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"Did you hear? Sophie Carter is dating Ryan Hollister!"

"Meg has lice? I heard that last week Amy had it too. Wait! Did they spread it at that sleepover they had the last time? I went to that sleepover!"

"O.M.G. Y'ALL, XANDER KISSED VANESSA YESTERDAY!"

Break time wasn't necessarily Emma's favourite time. Lunch was better because at least then she could escape the horrors of middle school by sinking herself into the pages of a classic book at the library. But break time meant staying in class and listening to other students' boring gossip and that wasn't fun.

Which was why Emma Roberts was usually found at the back of the class reading a book or typing furiously into her phone, refusing to socialise with those around her. She was the quietest girl in the class and hardly had any friends, and her constant act of distancing herself from any social gatherings or circles of any sort did not help her case. Although, she did find this rather advantageous as she hated company. It just wasn't her thing to be mingling with other people. Her few rare friends happened to be online ones who lived on the other side of the globe and the characters in the storybooks she seemed to carry around everywhere... and that didn't make her situation any less pitiful.

Emma just couldn't wait till she was in college, where she wouldn't have to face any of the stupid classmates she had now and would be able to make actual friends, maybe even actually meet her online ones. Ones that would understand her love for books and wouldn't waste their petty time on stupid things like what someone did last week or who kissed who. Of course, high school would come first, and with the knowledge of her older brothers and sisters' experiences, Emma was not looking forward to that particular period.

As Emma sat at her desk, the voices of her annoying classmates jumbling together, she slowly became aware of someone approaching her.

"Hey, you're Emma, right?" He asked, giving her a small smile.

'Geez, go away, I don't want any human interaction at the moment,' Emma grumbled in her head, giving the boy a nod and looking back at her book. Her thoughts were in a whirlwind as the boy sat down next to her, glancing over her shoulder at the book she was reading. It made her uncomfortable.

People usually ignored her, and here he was, talking to her! Emma couldn't help but wonder why the new boy was even talking to her. What was he possibly thinking?

'Does he find my lonely state so pitiful and wants to be like my first friend or something? That's ridiculous. Just leave me alone, new boy,' Emma ranted in her head, willing with all her might that he would just walk away from her.

"I read that book! It's amazing! Did you get to the part where Eun..." The boy trailed off upon seeing the look on Emma's face. "Okay, okay! Jeez, I won't say anything. Stop giving me that look!" He laughed, putting his hands up in the air in mock surrender.

Acting on instinct, Emma had scowled at the boy, scaring the heebie-jeebies out of him. "No spoilers, please." She muttered, immediately looking away.

What was she thinking? Emma silently told herself to keep her mouth and stop interacting with the naive new boy.

"Okay then," The boy chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm Julian, if you didn't already know. I'm new here. Nice to meet you."

He gave her a grin and plopped down in the seat next to her. Emma nodded, "Hey, Julian. Welcome to this hell hole."

Julian laughed, shrugging, "Well... I'm glad to be here."

They both fell into a comfortable silence as Julian watched as Emma read the book before and her features turned from focused to complete and utter shock.

"What?!" Emma whisper-shouted as she reread the last few pages.

"I know right?!" Julian exclaimed, jumping up in excitement.

Emma let out a small laugh at his expression, which eventually led to the two of them laughing together hysterically, exchanging their opinions on the book's unexpected ending, and as they did so, Emma realised that maybe she didn't mind having Julian's company that much. After all, maybe–just maybe–he was now her one and only actual friend.

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