gasp. "Are you asking me out? I don't even know your name yet...what is it, Melbourne?"

"You're a funny guy, aren't you? It's Sydney. Sydney Miller."

"Okay, Sydney Miller. Can we go out after detention?"

"No, not today," she said. "When you feel a little better and preferably without blood on your clothes. Seriously, you did something really stupid. Some girls might find it a turn-on to be rescued like that, but that was definitely not a mature way to handle a situation like that."

"Is that so?" Dylan asked with one eyebrow raised. "Mature or not, I got a date."

"Dylan Reyes." Sydney shook her head. Dylan thought his name sounded wonderful coming out of her mouth like that. "Dylan, I would've agreed to go out with you anyway if you asked me."

"What, really?"

She nodded.

"I wasn't even sure you knew I existed."

"Please." She scoffed. "You and your friends are all freshman girls ever talk about. We've played bed wed dead out of the three of you for a million times already."

Dylan groaned. "What's the point of the game? Everyone wants to bed Jake and wed Sean."

"Not me," Sydney said with no hesitation. "I'd bed you."

Dear diary, this is the day Sydney Miller said she'd bed me, Dylan's mind screamed. Dylan's mouth coughed and said, delighted yet embarrassed, "Well, you have really weird taste in guys. Lucky me."

Sydney leaned back. He thought she would stop there, which was fine, because this was already one of the best days of his lives. Someone up there must've decided that he could use a little more luck, however, because Sydney opened her mouth again.

"They are pretty boys, but you..." She lifted her head, and this time she didn't look away. "Dylan, you're fucking hot."