My mind was going a mile a minute the whole drive home. I had never been this caught up on a girl before. Even in my past relationships, no one consumed my thoughts the way Harper did. I couldn’t get her face out of my head, the shy smile she made when I complimented her work, the subtle blush on her cheeks when she was embarrassed, her beautiful honey-colored eyes. God, I was going crazy.

I didn’t even remember most of the drive when I pulled into my house’s driveway. I made my way into the house. My mother and younger brother Henry were sitting at the table playing chess.

“Hey, Liam.” My mom smiled when she saw me. “How was your day?”

“It was good. It’s been a while since I’ve been up to Ridgemont.” I said, trying not to bring too much up. If I wasn’t careful, she would pick up on the whole Harper situation.

“That’s good. Was it just you and Tyler again or did you bring along some other friends?” She said, moving a piece on the board.

“It was me, Ty, Mikki, and Harper,” I said, as nonchalantly as I could manage. She looked up from the game and gave me a sly smile. Shit.

“Harper? A new friend of yours?” She inquired.

“Yeah, she’s nice,” I said, walking passed her into the kitchen. I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. I took a sip trying to calm myself.

“Is she pretty?” She asked, nearly causing me to choke. My mom laughed, moving another piece.

“What kind of question is that?” I coughed, “It’s not like that.”

“I never said it was. I just asked if she was pretty.” She said smugly. I cursed at myself for falling into her trap.

“So, is she pretty?” She asked again. I could feel the heat rush to my face.

“She is,” I said quietly, taking another long sip of water.

“Checkmate.” My brother Henry said.

“Dang it.” She said, faking disappointment. My mother hasn’t won a game of chess against my brother since she first taught him how to play. She plays him all the time and even though she loses, she’s always so proud of him.

She turned back to me. “I’m glad you had a good time. Maybe, you can tell me more about this new friend of yours tomorrow.” She said, standing up from the table and stretching. “I’m gonna go to bed, though. I have work in the morning.”

“Okay,” I smiled. She pulled me in for a quick hug. “Sleep well, mom.”

“There’s food in the fridge if you're hungry.” She said as she walked off towards her room.

“Thanks,” I said. My brother looked up at me as he was putting the chess set away.

“What?” I asked.

“You should ask her out,” Henry said as if it was obvious. I stood there stunned for a second. My brother who had zero relationship experience was telling me to ask a girl out. I just couldn’t believe it.

“I only met her a short while ago. Besides, I don’t know if she’s even interested.” I eventually said.

“But you clearly like her. If you wait too long, someone else is going to ask out instead.” He said, his voice sounding even more serious than normal.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. He wasn’t wrong. Harper was beautiful and talented. There were probably a lot of guys interested in her. But, I couldn’t just ask her out. I didn’t know her well, and I doubt she was interested in anything but being friends.

I decided that I needed to stop thinking about it. So, I took a shower and went to bed. The exhaustion of the day had hit me. I hadn’t enjoyed going for a hike like that in a while. It felt like I could talk to Harper forever and never get bored.

I found myself thinking back to her photos. Every single photo was so detailed and perfect. I found myself in awe of her talent. It was truly a shame she couldn’t see how amazing she was. I was determined to make her see it.

----------------------------------------

Monday came around and all I had been able to think about was Harper the whole weekend. I even found myself texting her several times just because I wanted to talk to her. I walked through the halls towards where I knew Harper’s locker was. She was putting away her textbooks and chatting away with Mikki.

She wasn’t like anyone I knew. Everyone around me aside from Ty and a few of my close friends always seemed so fake. But, Harper felt so different, so genuine. When she talked to Mikki, her face was so bright. She always seemed so quiet around me, but she was so energetic with her best friend. I wanted to see every side of her, see the smiles, the struggles, the anger. I wanted to know everything about her.

She noticed me walking over to her and gave me a wave and the cutest, little smile. I waved back, but just as I was about to go over to talk to her, I felt someone’s arm wrap around my neck.

“Hey, Ty.” I sighed.

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“Wow.” He said, “Don’t sound so excited to see.” He let me out of the headlock as we began walking to class.

“My bad,” I said, still disappointed I couldn’t greet Harper.

“What’s up with you today, man?” Ty asked.

“Well, you ruined my plans for the morning,” I said, my hair running through my hands. Tyler gave me a confused look. He looked like he was trying to remember what transpired this morning. Suddenly, a stupid grin came over his face.

“Don’t,” I said, not wanting to deal with his bullshit this morning.

“I don’t know what you're talking about,” Ty said, failing to hold back his laughter. I just shot him a glare. “Look, don’t get mad at me. If you wanted to see her that badly, you should have just told me.”

“Yeah right. You’re annoying enough as it is.” I said, not caring whether or not it came out harsh. Obviously, he didn’t think it was since he just burst out laughing.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get your chance to talk to her again eventually.” He said after calming down a bit. “Still, I can’t believe you like this over a girl. You weren’t like this with any of the other girls you’ve been with.”

