A/N: Katie's lacking some serious experience in the romance department for her writing assignment and Hannah is on a mission to get her some experience to write about.

Ages:

Ned - 19
Hannah - 17
Brandon - 17
Travis - 16
Katie - 16

Most of the time if you were looking for Katie you could find her in the library. She spent her free period before lunch there and sometimes if Hannah wasn't at school you could catch her eating her lunch at her desk in the tutoring center.

She took the responsibilities that Mrs. Kraven gave her seriously. After filling the paper in the printer and pouring herself her second cup of coffee, she went to her desk. Katie quickly printed off a few different types of study guides from her computer for a test that she knew was coming up for a group of sophomores that liked to come in a study during their lunch. She looked through the test spreadsheet that the teachers did their best to put together for her and printed off another study guide for a different test that was coming up for the freshman and so on for each grade.

When she went to collect all of the guides and put them out, she double-checked that all of the pens and highlighters worked before settling into the comfy chair at her desk. It had taken her all of this year to find the perfect desk chair in the library and after selectively sitting in just about every single one Katie was sure she'd found the best one. It only took her until February.

She pulled a notebook out of her backpack beside her, ready to work on some homework before lunch now that all of her checklist was done. She had a writing assignment for her AP creative writing class due next week.

Her prompt was romance, which wasn't her strong suit.

Mr. Fickle had a love for juicy novels and it was nearing the God-forsaken holiday of Valentine's day so it made sense for the assignment, but that didn't make it any easier for her to write. She'd rather read a romance, or even maybe live it one day, but to write it? That was a nightmare.

She'd only had one boyfriend before. And Henry had never been the romantic type. She'd never been romanced before by anyone. Should she go on a date? It wasn't like there weren't a few guys she'd crushed on at Grandview High. Plus Katie knew if she wore the right outfit she could probably snag a date with someone nice enough, right?

Then the bell rang, signaling lunch, and she shoved her notebook away for now because she was doing anything to run away from this right now. She crossed the library, tucking into the crowd of people walking toward the cafeteria.

She found her usual table with Hannah and Brandon's stuff and sat down, grabbing the lunch her mom had made her from her backpack. She pulled a tuna sandwich and carrot sticks from her paper bag, digging for the ranch cup.

Her best friend had just sat down with her school lunch as she sighed. "What's up?" Hannah asked, opening her soda can.

"Stupid writing assignment," she muttered, taking another violent bite of her carrot stick. "Who thought it would be a good idea to give me a romance assignment? It's my kryptonite."

"Mr. Fickle and St. Valentine I'm guessing," Hannah laughed. "And you never call writing assignments stupid unless you have no inspiration or are procrastinating. I know you far too well, so just give it time."

"It's not just that I have no inspiration," she sighed. "It's that I don't know where to start. You know romance isn't my strong suit."

"That's not true. You wrote that really good love poem last week." Hannah bit into her big slice of pizza, shrugging as Brandon sat next to her, kissing her cheek. "Tell Katie she's good at romance writing."

"You're so good at romance writing," Brandon agreed on cue toward her with a smile as he passed a pudding cup.

It made her roll her eyes as much as she loved him. "Shut up Brandon. Poetry is completely different Han," she muttered, taking a bite of her sandwich next. She dug out her rice pudding cup and slid it to Brandon. Her mom always packed her rice pudding even though she hated it, but luckily he loved them so they'd trade every day for whatever desert was in the cafe.

"Why don't you just try the topic, Katie?" Hannah said. "Have you?"

"What would I write based off? I've never even really been on a date. Henry just liked to make out in my room and then he dumped me when I wouldn't screw him. Then there have been my lousy homecoming dates, and that's including the disaster with Ray." She sighed. "I've never been romanced like you, Hannah. I've never had a romantic boyfriend like you do. No one likes me like that around here!"

"You mean not the one you want?" Hannah wiggled her eyebrows and she rolled her eyes. "Oh come on. You can't be mad for not having a boyfriend when that's because every time someone asks you out you make up some stupid excuse to keep yourself single in case Ned gives you a scrap of attention. Maybe you should say yes the next time someone asks you out."

"Whatever," she muttered.

"My new chem lab partner, uh, Travis? He's nice," Brandon began.

"I don't need you to set me up," she said, but maybe Hannah was right. Maybe she should just go on a stupid date and get herself some experience, especially before college.

"Katie, he's been asking me about you since the start of the new semester. I don't think you'd need me to set you up with him," Brandon said with a shrug. "He's a nice guy and I'm sure he'd romance you."

She took another bite of her sandwich. Travis. Didn't he come by to get study guides all the time? Was that because he liked her? "I'll think about it."

"Should I give him your number? I'll see him later," Brandon asked.

Hannah nudged her under the table with her foot, but she just took another bite of her sandwich. "Come on. Just get a feel for the guy at least." Her friend reasoned.

"Fine," she relented. It couldn't be the worst idea. "Give him my number."

Katie was at her locker when she sensed someone standing behind her. To both her dismay and delight, it was Travis. "Hi." She greeted in her usual manner, not wanting to be cold, but also in a hurry to get to her last class of the day and pack up her backpack so she wouldn't have to stop back at her locker.

"Hey," he said, leaning against the locker next to hers. "I'm Travis, I've um.. gotten some study guides from you over the year, I'm not sure if you remember? But I just wanted to make sure you wanted to give your number to me. I'd hate to freak you out or something."

Katie smiled. His nerves were cute. He was cute, and he liked her. "Yes, I did and I remember you. Brandon told me you were asking about me... since the beginning of the semester?" She asked, closing her locker and then swinging her backpack onto her shoulders. "Is that true?"

"Maybe. Can I walk you to class?" He asked.

"Sure. I'm going to Mr. Turner's class," she said. "So what did Brandon tell you? He's known me since the third grade and is in love with my best friend so I'd say he's a pretty good judge of my character."

"Me too but I was always too scared to say hi. You're like intimidatingly pretty," Travis shrugged, but her face was heating up as they walked side by side down the hallway. Was this what it felt like to be romanced? "He said that you're a writer and smart, but I kind of already knew that because you run the study center."

"Is that all?" She laughed. "All he told me was that you're nice."

"Brandon said that it would ruin the fun if he told me everything there was to know about you and I agree," he said, smiling at her as they stopped outside the classroom. "So would you maybe wanna come over to my house tomorrow night? We could study and get to know each other. If you're free that is."

Her heart dropped a bit. "So you just need a study partner?"

"No, uh, I mean I do need to study but I also want to get to know you. I thought we could do a little a both," he suggested. "I'm sorry. We don't have to study. You could always come over for dinner. It's just me and my mom."

She smiled. "Okay. It's a date, Travis."