Lily and her friend Grace keep to themselves most days at school. Walk the halls alone, sit at lunch, do their work, and walk home just them too. They don’t fit in with the popular girls or the band nerds, they are just content with each other and their small, casual, lives. Until a new guy, Liam, moved to their school.  Lily and Grace were sitting at lunch on an average day when Liam entered the cafeteria and caught their attention.

“Do you see that guy?” Grace asked Lily as her last bite of peanut butter and jelly fell from her mouth.

“The one in the blue shirt?” Lily asked.

“No, no the one behind him in the red shorts and black shirt with his hair kinda fluffy in the back,” Grace described as her cheeks warmed in color.

“Oh, yeah, I see him. He was in my first period today, He is new here and just moved here from Ohio,” Lily said casually.

“No way he’s in one of your classes, did you talk to him? Do you know his name?” Grace asked.

“Yeah, what's the big deal? Do you think he’s cute or something? His name is Liam he sat next to me because it was the only seat left,” Lily said looking confused. 

“Do you not think he’s cute?” Grace answered sarcastically. “He looks like he doesn't have anyone to sit with, ask him to come over here,” Grace told Lily urgently. 

“I don’t think so I don’t even know him. We talked for like 15 minutes in class that doesn't mean I know him,” Lily argued. “Plus why would he sit with us, we are clearly the losers of the lunch room.” 

“Lily, don’t you see the opportunity that has come to us? He doesn’t know we don’t have any friends and he doesn’t have any either, he’s as desperate as us.” 

“Okay fine”

Lily walked over to the table full of napkins, forks, spoons, etc. that Liam was standing next to clearly stalling to go up to a table and try and sit down. 

“Hey, Liam right? I’m Lily from first period today, English, if you want, maybe, if you don’t have anyone to sit with you could-”

“Yes,” Liam answered faster than Lily could finish her question. “You were gonna ask to sit together right?” 

“Yeah I was, follow me I’m just over at the back table with my friend Grace,” Lily answered with a sigh of relief. 

Liam followed Lily through the maze of cafeteria tables all the way to the back where Grace sat at the empty table with her eyes glued on Liam's that had to come straight from the ocean because there is no such thing as that bright of blue eyes. 

“Hey, I’m Liam it’s nice to meet you,” Liam said with a little smirk when he saw Grace. “I just moved here from Ohio, it’s my first day.” 

“Hi, I’m Grace”

“I hope I’m not taking anyone's seat at the table,” Liam said looking around for anyone that may be making their way to the table. He realizes that in fact, no one is walking to this table, no one is even looking at this table.

“Oh no don’t worry no one else sits here,” Lily says before she realizes that what she just said was kind of embarrassing.

Liam sets his lunch tray on the table next to Lily and across from Grace, “So what are you guys' next classes?” 

“I’ve got Math, then gym,” Lily says.

“I have Chemistry next period, and history after that,” Grace says, “What about you?” 

Liam pulls out his bright pink paper with his schedule on it, “I've got chemistry also, then math fourth period. Who is your chemistry teacher?”

“Felncher”

“Oh nice me too, Glad I'll see a familiar face,” he says with that same smirk.

The lunch bell rings and Grace looks at Lily with the most joy her eyes have had since school started. But Lily looked annoyed at the sudden interest Grace had in someone other than her.

When Grace walks into the chemistry class, Liam is standing at the front talking to Mrs. Felncher. Grace takes her seat in the back, the only table without a lab partner because Lily is in a different chemistry class. She hears Mrs. Felncher tell Liam the only seat left was next to Grace as if it were a bad thing. But Liam's face lit up and looked past everyone in the class to the back corner at Grace.

Liam walked to the back and pulled out the chair next to Grace, “I’m glad she put me next to you, everyone in here looks pretty judgy, don’t ya think?” 

Grace had thought that since the first day of school but of course had no one to tell, “Yeah they sure are,” Grace says with her head down, writing her name at the top right corner of her paper. 

“You know your friend Lily is really nice for inviting me to sit at your lunch table, I hope I’m not stepping on any toes,” Liam says with the sole purpose of getting Grace's attention. 

“Oh no you’re good,” Grace says, she wants to say something else to keep the conversation going but she’s not quite sure what to say. She looks at him to ask if he likes it here so far but when she opens her mouth, not a word comes out.

