Bryan and Melanie met in Algebra 2 Honors freshman year of high school. They had seen each other at Barrington Middle School, but they had different teachers and therefore didn’t talk. When they walked into math class at Barrington High School, neither one of them knew anyone in the class. The teacher had made a seating chart and Melanie was next to Bryan.

Melanie excelled in this course, she consistently got A’s on all of the tests. Melanie was an honors student, and she was exceeding in all of her classes. She even was considering to play a spring sport to contribute to her future college application.

On the other hand, Bryan was struggling. He played water polo for Barrington, which took a lot of time away from his classes. He had a C- in math and was on the border of failing. Melanie could see Bryan struggling, so she asked him if he wanted to meet her at the Barrington Public Library to study for the upcoming test. They exchanged numbers, and Bryan agreed to meet her.

Prior to this library meetup, Bryan and Melanie had not really talked during class, even though they sat next to each other.

Melanie got there five minutes before their arranged meetup time. Bryan walked in one minute late, and Melanie was surprised that Bryan actually showed up. On the outside to Melanie, Bryan look like a stereotypical jock that had no emotions and intelligence, and to be honest, she was surprised that he managed to get into Algebra 2 honors as a freshman.

They sat down at an empty table in one of the study rooms. At first one might call their encounter rather awkward, but there was a turning point. The atmosphere in the room had become much less tense, and more relaxed and enjoyable. The conversation that was once so focused on math now drifted into deeper topics, such as hobbies and life ambitions.

After an hour they were kicked out of the study room. Melanie swore at herself under her breath. She had only scheduled one hour because she thought things were going to be awkward. Now she regretted this decision and wished that she had booked a two-hour session. Melanie thought that this encounter with Bryan was going to end, but she was wrong.

“Do you want to go out for ice cream after this?” Bryan asked.

Melanie hesitantly responded, “Yeah… sure.”

Melanie was starting to like Bryan. She knew she had no chance with him, he was popular and she was just smart. She saw no potential relationship with Bryan because of how drastically different their friends and lives were.

Melanie and Bryan went to the ice cream shop across the street from the library. There was no one there, and Melanie exhaled with a sigh of relief. She didn’t want people to see her here with Bryan, what if they thought that they were dating?

“What do you want?” Bryan asked with a smile.

“Oh, just cookie dough ice cream…” Melanie responded.

“Just cookie dough ice cream…” Bryan repeated slowly while thinking. Then Bryan walked up to the cashier, “Two cookie dough ice cream cones please.”

Melanie opened her purse and began to pull out money. Bryan cut her off, “No it’s my treat, thanks for helping me today.”

“No really it’s fine, Bryan, I can pay…” Melanie responded. Bryan ignored her and continued to take out money from his wallet. Bryan paid, and they walked to the dining area.

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They sat down across from each other at one of the tables. They talked for a long time, even after they finished their ice cream.

Bryan’s mom finally came to pick him up. She asked if Melanie wanted a ride, but Melanie thought it would be too awkward, so she made up an excuse and left by herself. Melanie decided to walk home instead of calling her mom or dad to pick her up. It was a twenty-minute walk, and during that time she was thinking about Bryan. She thought that he was a bonehead annoying jock, but there was something special about him.

The fall quarter was just about to end, so many classes were having tests. In Algebra 2 Honors there was a major test on quadratic equations coming up in a couple weeks. Bryan had a C-, and he needed to do well on this, if he didn’t do well he might have to drop the class. Melanie imagined that Bryan will ask her to meet him again. She then regretted ever thinking that and then shoved away that thought for a different day.

Melanie spent the rest of the night finishing homework. While writing one of her papers she got a text from Bryan. Melanie had actually forgotten that she had given him her number, and although she would never admit it to one of her friends, she was pleasantly surprised. She finally looked at the text.

Bryan: Hey, what are you doing? :)

Melanie replied with: Nothing much, just some boring homework.

Bryan: Can you hang out tomorrow after school? I need more help with math.

Melanie: Sure, where do you want to meet?

Bryan: I was thinking maybe we could go to my house this time.

Melanie felt a little nervous about going to Bryan’s house, but her emotions controlled her decision making.

Melanie: Sounds good.

The conversation definitely distracted Melanie from her school work, but on the other hand, she didn’t want it to stop. She ended up texting Bryan for another hour.

The next day at school was awkward for Melanie. Luckily she didn’t see Bryan in the hallway, so she wouldn’t have to decide if she was going to say hello or not. Barrington High School has a block schedule, so Bryan and Melanie didn’t have math today. They still had the same lunch, with many other kids too.

Midday had finally rolled around, and it was time for Melanie to go to lunch. She sat down at her usual table with her friends. Each table sat eight people, but only five of her friends had the same lunch as her. Every day there were always 2 empty spots at Melanie’s table. They always joked around and said that if any of them ever got a boyfriend or girlfriend they could come and fill up the empty spots.

Five minutes after Melanie sat down, someone else sat down next to her, it was Bryan.

“What are you doing here?” Melanie frantically whispered.

“Oh, well I saw an open spot,” Bryan said.

Melanie’s friends finally took notice of what was going on. One of her friends, Grace, took an interest and asked what was happening.

“Who is he?” asked Grace.

“He is-” Melanie started…

“I’m Bryan,” Bryan finished.

“Um… why are you here?” Grace asked.

“To see Melanie.”

Melanie whispered to Bryan, “You are taking this way too far, Bryan.  Can you please go back to your table? Look, I just started talking to you, and this is becoming too much too fast.”

“But I want to stay…” Bryan said.

“I’m sorry Bryan, I can’t go to your house anymore after school.”

“Why?”

“I have plans…”

Bryan just sat there dumbfounded. What had happened to Melanie? Why is she acting like this? He had never dealt with a girl like this, so he was just plain confused.

After lunch was over the school day continued, and Bryan was still confused. He still couldn’t believe that he would be walking home alone when he had invited someone over. Finally, the final bell rang, and although Bryan was planning on skipping water polo practice he decided to go.

The sun had disappeared into the shadows, and the moon had come out. Bryan was eating a late dinner when he decided to text Melanie to ask her what was wrong. He saw that the text did not go through and at first he thought that he didn’t have service where he was. But then he realised that she must have blocked his number. Bryan sat at his kitchen table flustered and unable to comprehend what was going on. After dinner, he went to his room and he fell asleep on his bed without doing his homework.