Hetty's insides churned with equal parts nerves and excitement as she dutifully drove the exact speed limit along Oak Shadow Highway. She passed a rainbow of paragliders floating down a mountain of intense, billowing greenery. The sun warmed her forearm, which she rested on the edge of the open window as the AC blasted around her. Her sisters--Brooke and Denise--always gave her endless crap for driving with the windows down and the air conditioning on at the same time. The combination of warm, cold and fresh air was the only temperature that felt comfortable to her.

Hetty turned up the volume and hummed along to "Amazed" by Lonestar. A tingling flashed briefly through her stomach and down each arm, but she stuffed the nostalgic memory deep down.

The music helped her relax, injecting joy into her heart even as her body buzzed nervously in anticipation of the first day of her brand-new career. It was Hetty's first real job, after having finally selected a long-term career path and graduating from her masters program.

She carefully followed the GPS and turned left into the parking lot of Walnut Grove Middle School, which was in pristine condition and immaculately landscaped. After parking, Hetty gathered up her things with trembling fingers. No amount of experience or growing up would ever shake her struggle with nerves whenever she faced a new situation. She felt like a teenager again, walking into her first day of school.

That thought reminded Hetty of her actual first day of high school, freshman year, for just a flash of a second. Those flashes had never fully subsided, eight years later. Tiny shards of memories from that tumultuous, fairy tale, tragedy of a year that had been the best year of her life, ending in a heart break she anticipated from the beginning.

Drenched in nostalgia, Hetty snatched her key from the ignition, abruptly switching off the music. That was ancient history, and she was healed from it. Not just healed, but thriving - her life completely on track.

Hetty steadied herself with a deep breath as she stepped through the large glass office door at the front of the school. She was wearing a flowing purple dress and had her dirty-blonde hair pulled into a half-up, half-down style.

The principal's secretary, whom Hetty had met before her interview three weeks prior, greeted her with a warm smile. Everything about this school felt inviting and happy. Posters of diverse figures in history lined the office walls, as well as student-created art promoting kindness.

"Hi, Hetty. You made it!" exclaimed Linda, the secretary.

"Good morning," Hetty replied. She tried to sound friendly, but her nervous voice came out somewhat strained. It would take her a few minutes to settle in and reestablish her confidence.

"I'll take you to meet Melissa." Linda walked Hetty down the office hallway, introducing her to a couple colleagues on the way--the school registrar and someone else whose title Hetty immediately forgot once the conversation ended.

"Melissa? Our new guidance counselor, Hetty, is here," Linda stated with enthusiasm. Everyone in this place was incredibly friendly and seemed to genuinely enjoy working here. That had been Hetty's impression during the interview process as well.

"Welcome, Hetty! It's great to see you again. We are so happy to have you here at our school," greeted the principal, pronouncing each word as if she genuinely meant it. Melissa had dark, curly hair and a face that exuded warmth and professionalism. She wasn't overly bubbly, but kindness emanated from her spirit. Hetty felt excitement swirling around in her chest, knowing she had made the right decision to accept this job.

"Thank you. I'm so happy to be here," replied Hetty, hoping the truth of the statement would compensate for the lack of emotion in her quiet voice.

"Today, you'll be shadowing our other counselor, Mariana. I believe you met her in the interview, if you remember. I know there were a lot of people on the panel that day, so it may all be a blur. She will show you around and start training you."

"Sounds great," Hetty responded, feeling foolish. Although she had come a long way since high school, she still felt slightly uncomfortable in conversations with new people, especially authority figures. She tried to respond in the light, breezy way of her older sister Brooke, but the rejoinders never came out easily or with the right intonation.

Hetty spent a few minutes meeting Mariana and being introduced to more people in the office. Mariana had a chatty, bubbly personality that immediately put Hetty at ease. She was older than Hetty--probably in her early forties--and very pretty, with almond skin and silky dark hair. During their conversation, Hetty learned that Mariana was originally from Mexico and had moved to the United States as a young teenager. She spoke English with a light accent and melodic cadence.

They made their way back out to the main part of the office, where Hetty had first entered. As the attendance secretary asked Mariana a question, Hetty heard the office door open as a guy--the first male she had seen so far today--stepped through. Her body froze, as if every nerve had been instantaneously cut off. It only took a split second for her brain to catch up with her body's response.

He stopped dead in his tracks and just stared at her, blinking. Hetty's mouth had involuntarily fallen open in shock.

"Hetty?" He was suddenly floating towards her, slow and fast all at once--she couldn't perceive reality.

"Ryan?" she whispered.

* * *

It was her. Standing before him in a purple dress, her naturally multi-colored hair, face exactly the same, except twenty times more beautiful. His legs rushed towards her without his permission, closing the gap between them. An eight year gap.

Ryan actually thought for a split second that he was going to sweep her into his arms and plunge his lips into hers. And, for one electrifying moment, he though she might have let him. But he screeched to a halt at the last second, as if there was a glass wall between them that he wasn't anticipating.

Ryan realized he was too close. If he had followed through on the hug as originally intended, it would have made sense to walk this many steps towards her. But now, he found himself standing directly in front of Hetty, in her personal bubble, just staring. Her familiar scent enveloped him, making him instantly dizzy.

"Hi," was all he could think to say. He swore he saw her breath catch.

Reality came crashing down around Ryan, sounds and shapes of the other people in the room reappearing in the vortex of their alternate universe.

He noticed that an awkward moment of tension filled the entire room, not just between him and Hetty. Everyone seemed to have noticed the exchange between them, charged with emotion and history.

"Do you two know each other?" asked Mariana--a completely pointless question by now.

Ryan somehow managed to discreetly move his body a respectable distance away from Hetty.

"We do," Ryan replied, glancing into Hetty's eyes. Their deep green pierced him, causing his throat to swell with many different emotions. He noticed the tiniest smile flicker in the corner of her mouth. A grin broke across his face, and he couldn't bring himself to care who saw.

"We were friends in high school," Hetty replied quietly, averting her eyes.

Friends? thought Ryan. Ouch. That one stung. Ryan opened his mouth, but there was nothing he could think to add to her statement.

"Good friends." His mouth said the words, quiet and low, without his brain even registering them. Their eyes met again, searing intensely into one another's. Hetty looked a bit bewildered and... almost irritated?

"Hetty is the new guidance counselor, and today is her first day," Mariana explained brightly, apparently ignoring the strange energy flowing between Hetty and Ryan.

"You work here?" Ryan's voice cracked as he again moved towards Hetty without meaning to.

She raised her eyebrows slightly at him, which he deserved, since the answer to his question was obvious. He knew that expression so well. She hadn't changed at all, and he felt himself violently transporting in time to their high school film class, where they had flirted through sweet conversations and raised eyebrows and brushes of yearning fingertips. Ryan took a breath and cleared the tickling nostalgia from his throat.

"I'm going to head back to my office. We can all have lunch out on the patio around noon?"

He had gotten ahold of himself--at least outwardly--and was speaking with easy confidence. Directing the situation to get what he wanted.

"Sounds great!" exclaimed Mariana. "Okay, I'm taking Hetty now for a campus tour. See you later, Ryan."

"See ya."

Hetty met his gaze, a perplexed smirk dancing on her lips for the briefest of flashes.

Ryan's body physically ached as he watched her walk away from him. Unable to tear his gaze from her, his heart leapt into his throat when Hetty glanced one last time over her shoulder, meeting his eyes.

He tried desperately to read her expression, but it was inscrutable.