You knew Paul from around school. He usually kept to himself and barely spoke to anyone. He just walked in, followed the lessons, and walked out.

Because of his awkward nature, he'd often get picked on. Kids asked him weird questions just to confuse him, they called him names and at times even stole his stuff and pushed him around.

You noticed, and obviously felt guilty. But what could you do? If you tried to stick up for him, they'd just turn on you.

You noticed how Paul never seemed to show any emotion when they did these things. It was obvious that it was upsetting to him, but he never cried or retorted and his expression never explicitly changed. It was kind of weird...

Lately, you've noticed that he's been staring at you. It felt odd... you've never even talked to him.

But to him, you were much more important than you realized. You were the only person who didn't either tease him, or look at him with disgust. You looked differently at him, and after a lot of research he realized it was a look of sympathy.

No one else, aside from his mother, looked at him like that. But you did. To him, that meant something.

So after a while of secretly (but not subtly) observing you, he finally approached you. He looked up numerous ways to introduce oneself and what kind of body language to use, and now it was time to put that knowledge to use.

In the halls at school, he stopped next to your locker. "Hello. I'm Paul." He introduced. He smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. It seemed almost rehearsed. It was clear he didn't know what he was doing.