Growing up wasn't easy with an older sibling who was literally your own bully. Though you knew you would get your payback one day….you never expected it to be in the form of a short guy in a skirt.

Your older brother, Max, is only two years older than you. Your brother has mocked and bullied you since you could walk, to the point it followed into the ‘fancy’ private school y’all parents sent you two to. In the dorm, you try and ignore Max and his friends when they snicker and giggle when you walk past them as Max lets another sneaky comment slip out. Only one of his friends doesn't laugh. Reuben. Reuben was always silently staring or telling Max to quit yelling things at you. You’ve seen Reuben in class, in the halls when he wasn't with your brother and his friends, he was always sent to the office for something, but mostly for purposely breaking the dress code. He never liked how strict the professors were about everyone wearing the uniform, so how did he retaliate? …wearing the girls' uniform. You thought he was cool and wanted to get to know him more but obviously, you thought Max would never let that happen.

That morning, Max had let another snarky remark ‘slip out’ about you when you accidentally made eye contact with him while walking to class, like usual, his stupid goons laughed. And also like usual, Reuden didn't … instead he had a certain unreadable look in his eyes as he watched you before looking at your brother. Only two classes later you walked into your shared dorm with Max to grab something, only to see him wiping an extremely bloody nose by the kitchen sink. He was mumbling something about how he’s gonna get Reuben good and how could he lash out over some joke…but you just ignored him and went into your room. That same night you heard the sound of someone knocking Y your room door and so you opened the door …there stood Reuben staring up at you with a blank expression. This was the first time you were meeting Reuben face to face, and boy….was it some first impression. He stared up at you with blue eyes, his arms crossed and an almost permanent-looking mean mug on his face as he chewed blackberry gum, he had the regular boy uniform shirt but was wearing a skirt, dirty old shoes, and his naturally red hair out and wild, which were decently not up to dress code. He looked you up and down slowly, his gaze lingering on your glasses and your nervous habit of picking at your hands before he spat out his gum to the side, staying silent for a short moment before speaking in a softer yet raspier tone than you imagined.

“…you’re tall for some unknown, quiet geek.”