“I don’t know, man.” I sighed. “It feels like she’s all I can think about. It’s driving me crazy.” Tyler suddenly stopped in the middle of the hall, despite the crowds of students around us.

“Damn, dude. You’ve fallen hard.” He said, dead face serious.

“I don’t know what you mean. I just like her, that's all.” I protested. “Whatever that stupid head of yours is thinking, it’s wrong.”

He looked unconvinced but decided to let the subject drop. “By the way, Coach said that Neil was going to be back at practice today,” Ty said.

“Ugh…. That’s the last thing I need today.” I groaned.

Neil Santiago was the bane of my existence. He was one of the underclassmen who joined the team this year. His grades were starting to drop so our coach had him go to tutoring to get them back up. While I admit he had talent, he lived to challenge authority which caused problems during practice.

“Well, maybe being benched the last few weeks will have fixed his attitude,” Ty said, though it was obvious he didn’t believe his own words at all.

“He’ll probably be even more of a pain.” I sighed. “Anyway, I have to go because class is about to start, but I’ll see you at practice later.”

I did my best to stay focused during class, but my thoughts were all over the place. I couldn’t help but wonder if Harper was thinking about me too. I wanted to spend more time with her, without our friends. But, what if she didn’t want to?

“We are going to have a test on the last three units next Thursday.” My teacher announced. The class let out an audible groan. “I suggest you spend the next week studying.”

Suddenly a thought popped into my head. Maybe she would go study with me. As far as I could remember, she had this class later in the day. My fingers hovered over her name. I worked up the courage and sent the message.

I put my phone back in my pocket. She was probably busy in class, so I shouldn’t have expected a message back until later.

H: Sure :) When do you want to go?

I could feel the smile forming on my face.

L: I was gonna go today after practice, but whatever works for you is fine.

H: That works for me! I had to go to the yearbook room after school today anyway. What time is your practice over?

L: Should be done around 5:30 but we might get out a little earlier since today is a conditioning day.

H: Kk. I’ll stop by the gym as soon as I’m done.

H: Still, I can’t believe Mr.Kenely is giving us a test next week. It feels like we had a test in there not that long ago.

L: I know, right? I barely remember anything we’ve covered in the last few weeks.

The bell rang but I barely heard it over how loud my heart was beating. When was the last time I was this excited? I grabbed my bag and hurried off to my next class. Somehow the day had just become a lot brighter.

“You look like you’re in a much better mood,” Ty said as we walked to the locker room together. “Something good happen?”

“You could say that,” I said, not bothering to hide my smile.

“Let me guess. It starts with H and ends with -arper?” Ty asked, already knowing the answer. We walked into the locker room, and put our stuff in our respective lockers.

“We’re gonna go study after practice,” I said. It might sound insignificant to others, but any chance I got to hang out with her was a win in my book.

“Good for you man,” Ty said, changing into his clothes for practice. “And for what it’s worth, I think she likes you too. Mikki seems to think so too.”

My heart was racing just at the thought. I changed into my athletic clothes and my practice jersey. I just wanted practice to be over so I could see Harper. Probably not the best thing for the team captain to be thinking, but I didn’t care.

Practice was just as bad as I had expected. Suicides didn’t get that name for no reason. We did a little defensive practice near the end of practice but we still ended earlier than usual. I was hot and sweaty by the time practice had ended. I hurried back to the locker room and took a quick shower, just to rinse the sweat off.

When I finally left the locker room, Harper was waiting for me in the hallway outside the gym, sitting on the floor reading a book. She looked so focused, and she didn’t even notice when I sat down next to her.

“Is it good?” I asked after a minute or two. She jumped a little bit at my words. I couldn’t help but laugh. How could she be so cute?

“You’ve got to stop doing that.” She said, pretending to be angry. “I’m a naturally jumpy person.”

“My bad.” I said, “To be fair though, you were so focused you didn’t even notice me sitting down right next to you. I’ve been here for like five minutes.”

“No way! You’re joking.” She exclaimed.

“It’s the truth. If I hadn’t said anything, we probably would have been here all night.” I laughed. Her face flushed a pink color.

“Sorry.” She said, quietly. “I sometimes completely forget my surroundings.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t mind.” I smiled, “Besides, you’re cute when you’re focused.”

She just looked at me, like she couldn’t believe the words that came out of my mouth. And maybe I was mistaken, but I could have sworn her face became a slightly dark pink.

“Anyway,” I said, breaking the silence, “Let’s go. Did you drive today?” I stood up from the floor and extended my hand to Harper to help her up.

“Oh, um no. My car’s actually in the shop. It just suddenly started having problems this weekend.” She said, taking my hand. I pulled her to her feet, letting my hand linger in her's a second longer than I probably should have.

“Perfect. We can go together then.” I said excitedly.

“Okay,” She smiled.