It started out as just another boring day. Listening to Mr. Goldenfold drone on and on in math, hearing Principal Vagina's routine monologue over the speakers and seeing Rowdy stick gum under his desk all seemed to be part of the daily grind at Morty's high school. It was starting to really get to him.

'Why do I keep wanting Rick to let me spend time at school again?' The teen pondered, softly tracing his finger along a deeply etched scratch in his desk.

Of course, he already knew the answer to that. As long as his parents were appeased with him attending school, the adventures with his grandpa could continue.

Morty sighed and found himself hoping for another one of Rick's improvised grand entrances as a way to take him out of class. Disappointment settled in more than halfway through math class when it dawned on him that wasn't happening today.

So far, today's only upside-

"Hi Morty," Jessica greeted with a warm smile as she passed him by at the lockers.

"O-oh, hi Jessica," he replied with his own sheepish smile as he grabbed his books.

'Holy shit, she never says anything first.'

Jessica had been almost completely ignoring Morty lately, even after he'd been returned to normal after having his toxicity removed. His date night with her during the time he was 'detoxed' hadn't gone very well and he supposed that was a factor in her distancing herself. Jessica had said only one positive thing to Morty after he got back to being himself. He'd been fairly certain she wouldn't acknowledge him again, so this was a good change.

"Maybe she'll give me another chance," he quietly whispered. He surely wouldn't blow it the second time around if so.

Clutching his books, Morty walked into history class with a little more spring in his step and took his usual seat in the back. He couldn't help but smile a little at the small, yet productive, progress made between him and Jessica.

His attention shifted to Mrs. Barclay, the new history teacher, as she entered the classroom.

"Hello everyone," she stated cheerfully.

Mrs. Barclay had quickly become Morty's favorite teacher immediately after she'd arrived. He always found himself very attentive while being in his two favorite classes -history and science-, but the new teacher made him even more so in her class.

Unlike Goldenfold and some of his other teachers who typically just skimmed through Morty's schoolwork, Mrs. Barclay always paid close attention to his responses in written essays and provided the teen with great feedback.

"If you could all please open up to chapter seven-"

"Excuse me, class," Principal Vagina's voice suddenly interrupted as he peeked his head in through the doorway. "Can I have your undivided attention please?"

All eyes were on him as he walked in and held the door open expectantly.

An unfamiliar girl strolled in and smiled at the students as she stood up front.

"This is Bailey Stevens," the principal continued in an unenthusiastic tone. "She's come to us from Oregon. Please make her feel welcome. Thank you."

Just like that, he left as quickly as he had appeared and made everyone, including Bailey, look back in his direction with confusion.

Morty blinked, surprised. A new girl? Well this just made the day way more interesting.

"Welcome, Bailey," Mrs. Barclay addressed the girl as she stood beside her. She gestured to the rest of the class. "Feel free to find a seat."

Morty saw Bailey's eyes immediately dart to the back of the room as she scanned for open seats there. Spotting one to Morty's left, she thanked the teacher and made her way back.

'Why would she want to come back here?' Morty thought curiously, watching as she came toward him.

A couple boys in the class kept their eyes glued to her as she passed them by with lovey-dovey looks in their eyes. Morty averted his gaze to his desk as she passed by him and took the next seat over. He wanted to say hello but couldn't find the words- or the confidence.

Mrs. Barclay already began writing on the board at the front, but Morty wasn't paying attention.

As Bailey took a moment to observe her surroundings, Morty chanced a quick look at her. She had wavy light brown hair that cut off at her shoulders. He also saw that she was wearing a heart-shaped necklace, a detail he hadn't caught earlier.

As he looked away from Bailey, Morty spotted one of the boys near the front staring at him with a smirk. He leaned over to whisper to his friend, who cast a glance at Morty before the two boys began snickering.

Morty sighed, now feeling incredibly insecure as he looked back in the teacher's direction. He felt so embarrassed he wanted to crawl into a deep, dark hole and never be seen again. No doubt they believed Morty didn't stand a chance in getting the new girl to like him. Even Morty started to think he didn't.

'What does it matter? She'll probably wind up with a jock jerk like Brad anyway. Pretty girls always do. At least there's still Jessica. Maybe...'

"Excuse me? Excuse me?"

"Hmm?" Morty's thoughts were quickly interrupted and he looked over to see Bailey looking at him with an inquiring yet nervous expression. He scrunched his eyebrows quizzically.

"I'm sorry, I- I forgot my pen in my locker when I grabbed my books. Do you have one I could borrow?"

Morty looked down at his own pen on his desk, currently being unused. He doubted he'd be taking any notes today, seeing as his train of thought kept shifting and he couldn't really focus on anything at the moment.

"Um, y-yeah sure." He handed it to her and she smiled gratefully.

"Thank you," she practically whispered before tuning in to the teacher's lesson.

She had such an adorable smile in that moment. Morty turned his head the other way and pretended to look around him in a desperate attempt to hide his cheeks blushing.

He hadn't felt quite like this for another girl other than Jessica. Sure, he'd liked other girls such as Annie from Anatomy Park inside "Old Man" Rueben, or Arthrisha from the purging planet (once his anger at her stealing the ship had ebbed). But with Jessica his feelings had always been a bit stronger than they were with any of the others. Now, it seemed, he was already starting to feel the same way for Bailey.

'Snap out of it, Morty!' He internally yelled at himself. 'She's only spoken to you once and it was to ask for a freaking pen. Don't expect anything more from her.'

He knew he was pretty girl crazy but this was getting downright ridiculous. Before he knew it, the bell rang and he swiftly got out of his seat and collected his books.

"Oh hey. Here's your-" Bailey held out her classmate's pen in an effort to get his attention. But he was already heading to the door and didn't seem to hear her.