how to fall in love

chapter one

The first time she approached me was a Friday.

I'd been watching her for a little while, and at first my mind went into full-blown panic. It was somehow completely certain she had noticed my stares and was coming to tell me off, to tell me I was being weird and bad and wrong and—

"Hey," she said instead, a small smile lighting up most of her face. "It's Harper, right? Mind if I sit with you for a minute?"

She barely gave me time to absorb the words (it was a day where processing was mostly out of the question entirely) before pulling out the chair next to me and sitting down. It was strange, how she managed to look both incredibly graceful and so at home, which was something I hadn't ever really expected anyone to look around me.

It took me a moment to remember how to be a human, how to breathe - but when I finally sucked in half a breath I forgot again. She was sitting a good foot away, but I could smell her even from that far. She smelled wonderful, in a way that immediately calmed any nervousness that had been remaining. I took another, deeper breath, then froze as I realized how obvious it must be that I was smelling her.

My nostrils flared on instinct and I scrunched my nose up, then pretended to sneeze.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "Um. Do you need anything, Aria?"

Her head tilted, hair falling to one side and that brilliant smile still glinting on her lips.

"Not need, no. I have a proposition for you."

I began to narrow my eyes, and she laughed. "Nothing bad, I promise. Here."

Aria slid a piece of folded paper across the table to me. I must have looked confused, because she continued.

"That's the proposition. Don't open it until you're on the bus, though. I want it to be a surprise whether or not you do it."

She smiled, again, and then stood and headed for the door of the library, waving slightly as she turned out into the hallway outside. I slumped deeper into my seat and toyed with the edges of the paper envelope, then glanced at the time on my phone.

1:13.

I had less than an hour and a half until the last bell rang, and I figured I could probably go at least that long without opening her note. That is, if I decided to open it at all. I grumbled quietly to myself about choices and mysteries, then hoisted my backpack over my shoulder and made my way out of the library, towards my last class of the day.

Science passed by remarkably quickly, and then I was pushing my way through the large mass of sweating teenagers just outside the front doors of the school. Most people were going to the busses, thankfully, so I didn't have to fight the current of the crowd.

The cranky bus driver practically scowled when I nodded a polite greeting in her direction, and I had to physically force my eyes not to roll.

I found that my normal seat was still open, and claimed it quickly, tucking one foot up next to me and leaning my whole body on the window.

Something jabbed into my stomach from inside the pocket of my hoodie, and I frowned. I had forgotten about Aria's note. I pulled it out with a forlorn sigh and glanced around me before ripping the outermost edge open.

Inside were four flower petals and another piece of paper - the latter of which I tugged out and unfolded, finding a note written in a beautiful messy scrawl.

Harper,

I'm not sure if you'll take this seriously, and I'm even less sure you'll do it, but I think that you and I could really be great friends. I'm not one to wait around for destiny to take hold, so I figured I might as well do something about this whole mess, right?