A/N: Thank you for reading and commenting, you lot are amazing!

Something wasn't right. Jared was staring at her, one of those full-on, unblinking stares, like she was the first person he'd seen in a very long time and he didn't know what to make of it.

Blood rushed to Kim's face, boiling hot, her ears were pounding and her heart rose all the way to her throat. Was she having a heart attack? And why was she staring back? She knew she wasn't supposed to be doing that, but she couldn't look away.

Jared's lips slowly curved into a smile, dimples and all, uncovering his perfect teeth. Why was he looking at her like that? He looked dazed, like a man confused by unbelievable beauty. Or like a sociopath. She didn't know which was more probable. Her skin was tingling and her brain was a heap of marbles rolling in her skull.

"Kim," he breathed and then grinned.

"That... is my name, yes."

"Yeah," he said after some consideration. "And a pretty one it is," he kept grinning at her.

"Um. Are you ok?"

"Yeah. Great! Excellent! " He didn't make a single movement to indicate he would turn around and sit properly.

"Right. Well, thank you... for the pen," she stumbled over the words.

"Oh, don't mention it," he beamed at her, still not turning around. Was it a prank?

"I'm sorry, did you need something?"

"Oh, no, ha-ha. Well, maybe. Yeah. Your phone number, maybe?"

She frowned. "What?"

"Hm?"

They blinked at each other for a few seconds, like two confused racoons, neither realizing that the teacher was approaching them.

"Jared, Kimberly, is there anything you'd like to share with the class?" Ms. Jones drawled, breaking their trance. Jared reluctantly turned around in his seat and faced the teacher.

"I was just returning Kim's pen."

"Really? Because it seemed an awful lot like you were having a conversation and interrupting my class."

"Well, we weren't," Jared ground out, frowning.

"So, I must have seen everything wrong, haven't I?"

"You must have, " he shrugged, an eyebrow cocked. The teacher narrowed her eyes at him.

"I must say, I'm unpleasantly surprised by your attitude, Jared. Maybe detention can help with that. Kimberly can join you, so you can finish your conversation on the way there."

"What?!" Kim cried in disbelief.

"She didn't do anything!" Jared yelled out so loudly that the teacher took a step back. The entire class fell into uncomfortable silence. All eyes turned to Ms. Jones.

"This is as good a time as any to learn that your actions have consequences," the teacher stated. "Sometimes that involves other people as well."

"She didn't do anything," Jared repeated, straightening out in his chair to his full height and promptly blocking Ms. Jones' view of Kim. "If you're going to punish anyone, punish me. It's my fault, anyway." He focused on the teacher with the intensity of a predator, but she didn't back down. Heat rose to Ms. Jones' face, but Kim didn't know whether it was anger or fear and she felt bad for the woman. It was weird to see Jared like this, he was usually the nicest guy in their class.

"Bro," Paul warned suddenly and Jared's shoulders finally relaxed a bit. "Chill."

Jared opened his mouth to respond, but the bell rang before he had a chance to say anything. Everybody was jumpstarted to life. Chairs scraped the floor, bags were being zipped, people got up. Kim was still sitting, unsure what to do or what actually happened.

" After school, both of you," Ms. Jones looked pointedly at Kim and Jared, then scurried away and went about packing her own things.

"Unbelievable," Kim muttered and Jared turned to her instantly.

"I'm so sorry," he gave her an apologetic smile. "But, at least we'll be together, right?"

"Whatever," Kim scoffed, stuffing her things into her bag.

"Need a hand?" Jared offered.

"I think you've helped enough today," she muttered. A headache was blooming inside her skull and she was feeling hungry all of a sudden. A nice, big candy bar would be so -

"So, is this your first detention?" Jared asked, his things still scattered on his desk, but he didn't seem to notice them. He just stood there, with his hands in his pockets, waiting around. For what? Kim? Hardly. She almost scoffed at the thought.

"I'm sorry, what is this?" she huffed.

"What's what?"

"This," she motioned between them, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to have a conversation?" He scratched the back of his head.

"A conversation," she huffed. "Well, I don't really feel like talking to you right now."

The smile melted off his face. "Look, Kim, I know- Well, I understand you... I-"

"I'm going to be late for my next class. If you'll excuse me," Kim snatched her bag and stormed out of the classroom.

" What the hell was that?" Paul approached Jared as soon as Kim left. Jared couldn't even see her angry, retreating back anymore, but he was still staring at the door, unable to move. She was mad at him. No, she probably hated him. He wanted to smash something. His own head seemed like a good idea.

"Bro," Paul nudged him. "Are you ok? You're looking a bit queasy."

"She hates me. Kim hates me," Jared stammered.

"News flash, she hates me too. Probably more than she hates you. But we knew that would be the case, so why-" Paul trailed off and took a good look at Jared.

"Did you...? Is this...?" he flailed his arms around, like that explained everything.

" I did, yeah," Jared said and a small smile tugged on his lips. Paul just stood there for some time, blinking at Jared.

"Are you sure? Because if this is some kind of a shitty false alarm and you screw Connweller over, I'm going to break your legs."

"I'm pretty sure, bro. She's my imprint."

"Gross," Paul finally mumbled but his lips twitched into a small smile. "Are you going to become even more obnoxious now? I don't think I can bear two lovesick idiots around."

" I mean, probably, if I'm being honest. If she ever decides to talk to me again, that is," Jared groaned.

"She will. I know Connweller. She's into forgiveness and shit. We can actually tell her everything now," Paul's face brightened as he said it.

"What if she freaks out? I really don't know how I'm supposed to tell her any of this without sounding like a complete lunatic."

"Oh, she will. Freak out, I mean. I'm also positive about that."

"Gee, thanks for the moral support."

"Can you imagine, when you tell her everything and she, she like, freaks out and, and like, takes our advice and starts hanging out with Anderson?" Paul sniggered.

"Shut up, don't even joke like that."

"And they start dating and go off to college together-"

"It's not funny, Paul, so don't be a dick."

"And she, like, gets married to Anderson," Paul was howling with laughter now.

" I will rip your arm off and beat you to death with it," Jared fumed.

"And they have, like, 3 babies," Paul went into complete hysterics. Jared punched his shoulder as hard as he could.

"I fucking hate you. You're a douche, you know that, right?"

Paul just kept laughing and rubbing his shoulder.