This was the most important letter Harper had ever written. Her heart raced as she waited patiently for him by the front gate of the school. She had spent the best part of 5 years admiring Oliver Rivers from afar and now after putting it into words she was going to hand over all of her feelings to him.

Here he comes. Her heart skipped a beat as she watched him approach the gates. Harper's feet moved on their own as she quickly walked out in front of him, thrusting the letter towards him. Her voice caught in her throat, with no words to speak she hoped these actions were enough.

Oliver stared down at her looking disgruntled. Who was this girl? What gave her the nerve to step out in front of him and demand he read another letter full of mushy proclamations of love for a guy she didn't even know. One thing that really struck him about this girl though, she was either incredibly confident, or incredibly stupid. Handing him a love letter at the gates of the school? No matter how he responds, this will be the talk of the school for the next few days and he hated being the centre of attention.

"I don't want it" he mumbled before swiftly pushing past her hoping to minimise any damage. Harper 180'd on the spot and watched as the man she loved became smaller and smaller until he disappeared into the school building. As the anxiety rocked her body she quickly noted that everyone had stopped to look at her. Whispers started emanating from the crowd, "what was she expecting? Confessing to Oliver", there were giggles and people pointing "does she even know her own standards?". I don't believe this, she thought. She shook her head as she tried to drown out the noise from the crowd, "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" she screamed before running towards her classroom.

"HARPER!"

"We heard that you confessed to Oliver!" Harper almost collided with her best friends Niamh and Sarah.

"You idiot, why would you do such a thing?" Niamh scolded her aggressively.

"You knew he wouldn't even look at you and you go ahead and confess at the school gate? Did you want everyone to witness that?" Sarah added trying to be a little less hard on her best friend who was on the verge of tears.

Harper recoiled from the attack slightly and hung her head, "I dunno, I just thought that he might have mutual feelings towards me".

Niamh playfully slapped her up the head and laughed "That's impossible! You have to know he is in all top sets for all subjects due to his insane abilities. He gets some of the highest scores in the whole country and there's a rumour he has an IQ of 180".

Harper knew she was right, she really did. But some days the feelings she had for him made her feel like she was going to burst and she wanted nothing more than for him to return her feelings.

It all started 5 years ago during the first year 7 assembly. Oliver was asked to give a speech thanks to his incredible results in his year 6 SATs, that was when she first saw him. Whisperings from others claimed that he was a genius with an IQ of 200 but Harper couldn't get over how incredibly handsome he was! His short ashen hair, his brown eyes and he was slightly taller than average for his age. He was perfect. Harper prayed that she might share at least 1 class with him but she gathered from the whisperings that there was no way that would be a possibility.

Harper felt deflated, she had stayed up the best part of the night just to make sure that there weren't any spelling mistakes and he wouldn't even so much as look at her letter. Sudden screaming brought her out of her stupor, "HARPER! IS IT TRUE YOU CONFESSED TO OLIVER RIVERS AND YOU WERE REJECTED?!", Harper looked horrified by the sudden abrupt approach. "You really like that bookworm? You know I liked you first, how am I not your type but he is?". Harper looked away from him, Kunal was a close friend of hers and it was no secret that he has had a crush on her for a long time. It may have been due to her feelings for Oliver or because she simply wasn't attracted to him, but Harper had never returned his feelings.

"I just can't stand that it was that uptight genius boy! How can he treat you like that, I won't forgive him. I'll fight him! That'll bring him down a peg", Niamh noticed Harper's demeanour changed and whispered to him to calm down.

"Don't worry I get it, everyones said enough today about how brainless and impatient I am. If I'd just thought about it rationally I would have known he was going to reject me. What can possibly

be so great about a guy that won't even give me the time of day when I pour my heart out to him" Harper jumped up with some newfound vigour. "There! I don't care anymore! I will give up on Oliver Rivers and move on with my life". Kunal patted her on the back and sat down next to her proudly.

