I let out a nervous laugh, plastering a smile on my face, "Hi Mrs. Rivera, it's so nice to see you."

"Thalia, what brings you here?" she held an incredulous expression on her face, but she seemed happy to see me at least.

"Yeah Thalia, what does bring you here?" Liam smiled, feigning surprise. I eyed him, for once, speechless. I opened my mouth and shut it again.

Well, I was here to rip Liam a good one but not anymore I guess.

"Oh who cares, it's wonderful to see you," Susan said, shoving Liam slightly out of the way. He grunted, rolling his eyes. "Come on in."

"N-no, I'm good," I said quickly. "I'm just here to return Liam's pen that he lent me." Liam raised an eyebrow at my fib and I almost cringed. A pen. Why was that the only thing I could come up with?

"Oh, how sweet of you," Susan looked between Liam and I. "Well, it's no matter. We'll be seeing each other often in the future."

Often? The last thing I needed was to see Liam often. I'd had enough of him in class. He suppressed his laughter at his mom's comment.

I slapped a smile on my face, "Yeah, exactly."

Susan's face lit up, "Liam and I baked some cookies yesterday, I'm going to go fetch some for you to take home!"

"No, there's no need for that," I said quickly, but by then, she was already gone, leaving Liam and I at the door alone.

Liam shuffled from side to side on his feet, his eyes flitting to mine and then looking away quickly. We bathed in an awkward silence for a few moments.

"You bake?" I couldn't help but sound surprised, my voice cut through the silence like a knife.

"I'm a man of many talents," he replied with a crooked smile.

"Yes and driving isn't one of them," I raised an eyebrow at him and his smile turned sheepish.

Susan returned, with a paper bag in her hands, beaming, "Here it is. I'm sure you and your family will love it."

I couldn't help but smile. It was adorable how excited she was.

"Thank you, Mrs. Rivera," I took the bag from her hands, giving her my brightest smile. "I'll make sure to get my parents to try it. I guess I'll see you around, Liam."

Without waiting for Susan to say anything, I turned and hurried down the cement path back to the safety of my bike.

I'd clipped on my helmet fast, placing the cookies in the compartment below my seat and sped off on my bike. The last thing I needed was to have lunch with Liam and his mom. I could barely face Liam for a minute without getting annoyed.

Liam's house was not far from mine and I pulled up on my own driveway within a few minutes. There were no cars parked there besides mine, letting me know that I had the house to myself.

I walked up the stone steps to the front doors. Just as I walked in and kicked my shoes off — something my mom would kill me for — my phone vibrated from within my pocket.

As I made my way to the kitchen, I fished my phone out of my pocket, only to see an email from Liam. My eyebrows furrowed at the sight of it.

Rarely anyone sent emails unless it was for professional reasons. I was not in any way involved with Liam in a professional way — my parents and his parents were.

Nevertheless, I clicked into it to view.

Hey Thalia,

I got your email from the class list, I hope you appreciate the effort ;)

Anyways, I'm sorry for hitting your motorcycle. I'll pay the cost to fix the damage, don't lose your head over it.

Yours truly,

Liam.

I rolled my eyes, a small smile spreading over my lips. I did appreciate the effort actually, to the point where I wasn't even mad anymore. It was just a scratch that I could pay for easily.

My fingers flew over my keyboard as I typed a response.

Liam,

There's no need to pay for it.

Thalia

As I hit send, I was baffled at how it might have been the least formal email I'd ever sent and will ever send.

I popped a cookie into my mouth and placed the rest on the table, knowing that Jackson would definitely pig out on those. I hated to admit it, but Liam wasn't a bad baker. The chocolate melted on my tongue and they were soft and chewy — just how I liked them.

I chuckled as I opened my fridge to dig out the ingredients for a salad. An apology through email. I'd never heard of that before.

___________________________

I spotted Avery right when I entered the school the next day. She stood on the opposite side of the hall, clutching an iced coffee in her hand.

"Another coffee?" I laughed as I approached her.

"You can never have enough," she shrugged, then she turned to me with a solemn expression. "How are you doing, about... you know."

