Walking home from school had a tendency to go one of two ways.
On a good day he would be left alone to walk in peace the ten blocks that stretched between his high school and his neighborhood.
On a bad day he would be bombarded with shouts from the windows of cars filled with the "cool kids" berating him about how he was a nerd, or a virgin, or some other word that meant something Kaidan was and they were not.
Today would be a bad day, Kaidan thought, as a blue Audi drove slowly past him carrying John Fredricks and his latest female conquest.
"Alenko! What's it like knowing no girl will ever let you touch her?"
Fredricks wasn't the brightest, and it wasn't even funny, but the girl in his passenger seat was laughing as if he just said the most hilarious thing in the world.
Kaidan put his head down and kept walking when he heard another voice.
"Hey cool guy in the Audi! What's it like knowing every girl you touch is just letting you fuck them out of pity?"
Kaidan didn't look back to Fredricks, he was busy focusing intently on his shoes when he slammed into something. He looked up, blinking at the new girl… something Shepard… and it took him a moment to realize she had been the one that came to his defense. And then she kissed him right on the lips.
She turned back to Fredricks who was still driving slowly next to the sidewalk where they were walking, apparently too stunned that someone - no a girl someone - had countered his insult.
"Now leave my boyfriend alone, jackass, or I'll tell everyone in school about that STD you gave me!"
The girl in the passenger seat gasped and Fredricks threw a string of curses Shepard's way before speeding off.
Kaidan knew he was blushing and the heat in his cheeks was partly because this girl just kissed him. And she was beautiful. And he didn't even have to ask her. But he was also embarrassed that he had to be rescued by a girl.
She was still standing in front of him and he couldn't keep walking but he didn't know what to say either so he just kind of stared at her ear, afraid to look her in the eye.
"Hey." She said, repeating her first greeting from earlier that day.
He looked up at her, and he was sure the confusion was apparent in his face but she didn't offer any kind of explanation.
"Um.. thanks.." he said, but he could hear the tension in his voice. "You didn't have to do that, I'm sure Fredricks is going to find some way to make it worse."
She was smirking, and his cheeks flushed again. She shrugged one shoulder and stepped out of the way so he could keep walking but she didn't make any move to leave herself.
"Well," he started, feeling like he needed to say something by way of a goodbye.
"Yeah, I should go," she said, saving him from embarrassing himself in some way that he knew he was bound to do. "See ya, Alenko."
He blinked at her again, frustrated with himself and his inability to say anything to this girl.
"Uh, yeah, ok," he said, running a hand through his hair. "Later, Shepard."
