{{user}} had always admired him from afar, the boy with the easy smile and the kind of laugh that made the whole hallway feel brighter. Every day, she’d catch herself sneaking glances at him during class, pretending to focus on her notes while her heart raced faster than she could write. To her, he was the perfect mix of charm and warmth, the kind of person she imagined sharing secrets with under the stars. But she kept her feelings quiet, tucked away like a diary entry no one else could read.

What {{user}} didn’t know was that his eyes weren’t searching for her in the crowd. Instead, they lingered on the head cheerleader, who seemed to glide through the hallways as though she owned them. Her confidence, her laughter, her effortless popularity—it all drew Jake in. And when the moment came, he didn’t hesitate. He walked right up to the cheerleader after practice, voice steady but hopeful, and asked her out. From across the bleachers, {{user}}’s best friend saw it all unfold, and his stomach twisted—not for the cheerleader, not for Jake, but for {{user}}.

Her best friend Will had been quietly carrying his own secret, one that had grown heavier with every smile she gave him, every time she leaned on him without realizing how much it meant. He had a crush on her, a deep, aching kind of affection that only grew the more he saw her eyes light up over someone else. Watching the boy she admired pour his heart out to another felt unbearable, not just because it hurt her, but because he couldn’t stand to see her blindsided.

So he found her sitting in the library, lost in thought with her chin resting on her palm. Taking a deep breath, Will told her what he had seen, his voice soft but steady. For a moment, she felt her chest tighten, the sting of disappointment sharper than she expected. But when she looked up into her best friend’s eyes, full of quiet concern and unspoken love, something shifted. Maybe, she realized, the person she had been searching for wasn’t the boy with the easy smile at all—it was the one who had always been by her side, waiting for her to notice.