AS EXCITING AS FRIDAY HAD been, as dull Monday was. It was a school day like any other: first period, bell, second period, bell, and this streak continued while the students and the teachers fought their way through the day until the last bell would sound.

That last bell was nowhere in sight yet when Nova and Darren took a seat at a lunch table and both put their plate down.

"Can I say something?" she asked, taking a small bite.

Darren nodded and did the same.

"González is a dick."

He almost choked and had trouble keeping his food from spilling. "What?" he gulped. He gasped for air, and Nova laughed when she saw his face turn red.

"I'm only speaking the truth here," she said, unapologetic about her earlier remark. However, what had surprised him wasn't the sentiment she had voiced regarding her Spanish teacher but rather how she had chosen to voice it. She wasn't the type to curse.

"What happened?" he asked once he'd safely swallowed his bite and any choking hazard had passed.

She put down an elbow on the table. "He hates me, and I don't know why," she said. "I'm acing the class" – this wasn't a surprise; Darren had learned she spoke Spanish on the daily with her family at home – "and am fluent in Spanish, but instead of that being a head start to becoming his favorite, he got mad at me when I asked if I could work ahead, independent of the class." She rolled her eyes. "Said that wasn't the attitude he wanted to see in his students, but that students are supposed to 'participate and pay attention in class.'"

Darren raised one eyebrow and let her continue.

"So, I asked him about the students that were way ahead in their Spanish skills compared to the class, because that's what I think are excellent students. Do they really need to pay attention and stoop down to the level of asking, ¿Puedes hablar más despacio? And do you know what his rebuttal was?"

He shook his head. Of course he hadn't; he had been in a different class than Spanish class during the last period. He had decided not to pick up Spanish because he had zero experience with it and knew he would have to keep up with the others that had been trying to learn Spanish for years now.

"That that wasn't the attitude he expected to see from me. He said I was rude."

Darren frowned. "That's impossible, you can't be rude." Although, just as he said it, he thought back to the language she'd used earlier to describe González. That could be considered rude.

"Exactly! No le entiendo! So, to prove a point, I sat in the class like any other student, but answered every question he asked without raising my hand, and I showed him I am the best student he's ever had." She grinned; thinking back to the class almost made her seem proud of her behavior. "I don't need his class anyway," she continued. "I only took it because it was easy. It's useless for university, aside from the good grade it will get me."

"Do you know what you want to do at university already?" he asked, steering the conversation away from González.

"Of course, don't you?"

He rushed to say that he did. He'd known it for at least a year now, maybe even longer, and that definite decision had made it easier for him to take the step and go on exchange for a year.

"I'm going to study Chemistry," Nova said with an air of confidence.

"At Yale, right?" That much Darren remembered from an earlier conversation, although the information about Chemistry was new to him. And maybe it was the glasses she was wearing today instead of her regular contact lenses, but he could see her doing it too. It fit her.

"If I get in, si," she said. "I started writing the essay for my application this weekend, but man, it's tough."

"You started already?" Darren asked. This was only the first week of September, and so far, he'd only been thinking about integrating into the American life. Princeton was something he'd worry about once he had settled in.

"You haven't?" Nova's eyes widened.

"It's really early," Darren defended himself. He could feel his cheeks reddening though; should he have started already?

"Not for early admissions, it isn't," she said. "The deadlines are in October."

Next month.

Nova noticed the look on Darren's face. "You can still make it," she said. "If you start today, you will get through all the steps. And start on that essay right now: it's the hardest part."

He breathed out. It wasn't too late, he told his racing heart. He still had all of September and part of October to work on it.

"What are you applying to?" Nova asked.

"Princeton, for sure," Darren said. It had been all he had talked about. "Yale too, and I've heard NYU and Harvard are good universities for international students. I also want to try Cambridge and Oxford, just in case I don't make it into Princeton, because it is closer to home."

Nova picked up her knife and fork after having taken a break from eating for a while now. "Great, so you've got some back-up options." She sent him a smile to give him hope. She was aware that she'd scared him for a second there by blurting out that he had to hurry up with applying. "I have one question though," she said, narrowing her eyes and smirking. "Why Princeton over Yale?"

He laughed. "Why Yale over Princeton?" he countered. "Princeton is much better if we're talking about Biomedical Sciences – which is what I'm interested in – and the campus felt like home to me."

"I was only kidding," she said. "Though it would be amazing if we would go to the same university." She smiled at the thought and took a bite. "Why wouldn't you go to university in Scotland though?"

He shrugged. "I could," he said slowly, "but... I don't know. It's not that they're not good, but there's a whole world out there. If there's a time to go out and explore it, it's now."

"I wish I could do that," she said, staring out ahead of her. "I would go to Europe or something. France, maybe."

"You wouldn't want to study in France," Darren said with a snicker. "And you wouldn't understand them anyway. No one there can speak English."

"You've been to France?" There was a hint of jealousy in her voice.

He nodded and steered the conversation in a slightly different direction. "Why wouldn't you go, though?"

She sighed. "My family," she said. "I would miss them so much." With her fork, she was picking her food apart. "Don't you?"

If he missed his family, like the twins Keri and Brielle that had energy for days, his mother that was so caring even when he was miles away, his soon-to-be stepdad that was the most typical Scot he'd ever met, and his father with labrador Chip dartling around the house? "A lot," he said truthfully. He just wanted to be able to hug them once, but as amazing as Skype was, nothing would be able to give that to him.

"I can't even imagine," Nova said. There was a sadness in her voice as she tried to imagine it, but she only saw herself running back to her parents at the airport before she'd even left, not having enough courage to actually take the step.

Darren thought back to Dakota, who'd said she didn't even have parents. There would be nothing holding her back from travelling the world, it seemed, yet she didn't appear to be thinking about exploring what was out there despite her adventurous spirit.