The day passed with nothing eventful happening besides the whispers at lunch time, but Niamh and Sarah were smart enough to take Harper as far away as they could to enjoy their lunch. On the way out of the gate Harper reminded her friends that she was moving tomorrow as they had offered to give her a hand. That's when Oliver walked past them with one of his friends and Kunal lost it.

"HEY, WHERE DO YOU GET OFF ACTING LIKE A SNOB JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE SMART?! HOW CAN YOU BE CONSIDERED A HUMAN BEING AFTER THE WAY YOU TREATED HARPER". Harper grabbed his arm that was currently pointing at Oliver and shushed him telling him to leave it alone. Oliver turned to look at them, glaring at them with what could only be disgust. "I hate stupid girls" he spat and took a moment to take in the reaction on all of their faces which was a mix of horror and sheer fury on Kunal's part. He then turned and walked away, not paying any mind to the shouting coming from Niamh as she and the others had to physically restrain Kunal.

The next day, Harper welcomed her friends into her new house which her Father had finally managed to buy after years of saving up a deposit. Harper's Father Ian beamed with pride as he watched the movers finish placing down the new furniture he had bought for the house.

"Harper, you have gone through so much since your wonderful mother left us. We can now officially say we achieved our dream of owning our own house" Ian started to visibly cry at the mention of his deceased wife. "Sorry for my outburst. Introduce me to your friends"

"Well you know Niamh and Sarah already, this is Kunal, Kyle and Mickey, they're in the same form as me"

Kunal leapt forward in an attempt to impress Harper's father. "Mr Fields, please treat me as if I am your own son, I'll do whatever you need of me!" Ian stared at him sort of confused, did he actually just tell him to treat him like his own son? He doesn't even have a son.

For the rest of the evening, they happily passed the time finding a new home for all of their stuff, eating food and just catching up before everyone finally left. Harper breathed a sigh of relief after a long day of moving. "I'm gonna head up to bed" she told her Dad who was placing a picture of him and her Mother at their wedding on the wall.

"Good night sweetheart!" he chimed as he stared proudly at his late wife, overjoyed that he was finally able to fulfil one of her wishes. Harper climbed into her bed and stared up at the ceiling, the anxiety of the last few days finally starting to wane. At least now that she knows what a jerk that Oliver is, it will be easier to get over him, it's not like she actually sees him very often and she was comforted by that fact as she drifted off to sleep.

Harper was awoken by the loud beeping of the fire alarm, her Father came charging into the room as fast as humanly possible, sweeping her up out of the bed and rushing her out of the house. "Dad, what's going on?!" she screamed as she was quickly awoken by the panic.

"I don't know" he replied as he placed her down on the pavement and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "It looks like something caught fire in the kitchen, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it could have been". Ian was a chef and owned his own restaurant, if anyone was going to burn their own house down by leaving the stove on, it certainly wasn't him. Although the fire department arrived on the scene pretty swiftly, the fire also spread just as fast and they watched helplessly as their new home was engulfed in flames.

While the firefighters were battling against the fire, the local news station also arrived on scene and asked Ian to say a few words about the fire. With tears in his eyes he explained that he woke up to the sound of the fire alarm and quickly rushed to get his daughter out of the house. They are both fine and he considered the possibility that it was thanks to his late wife watching over them both and keeping them safe. He was unable to say any more after that as his emotions overwhelmed him and he asked to be excused. He returned to his daughter who appeared to be shell shocked as she sat on the curb across the road from her house. Multiple neighbours had come over to check on her and offered various refreshments but she just stared at her new home which was now nothing more than a hollow shell filled with ash.

Harper and her Father headed to his restaurant in order to make a plan of action going forward. Thankfully it was Sunday and Harper had the day off school but he set her up a makeshift bed on one of the booths so she could get some sleep. It wasn't the comfiest bed, nor the warmest but it was the best he could do considering the circumstances and Harper appreciated that.

