"Lindy!" Garrett exclaimed clearly equally surprised. She stood there staring at him unable to do anything else. She couldn't get past the fact that he was actually here and that he looked like he had practically stepped out of the past. That was a bit of surprise since she would have expected he would look a lot older like the rest of the squad did. Logan no longer had his baby face; Jasmine had aged quite a bit doubtless the effect of undertaking the daunting journey to becoming a doctor while raising children, and Delia had a totally different style these days. Garrett though looked the same. Maybe high school Garrett wouldn't have worn dress slacks and a classy down button, but it looked like something that he would have worn if he was a teacher. With that thought, Lindy's mind jumped to the present, and the fact that Garrett was expecting a reply.

"This…this is…" she began. "This is Garrett." She immediately cursed her inability to keep from stuttering when she was nervous. Besides, it was a ridiculous thing to say. Of course, Shantelle and Cristal knew this was Garrett. Her brain wasn't working right, but how was that for an excuse? She was way too old for this to keep happening.

"Nice, girl, I had no idea you two knew each other," Shantelle said smiling at Lindy. Lindy knew what that smile meant—I told you so. She didn't want that right now.

"Why don't you sit down?" Lindy said to Garrett. "We…usually sit together…the fifth grade team, I mean."

He took the seat right next to her. "Thanks."

"We're glad to have you on the team, Garrett," Cristal added. "We were really impressed by your qualifications and knew you'd be a great fit for our team."

"Umm…thanks for the opportunity. I know I'm going to like working with all of you too." He spoke hurriedly and looked down at the notepad he had brought with him as he finished. It was such typical Garrett behavior that Lindy had to smile. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who hadn't outgrown acting awkward.

Just at that moment Principal Kyle began the meeting. Lindy was normally a very active participant, but today her mind was on anything but the meeting. It was hard to settle down and focus on the impending school year when Garrett was sitting right next to her. She told herself to relax. It was just Garrett. She had known him forever and seen him through his awkward years. She was an adult now. This was no big deal.

But she was still freaking out. Garrett was right beside her, and he'd be right across the hall for the next 180 days. He would know practically everything she did— the top speed runs down the halls when the kids were gone, the loud singing of educational songs, the crazy Lindy moments when she was trying to make a point. He would be there every time she got ridiculously passionate at the team and school meetings. When she thought of how he would react to all of that, she could just imagine him chuckling. After all, he was the one who said she was great but got too overly excited, and that had always made him laugh. Thirty-five or not, that was not likely to change.

Still, it wasn't all terrible. Sometimes, she felt like she was two people—the cute, excited friend and the crazy, passionate teacher. She alone bridged that gap as her colleagues rarely saw her outside of work and her friends never saw her with the kids. If she had to pick one, she would pick the teacher version of herself. Inspiring the kids to love life and learning like she did felt so true to herself. She didn't have to rein in the craziness but let herself talk as loudly as she wanted, be the energetic person she was. If her colleagues thought she was weird, it didn't matter because it worked with the kids, and she was there for them. The truth was that they loved her anyway. Maybe it was because teachers are a special breed of people. Either way, Garrett was going to get to see all of that and to watch her be the version of herself she loved best. That was pretty exciting. Maybe he'd actually fall for her this time, and it wouldn't stay this sad one-sided thing.

Yes, Lindy "liked" Garrett. Liking sounded so juvenile, so maybe it was best to call it being interested in? Whatever you called it, she had had feelings for Garrett for a long time now. It hadn't started when they were kids even though he had been around a lot then. He had always just been Logan's best friend. She had actually been kind of annoyed with him because he got hurt so easily and was scared of everything. That meant that he had put the kibosh on a lot of her grand ideas of what to play. She could remember a lot of times she had been mad about that.

By high school, things had gotten a lot better. Garrett had grown less fearful, and she spent a lot of time with the girls which helped her be more patient with him. Plus, she finally began to notice his good qualities. Garrett was an amazing friend. He had a caring heart and would stop at nothing to help someone he loved. He was also a great judge of character and gave the best advice. Sometimes, Lindy hadn't really appreciated it at the time, but he had been right. Beyond all that, he was a passionate person who lived his life very intentionally. That had taken Lindy forever to notice because he was so quiet about it and did it in a very different way than she did, but he thought everything through and was very focused on his goals.

Looking back now, she thought she had probably fallen for him in high school. She didn't know it then because she had been so lost in her own prospective, but once college rolled around she had finally noticed. The entire squad went their separate ways for college, and Lindy missed them terribly. She made a lot of new friends and kept busy with an active social life and lots of studying. However, she still felt lonely. That had eventually led her to the realization that she was missing Garrett. She missed his advice and his support and the way that he was always able to make her smile. When breaks finally came, she was always so excited to go home and see him. Maybe he was just Garrett her old friend, but she found herself trying to impress him putting on her best outfits and trying to show off everything she was learning in her literature classes. That just made things awkward, but she couldn't make herself stop. She just kept hoping that eventually he would notice and have the courage to ask her out. Instead, they had just grown apart and became so busy they barely even saw each other even on breaks from school. At that point, she had figured that he didn't like her the same way. He was way too self-aware to miss something like that.

The last time she had seen him had been at Logan and Jasmine's wedding where he had been the best man and she the maid of honor. She had been so excited for the wedding and getting to walk down the aisle with Garrett. Besides, she would be looking her best in an adorable dress with professionally done makeup and hair. What a perfect setting to finally get his attention! To her disappointment, he had showed up with a plus one—a girl he had been dating for a few weeks. They were just getting going, but he wasn't looking for a girlfriend when he already had had one. Lindy and Garrett had danced at Jasmine's insistence, but that had just filled Lindy's heart with sadness. Garrett wasn't interested in her and probably wouldn't ever be. At that point, she had made up her mind to get over him. It just wasn't going to work out.

Maybe it made sense that she was freaking out that Garrett was here. He was single, and she would get to spend her days with him. Perhaps she was getting a second chance. She was ready to take back everything bad she had thought about the new teacher being thirty-five and single. There was likely a story, but given that it was Garrett, she knew that it was nothing bad. Now that she was past the initial shock, she felt so excited that she could scream. Unfortunately, she had to hold it in—it wasn't school cheer time yet. Cheering or not, she knew that this was going to be an amazing year.