CASSIDY

On the first day of school, I was lost and alone. The only real comfort I had was knowing that I had Latin. Walking into that class, I smiled, thinking back to the conversation I had with my dad the day I chose my classes.

Your mother knew Latin, Dad said softly, stroking my hair. He hardly ever talked about Mom, but when he did, I felt compelled to be as much like her as I could. That's how I ended up in advanced Latin my freshman year. I took my seat towards the back, trying to avoid as many people as possible. I didn't want to be surrounded by people—distractions of any sort, really. My plan would have worked out perfectly, had the boy not sat next to me.

He looked like trouble. You could literally see it in his eyes, that you could hardly see under his mess of hair. He smirked like he'd just done something, like fill the teacher's desk with rodents, and was proud of it. Thankfully, Mr. Webber did not have that problem, but still… I must have been starring at him, because the boy nodded his head in acknowledgement. Who does that anymore? I thought. I back-tracked, realizing that I was being a prick for no reason. I turned my attention back to the teacher, who was talking about the alphabet, trying to not remember middle school.

It was hard to hold back the tears.

Aside from the slip-up in Latin, I thought the day was going very well. This is, until lunch. Most of the tables were already full and I knew no one. If I sat at the wrong table, I could be socially wrecked. Not that that's new, but I did want to make an effort to have less problems this year. If only...

"Going to sit down, or just watch the people eat?"

I turned around to see the boy from Latin in front of me, an eyebrow raised. Instantly, I went into defense mode. "Who's asking?"

"The guy you're currently blocking from eating his lunch," he shot back with as much fire as I did.

My face burned bright red. Was it because he's embarrassed me? Stood up to me? Acted like he was superior? Probably all that, plus you being a bitch, I thought. "I'm sorry," I said, moving to the side, letting him through the line.

"Hey. Come sit with me."

"Excuse me?"

"You have nowhere else to sit, so come with me."

I sighed. I had no other alternatives, so I followed the strange boy silently. Once we sat down, we ate in awkward silence.

"My name is Connor, by the way," he said, breaking the ice.

"Cassidy Shay." I found myself smiling. It was nice to have the chance to talk to someone.

Not too long after that, another boy who looked a lot like Connor sat down with a mutual friend of their's.

"This is my brother, Travis," Connor said, punching his almost-look-alike on the shoulder. "And our friend, Jonas."

When it was time to go to our next class, Travis pulled me aside. "Hey. You don't talk much, do you?" If he was waiting for a reply, he didn't get one. "So... If you ever need a friend, or help, or something, my brother and I will be there. Just so you know..."

I nodded my head in agreement, but wasn't really listening to what he was saying.

And that was that. I made my "lunch buddies", for lack of a better word and knew a few faces around school. Not that I'd actually hang out with them. No way. I didn't have any room in my life for friends.