Another boring day at school. Another day of sitting through classes with teachers talking unenthusiastically about stuff that Cress already knew. She had known that she had a gift for technology and math and science when she was really little, from the time when her father started teaching her coding and algebra problems and chemistry. The only reason Cress was taking these classes now, in her final year of high school, was that the school had no more advanced courses left to give her. She had completed the highest levels in every subject as a freshman, before returning to the regular track for easy A's. Most of the time in class she now spent daydreaming about Carswell Thorne.

At least there was something to look forward to. Cress couldn't wait to see Cinder again at the Robotics Club meeting. Having an actual friend at school was a completely new feeling. After being overlooked and ignored for years, she was happy to have someone finally see her and be interested in her.

It went beyond that. Yesterday, Little Cress had started elementary school after years of being homeschooled. Since her sister hadn't known anything about the social part of a school, it had been easy to hide how much of an outcast Cress was at Commonwealth. But now that Little Cress could see firsthand how many kids had easy normal friendships, she would start to see her beloved big sister for who she really was.

A nerd.

An outcast.

Cress needed to prove to herself and her sister that she could make friends.

Feeling restless and bored, Cress raised her hand and asked to go to the bathroom. Most of the time, teachers ignored her in class and let her do whatever she wanted. After all, they had seen her grades.

She moved out of the classroom as quickly as possible, taking a second to note that she was the same height standing up as most of the students sitting down. Cress was an unfortunate four feet ten inches, at seventeen years old. Most people tended to think she was in fourth grade or something. Then again, her dad was nearly the same height as her, and he was sixty-five years old.

Humming a bit of Italian opera she had been listening to this morning, Cress walked cheerfully down the hallways. As usual, any other students roaming about ignored her. She wasn't a bully target or the butt of any jokes. Most of the time she was just invisible.

She reached the bathroom at the same time that she reached the climax of the opera song, the part when the notes and melodies and rhythms escalated into a beautiful cacophony of sound. That was what she loved about opera: it was chaotic, with all the different parts going on at once, but altogether majestic. Cress had always loved music, unlike the rest of her family, who sounded like dying goats when they sang.

Cress didn't really have to use the bathroom, so she ended up just washing her hands, barely paying attention because of how caught up in the music she was. She didn't even realize what she was doing at first. As the music escalated, her humming turned into a mumbling of the Italian words, the sounds thick and foreign on her tongue. The mumbling turned into a soft trill of music, and then suddenly she was going full-out, the song tumbling out of her mouth and soaring through the air. She closed her eyes, wanting to be fully immersed in the music. It didn't matter that she didn't understand any of the words. This was music at its purest.

As she reached the end of the song, Cress beamed, hands still scrubbing under the gentle flow of warm water even though they were surely clean by now. Her father had always told her that she had a gift for singing, just like her mother. It felt good to finally let it loose.

Still smiling, she opened her eyes and returned to reality.

Carswell Thorne was leaning against the bathroom doorway.

She let out a little scream of shock and fell back against the sink, crossing her arms over herself. A cascade of water splashed onto the floor when she accidentally stuck her hand under the sink faucet.

Thorne crossed over and turned off the sink before offering her a hand to get up. His hand wrapped around her skinny arm a little too roughly and she flinched. "Whoops, sorry," he said with a wink. "I forget my own strength sometimes. His gaze darted up to her face. "Whoa, look at that hair!"

"I...uh." Why, oh why, did she have to clam up now? Her crush was talking to her. This moment was supposed to be perfect. It felt like her face was on fire.

"Jeez, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend. It's just... really long." He gave another half-teasing, half-sheepish grin. "Sorry if I surprised you. But I was passing in the hall and I heard the most beautiful voice coming from here..." His grin widened. "Where did you learn to sing like that?"

Cress shrank back into herself, arms gripping her elbows. She couldn't find the words to answer his question. "You shouldn't... you shouldn't be in here."

He held up his hands. "Fine, I'm sorry. But seriously. That was beautiful... sorry, what's your name?"

All her precarious fantasies of their first meeting, where he had somehow known her name because she was the state STEM fair winner and the Mathletes team captain and member of the acclaimed robotics club and winner of the Coding Innovation contest, crashed down in her head. She told herself to stop being silly. Of course he didn't know her name. Nerds and popular kids didn't mix.

"I-I'm Cress," she stammered, blushing under the gaze of his innocent, caring eyes. He really did want to know more about her. She bowed her head "Cress Darnel."

"And I know your name," she burst out as he opened his mouth to tell her. Instantly flushing, Cress broke eye contact again.

"Don't be embarrassed. You have a beautiful voice. Really. What language was it?" He leaned forward, hands out to emphasize his words.

"Italian. I don't know what all the words mean."

"Huh." Thorne turned toward the sink, nodding in curiosity. "Well...I liked it."

Her mortification at being caught singing in a high school bathroom began to fade.

"Why have I never heard you sing before?" was his next question. "I take part in the school musical every year, and I've never seen you."

"I don't really sing in public. At all," she mumbled, fiddling with her hair. She fought the urge to bite the wavy tips. She didn't want to be seen as a gross weirdo in front of this embodiment of perfection.

"Well, you should," Thorne said decisively, leaning closer to her. Now Cress was fighting to maintain eye contact as his body moved closer and closer. "You have exactly the kind of voice that's good for stage productions. Strong and clear, with a good range. Who taught you how to sing?"

"Um...my mother did, but she left when I was younger. I've never taken professional voice lessons or anything."

"Wow." He nodded in appreciation. "Well, just think about it. If you decide to come to try out... I'll be looking for you."

"Really?"

"Definitely. You have a lot of talent, Cass."

She stared after him as he left the bathroom.

So he had learned her name and forgotten it in the span of five minutes.

Now that she had actually met him, she wasn't as smitten as before.

Cocky. That was the word that first came to mind when Cress pictured his self-assured, confident ways. Apparently, he was a womanizer who couldn't even bother to learn their names.

She sighed. Forget about that. Thorne had put a new idea into her mind.

The next item on her bucket list.

I'll be looking for you.

Author's Note: Definitely not my best work, but I wanted to update since I haven't written anything in a while. I was writing this as a cute little Cresswell scene, but somehow it took a turn at the end I wasn't expecting. Hope you liked it!