Ryan Powell was just a normal 17-year-old. He went to school, hung out with his friends, and even kept up with his grades. He just felt like he didn’t belong in this world. To him, it was an empty shell with him just living in it.

He was suddenly struck in the head with an expo marker.

“Ack!” Is the only thing he could muster as he fell out of his seat and onto the floor. The other students laughed at Ryan.

“If you’re going to daydream in my class, Mr. Powell, at least pretend to be reading your textbook.” His teacher exclaimed. Mr. Kimchi wasn’t a strict teacher, but he at least wanted his students to pretend they were listening.

“Sorry, Mr. Kimchi.” Ryan got back into his seat without bothering the class even though he was the center of attention anyways.

Mr. Kimchi continued his lesson as Ryan started to pay attention to the class. It was weird seeing the notes that Mr. Kimchi was writing on the board in a different color since it was a little distracting, but it was a reminder that Ryan disrupted the class.

The bell rang and Ryan was grabbed from behind and picked up off the ground.

“Let me go asshole!” Ryan yelled as he squirms in the arms of his aggressor.

“Is that how you talk to your best friend?” The voice teased as he let Ryan back unto the ground.

“Yes, especially when he didn’t ask to be attacked.” Ryan scowled.

“I’m hurt by your words, Ry!” The voice gasps behind Ryan.

Ryan turned around to face his “foe”. “And I’ve told you to quit calling me ‘Ry’, Logan.”

Logan Witten smiled wide as Ryan finally looked into his eyes. He pats Ryan on the shoulder.

“When are you going to ask Misty out on a date?” Logan teased Ryan knowing the crush he has on Misty.

“The same day you let me date your sister.” Ryan smirked at Logan.

“You better be joking, Ry.” Logan glares at Ryan with a menacing aura flowing through him. It reminded Ryan of the anime “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.”

Ryan laughs at Logan and punches his shoulder playfully. Ryan then winked at Logan.

“You never know, she is cute you know.” Ryan tells Logan as the anger in Logan starts to build within him.

“I told you; you cannot date my sister!” Logan exclaims as it almost seems like there is fire behind his eyes. Ryan just shook his head at Logan.

“Calm down, Logan. I’m just joking. You don’t need to be so overprotective of her. Come on, let’s go get lunch.” Ryan wrapped his arm around Logan’s shoulder. And almost like a light switch was flipped, Logan returned to normal.

“Food!? Of course, Ry! I’m starving!” Logan runs off leaving Ryan behind. Ryan sighs at Logan’s love for food.

“I never understand his love of food.” Ryan picks up his backpack and before he could even put it on, Logan storms back into the classroom.

“The hell are you doing!? It’s time to eat!” Logan grabs Ryan by his backpack and starts to drag him towards the cafeteria.

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“Ack! Logan! Stop! I can walk myself!” Ryan retorts as he squirms from Logan’s death grip on his backpack.

“You’re moving too slow. I want to eat now.” Logan tells Ryan as he continues to drag Ryan with him.

Ryan slips out of his backpack to at least walk normally down the hall. Ryan walks beside Logan down the hall towards the cafeteria. Logan realizes that Ryan wasn’t wearing his backpack and gives Ryan his backpack.

“I see that you finally decided to join.” Logan teased as he winked at Ryan.

Ryan rolled his eyes at Logan and shook his head at him.

“I was going to join anyways. I needed to get my stuff together.” Ryan tells Logan in a disappointing manner.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Ry.” Logan smirks at Ryan knowing what’s coming next.

“Would you stop calling me ‘Ry’!” Ryan yells at Logan. Logan laughs at Ryan at his banter about his hatred towards the nickname.

It was the end of the school day and Ryan walked out of the school and took a deep breath to enjoy the much-needed freedom from the confines of the school. Ryan exhales and walks down the stairs before he gets pushed out of the way. He hears someone calling out to him.

“HEY RYAN!” The voice calls out to him. Ryan winces knowing the voice that called out to him. He slowly turns around to see Misty Turner looking dead at him. Ryan swallowed hard seeing her in front of him.

“H-hey Misty. What’s going on?” Ryan said with a hint of nervousness in his voice. Misty giggled at Ryan.

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you so nervous?” Misty asked Ryan. Ryan shook off his nervousness.

“I’m not nervous. You just startled me, that’s all!” Ryan quickly explained to Misty.

“BULLSHIT!” Ryan heard from across the school yard. Ryan quickly looked to see it was Logan that yelled out to him. Ryan flipped him off and turned back to Misty.

“LOVE YOU TOO, RY!” Logan yelled out as Ryan cringes. Misty giggles at Ryan.

“Is that your nickname now?” Misty asks Ryan innocently.

“Hell no!” Ryan quickly spits out at Misty. Misty flinches a little at Ryan’s quick response, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just really hate that name.” Ryan apologized to Misty hoping to patch up what little relationship he has with Misty.

“It’s okay. I shouldn’t have asked.” Misty smiled gently at Ryan. Ryan blushes at her smile. She had the cutest smile he’d ever seen.

“Did you need something?” Ryan asked Misty cautiously wondering what she wanted from him.

“Oh! Right! Listen, I was wondering if you could help me study for the exam on Friday.” Misty asked Ryan. Ryan’s eyes dilated when he heard her say that. He quickly rubbed the inside of his ears thinking he heard wrong.

“Did you ask me to help you study?” Ryan asked sheepishly making sure he was right.

“Yep, I know you make good grades and I heard from a little bird that you liked me as well.” Misty tells Ryan with a smile. Ryan quickly looks over at Logan who was trying to leave the school grounds.

“YOU ASSHOLE!” Ryan yelled at Logan. Logan sprinted out of the school’s property. Misty could only giggle at Ryan’s outburst.

“You two are really close, aren’t you?” Misty watches Ryan’s reaction to her question. Ryan sighs deeply.

“Yeah, we are. We’ve known each other since childhood.” Ryan answers Misty, “He’s the biggest asshole I know, but he’s the only person I can tolerate in this world.”

Misty giggled at Ryan’s answer seeing the blunt truth of their friendship. He leans forward a little towards Ryan.

“You never did answer my question about that studying for that exam.” Misty teases Ryan about the avoided question. Ryan quickly apologizes.

“I’m sorry! Of course! When are you available?” Ryan asks almost nervously as he begins to sweat a little.

“I can do it tomorrow night. How about we meet at the library around 5pm?” Misty asks as she sways her hips around trying to look cute. She didn’t have to try hard since Ryan already thinks she’s cute already.

“Sounds good! I’ll be sure to meet you there!” Ryan quickly answers Misty which almost makes him too eager to study with her.

“Okay, I’ll see you then.” Misty giggles as she gently touches his shoulder. She leaves Ryan alone and leaves the school grounds. Ryan unconsciously touches his shoulder where Misty’s hand was as he watched her walk away from him. He couldn’t help but look down before shaking his head and getting his head out of the gutter. Ryan decided to leave the school’s property and head home.

Ryan walked the same route day after day. It was boring to take the same route, but it was the quickest way to his school. Ryan doesn’t like repetition but he rather take the quickest route to have more time watching anime.

Ryan pushes the button to signal that he wants to cross the street. He waits for a bit and the light signals him to cross lights up. He starts to cross the street to the other side.

Ryan stops when he hears tires squealing close to him. He looks up to see a drunk driver in a truck speeding towards him ignoring the blaring red light. Ryan lets out an annoyed sigh.

“Oh, goddammit Truck-ku-“ is all he could get out before his vision went completely black.