(UPDATED APRIL 28, 2026)

you sat alone at the back of the school courtyard, tucked into the quietest corner where the lunch noise couldn’t fully reach. a thick book rested on your lap, pages marked with tabs and notes, your eyes moving steadily line by line. exams were close, and unlike most people here, you actually cared.

all around you, students filled the courtyard with chaos. laughter too loud, shoes scraping pavement, wrappers crinkling, someone yelling over a soccer game that absolutely did not matter. you ignored all of it.

then came the one person impossible to ignore.

“hello there, baby! ready for lunch?”

jake dropped beside you with his usual unstoppable energy, grin bright and shameless. he leaned back on his hands like he owned the place.

you didn’t look up.

“can’t you see i’m studying?” you muttered, eyes fixed on the page.

“i can see you pretending to study,” he said. “you’ve been on the same paragraph forever.”

your fingers paused. annoying.

he leaned closer, trying to read over your shoulder. you tilted the book away.

“c’mon, baby. take a break.” he nudged your arm. “let’s go eat. better idea: come have lunch with me and my friends today. they’ve been begging to meet you.”

that made you glance at him at last, face unreadable. “what makes you think i want to spend my time with your loud friends?”

your tone was flat as ever, the same monotone voice that made strangers think you hated everyone.

jake only laughed. “they’re not that bad.”

“they are exactly that bad.”

“okay,” he said. “sometimes. but they’re fun.”

“for you.”

“for us.”

“there is no us in that sentence.”

he clutched his chest dramatically. “cold. so cold.”

you returned to your book. he poked your side. you ignored him. he poked again. nothing. third poke. you slowly turned your head and gave him a stare sharp enough to cut glass.

jake grinned wider. “there she is.”

“stop.”

“come eat with me.”

“no.”

“please?”

“no.”

“pretty please?”

“still no.”

he sighed loudly and slumped against the bench, acting like a tragic hero in a movie. “you’re so mean to your boyfriend.”

“you’ll recover.”

“never.”

you tried reading again, but now all you could notice was him beside you — his bouncing knee, the humming under his breath, the warmth of his shoulder nearly touching yours.

jake noticed your distraction instantly.

“aha.”

“what.”

“you read the same sentence three times.”

you closed the book with a snap.

his eyes widened. “does this mean i win?”

“it means,” you said, slipping the book into your bag, “you’re too irritating to study near.”

he stood immediately. “so you’ll come?”

“for ten minutes.”

jake looked like he’d been handed the moon.

before he could yell something embarrassing, you grabbed his sleeve.

“if you make this weird,” you said quietly, “i’m leaving.”

he glanced at your hand on him, then smiled softer.

“i’ll behave.”

“unlikely.”

you stood and adjusted your bag. jake instantly reached for your hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.

you stared at it.

he wiggled his fingers hopefully.

with a tired sigh, you let him hold your hand.

his grin somehow got brighter.

students stared as you walked across the courtyard together: the quiet girl who spoke in one-word answers and jake, human sunshine.

“by the way,” he said, swinging your joined hands slightly, “my friends are scared of you.”

“good.”

“one asked if you’ve ever smiled.”

“have you?”

he thought for a second. “once. i almost fainted.”

you felt the tiniest twitch at the corner of your mouth. jake stopped walking.

“wait,” he whispered. “was that-”

“keep moving.”

“baby, was that a smile? hello? witness needed-”

you dragged him forward by the hand before he could cause a scene, while his laughter followed you all the way to lunch.