When the morning came, Harper was awoken by her Dad loudly answering the phone to someone called Aaron. She had never heard this name before so assumed they were one of her Dad's regular clients calling to check in. She slowly made her way over to the table he was sitting on and waited for him to finish up the phone call.

Her Dad mustered a slight smile as he explained that Aaron was an old friend who had seen what happened on the news and had offered to give them a place to stay while they get back on their feet. "I can't believe it, we haven't spoken in years and he would be so kind as to put us up. We will probably be there for a couple of months while I get the insurance claim and find us somewhere to rent but it should work for the time being. They need to get the rooms set up so we're going to stay in a hotel tonight, is that okay?" Harper nodded and gave him a reassuring smile, reaching out for his hand. It couldn't be worse than sleeping on that booth seat for the next few months she thought to herself. Everything was going to be fine.

Harper decided to go to school on Monday, the hotel room was fine but they had to check out by 10:00am so it seemed logical to just go in and head to her Dad's friend's house afterwards. Once again though, Harper was the talk of the school.

Did you hear that Harper's house burnt down? Oh, that's awful. Is she homeless now? Wow, that girl just seems to breed misfortune doesn't she?

Niamh and Sarah were waiting for her at the front gate and pulled her into a big hug. "We're going to be staying with my Dad's friend for a while as my Dad sorts all of the insurance and stuff out" Harper explained the situation to her friends. "Is that Kunal?" The three girls looked over and saw Kunal and his friends with makeshift donation boxes labelled Donate to the homeless Harper Fields. "Kunal stop that!" she semi shouted as she ran over to him. "You're embarrassing me!"

"Look everyone!" He shouted through his megaphone "even though her house burnt down she has come to school her cheerful self, how touching!"

"I told you to stop, what is wrong with you!?", Harper had started to hyperventilate slightly, this was not what she needed today. As if to make matters worse, a familiar voice came from behind her. "Can you move?" She spun around and saw Oliver standing behind her eyeing up the ridiculous scene. Kunal sprung into action, infuriated at the sight of him. "You! Harper met with more misfortune, whose fault do you think that is?!"

"Are you suggesting that I burnt her house down? That's quite an accusation and I don't even know where she lives" he retorted, looking at Kunal with disgust. "What? Do you want me to donate to your little charity?" he looked at Harper and pulled a £20 note out of his wallet, shoving it towards her.

Anger welled up inside her and she slapped the note out of his hand. "Don't look down on me!" she screamed. For the first time, Oliver lost his composure slightly as he was taken aback by her outburst. "I can't believe I've liked someone like you for all these years, what a waste of my time! I'd rather die than accept any help from you!"

He chuckled slightly under his breath and raised his eyebrows, "is that right?" he chimed, "well, remember you said that will you". Oliver clearly knew more than he was letting on and this entertained him more than he cared to admit.

"Oh I will! Don't go looking down on other people just because we're not as smart as you!" she screamed as he turned and walked away smirking.

After school, her Dad picked her up and they headed over to his friend's house. "It looks like when the new cooker was installed they didn't connect it to the switch correctly and it caused the fire" he explained shaking his head, a chef's house burns down due to his cooker. How embarrassing.

"Can you tell me about your friend?" Harper asked.

"Oh of course, his name is Aaron Rivers and we were really good friends back in college" he explained "We speak on and off and I still consider him one of my closest friends but he went off to Oxford after college, he's really smart, owns his own company and everything". As much as Harper would have loved to pay attention to the details about his fathers friend she was too horrified by the name he had just given her. Rivers? It couldn't be? There's no way! What are the odds that her father's friend was also Oliver's Father. Rivers is a common enough name, Harper was clearly overreacting to this information. "He also has a son around the same age as you I think. Oh look we're here!" A son the same age as her. This house was still in their school catchment, even if it was a little further out. "I think you both go to the same school, his son was aware of the situation from what I understand… Aaron!" Ian bellowed as his old friend came rushing out his house to greet them. Somewhat relieved by the sight, Harper rushed up to introduce herself. "Hi, my name is Harper. Thank you so much for letting us stay'', she looked at the man before her and concluded that there was no way this short, podgy man with dark hair could ever be related to Oliver and that made her feel much more at ease.

