I leaned against the faculty of science building, wearing my favorite black t-shirt with animal prints and paired with blue jeans and brown Chelsea boots. As I read a Chinese novel on my phone, I'd glance up to see students rushing by. One girl, with jet-black hair and flower-patterned glasses, always caught my eye. She was cute, shy, and a science major like me.

As I packed up to head to Prof. Mark's lecture on "Mechanics of Materials," I decided to swing by the library to grab a book on fluid mechanics. That's where I ran into her again. She sat at a desk, surrounded by books, and looked up with a smile.

"Hello there!" I said, trying to sound casual.

"Hi, how are you?" she replied, her voice pleasant and cheerful.

I took a seat next to her, hoping she didn't mind. "I came looking for a book, but instead, I found you," I said with a dramatic flair.

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She laughed softly. "What could I possibly have done to distract you from your noble mission?"

We both laughed, and I introduced myself. "Hi, I'm Max Williams from Chandler, Arizona, where the cacti are prickly, but our people are sweet."

She chuckled. "Hi, I'm Sophie Yoshida from Alaska, the last frontier, but I'm still exploring, I guess."

We hit it off immediately, bonding over our shared love of animals. She noticed my shirt and asked if I was an activist. I explained that my mom was a vet with the Arizona Animal Rescue, and Sophie shared her own volunteer work with the Alaska Wildlife Conservation program.

As we talked, I realized why Sophie had always seemed interested in me – it was the animal-themed shirts my mom had given me. I felt a pang of nostalgia for those family volunteer days with my parents.

Before I knew it, I had to dash to class. But not before asking Sophie out. "Hey, want to grab coffee sometime?"

Sophie smiled. "How about tomorrow at 1 pm? We can sit at the park."

I grinned, feeling elated. "Awesome! Let's meet at Starbucks instead."

As I rushed off to class, I couldn't wait to tell my mom about Sophie.