He's a Fanboy?!

He's Super Hot, According to Dale

I mouth every lyric to the song: Back at school, they all thought I was an outcast car crash. Hopeless fool, they said to me. I glance at Brayden, wondering if he even knows what band I'm playing.

I get to the chorus and actually yell out the lyrics, raising my hands like a lunatic. I should care that I'm completely and utterly embarrassing myself in front of Brayden, but for some unknown reason, I'm not.

"It's not a secret that I'm just a reject!"

Verse two, I go all-out, yelling the lyrics instead of singing because I can't sing at all. We stop at a red light and a kid in the car next to us raises his eyebrow as he stares at me. I keep dancing.

The chorus nears again, and Brayden smirks at me for a split second, and then-

"What was I thinking? Everyone sees it! It's not a secret that I'm just a reject!" We yell/sing in unison. I'd say we'd be closer to the yelling side.

I look at him and laugh. "You know my favourite band!"

He shrugs, smiling. "My sister's a huge fan. Their music is cool."

I'm starting to really realize how much Brayden and I have in common.

__________________________

We arrive at the public library, startled when we enter at how loud it is.

Of course, however, 'loud' for a library is actually not very loud at all.

A small--yet large for the library--crowd of girls (and a couple of boys as well) that look about ages thirteen to nineteen hold copies of Fangirl, Eleanor and Park and a couple Landlines in their arms, waiting to be signed in the main atrium. I myself have all three in my bag.

Brayden almost saunters over there until I grab his arm and pull him the opposite way. "I'm on the library council. We can go in from the back. I am on a much higher level than those mediocre fangirls."

"Then what level am I on?" he asks.

"You, being my entourage, are about Tobias levels lower than me," I reply as I push the elevator button.

"And those so-called mediocre fangirls are Tris levels lower than you?"

The doors open and we step out. "Psh," I say as I push open the door to the closed-off council room. "more like Tobias times Tris levels lower than me."

I'm met with five open-mouthed stares when we walk in.

"You have a friend?" Katy, with her big maroon glasses and white-blonde hair says in disbelief.

"Seriously? You're all so cliché. People that read actually do have friends," I argue.

"Yes, we have friends. We all do," Katy points at me. "But you never had friends."

"Now you're just being rude," I laugh, because this is the relationship Katy and I have. I had always been independent at school and never bothered to go out unless we had a council meeting. The five other people in this room--especially Katy--are probably the closest people I have.

It was never really the fact that I always had my nose in a book that made me so disconnected from other people. It was more of the fact that I was uninterested with everyone else.

"So, Annabelle's friend, who are you?" Dale, a skinny, pale boy who is hard to understand asks Brayden.

"I'm Brayden. Actually, we're not even really friends. It's kind of a long story, but we go to school together. She invited me to see Rainbow, and how could I not come?"