Nova woke him up from his thoughts with another question. "What do you miss most?"

What didn't he miss? "Weirdly, I miss Chip a lot, my dad's dog," he said, chuckling. "And the Scottish accent." He used to hear it daily: in the supermarket, on the street, around his family. It was the sound of home. "And my family, of course. It helps that I can call them every day, but I miss just being around them, seeing them for dinner or knowing that once I come home from school, they'll be waiting for me."

"Your dog?" She ignored almost all of the rest he'd said, and the one thing she did focus on caused her to laugh.

He bit his lip while smiling. "Yes. I mean, I can't call him or anything right now, so yes, I miss him."

"That's so weird." She shook her head.

"Only someone who's never had a dog would say that."

She smirked, but before she could answer, something triggered her to look up, and her eyes widened when she saw who was approaching.

"Hey Darren, I have been looking for you." This honeysweet voice didn't belong to Nova, and it took Darren a while to realize who it was. The biggest clue to putting the pieces together was seeing a poised girl next to him, towering over him in her heels.

"Hi, Allison," he stammered. He hadn't seen the girl or her friends since that first day of school, and if he was honest, he hadn't missed them. He loved spending his time with Nova, because even though neither of them were talkers, they always had something to talk about with interests and ambitions that were similar.

She sat down next to him and put her phone down on the table. It had a pastel purple case with a simple drawing of a unicorn on it that captured the essence of the girl in a few square inches. "Hey Nova, nice to see you too."

Nova seemed surprised that the girl had remembered her name. It had taken her four years, after all.

"So, how has life been?" Allison asked Darren, letting her head rest on her elbow.

"Good," he said. He took a bite of his plate while wondering why the girl had approached him. Why did she even take an interest in him? From what he observed, she was very much out of his league, and he didn't mind it staying that way. He didn't think he could have compelling conversations with her or that he would ever enjoy her company. All it did was make him feel uncomfortable. Her seeming exquisiteness made him think about how he should have put more effort into his hair that morning, or what she would think about his simple, plain outfit or the fact that he had trouble keeping the conversation going.

"That's all?" She smiled. "Just good? I can imagine that being an exchange student comes with its ups and downs."

"There are some adjustments, yes," he said. He made his body smaller and avoided eye contact with her brown eyes who, in combination with her thick eyelashes, were dazzling to look at. Why was this type of girl talking to a guy like him?

"Right," she said. "I heard you're living in a host family."

He confirmed that. "You might even know Liam," he said. "He's in the football team."

She smiled. "I do know Liam." He was the type of guy a girl like her should be around. "I always see him during the games. He's very successful in the team; I even heard Coach say last time that he might get scouted by a university."

"Let's hope so," Darren said.

The bell for the end of lunch rang and Darren let out a sigh of relief, then turned to the side to make sure Allison hadn't seen that. Judging by her face, she hadn't, and she just seemed sad that her time with Darren was already over. "I really hope I can see you again soon," she said. Her eyebrows rose when she thought about something else. "Let me give you my number," she said. "We can keep in contact and talk more often."

Not being able to say no, he got out his phone and typed in the phone number she recited from memory.

"Now, if you text me, I'll have your number too," she said with a smile. She turned on her heel and said over her shoulder. "See you again soon, Darren."

Almost immediately, Nova popped up from behind him. "I don't know if I am scared or fascinated by her," she said, following the girl with her eyes as she walked away.

"Probably both," Darren said, putting his phone back in his pocket.

"I'm just wondering though..." Nova began. Once Allison was out of sight, she started walking to class, and because she shared the class with Darren, he followed her. "Where were the other two? She's usually never by herself. Even after school, the other two are always following her around like baby ducks."

"I was just wondering why she would hang out with me," Darren said. So, the bigger question that both of them were wondering about was why Allison had chosen to hang out with Darren instead of her friends Amelia and Anna.

However, Nova didn't seem to ponder about the same thing Darren was. "Look at you," she said. "Objectively, as your friend, I can say that you look good, although slightly nerdy, and you're the exchange student."

The first surprised him. He'd always categorized himself as the nerd, which she seemed to agree on, but aside from that, he'd found himself average. There was nothing special about his appearance. "What has me being an exchange student has to do with it, though?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Exchange students are mysteries to be solved," she told him. "They have stories to tell, a past no one knows about."

"My past isn't that exciting," he objected.

"But she doesn't know that." She winked at him, and while he sighed, his friend laughed at the face he made. It was clear he wasn't used to the attention of a girl.

☆

They wouldn't talk about Allison for the rest of the day, but once he came home, Darren realized he had to stay true to his word and decided to send her a text to share his number with her. At the same time, his eyes fell on the chat he'd had with Dakota. He looked at her profile picture. In ways, she was similar to Allison, because both of them were gorgeous – even to someone like Darren, who didn't want outward appearance to be the central point of a person – and straightforward. They shared those big, curious blue eyes, although Dakota's were slightly lighter in color. Allison's color palette was also more muted than Dakota's, but both of them exuded a girly vibe. Still, Dakota somehow made him feel comfortable in ways that Allison couldn't.

The Friday before at the bowling alley, they had shared a good time, even though Darren had been nervous about his bowling skills. She didn't make an issue out of it, and instead, they had laughed every time one of them didn't hit a single pin and mostly had talked about life. Slowly, he'd started feeling more free around her, and their conversations were without restrictions. She had felt like coming home, back in Scotland, and he felt welcome to be true to himself.

However, Allison made him feel none of that, which he painfully realized as he sent her a text, a simple "hey" with a smiley face. He scrolled past Dakota's profile picture without sending her anything. He had faith that when she felt up to it, she would show up again, like a jack-in-the-box.