When the Bad Boy says: I Love You

Love at First Sight?

Maya Granger

It's a very rare thing for West Brighton High School to be bustling with excitement, especially for a school in Middle of Knowhere, Virginia, where nothing happens. So, it came as no shock to me when news of one Ryder O'Connel coming back to our humble learning center was enough to send every student into an excited frenzy. Okay, not every student, obviously, but a mass majority of them.

Who's Ryder O'Connel, you may ask?

That's a good question that I can't answer.

However, from what I do know through the school grapevine, and thanks to my very small circle of friends, Ryder O'Connel was our high school's very own "bad boy." What is this, two-thousand eight? Are bad boys seriously still a thing? I digress. Apparently, he's a bit on the rebellious side of things, choosing to let his fists do the talking, made a teacher rage quit, got caught smoking on school grounds, and knocked our principal's wig off on purpose.

"Okay, hold up, stop painting him as the bad guy here," Ashton interrupted as I listed off his best friend's less than stellar reputation, excusing himself when he almost bumped into another student rushing off to their first class as well.

"Well, you haven't exactly given me anything about this guy that would counter the rumors," I pointed to him, sharing a smile with Taylor, a girl I share my biology class with, as she passed by me. "And Cherry says he's really extra."

"Cherry thinks everyone's extra," Ashton deadpanned, and, yeah, okay, that's fair. "But also, I don't want you forming opinions on the guy based off things I say about him, and leave that up to when you actually meet him."

I raised a brow at him, just a bit impressed. "That's surprisingly the wisest thing you've ever said in the one year that we've been friends. But that's beside the point. The point is, Ashton, there's plenty of stuff about him going around that I could form an opinion with, but I haven't!"

I got an unimpressed look for that.

"Okay, I'm a liar," I conceded. "But it's hard not to, especially the past few days! All the buzz about Ryder O'Connel being back has people talking, and they are not making him out to be a saint. By the way, where has he been again?"

The look didn't go away as Ashton said, "I'm gonna let that one slide and go along with the topic change. He transferred schools when his dad took a contract in California, just before you transferred here. Now he's back, and you finally get to meet my bro!"

Frowning up at him, I said, "You call everyone your bro."

Coming to a stop, he paused, narrowed his eyes, then grinned widely at me and declared, "He's my ultimate bro!"

"Bro!"

My head whipped around to see whose voice suddenly echoed off the hallway walls and over the general chattering of the other students around us, and found a bouquet of roses being held high above everyone's heads. I raised a brow when everyone around us paused to see what the sudden ruckus was about as well while the bouquet seemed to make its way towards us.

Ashton raised his arms up as if to cheer and hollered back, "Bro!"

The roses were waved back and forth. "I got you broses!"

It's important to keep in mind that it's one thing to see someone in a picture, and another thing entirely to see them in person. So, I've seen Ryder O'Connel in pictures before (he and Ashton have a surprising amount of selfies on Ashton's Instagram account) and I'm aware that he's good looking with his jet black hair combed back and shaved close at the sides, dark smiling eyes and prominently straight nose. One could say he's unfairly handsome.