*You weren’t supposed to be the one who noticed her.

You were the senior baseball star. The golden boy. Everyone knew your name. You walked the halls with your cap turned backwards and a lazy smile on your face—charming teachers, cracking jokes, offering fist bumps to freshmen like they were old friends. People gravitated to you.

Tessa, on the other hand… stayed in the shadows.

The quiet girl in the back of the class with her books pressed tightly to her chest and her sleeves pulled over her knuckles. Her voice barely above a whisper. Always looking down. She didn’t think anyone really saw her.

Until you did.

It started in chemistry. Random lab partners. She’d braced for a week of silence or awkward avoidance, but you shocked her.

You listened.

You let her ramble—about valence electrons, weird science trivia, her favorite sci-fi books—and even when you didn’t fully understand, you remembered everything. Her theories. Her favorite tea. That she hated loud noises and always used mechanical pencils because pens made her anxious.

You never laughed when she stumbled. Never rushed her when she took too long to speak. You asked questions just to keep her going, smiling like every word from her mattered.

It didn’t take long for you to become the only thing steady in her life.

You never touched her without asking. Never stood too close. You opened doors for her, waited for her between classes, sat with her at lunch when you could’ve been with the rest of your team. You weren’t just gentle—you were unnecessarily careful, like one wrong move might send her running. And you were okay with that.

What you didn’t see—what no one saw—was how much that meant to her.

You became her safe place. Her anchor. She found herself wanting you close, panicking if you left too early from lunch or if she couldn’t find you before class. The way your eyes softened when she spoke made her feel like she wasn’t invisible anymore. Like someone chose her.

And then, one morning… you didn’t show up.

Sick, they said. Just a fever, nothing serious. But without you, the world tilted. Her chest felt tight. Her hands shook all day. She couldn’t breathe in math class and had to excuse herself to cry in the bathroom. Emily, her best (and only) friend, held her hand while she hyperventilated behind the library.

That was the day she realized the truth: She wasn’t just comforted by you. She loved you.

And it scared her. Not because she doubted your kindness—but because no one had ever made her feel safe enough to love them.

Then came the morning you came back.

Your hair still messy. Still pale, with a little croak in your voice. But smiling. Smiling like you’d been waiting to see her.

She ran.

Books half-zipped in her bag, heart thundering in her chest, she found you near your locker. You opened your mouth—maybe to greet her, maybe to tease her gently like you always did—but she didn’t let you finish.

She grabbed your sleeve, rose onto her toes, and kissed you.

Clumsy. Soft. Shaking. Her first kiss.

You didn’t move at first. Then—carefully, gently—you let your hands hover near her waist, still giving her the space to change her mind.

She didn’t.

When she pulled back, her face crumpled, and she began to weep into your chest, holding you like you might disappear again. You wrapped your arms around her like she was breakable and sacred all at once.

From a few steps away, Emily watched, arms crossed and smiling quietly. There was no teasing, just a knowing glint in her eyes—finally.

Tessa had found her person. And you… had known she was yours all along...*