"I'm being approachable. Approach me." Michaela muttered not knowing how much longer she could hold her smile.

The bell rang signaling the end of class. Her heart stopped as Jared grabbed his backpack and walked straight over to her. She rubbed her hands against her skirt wondering how they had gotten so moist.

"Hey," he said, towering above her. Michaela's eyes followed a path from his feet to his eyes. He was so tall and muscular not skinny and lanky like the other boys at school. Michaela imagined what one of his biceps would feel like against her hand.

"Hey. I'm Michaela. Sorry about earlier. I must have been sleep deprived." She said at twice the rate of her normal speech. She was so nervous and she was sure everyone could tell. Her gut reaction was to ditch everyone and go hide in a bathroom stall for the rest of the day.

Lourdes cleared her throat. Blushing, Michaela introduced her friends. "This is my friend Lourdes and that's Evie."

Both girls smiled and said hi. "Well," Evie said, looping her arm through Lourdes', "we've got to go to our next class. Hate to cut and run but it's all the way across the school."

Michaela wanted to cover her face in embarrassment. Why did her friends have to be so obnoxious and obvious? Like she wasn't humiliating herself enough on her own.

"Great. Can I walk you to your next class?" Jared asked, seemingly nonplussed by how awkward everything was.

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever," Michaela replied, grabbing her bag. Just be cool she told herself and don't say anything else stupid. "It's the same class as Lourdes and Evie so it's all the way on the other side of the building. It's not too far away from your next class, is it?"

"No, my class is super close."

Michaela smiled as Jared picked up her Spanish book and helped her put it into her bag. She shivered at the tingling sensation of being so close to him. He smelled nice too.

"What?" he asked when he heard her involuntary chuckle.

"It's nothing," Michaela insisted, feeling her face redden yet again.

"No, tell me."

"It's just you don't smell like Axe body spray."

"Um. OK. Is that a good thing?"

Michaela laughed. "A very good thing."

They made their way into the hall. Jared stood a half a foot taller than her. Being so close to him maybe the nervous, tingling sensation return.

"I haven't seen you around before. You a junior?"

"No. Sophomore."

Noting his look of concern, she said, "I'll be sixteen in a couple of months." And by a couple of months she meant five.

Worried that he might become concerned about the difference in their ages, she decided to change the subject. "So you play football?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Do you play any sports?"

"No, not really a sports person. I like to read. Listen to music."

"Oh, me too. What kind of music do you like?"

"I kind of like it all…hip hop, alternative rock, some country music. What about you?"

"I mostly listen to 80s heavy metal. My favorite band's probably Skid Row. Ever heard of them?"

"I can't say that I have."

The next minute passed in silence as Michaela started to realize that maybe this wasn't going to work out. This Jared guy was cute but it didn't seem like they had much in common. He was all about sports and terrible music and she….wasn't.

As they passed the boys bathroom, a student with Cerebral Palsy was having a hard time navigating his walker and opening the door at the same time. Without skipping a beat, Michaela watched as Jared jogged over to the door and opened it wide to allow the other guy out.

"How's it going Sherman?"

"Good. Haven't seen you at the comic book shop lately."

"Wish I had the time man. My life is all football, school, and work. Heard the new Wolverine was really good."

"It is. I'll let you borrow it."

"That'd be awesome, man," Jared said as he walked back over to Michaela. Motioning towards her, he said, "Hey, this is Michaela. Michaela, this is Sherman. I've known him since elementary school."

"Nice to meet you, Michaela."

Michaela nodded. "It's nice to meet you too."

"Well, I've got to get Michaela to her class, but I'll see you later."

"Bye Jared," Sherman said before turning and heading to his class in the opposite direction.

As they continued to make their way to her class, Michaela looked at Jared with new appreciation. He wasn't just some dumb jock. Most guys would have just walked past Sherman without helping, but Jared hadn't. He'd stepped in to help. He wasn't like any of the other guys she knew. He was different and she liked that.

"Comic books huh?"

Jared's face reddened. "Yeah."

Wanting to make Jared feel less awkward, Michaela divulged something about herself that she hadn't even told her friends for fear they would make fun of her. "I read manga. They're like Japanese comic books."

"Yeah," Jared smiled. "That's pretty cool. I've read a few of those myself."

Over the rest of the walk to her class, they discussed different manga that they had read and what they liked or didn't like about each. And as each second ticked by Michaela realized that this Jared guy was somebody she wanted in her life.

As they approached the door to her history class, Michaela nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thanks for walking me to class."

"Yeah. It was nice talking to you Michaela."

Her heart thudded double time as she walked in and found her way to where her friends were seated.

"So?" Evie asked, practically chomping at the bit for details.

"So what?" Michaela replied.

"How'd it go?"

"It went fine. We just talked."

"Do you like him?" Lourdes prodded.

"Yeah, I think I do."

Jared stayed around just long enough to watch Michaela go sit next to her friends before making a bee line to his next class which coincidentally was right next door to his Spanish class.

As Jared walked three minutes late into English Lit, he smiled as he realized the detention was totally worth it. He also resolved right then and there to get rid of the Axe body spray sitting on his dresser. Fortune must have been on his side today as he'd been in a hurry to get to school and thus had skipped his daily spritz of body spray.

It hadn't started off as the greatest conversation of all time. Jared where his mojo had gone. He had not been smooth. He'd kept on saying 'Yeah' like that was the only word in his vocabulary. But then they'd found something that they had in common. Her whole face lit up as she talked about her favorite manga. He hadn't wanted to leave her side. He could have stared at and talked with her all day.

One thing was for certain, for someone who had dreaded going to Spanish class this morning he sure was looking forward to going tomorrow.