Junior Year
1. September
When Evan Halpert first sees Liesel Schrute, he thinks she's cute. They are three years old. The second time he sees her, they are sixteen at West Scranton High and he knows he is in love. She has hair the color of buttered popcorn and she smiles shyly from her locker down the hall. Unfortunately, they aren't meant to be quite yet.
2. October
The third time Evan Halpert sees Liesel Schrute, she sees him first, more at home on the basketball court than he is in his room at home, and it shows. Liesel sits next to Maggie Levinson-Scott, Evan's best friend, and shyly cheers for West Scranton.
After the game, Evan greets the two of them straight off the court; one shower and an hour later, he finds Liesel in the art room and works up the courage to ask her out. When she says she already has a boyfriend he is crushed.
3. November
The fourth time Evan Halpert sees Liesel Schrute she is down the hall with her quarterback boyfriend; Maggie keeps him from punching something.
The fifth time they meet it is a lazy Sunday afternoon at the Halpert house. Evan is shooting hoops with his little sister Maddy when Liesel and another girl emerge from the house next door. Embarrassed, Liesel says, "my Aunt Christine lives there"; Evan is more intrigued by the fact that Maddy and Liesel's little sister appear to be best friends.
4. December
The sixth, seventh, and eighth times Evan Halpert sees Liesel Schrute, it is mere glimpse of her beautiful hair or russet-colored messenger bag in the hallways. The ninth time is awkward as they bump into each other under the mistletoe at the Halperts' annual Christmas party. They stutter until Liesel shyly backs away and murmurs something akin to an apology as she quickly backs out of the hallway and out of the house.
The front door slams and Evan scowls up at Maddy and Liesel's little sister Kristina, who lean giggling on the banister and hold a bobbing string attached to mistletoe over Evan's head.
5. January
At semester change, Evan's history teacher calls, "Schrute, Liesel!" and Evan Halpert sees Liesel Schrute for the tenth time. She responds calmly and takes a sip of a frappuccino, but as soon as the teacher turns away she throws a note at his head.
I'm sorry about my sister Kristina, her beautifully scripted note reads, but when Evan looks her way she is dutifully taking notes. He sends the note back with his message and Liesel's eyebrows fly up her forehead as she reads his lazy scrawl: I'm not.
6. February
The twenty-ninth time Evan Halpert sees Liesel Schrute - 14 more days in class and 5 times in the hallways – it is Valentine's Day and although she wears a burgundy-colored sweater in honor of the holiday, she has bags under eyes and looks appropriately hung-over as she sips a black coffee. "What's wrong?" Evan asks as he plops into the seat next to her and rolls his eyes and she tries to assure him there's nothing wrong, but he doesn't buy it. He presses on until she laughs bitterly and confesses she broke up with her boyfriend a few minutes ago. Evan doesn't know why he feels like he's on cloud 9.
7. March
Evan has long lost count how many times he has seen Liesel Schrute because they see each other fairly often between classes, hallways, and meeting each other at random caffeine-filled shops to bitch about life in general. Maggie Levinson-Scott complains once and soon she and her mocha lattes are enveloped in the ritual, too.
The three of them become a trio and when they migrate to the back steps of the Halpert house, Pam Beesley-Halpert laughs. The three of them shrug, shoot baskets, and continue to bitch about life.
8. April
It's three in the morning on a Saturday when Evan's cell phone starts vibrating with Kristina, one of Liesel's younger sisters, on the phone with the news that Liesel's lung collapsed last night very suddenly and the rather large Schrute family is at the hospital waiting for news. Evan texts Maggie as he pulls on street clothes and writes a note to his parents and sisters while he eats a pop-tart.
He doesn't remember the drive to the hospital, or frantically bolting through the hospital trying to find her room; what he does remember is, seven long hours later, being allowed to see Liesel. She looks like an angel with her deathly pale skin and golden hair like a halo as she says, "Happy seventeenth, Evan," to her best friend.
9. May
Spring fever arrives; Liesel's surgery flies smoothly and she is released from the hospital, and life seems to go on with Maggie's last swim meet, Evan's cat dissection, and Liesel's final choir concert. It is the end of May when Evan's basketball team wins the state championship.
Liesel is waiting in the hall and when Evan comes out from the locker room he picks her up, spins her around, and kisses her. She smiles and their paths intertwine.