Kevin McCormick had a crush.

Kevin McCormick, the kid who didn't have any friends, let alone any girlfriends, had a crush.

Kevin McCormick, the kid whose only social interactions outside of his own home were with bullies in the parking lot after school, had a crush.

He had successfully avoided developing feelings for anyone up to this point, thinking nobody would want a low-life like him. Yesterday, that all changed. He didn't know who the girl was, but what he did know was that she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his life.

And boy, did he want it to stop, so, so bad. Nothing good had ever come out of relationships before.

I mean, just look at his parents.

"You gotta take Kenny and Karen to the city hall to apply for food stamps. Me and your fa'dder are, uhh, tidying up the house right now, so we can't really do it ourselves," Carol told her son, opening the door to his room.

"It works out great because on the way there Kenny can talk to his friend there, uh, what's his name... Stan, I think. Apparently they're workin' toge'dder on some project for school."

As if the information she had just given him no longer mattered, Kevin noticed the painfully obvious bruises on his poor mother's face. First, she loses her job, and then her douchebag husband beats her the next day. For a kid with seemingly no emotion, Kevin felt terribly bad for his mother.

Kevin opened his mouth, about to say something, but Carol, expecting one of her son's smart-ass remarks, cut him off, shouting "It's not a request, it's a demand!" before slamming the door shut.

Kevin knew he was going to have to take this walk of shame eventually.

Wanting to leave quickly before their fighting sprawled out into the living room, he hurried Kenny and Karen out the front door to begin their walk.

This might have been the most embarrassing moment of his life. The entire town knew they were poor, and now they got to watch and laugh as they went to apply for the highly stigmatized food stamps. Well, to be fair, onlookers had no way of knowing where the three were headed, but that didn't stop Kevin from feeling like shit the whole time.

When they reached the Marsh residence, they stopped on the sidewalk. The garage door was open, and their parents were packing stuff into the car. Stan obviously knew they were coming, because he was already there in front of Kenny greeting him. Kevin had to have looked like an idiot, standing there, expressionless, mouth irrelevantly wide open, not saying anything.

Getting more and more irritated with how long Kenny was taking, Kevin started to tap his foot impatiently. Of course, Kenny didn't care.

But maybe that was a good thing, as Kevin, his foot no longer tapping, watched as an unknown figure walked from behind the car.

He swore he had seen the girl before somewhere, but he couldn't quite remember where from.

It was a girl, bedecked with pink head to toe, with her phone in her face, mindlessly scrolling.

Kevin's eyes were now locked on her. He was mesmerized. He was sure he looked even more like an idiot now, his pupils dilated and his mouth agape.

In the rare moment where she looked away from her phone, Kevin saw her face. She was the prettiest girl he's ever seen. Prettier than the ones in the dirty magazines he'd read. With brown hair that appeared golden in the sunlight and eyes that he could gaze into for days, Kevin thought he had never seen true beauty before this.

He had begun tapping Kenny's arm, hoping he could ask him who the girl was. Kenny had to have known, with how much he was around Stan and his family, but Kenny just kept pushing his arm away so he could continue talking to Stan.

His eyes still locked on the pretty girl in front of him, he was quickly snapped back to reality when the girl, an intense frown on her face, looked up from her phone and shouted,

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKIN' AT, TURD?!"

Kevin's face immediately turned a deep shade of red. He quickly looked down on the ground, rubbing the back of his neck.

"N-nuthin'..." he had mumbled in response.

"That's what I thought, moron!" she had shouted again, this time her slurred voice noticeably showing through, due to her orthodontic headgear.

Kevin, overwhelmed with embarrassment, quickly grabbed Kenny's arm and tugged, dragging him along the sidewalk and towards the city hall. He wanted to get out of there as fast as he could. "[B-bye, Stan!]" Kenny had managed to get out before they parted. Karen followed along. Kenny was going to be pissed at him, but Kevin didn't care.

"[What the hell was that about, asshole?!]" Kenny had mumbled from under his parka. "[What's your problem?!]"

"I don't have a problem..." Kevin snapped back.

"Not anymore..." he continued.

Maybe things were looking up for Kevin McCormick.