The late bell rang, but of course everyone continued to talk. All except Logan Mitchell. He, having no real friends to converse with anyway, remained silent as a mouse, alone at his desk in the front of the room. He fiddled with his pencil, glancing askew every so often to reassure himself that that sudden outburst of laughter wasn't aimed at his khaki pants. Or his argyle cardigan. He was able to settle in once their teacher commenced lecturing, though. He had always been able to escape in the drone of factual nonsense that instructors were paid to reel out. It was his safe zone

Twenty minutes in, Logan was still scribbling away, already on his second sheet of loose-leaf. He was a legit note-taker. Actually, he was getting pretty excited, because he could tell that the professor was wrapping up his monologue. Then he'd start hurdling out the questions, just to see if anyone had been paying attention. While Logan was never the only one listening to these things, he was the only one who could ever grasp the material enough to supply correct answers. That was when he was important. He knew that he was special when those teachers gave him that nod of approval. Despite the fact that his parents spent more time in the ER than with him, or that his communication level with his peers laid at a solid zero, he dominated academics. And…well, that was really the only thing he dominated, but he told himself that that was enough. It made him feel better, for a while.

"So, in summation, the Mongols dominated all of Asia until-" *Slam* "Aah, Mr. Knight, glad you could join us. May I see your tardy slip?"

He snickered, "You know I don't have one, dude."

"Fine. Detention on Friday."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, man." he strolled past a few rows and started for his usual spot in the back corner, only to notice that it was occupied.

The girl in the seat looked petrified. "I- I tried to tell him, Kendall!" she started, not seeming to be able to get the words out fast enough, "But one of the other teachers said he needed a desk and Mr. Maloney was like 'Sure.' but then he gave him my desk from up front and then I went to go sit in that seat," she pointed, "but Mr. Maloney said no because then he thinks I'd talk to Jessica but I said I wouldn't if he let me sit there and he said no again so he made me sit here but I didn't want to because I know it's your spot and I-"

Kendall raised his hand, and her stop was automatic. He smirked and turned to the instructor, "That true, doc?"

"Yes, it is, Kendall, now sit down over here so I can finish my lesson!"

The blonde looked back in his casual way, "You're forgiven, Molly. Don't piss yourself." She seriously looked like she was about to. He sauntered to the last available seat and made it a point to cause a racket when he sat. His green irises gazed cynically through the smudged liner, raising an eyebrow at the teacher as if to say "Happy now?"

"Wonderful. Anyway, back to what I was saying before…" Blahblahblah Kendall thought. Apparently he asked a question moments later, because the guy in front of him got his hand up pretty fast. "Yes, Logan?"

"The Yuan Empire was located in China, sir."

"Excellent, and what about the Golden Horde?"

"About northwest of the Yuan, sir."

"Perfect answer. Alright, who can tell me…?" he asked like fifty more questions and this Logan guy got them all right. What the fuck? Pansy. Kendall decided. He knew this fruit-pop was in his class before, but being so close to him only made it more obvious. Oh yeah, he's a total teacher's pet in every class. Look at his sweater. He snickered to himself. Then he started actually looking at the sweater. Rather, he took notice of where the collar stopped, and thoughtfully ran his eyes up the curves of Logan's neck. At some point he was just assessing his hair, and briefly wondered if it was as soft as it looked. Why does he comb it down so fucking tight like that?" A whole new view came into place as Mr. Maloney paced the room, Logan's head following him as he went. Kendall glimpsed the nerd's jaw line, and how his lips stuck out in a little pout. Aww. Now that's kind of cute…Wow, I just said that. Pretty soon, the bell signaled the end of first period. Scrambling through the door was everyone except for Kendall and Logan. The latter had a routine of carefully allowing all others to pass, so as not to get caught up in the rush. Kendall basically did whatever he felt like doing, so nothing too out of the ordinary.

Logan determined that the coast was clear and started to stand up, only to be surprised by the boy right there. In shock (or in fear, he wasn't quite sure) he fell back in his seat. Kendall, the bad boy of the school, (hell, of the school district), was staring him down. Just staring at him. Then he smirked and strode out the door, no harm done. But God, it was enough to have Logan shaking all the way to his next class. What did he want? Oh my gosh, he could have strangled me with those chains on his pants! I heard he did that once. And he's got knives in his jacket. All people who wear leather jackets carry knives, don't they? I think it's a rule. And fingerless gloves? We're not outside- Oh poop.

Logan had sort of forgotten that he and Kendall share four classes total. And this was another of them. Oh dear Lord, I'll never live to get a Ph.D., he thought. The guy just smirked, figuratively burning holes into the side of his head when he sat. He doesn't usually sit there, does he?

He didn't. Before Logan walked in, Kendall had all but thrown the previous guy out of the chair, notifying the class that he 'wanted to sit here today.' Fine by them. Everyone knew Kendall, even those who had never laid eyes on him. Whatever Kendall said went, and his juvenile record, frequent bruises, and battle scars aided in reassuring that fact. Some people figured that he just had a bad rap; that he was simply misunderstood. But the truth was that Kendall just really loved beating the shit out of people. He had a blood lust that rivaled a pit bull's, and kick for power that just wouldn't quit. He probably had a darker mind than most people would ever encounter in their lifetimes. But he was okay with that, because he really didn't give a rat's ass about what other people wanted. And a few kids admired that.

There were about two dozen teenagers who followed in his wake. Kendall definitely had a posse, although it must be taken into consideration that they were more like misfit groupies than actual friends. They were the ones who society sort of rejected. Not in the way that Logan was ignored, but just looked down upon by everyone else. Some possessed the general strength that bullies had, and others simmered in that same twisted mentality, but no one had Kendall's fire. That was how he stood out: because he had that drive to get what he wanted and carried enough physical ability and confidence to do so.

But none of them actually knew him. The few words passed amongst them and him were snippets of eavesdropped threats and revelations upon his past victories. Kendall had the boys and the girls swooning over him, and wasn't shy about picking what he wanted. Even several cheerleaders had gladly tumbled with him. It was only the realization of the next morning that had them crying; he didn't care about them. The majority he didn't even find that attractive. Just as wolves will settle for mice when moose are unattainable, so Kendall settled for those hitting under par when he needed to get off.

Then there's Logan. He was definitely peaking his….interest. Those big brown eyes were so scared when he saw him. And here he was, sitting stock still, as if he made the slightest motion, Kendall would kill him. God, he's so tense…I feel like I could fix that for him. He bit his lip when Logan chanced a glance in his direction. He quirked his eyebrow and the brunette spun away. .

The day proceeded without much deviation. Kendall even amused himself by sitting alone at the lunch table adjacent to the bookworm's, just close enough that he was raping Logan's peripheral vision. The poor kid barely got his sandwich down; his fingers were trembling so badly.

A few people had taken notice, and asked Logan if he knew Kendall at all. But Logan just shook his head; he had no idea what he wanted. Clearly he had pissed him off somehow, or maybe he was just so dorky that the bad boy had decided to pummel him as a repercussion for his sin. Whatever the case, he felt that fixation upon him all that day and the next, and it ran chills through his very core.

It was the most nerve-racking Friday of Logan's life. By fifth period, he was such a mess that his pencil flew out of his hand mid-erase. After a mental facepalm, he was about to reach for it when a low voice said, "You dropped this."