"Let me get my eldest so he can help with your stuff, hold on!" Aaron called into the house "Hey! Come and help bring some stuff into the house!" Harper looked up at one of the upstairs windows and clocked a young boy sitting on the windowsill. Just then, her heart stopped. Her suspicion was correct despite the odds. Out from the house walked Oliver. "Hi there" he called, shaking Ian's hand. "I'm Oliver, Ian's son. It's a pleasure to meet you". He smirked Harper's way as he clocked her horrified expression.

"The pleasure is all mine! He is the image of his mother isn't he" Ian gestured to Aaron.

A woman came out of the house, quite the opposite of her husband. She was slender with beautiful blonde hair (possibly dyed) and a youthful look about her. She was so excited to meet Harper that she barely paid any attention to Ian at all. "You're Harper? What a cute little lady, I'm so happy! Oh my name is Eleanor!" she started ushering her into the house "you're in the same year as my Oliver aren't you? Have you seen each other in school?"

"We don't share any classes, but we've become more familiar with each other recently, haven't we?" Oliver called as he pulled some bags from the car.

"I've always wanted a daughter" she continued "I've always wanted to cook together and go shopping. This is going to be so fun!"

As she entered the living room, Harper noticed the child from the window sitting on the sofa, he looked to be around 7 years old and seemingly a mini version of Oliver. "Finley, come and say hi!" his mother commanded.

"Hi, my name is Finley. Nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you Finley" Harper chirped, holding her hand out to him. He just stared at her making it very clear that her presence here was not a welcome one.

"Hey, do you think you could help me with my homework?" he asked. His brother had just come in and walked over to see what Finley was struggling with. "No not you Oliver, I'd like to get help from Harper" he smirked, he clearly had prior information that Harper was not the brightest. This couldn't be that hard, Finley was in year 3, what work was she doing in year 3? She agreed and took his textbook from him. This didn't look like any work she had in year 3, but then Finley didn't look like your average 7 year old, perhaps he liked to read ahead.

divided by 2. Fractions. She never understood fractions.

She laughed nervously as she fumbled over the question, "okay so for this one you just need to divide each number by 2 so the answer is 2 over 2.5!

Finley burst out laughing, "You really are dumb aren't you! The answer is 2 over 5" he closed his book triumphantly and handed it to his brother. His mother looked furious and grabbed his arm, "you need to apologise to Harper right now! That was very rude!"

"I HATE YOU!" He screamed before retreating up the stairs.

His mother looked mortified, "I am so sorry, he's still young and doesn't like change" she put her arms around Harper "come, let me show you to your room". Mrs Fields guided her across the landing and to a room which had a plaque on the door with Harper's Room written on it. When she went inside she was greeted by the girliest room she had ever seen. The bedding was flowery and pink with matching curtains, there were fairy lights strewn across the ceiling and a desk with all the provisions she would need for her studies. "Is it okay?"

Harper smiled, it was a bit much but she was overwhelmed by the thought that had clearly gone into it so she smiled and nodded in agreement. "Let me go grab some more of your stuff, Oliver help her unpack!"

"This was Finley's room" Harper turned to see Oliver standing in the doorway, "he's now being forced to room with me to make way for you" he put her stuff down in the middle of the room. "What do you want me to help you unpack?"

"Never mind, I can do this myself thank you" she retorted, his presence right now was uncomfortable enough as it was without him going through what little was left of her belongings.

He chuckled, "well like you said, you'd rather die than accept my help so…" he turned to leave but looked back as he walked through the door "don't get in my way".

I shouldn't be here.