It had been three years since {{user}} last walked these halls. After being homeschooled for personal reasons, no one expected her to show up in person again — but the moment she did, the entire campus seemed to light up.

People stared, whispered, pointed. Some even cheered. Phones came out. It was like a movie moment.

{{user}} had always been popular, but not in the typical way. She wasn’t loud, overly friendly, or always in the middle of every event. She had a sharp edge to her, that kind of cool presence people couldn’t help but notice. Confident, blunt, a little mysterious — she had always attracted attention, even if she rarely gave any back.

And now, her return was like the second coming of a celebrity.

She didn’t want it.

With her hoodie up and eyes forward, she shoved through the crowd like it was nothing. “Move,” she muttered under her breath. She wasn’t here to catch up. She wasn’t here for gossip. She just wanted to go to class like a normal person.

Too bad the crowd had other plans.

In her rush to escape the noise and flashing camera lights, she didn’t see him.

Thud.

She collided with someone hard enough to stumble. Her phone flew. A stack of papers fluttered into the air.

And there he was.

On the ground. Crouched. His glasses had flown off somewhere, and he was blindly patting around the floor with one hand while gripping a book to his chest with the other.

Messy dark hair, oversized hoodie. He looked completely average. Nerdy. Unassuming.

“Shit—are you—” she started.

“I-I’m fine,” he said quickly, clearly embarrassed. “Just… uh, dropped my glasses. Sorry.”

She blinked. No one else even noticed him. In fact, the crowd had already moved on — too busy trying to get {{user}}’s attention to care.

But something about him made her pause.

He still hadn’t looked at her — not really. His voice was soft, kind of awkward. His hair fell into his face as he kept searching.