The teacher gets the class's attention “Good afternoon everyone, today we will be watching a video and answering questions,” she shuts off the lights and walks around the classroom passing out the worksheet, “The questions are in order of the video so please pay attention the whole time. Make sure you use a pencil in case you want to go back and change some answers,” When she gets around to Grace and Liam's table she looks at Grace with pity, “Oh, I’m so glad you finally have a lab partner dear.”

Grace looks up at the teacher with embarrassment, her hope that Liam would have no idea how incredibly irrelevant she and Lily are is quickly slipping from her hands. “Sorry, you’re stuck sitting with me, according to Mrs. Felncher it seems to be an embarrassment,” Grace says to Liam when Mrs. Felncher walks away.

“Well, I sure don’t think it is, I’m happy to sit here” The same smirk appeared on his face when he turned to her. 

Butterflies swarmed Grace’s stomach when her eyes met his. Even in the darkroom, his eyes sparked like stars in the night sky.

After school Grace walks to Lily’s locker to walk home together. As they walk through the front doors of the school they see Liam standing on the curb waiting for his ride home. Grace catches sight of him before Lily does. She hasn't stopped thinking about him after their few words in chemistry. 

“Let’s go say something to Liam,” Grace says, grabbing Lily’s arm.

“Say what to him?”

“I don’t know, anything? Like maybe ask him how his day went or if we will see him at lunch tomorrow,” Grace says.

“Um I guess you can.”

“No, can you say it? When I tried talking to him in class nothing came out and that would be so awkward if it happened here.” 

“Okay, I’ll ask him if he finished the English classwork from this morning.” Lily starts walking towards Liam, and Grace follows “Hey Liam, did you finish the English from this morning?”

“Yeah, I did but Mrs. Johnson said it's not due until Thursday so If you need help I can help you tomorrow morning,” Liam says as he looks around her to Grace, “Hey Grace I was wondering if I could get your number? I have a few questions about the end of the worksheet,” Liam says handing his phone to Grace.

“Oh yeah sure,” Grace types her phone number into a new contact in Liam's phone, “there you go,” Grace hands the phone back to Liam.

“Sweet thanks I’ll see you guys tomorrow at lunch?” Liam asks.

“Sure,” says Lily.

“Of course,” Grace says with a smile across her face, as they walk away. “I cannot believe he just asked for my phone number, can you believe this Lily?” Grace says once they are out of earshot from Liam. 

“He just asked for help with homework that is all,” Lily says crossing her hands over her chest.

“Well yeah, but he might start texting about other things too,” Grace says unaware that Lily seems upset. “I mean really this could be a new start for us, Lily, if he makes a friend that thinks you are cute we could have a bigger group and go on double dates, maybe even not be total outcasts,” Grace says nudging Lily with her elbow as they walk. 

“Okay maybe that sounds nice but let's not get our hopes too high, you can’t even start a conversation with him by yourself,” Lily says.

“Okay you're right,” Grace says as they get to the intersection where they part ways, “Do you wanna come to my house for a bit?” 

“I think I'm just going to go home, I’ll see you tomorrow morning though,” Lily says.

“Ok see ya” 

The next day at school Grace finds Lily at her locker as early as she can excited to tell her about the hours she spent texting Liam the previous night.

“Lily you will never guess what happened last night,” Grace says.

“Good morning to you too Grace,” Lily says sarcastically.

“Oh come on you don’t wanna hear about Liam and my conversation?”

“Grace the only thing you have talked about since you saw him yesterday, is him. It is starting to be the only thing you care about,” Lily says. 

“Why can’t you be happy for me this is the first time I’ve ever been interested in a guy and he might actually be interested in me,” Grace says in shock.

“I’m sorry I guess I’m just a little jealous, but please don’t let this be the only thing you talk about,” Lily says as she closes her locker.

“I won’t I promise, you know I wouldn't let anything come between us,” Grace reassures her. 

As they turn to walk down the hall they spot him at the end of the hall, “Go talk to him its ok I’ll see you at lunch,” Lily says to Grace who is clearly holding back the urge to run to him to say hi. 

“Thank you so much I’ll see you at lunch,” Grace says as she walks down the hall to Liam. 

“Hey Grace,” Liam says, “you look nice today”

“Thank you,” Grace says blushing, “So how do you like it here so far?” 

“It’s pretty good, my classes went well and I’m settling into my new house, which reminds me, maybe you would want to come over later? You could help me set up my room,” Liam asks.

“Yeah I would like that”

“Okay cool, I’ll see you at lunch?”

“Perfect,” Grace says holding her textbooks close to her gray zip-up hoodie holding in her squeals of excitement.