Logan Murphy is a jerk. Everyone knows it. Even he knows it. He’s a jerk to everyone, even me, his girlfriend.

Logan and I go to West Greenley High School. It’s a huge brick building full of wannabe teachers and overachievers. It’s the kind of place that looks good on the outside, but once you go inside you see that it’s as phony as the people in it. Logan is one of the many muscle giants on the football team and I am a nobody. I’m one of those people that you’ve seen before, but don’t really know. Logan has the greenest green eyes and a mop of sandy blond hair that hangs over his eyes like a blond curtain. I have the plainest brown eyes and curly red hair that has the texture of a Brillo pad.

I know what you’re thinking, what could a strapping young lad like Logan possibly see in a plain Jane like me? That’s the same thing I said to myself when one day at school he came up to me at me locker and asked, “You busy tomorrow?”

“Yes,” I lied. I’d never been asked on a date before and this was supposed to be the best moment of my high school life, aside from prom of course. But this was Logan Murphy, I mean, sure he was cute but he was a jerk and, honestly, not very bright.

“Anyway,” he said as if I hadn’t uttered a word. “I’m going to the movies tomorrow and I want you to go with me.” And with that he walked away with his bag over his shoulder and his head up like he’d just won the homecoming game. I stared at him with my mouth gaping and disbelief in my eyes. But I had to admit I was a little excited to be going on a date, even with a jerk like Logan.

Our date was normal, or as normal as a date can be when the guy you’re with insults just about everyone you meet and doesn’t even offer to refill your soda. Not even when you shake the cup in front of his face or try to hand it to him when he goes to refill his. But the thing that made me overlook all of this was the kiss. It was like hot chocolate on a cold winter night-warm and inviting. The moment his lips touched mine my heart melted and I felt it swim around inside my body, through my veins with my blood. Everything faded around us until we were the only solid beings in a world of swirling shapes and figures. For a moment I thought I heard light music in the background like the kind you would hear in a sappy romantic comedy. It was only a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity, an eternity of infinite bliss.

It was at that moment, I was certain that I fell in love with him. And I’m sure Logan fell in love with me too because he asked me out the next week and the week after that and then, to my delight and my friends’ horror, we were dating. I would see them looking at us in disgust as we held each other in the hallway. His arms would wrap around my waist and mine around his neck; we’d stare at each other like we were never going to see each other again.

I would go to all of his games and be his own personal cheerleading squad screaming at the top of my lungs whenever he scored, and when he won he would run up the bleachers with his helmet in his hand, all sweaty from the game and plant a big one on me in front of the entire school. But all of that lovey-dovey stuff aside, he was still a jerk. Seriously. Whenever we went on a date he wouldn’t even open the door for me or walk me to my front door. He would wait by the door tapping his foot impatiently with his arms folded until I gave up waiting on him and opened the door myself. Then he would say, “Took you long enough,” and walk away.

Sometimes he made me so mad I wanted to wring his neck like a dead chicken. But then I’d look into those forest green eyes of his that always start my heart racing and make my knees feel like Jell-O and all would be forgiven. My friends would say that I’m blinded by love, but I’ve never seen more clearly in my life. I’ve never met anyone I understand as perfectly as I do Logan. We’re like twins in the womb or freckles on a red head-born to be together.

Everyone calls me crazy for staying with him because he berates me everyday and takes advantage of my kindness, but I don’t care. That’s actually why I love him, because he’s so honest and opinionated. I’ve never tried to change him because I know that it would never work and don’t want to. I love him just the way he is.

Logan Murphy may be an egotistical, brawny, dumber than a box of rocks, rude jerk, but he’s my egotistical, brawny, dumber than a box of rocks, rude jerk. As they say, “Amantes sunt amentes-lovers are lunatics.”