It was my turn to shrug. I had filled Avery in about Hunter the morning after I broke up with him. I'd cried for a couple hours that night until I couldn't anymore, and felt decent the next day.

"Fine, I guess," I answered after much thought. "It's weird without him, and it always feels like I'm missing something."

"That's how it always feels after a breakup," Avery commented. Oh, so that's what it feels like. "You're lucky you got rid of him. I've always hated how he tried to control your life."

"My mom thought it was normal," I shrugged. But now I knew that wasn't how a relationship was supposed to be. And I also definitely knew that I never wanted to feel controlled again.

I wanted to be in control of my own life.

"At least you know it's not now," Avery said as we started to make our way down the hall. "Hunter was a good lesson I guess."

I nodded. Yeah, definitely a good lesson. I just wished it came in the form of something else, and not a boy I liked.

"Men," she sighed. "I'll never understand them."

I muffled my laugh. Avery had dated a couple guys before, and they all ended within months. She seemed to bounce back fast, and I'd never seen her truly heartbroken.

"I'll see you after class," I said, realizing that class started in less than five minutes. "Meet at the food court?"

Avery grinned, "At Subway. I'm feeling a cold cut."

"Yeah, yeah," I laughed as we parted in opposite directions. The halls were weirdly quiet compared to other days as I made my way through them to get to class.

I entered the room, taking my usual spot in the middle of the room. I could barely see and hear at the back, and there was no way I'd sit in the front.

Liam and Sam walked in a few moments later as I fished out my binder and my laptop from my bag.

Liam's arm brushed past me as he took his seat — one seat away from me. A shiver ran up my spine from the contact and the reminisce of his cologne drifted up my nose. My cheeks heated up involuntarily. Sam took the seat next to me.

Within seconds, the professor began his lesson and like every other day, I was bored out of my mind.

Like always, we were analyzing another case. I rested my head in my hand, almost falling asleep as Liam answered a question. The clock seemed to move backward as I scribbled down words the professor noted.

Liam's hand shot up and he answered another question. He wasn't the only one who answered questions, but it was the only voice that annoyed me.

For sure, Liam was the professor's favourite student. I didn't know how he had it in him to participate every single day.

The professor continued to talk and I continued to scribble down the important details. My pen stopped moving when I felt a pair of eyes on me.

Instinctively, my eyes drifted to Liam. His eyes met mine and immediately he looked away, focusing his attention back to the front of the room. His cheeks sported two pink dots and I had no idea if it was from the Los Angeles heat or something else.

I rolled my eyes, turning back to the front as well. Maybe there was something on my face.

I swiped my lip with the back of my hand, and ran my fingers through my hair. Everything seemed fine to me, so I had no clue what Liam was looking at.

Weirdo.

"That's all for today," the professor called out and I let out a breath of relief. Unfortunately he was not finished. "I have emailed a document to the entire class. Your student numbers are on that email, and whichever number is next to yours on the spreadsheet is your partner for the group project ."

I rolled my eyes. A group project.

"Don't act surprised, it was on the syllabus," he glanced around the class, an eyebrow raised.

With a sigh, I took out my phone and opened the email. The project was due in a week, so it was a good idea to know who I was working with.

Students immediately began calling out their numbers, trying to find their partner.

A sly smirk spread over my lips when a brilliant idea lit up in my brain. I hopped onto my student centre to the class list. There, it had all the student numbers in the class listed and also the student's name next to it.

Within seconds, I located my partners name, only to have my heart sink in disappointment.

Liam Rivera.

I glanced up, my eyes meeting Liam's. He was still seated, with his phone in his hand. Like me, he'd gone to the class list. A rush of giddiness spread over me from the thought of working with Liam, but I quickly shoved it away.

I'd expected him to complain or groan about the placement. Instead, his lips spread out into a smirk, "Well isn't that a surprise."

★★★

𝐻𝑖 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠! 𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑒, 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑖𝑑. 𝐼𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒!

𝐷𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑖𝑎𝑚 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑘𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡?

~ 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝐼𝑛𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑡