It had always been the three of us. Lucas, Maya, and I. We've grown up together. Maya crawled through my my window at age 5. Lucas showed up at my Halloween party at age 7. We were the Three Musketeers, or so we thought.

And then high school came about. It was our first day, we were sitting in my father's class, when the door opened and a lanky teenage boy walked in with a slip of paper in his hand. He had light brown hair that had the 'just got out of bed' look and ocean blue eyes that felt like they could stare into someone's soul. He was wearing a NASA shirt and dark blue jeans.

He handed the slip of paper from my dad and said, "My name is Farkle Minkus. I'm from Mars."

From behind me, Maya cleared her throat. "Mars? As in, the planet?" She asked.

The boy named Farkle chuckled slightly and shook his head. "Uhh, no. It's actually a small town in Pennsylvania. Not many people know about it." He shuffled his feet, almost uncomfortably.

"Well Mr. Minkus, you can take a seat right next to Riley." My dad said as he gestured to the empty seat that was right next to mine. I smiled at him warmly. He smiled back just as much, albeit a little nervously. He took the seat next to me and faced the front of the room, looking at my dad as he continued the lesson.

"Switzerland, what'd it do during World War I?" My father asked the class.

Before anyone else could even come close to raise their hand, Farkle's shot up.

My dad nodded at him, obviously impressed by how fast his hand shot up.

"They were neutral, sir. It was difficult because two of the Central Powers and two of the Allied powers were bordering them, but they still managed to stay neutral. And because it was centrally located, they were open to refugees and revolutionaries." The new boy stated.

"Very good, Farkle." My dad continued on with the lesson as I glanced over at Farkle. He looked back at me and smiled shyly. He turned back to the front of the classroom, answering questions as they came about, all while I was slyly shooting glances at him. He was kind of cute.

Maya met me by our lockers after my dad's class. She leaned against it and smiled smugly while I was putting away my history book.

"What?" I asked with a smile on my face. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Maya hit me on the arm playfully and leaned in, closer to my face. "You like the new kid!"

I shook my head. "Nope. No I do not." I denied.

Maya raised her eyebrows at me and started skipping down the hallway saying, "Riley likes the new kid. Riley likes the new kid."

I ran after her and when I reached her, I grabbed her arm and spun her around. She stopped yelling as I turned her around and she had a huge smile on her face. "You're loving this aren't you?" I asked Maya.

"Loving what?" I heard a voice come up behind Maya. Lucas wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. They'd been a couple for a few months now. It hadn't really surprised me, I'd seen the way they looked at each other a long time ago.

"Riley likes the new kid that walked into Matthews' class this morning!" Maya said excitedly. I put my face in my hands and shook my head. "This is exciting, Riles! You haven't liked anyone since Charlie."

"This is ridiculous." I muttered and turned around to walk away, but two feet later I was blocked by a chest. I looked up to see Farkle standing in front of me.

"Hi." I breathed out.

"Hey." He said back. I could basically feel Maya's excitement from behind me. And apparently it was rubbing off on Lucas too because I could almost feel his excitement as well. I stepped back a little bit to get a better look at him.

"I'm Riley." I said while holding out my hand for him to shake. 'What the hell? Why did I just do that?' I thought to myself.

If he thought it was weird, he didn't let on because he stuck his hand out as well and shook mine. "I'm Farkle." He responded. "It's nice to met you." He walked past me and nodded to Lucas and Maya as he passed them.

I turned around to face my best friends. "Okay, maybe I like him a little."

It's been a few months since Farkle was introduced to us. The four of us had become a close-knit group, as if Farkle had grown up with us too. And as that happened, my feelings for him grew deeper. I've never felt like this about anyone before, not even Charlie, my ex. It's new, and it's scary.

Farkle and I were sitting in my room, he was helping me with my Spanish. We were sitting on the floor in front of the bay window when I slammed my book closed and threw it on the ground.

"This isn't working for me." I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. "I just don't understand it."

Farkle gingerly picked my book up, placed it in front of me, and opened it to the page we were just working on. "You can do this, Riles. Look." He pointed to a phrase on the page and started to help me work through it. He kept getting closer and closer to me as the lesson continued. We both looked up at the same time and realized we were nose to nose.

I glanced down at his lips for a brief second before his lips were on mine. I grabbed the front of his shirt to pull him closer to me and straddled his waist. His hands moved to my hips, the textbooks beside us long forgotten.

Before I had the chance to react, my bedroom door opened and I heard my father's strangled gasp. I pulled away from Farkle and looked at my dad with a guilty look on my face. He was gaping at us like a fish out of water. I scrambled off of Farkle and stood up. Farkle did the same.

"Dad, I-" I started to say, but he interrupted.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" He yelled at Farkle as he chased him out of the bay window.

I groaned and fell back to the ground, knowing that I was going to get so much crap from my dad when he finally got back home.