Benny Weir stood at his best friend's locker, staring down the hall towards the girl he'd tried all week to talk to. Granted, she'd only been there for a week, but Benny was on a mission to successfully say at least two words to the girl. He hoped the words he managed to get out would be "I'm Benny." Beggars couldn't be choosers, though.

Earlier in the week, during a class discussion on science, one of the lesser minds tried pointing out that taking science would never benefit him. Fayette, having not yet spoken in the class she'd been in for a few days, decided to have her say on the matter. "You do realize you use science every day? The fact that you're sitting here in your seat and not floating around the room: gravity. The fact that you're breathing and your heart is beating and the blood is flowing through your veins and words are coming out of your mouth should be miracle enough. And judging by your Natalie Portman obsession as seen on every one of your binders, I'm guessing you've seen her vast collection of works. Which would include Star Wars, one of the biggest science fiction sagas to come out of the last century. Trust me, you need science." The class was stunned silent, then the teacher had the good grace to continue on about something else.

After that moment, Benny just knew he couldn't let this one go. She made a Star Wars reference. She called out a football player for being a moron. She liked science. And most importantly, she didn't care one bit. And Benny fully appreciated her feistiness and bravery.

Today, she wore a white dress, and a daisy in her hair. Normally, anyone would see her and not care. She was that girl that came to school, dressed up everyday, even though it was just school.

In fact, it was as if she looked forward to school. Looked forward to dressing up, and putting a flower in her hair. She carried her books around, smiling for no particular reason, and almost skipped as she walked with her head held high. That was Fayette.

At least, that's what Benny knew about her. That she came to school, everyday for the past week, in a girly dress and a flower in her pixie cut brown hair. That she was new here, and had no friends yet, but she wasn't bothered. That she had a mind and was NOT afraid to use it. That Benny wanted nothing more than to talk to her, but she was the only girl he was genuinely afraid of being rejected by.

"Ethan. We have a problem." Benny leaned against a locker adjacent to Ethan's, not tearing his eyes away from Fayette as she stood at her locker down the hall.

"We seem to always have a problem. But what is it this time?" Ethan asked, grabbing his books he needed for the day.

"It's a girl problem."

Ethan eyed Benny, not sure what to make of this. "It's that new girl, isn't it?"

Benny shot a look at Ethan. "How did you know?"

"You couldn't be more obvious," said Sarah, joining the two, leaning against the wall beside the boys.

"Oh, gosh. Even Sarah knows. Maybe Fayette knows, too." Benny gulped, most of the color draining from his face.

Sarah couldn't help but grin, tousling Benny's already messy black hair. "I think it's almost cute how flustered you're getting over her. At least she's pretty. And she seems nice," she said, glancing over at Fayette.

"How does a girl seem nice?" Benny asked, unconcerned about his hair.

Just at that precise moment in the hall, Erica walked by Rory as he shouted at her, "Hey, beautiful!"

"Bite me." She retorted, not even looking at him as she walked past. "No, I didn't mean that literally!" As if she just knew what Rory was thinking.

Benny turned to Sarah and Ethan. "Okay, point made. Fayette does seem nice. Angelic, almost."

"Well, here comes your angel now, Benny Rabbit." Sarah cooed, dragging Ethan away as Fayette closed her locker and started towards where they stood.

Benny tried to make a quick escape, but upon turning around, he ran into an open locker door. Sharp pain hit his forehead, and he felt himself collapsing. Light arms caught him before he hit the ground.

"Oh, no. Are you all right?" Benny looked right into the eyes of his savior. They were bright green, and crinkled in an expression of worry. As fate would have it, it was Fayette.

"I, um..." Benny paused, not only embarrassed, but stricken by this beautiful girl and her arms supporting him. "Hi." Benny finally said.

"Hi," she said, smiling. "Do you think you can stand?"

"Is it really that bad?"

"Well, you've got a little bit of a bump there. And the person with their locker open didn't bother apologizing, so I suppose it's your life in my hands now. I can take you to the nurse if I need to."

"Will you hold my hand the whole way there?" Benny grinned.

Fayette laughed, realizing this boy was milking his tiny injury for all it was worth. "Of course. I'm Fayette, by the way." She said, helping him up gently.

"I'm Benny... We have a class together." Benny almost turned away in shame. 'Really? That is the best you could do?' He thought.

Fayette smiled regardless, trying to keep him steady, holding his hand like she said she would. "Well, it's nice to officially meet you, Benny. Although, I think I would've preferred under better circumstances."

The bell rang for class, but Fayette wouldn't leave Benny until she knew he was all right. Grasping her books in one hand, and his hand in her other, she couldn't help but feel a little giddy. Benny slung his backpack around his shoulder, holding Fayette's hand tightly and proudly. He passed by a shocked Sarah and Ethan, winking at the two as they left for their classes.

