At lunch break, Naz was sitting with her friends. She saw Evan sitting alone, and she felt bad for him. Sasha caught Naz's glance on Evan and did something Naz never expected her to do. Sasha raised a hand and called for Evan. When he noticed her, she said shouting and pointing to their table at the same time "Come sit with us". When Evan didn't hear her, he carried a questionable gaze at her until Sasha shouted it louder. "What the hell are you doing?" Naz whispered. Evan shouted "Are you sure?"

"Ofcourse" said Sasha.

"Sasha, who is that?" Lynn and Jonathan kept questioning

"Oh God he's coming No no no. Do you even know him?" Naz whispered quickly

"Sure, he's in my biology class. Now shut up, it's okay, he's sitting alone and I feel bad" Sasha said.

Since their table had 6 chairs, two chairs were empty. There was one in front of Sasha, as she was sitting at the right of the table, and one next to Naz's chair. Evan came and sat next to Naz. She greeted him with a thin smile and then Sasha said to Jonathan and Lynn "Guys, this is Evan. "

Turning to Evan, she said "Evan, those are Jonathan and Lynn. I guess you and Naz have already met?"

"Mhm." Naz and Evan said at the same time. They glanced into each other's eyes and Naz quickly turned her gaze away. "God, this is weird" Naz said to herself.

Jonathan, Lynn, and Sasha kept talking and laughing with Evan while Naz kept quiet for most of the time. She would sometimes say a thing or two or share a laugh with the group. She was surprised to see Evan a little more active, since she thought he was all dark and mysterious. Once Sasha asked sarcastically "How come little Katy and her crew didn't pull you into their group?"

"Oh they did. But I just managed an escape" Evan said, laughing.

Jonathan, Lynn, and Sasha made Evan promise them that he wouldn't be shy to hang out with them anytime he wanted, and Naz agreed with a slight nod. When recess was over, Evan stepped in front of her and asked "Hey, um, are you okay with me hanging out with you guys?"

"Yeah, sure. Why would you think otherwise?" Naz asked, embarrassed of the thought of Evan noticing that she was uncomfortable around him.

"No, it's just that you seemed annoyed back there. And you were really quiet" He said

"Oh. Uhm, no, don't worry about it. I'm just really tired and I couldn't feel like saying much. I'd be happy if you did." She said faking a smile

"Alright" He said, turning away from her.

As a few days went by, Naz started to feel more comfortable around Evan. She would mostly always join the talks the group had with him, since he started to hang out with them when he could. Still, she could feel his strong presence and detect whenever he's near her. Although she still questioned it, Naz got used to it that sometimes she did not feel it anymore. Of course though, Evan still continued to act mysterious and never talked about himself or anything relevant to his life. In fact, he tried to avoid the topic of his past—and his parents—as much as possible. Naz often talked with him about unimportant school stuff, but when one day she mentioned she was reading a book about dragons, he seemed really interested in her. Her feelings towards him were still odd, but she started to get closer to him as a friend. They would always talk or joke in class or other places. One day at recess, Naz approached the group with Evan in between and asked "Guys, wanna hang out today? It's gonna be such a boring day today if I don't get out of the house."

"Mhm, okay. Let's meet at 7 at the movies." Said Sasha

Everyone nodded except for Evan, when Naz turned towards him and asked "You coming?"

"Well, um I do-"Evan started but got cut off by Naz

"Come on. It'll be fun" she said with a smile

"Okay. I'll be there."

On that day, Naz took more time in preparing herself than usual. She didn't know why, but she wanted to look really pretty. She saw Jonathan and Sasha waiting for her at the entrance of the cinema, and soon Evan and Lynn arrived. Once the movie was done with, they headed to a place to play bowling and other games. It was Sasha against Jonathan, Naz against Evan, and Lynn sat alone watching them since she did not feel like playing. At Naz's first turn, 7 and Evan scored 4. As the game was still continuing, Naz still seemed to win. "I told you I rock ass in this game." She told Evan

"You know I'm usually good at this but right now I've lost my skills." He said

"Yeah, yeah. Lost your skills because of-?" She asked sarcastically

"Because of your dazzling beauty" he said laughing.

"I know, right? It's irresistible" she said also laughing as well.

At the end of the game, Naz scored an 82 and Evan a 54.

Jonathan told Evan "You just got your butt kicked by a girl"

"Hey! You have no idea what girls can do! Watch it Jonathan!" Naz said

"Yes, watch it" Evan said mockingly

As everyone started to leave, Evan and Naz stayed the last. Naz was about to call a taxi when something she did not understand happened. Evan grabbed her by the hand and pulled her away with him as he started running really, really fast. He told her not to make a sound and follow him. Soon they were a bit far from the gaming club, and Naz halted as she started to pant.

"What the…What—was…that?" She asked very angrily

"Look I'm sorry for snapping like that but there were two men in black clothing a little bit away from us. They both had weapons in their hands and I recognized them as two thieves that once broke in to my house when we first moved in. However, although I spotted them, they managed to run away when they realized that the police were coming. Don't worry, the two of them didn't see me."

"You SPOTTED them? What exactly do you mean by SPOTTED? You do realize you're young and something could have happened to you? You know, speaking of age you do look older than an tenth grader." Naz said

"I just saw them. I stayed up late that night and presented a little show to distract them but they ran away somehow. Oh, I'm 17 since I kind of…uhm…skipped a year " Evan said

"A SHOW? What exactly did you do? You know my heart is beating so fast I don't think I'll live another second anymore! This is SCARY, and a bunch of dudes in black wanting to beat the crap out of us is also SCARY." Naz exclaimed

"Look calm down. I'm with you now so don't worry." He said as he stepped closer to her and put his hand in hers. His presence now seemed so strong to Naz she felt that she could not bear it any longer. He moved her hand towards his chest, where his heart lay and said "Look. My heart is beating as well. Only for another reason." They kept gazing at each other's eyes for what seemed like a whole hour, brown eyes by brown eyes. Just then Evan was about to get a little closer when Naz pulled away her hand and said turning her head away "I think we should be leaving before something really bad happens." She was feeling really awkward.

Evan also felt awkward and embarrassed and he said "Uhm—okay."

Naz's emotions were really mixed together: fear, confusion, anger, and a feeling she never understood. It was a feeling coming from her heart, and although she did know deep down what it was, Naz did not admit it to herself.

"Let's share a cab back home. I won't leave you at this hour of the night when you're really scared of what just—he paused—happened."

"Okay." She said.

The wait for the taxi to come seemed like years to Naz. It was so weird for her to be around Evan now that they did not utter a word during this time. Naz sighed of relief as he finally came, and the ride back home was very silent. When she reached home, Naz was about to raise her hand to give the money to the taxi driver, but Evan caught it and told her "It's okay. I got it."

"No, you don't have to. I can jus—" she said

"I insist." He said with a convincing look

"Okay. Thanks. See you at school. Peace" She said as she stepped out of the car and shut the door behind her.