It was to his surprise, she didn’t react negatively. In fact she smiled and the whole room went silent. Silence filled the library as the two looked at each other. Did she not know the rumors about him? Was she just going to use him as a target to increase her popularity? That… that was a common one; kicking Kenton around seemed to be a rite of passage into the popular world as long as you; A] Didn’t do it in front of his brothers, and B] Rayne never heard you did it. For he roams through the popular crowds and isn’t afraid to dethrone you if he finds out.

Instead, she stood a few feet away from him and stared back at him. He did his best to keep a friendly smile but finally averted his eyes, feeling as though it was rude to stare back at her as she stared at him. Boy… and he gets called ‘weird’. This girl was staring him down as if trying to study his very soul and yet she didn’t seem mean or rude about it. The whispers picked up and Kenton’s hand stayed on the book, ready to use it as an excuse to get away from her if she decided to become rude on aggressive towards him as so many do.

Her sentence received surrounding gasps from the onlookers and Kenton’s eyes shot back up to look at her. Did… did she just say what he thought he heard. His face instantly turned red. Even his own mother never expressed liking his eyes and now a complete stranger complimented them. A bright warm smile moved across his face showing his straight white teeth. “Thank you.” His response was probably more cheery than he had originally meant it to be but with his face aflame he really didn’t seem to have too much control over his voice. His hand lowered from the book as if realizing that she meant him no warm and he turned to her, his smile still bright and his face still red. “I like your headphones. They look comfortable. What brand are they?” He got a compliment about his eyes! For the first time in his life!!