The Bad Boy’s Nerd

‘I wish, just once, Derek would look at me.’Bryan said it to himself, not out loud, but in his mind where he kept his secrets. He had been standing in front of the bathroom mirror for fifteen minutes, adjusting the collar of his shirt, then messing it up, then fixing it again. It didn't matter. Derek had never looked at him once in two years. Why would today be any different?Bryan was a second-year business student. Average height, average grades, average everything, except for a quietly pretty face that most people still managed to overlook. He was also a reluctant new member of the university’s swimming club. The coach had seen him doing laps alone one evening and invited him to join the recreational group. Bryan had only attended a few sessions so far. He mostly went because the water helped quiet the noise in his head.From the first day of freshman year, he had seen Derek across the courtyard, and felt something crack open inside him. It felt like his body knew something his mi

Ryder footsteps echoed down the hallway, measured and unhurried. Only after he disappeared did the crowd finally breathe again."Unbelievable." A student said."That's new," someone else said, disbelief in their voice.“Nearly everything about that was new,” another added quietly.Bryan released the breath he didn't know he had been holding. His knees nearly buckled. He turned to find Derek already on his feet, wiping the last of the blood from his lip."You were... brave," Derek said.Bryan tried not to smile, but he failed. His eyes gave him away...bright, relieved, something softer flickering behind them."Do you want me to walk you to the campus clinic?" Bryan asked.Derek nodded easily. "Yeah, sure.”They walked side by side, leaving the whispers and stunned stares behind.***The nurse clicked her tongue as she dabbed antiseptic against Derek’s split lip. “How did this happen? A fight?” she asked, but Derek only shook his head.“I didn't take you for the type to fight back, Dere

Bryan arrived at school the next morning with a single mission: find Derek, return his ID, and thank him.But Derek was nowhere; not in the basketball court, not in the cafeteria, not in any of the hallways Bryan nervously peeked into."Maybe after class," he whispered to himself, standing outside Derek's class like a lost puppy. He forced himself to walk away.***His first class was a blur. Bryan sat in the back row, eyes glazed over as the professor’s voice droned on like a distant, irritating lullaby. The whiteboard might as well have been blank. All he could see was the night before— the stranger in black, the ID on the ground, Derek's name staring back at him.A familiar figure dropped into the seat beside him. Valerie leaned, elbow on the desk and smiled at Bryan like he knew a secret.Bryan didn’t take the bait at first. But after a minute of being stared at, he muttered, “What?”Valerie leaned in closer, voice low. “So… are you into Derek?”Bryan's reaction was immediate and