"So, where is the nurse's office?" Fayette said sheepishly moments later.

"Oh, right, you're new. Um, I think it's down by the art room." Fayette looked at him, as if she didn't know where that was, either. "Don't worry, I'll lead the way. Anyway, aren't you concerned with being late, Miss Fayette?"

"Not at all. I think there might be some leniency, since I'm new and all." She grinned, putting on her best scared voice and continued, "'Oh, Mrs. Perkins, I'm sorry. I just got lost. This school is so big and scary. It won't happen again.'"

"Very convincing. You almost fooled me for a minute."

They turned down the next hallway, still hand in hand, approaching the nurse's office. Benny snuck a glance at Fayette, smiling widely.

"So I was in class during your science spiel," Benny said.

Fayette grimaced. "Oh, yeah. Not one of my proudest moments. I got a little bit angry on that poor guy."

"No, no. Honestly, he's not the brightest lightsaber in the shed, if you know what I mean."

"Is that even a phrase?" Fayette laughed, stopping in front of the nurse's office doorway.

"It is now. Feel free to use it." Benny stood facing her now, their hands having let go of each other.

"Will you be all right?" she asked, biting her lip and furrowing her brow.

'This girl really seems worried about my well-being,' Benny thought. At that, he couldn't help but smile again. "I think I may live to see another day. I don't think I thanked you properly though. How about...uh..." He faltered, nervous again.

'Oh man, how do I ask her out? She just walked me to the nurse's office, holding my hand, and talked to me for at least five minutes. Where do I go from here?' He thought.

"Thank you. I'll see you around." He panicked and just walked into the open doorway without another word.

Fayette stood there, a little deflated. "Yeah, sure. No problem," she said to no one in particular.

She began walking off to her class, a little confused as to how he could be talking to her so normally one minute, and then not knowing what to say the next.

"So?" Sarah asked Benny inquisitively at lunch, as if the one word would prompt him to know exactly what she meant.

"So...what?" Benny said, sitting down beside Ethan at the table as Sarah stood over them. She never usually sat with them. She was still too cool, and well, a vampire.

"SO! Fayette!" She whispered excitedly. "Ethan and I saw you. You know, holding hands." She grinned impishly.

"You are too happy about this," Ethan said suspiciously.

"What can I say, it's like watching my little brother grow up before my eyes. Except, don't tell anyone I compared you to a little brother. But come on, details!"

Benny put a spoonful of jello in his mouth, trying to avoid having to explain to the two how he royally messed up a chance with Fayette after five minutes.

"Okay, even I'm curious at this point," Ethan admitted.

Benny shrugged, and Sarah's eyes widened. "Oh no. You're stalling."

"Well, okay. Okay, okay. I'll tell you. Okay?"

"Please learn a new word," Ethan said.

"Shh! He's gonna tell us!" At this, Sarah sat down across from them, crossing her hands in her lap, paying close attention.

"The basic story is, I turned around after the two of you so kindly left me hanging, and ran into a locker door. She hurried towards me, offered to take me to the nurse's. I convinced her to hold my hand the whole way-"

"Nice move," Ethan interrupted.

"Yes." Benny high fived his friend, then continued grimly, "But, we talked for a few minutes until we got to the nurse's, and then once we got there, I blanked. So I left without saying anything."

"WHAT!" Sarah shouted, causing everyone in the lunch room to look at her. "Sorry," she said, looking around.

Bringing her voice down a bit, she turned back to Benny and continued, "Why would you do that? Now she's gonna think you don't like her."

"She is?" Benny's face fell.

"Yeah! You should've offered to take her out to coffee for thanks or something. I don't know. Anything but the cold shoulder!"

"I'd say it was more a lukewarm shoulder... But I don't even drink coffee!"

"Fine, you could've taken her for chocolate milk for all I care. You've got to find her, say you had a moment of temporary insanity, and then woo her!"

"Sarah just said 'woo'." Ethan giggled.

"You're right." Benny stood up, abandoning his lunch, and walked right out of the lunch room.

"He better not make a habit of not saying thank you to girls. That's twice in one day!" Sarah shook her head, then turned to Ethan and said, "Well, I hate to leave you by yourself, but I've gotta go find Erica. She said something earlier about a sale down at the shoe store. I am NOT missing out on that. See ya!"

She left her chair and walked off, leaving Ethan to eat lunch by himself. "Don't mind me." He spoke out loud, just to have a kid at the next table give him a weird look.

Meanwhile, Benny was on the search for Fayette, yet he had no idea where he could find her. Then, the thought struck him, he'd be seeing her later in the day for science anyway. There he could make amends, and maybe also make a date, and then all would be okay.