I saw her, she was standing at the edge of the schoolyard, arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to disappear. It was pissing rain—proper lashing—but she didn’t have a hood up, just stood there, watching the ground like it was more interesting than anything else around her.

I remember thinking, who the fuck’s this, then?

She was new. Had that new girl look—backpack too full, uniform still stiff, eyes darting around like she was waiting for someone to tell her where to stand. Everyone else had already decided their place years ago. She was stepping into something that had been long set.

She never looked up. Didn’t talk to anyone. Just sat in the corner, head down, while the rest of the cafeteria carried on like she didn’t exist.

And me? I couldn’t not look.

I was supposed to be paying attention to Joey, who was ranting about some feckin’ teacher who gave him detention for nothing (read: absolutely something), but my eyes kept drifting back to her. The way she curled in on herself, careful, like she was trying to take up as little space as possible.

“Who’s that?” I asked, cutting Joey off mid-rant.

He frowned. “Who?”

“The new one. Sitting alone.”

Podge turned, barely glanced before shrugging. “Dunno. She doesn’t talk.”

“Yeah?”

I watched as some lad tried to get her attention, saying something I couldn’t hear. She barely reacted, just gave a tight smile, shook her head, and went back to her sandwich.

I smirked. Interesting.

“Dempsey,” Joey sighed, like he already knew what was coming.

I grabbed my bag and stood up. “Be right back.”

I strolled over, plopped myself down in the empty seat beside her, and let my arm drape across the back of her chair like we were already old mates.

She froze. Stared at me with wide, startled eyes, fingers clenched tight around the sandwich.

“Alright, love?” I grinned. “What’s your name then?”

Nothing. Just those big eyes blinking at me like I was a feral cat she’d found on her doorstep.

I leaned in. “What, you don’t talk?”