Bryden sits in front of tall stacks of books as he carefully reads one with squinted eyes and sweat trickling down the side of his head. He props his head up with a hand, his head throbbing from dizziness and numbness. He shuts his eyes due to his drowsiness, and sleep almost overtakes him, until he hears light laughter from nearby.

“Is this the most you’ve ever studied in your life, Mr. Stalling?” the genie laughs.

Bryden doesn’t bother answering with a retort, for he is too tired to do so. He only groans and mumbles, “Yeah… I’ve never had a reason to until now.”

The genie chortles. “And your reason is to impress a girl?”

Bryden nods, not even bothering to deny it. “Yeah…” He opens his eyes and perks his head up. “She likes smart dudes, so I have to become smart somehow. Right now, I’m barely passing with a C average.” He flips through an open book. “Wow, I think I just realized how much I don’t pay attention in my classes. I don’t understand anything in this book. Ugh, being a nerd is so hard.”

The genie sighs. “After four years of fooling around, do you really think you can change your habits overnight and learn everything properly so quickly?”

“Of course,” Bryden insists, focused on his book. “Because now I have motivation.”

The genie rolls his eyes, scoffing. “Your motivation is a girl.”

“Yep.”

“And didn’t she also say that her ideal type of man is someone who’s humble?” the genie adds. “Someone who doesn’t have a huge ego? And who here is infamous for his arrogance and impertinence?”

“Oh, stop it. I’ll make sure to be humble around her.”

The genie laughs. “And what makes you think you’ll succeed? I don’t think you ever have.”

“Oh, shut up. I’m trying to study.” Bryden buries his face into his book to demonstrate.

The genie simply sighs and shakes his head, flying away from him. 

“Are you out of your mind?” A girl grips onto Bryden’s shoulders tightly enough to make him wince.

His body jerks and he turns around. “Nora? You scared the hell out of me! And can you loosen your grip? You’re hurting me.” He pouts at her dramatically.

This only provokes her to grip his shoulders even tighter. “You flirted with Jessica when you two were working at Marla’s? What’s wrong with you? I thought you promised not to make a move on her! And with Rory watching as well.”

“Ow!” Bryden hisses. “Shh, we’re in a library. We have to be quiet.”

Nora finally lets go of him, her eyes bulging out at him.

“It’s okay, Nora,” Rory assures her from behind. “At least she prompted him to study harder and care more about school.”

“Guys, quiet,” Bryden shushes them. “I’m trying to study.”

“Wow, he’s actually serious about this,” Nora whispers to Rory. “Jessica must have a powerful effect on him.”

“Yeah, he must be really desperate,” Rory says. “He’s been staying in his dorm studying for the past week instead of going out. He even stayed up late into the night to finish an essay he was procrastinating on! And speaking of that, what’d you get on that essay, Bryden?”

Bryden turns to him and grins. “I got an eighty-one! How great is that! That’s the highest I’ve gotten in a while. Looks like losing sleep was worth it for a grade that high!”

“Huh, that actually isn’t too bad,” Nora remarks. “Did it really take Jessica preferring smart guys for you to finally study and get better grades?”

Bryden shrugs. “Yeah, basically. Oh, what’d you get on that essay, Rory? We’re both in that class, aren’t we?”

“I got a ninety-five,” he answers with a straight face.

Bryden smirks, rolling his eyes. “Nerd. Are you just trying to show off and rain on my parade?”

“You asked me for my grade.”

“Eh, whatever,” Bryden dismisses. “I’m sure an eighty-one is good enough for Jessica.”

“Uh, Bryden, have you seen how smart that girl is?” Nora asks. “She gets like above nineties on every assignment.”

“She got an eighty-seven on a midterm,” Bryden reminds her. “That’s not above a ninety, and that’s only six points higher than my eighty-one.”

She smirks. “Don’t get all cocky so quickly. Did you already forget about your midterm scores?”

“Oh, that was a long time ago,” Bryden insists. “I’m a new person now.”

“That was three weeks ago,” Rory says bluntly.

“That’s not the point!” Bryden exclaims. “Trust me, I’m going to do so much better on my finals. I’m going to study so hard that I may even get higher than you two nerds!”

Nora smirks at him. “Hmm… we’ll see about that.”

“You don’t believe me? Now who’s the one with a big ego?”

Rory glances behind him and smiles. “Hey, Jessica.”

Bryden almost falls off his chair at the sound of that name, his heart pounding and cheeks reddening. He turns around and confirms that Jessica is, indeed, standing behind Rory. “Oh, uh, hi, J-Jessica.”

Nora clicks her tongue, shaking her head.

Jessica smiles at him. “Hey, guys.” She turns back to Rory. “I heard that you two got your essay scores for your economics class. May I ask what you guys got?”

Bryden grins, about to answer with confidence, but Rory beats him to it.

“I got a ninety-five,” he tells her. 

“Oh, wow, that’s so high!” she praises. “I probably wouldn’t have gotten that high if I had to write an essay. I’m so glad I don’t have to write that many essays for my classes. But I got a ninety-seven on my web design project! I found out yesterday.”

“Wow, really?” Rory remarks. “That’s awesome. Good job.”

Bryden gawks at her with nothing coming out of his mouth.

“Thank you,” Jessica says with a smile, turning to Bryden. “What about you, Bryden? What’d you get on your essay?”

Bryden slams his mouth shut. “Oh, I… uh… I got… a ninety!”

Nora scoffs and Rory rolls his eyes at Bryden’s answer.

“A ninety?” she questions. “Wow, that’s really good as well. What about you, Nora? Did you have any major assignments?”

Nora perks her head up. “Oh, I finished a report a few weeks ago. I got an eighty-five on it.”

Bryden inwardly sneers. Ha, Nora. About time. Now you can’t keep acting like you’re smarter than me.

“That’s really good,” Jessica praises her. “Your major is a lot harder than mine and theirs.”

“Yeah, it is pretty tough,” Nora agrees. “But that’s why I like it.”

Jessica turns back to Bryden and his stack of books. “What are you studying for? Is there another assignment coming up?”

Bryden glances back to his books. “Oh, uh, th-this is just for, um… I just wanted to review some material and learn some things ahead of time. You know, to be b-better prepared…”

Jessica nods. “Huh. I mean, yeah, I agree. It never hurts to be prepared, I guess.” She takes a look at her watch. “Well, speaking of which, I also need to work on some assignments that I haven’t finished yet.” She turns to leave. “See you guys later!”

“Bye, Jessica,” Nora says, waving at her.

“U-Uh, b-bye, J-Jessica,” Bryden stutters, covering his reddened cheeks.

When Jessica is out of sight, Nora lets out a laugh. “A ninety? You told her you got a ninety?”

“I had to, okay?” Bryden says. “It’s not that big of a deal, right? It’s only nine points higher than my real grade. And I wouldn’t have had to lie if it hadn’t been for Rory over there who showed off with that ninety-five. I don’t want her to think I’m stupid.”

“You are stupid,” she says curtly.

Bryden crosses his arms and huffs. “Damn, that was mean of you.”

“Alright, alright,” Rory says. “Either way, I doubt Jessica would be impressed solely because of your ‘ninety.’ And since Bryden’s studying and actually doing his work, we might as well also study. I still have some assignments to finish.”

Nora sighs, taking a seat at the table. “Yeah, same.”

As they work on their assignments, the genie maintains his distance from them, his body tense. I can’t keep being afraid. I need to get another look at her to be sure.