“Well, yours is… great. Of course, it’s great,” Elias sighed in defeat as he peered down at the swirly, legible letters on her notes.

Alyssa heard a huff and glanced behind her to see Kaleigh and Olivia glaring down at them. Maybe they were being a little loud, but they were having fun. They were just mad about last night. She turned back to Elias, feeling a little bold again.

“Want to do some studying tonight? I can get you caught up on everything,” Alyssa asked him. She didn’t have any plans tonight, and she wouldn’t mind spending some more time with him. Maybe they could grow to become really great friends. Maybe even something more. But that was just a fantasy.

Elias perked up.

“Perfect. I can give you my number and we can figure out a time and place,” Elias suggested as he started to scribble his number down on the corner of a piece of paper.

“Is that a three?” Alyssa asked as she watched him. She could hardly read what he was writing down. She was surprised any teachers were able to translate his scribbling into actual answers.

“That’s a five,” Elias chuckled as he went back over the number to better define it. He slipped the paper over to her. “You’re gonna have to work a miracle on me.”

Alyssa had faith in herself. She had taught herself topics and concepts that she never thought that she’d be able to grasp. She believed she could help him out. It would just take some time and patience on both of their ends.

She once considered being a teacher. She could give a lot back to the world by developing children’s minds and teaching them important topics to prepare them for the world. However, she wasn’t sure how well she’d do at the actual teaching part. Science and medicine interested her too much to pick teaching anyway.

“I’ll do just that,” Alyssa replied as she folded the paper up and stuck it in her pocket. She felt a light shudder of nerves move through her. She hadn’t hung out with a guy so much in a while.

“Alright, can anyone tell me about REM?” Dr. Pierce asked from the stage, breaking up the discussion.

Elias leaned near Alyssa’s ear.

“Are you going to embarrass that poor girl again?” he chuckled.

Alyssa stifled a laugh as she pressed her hand to her mouth. She couldn’t deny the fact that it would be funny to antagonize Kaleigh after the stunt she pulled last night. She felt a little bolder with Elias with her. It felt good. She didn’t feel like cowering all the time now.

“I don’t want to be bombarded again,” Alyssa whispered back. She didn’t want another embarrassing public situation, though. She didn’t want to be known as a troublemaker when Kaleigh and Olivia started everything.

“Oh, I wouldn’t let her do anything to you,” Elias promised her.

Alyssa turned her head slightly to look at him. She didn’t realize how close they were to each other until her nose nearly brushed his. She drew back a little with a blush. She hadn’t meant to get so close to him. If they had gotten any closer to each other, they would’ve kissed, and the thought of that made her face burn even more.

“My knight in shining armor,” she murmured before turning back forward with a smile. It warmed her that he wanted to still look out for her. Even if she wasn’t all that strong on her own, she’d do the same for him if it was required of her.

The friendships that she made would be infinitely deeper and more meaningful than her relationship with her family. Her friends chose her. They chose to care and to stick around. It was her family’s duty, and they did the bare minimum for her. They hardly even tried, and she was glad to have the opportunity to make meaningful connections.

If she was lucky, and she hoped that she was, she would have these friends for years. Maybe forever. She knew most friendships fizzled away after school as everyone went their separate ways, but she wanted to do everything in her power to keep the friends that helped her through this important time in her life. They made her not feel so alone.

Dr. Pierce’s voice droned on in the background, but she couldn’t fully focus on him, despite wanting to. Her mind was elsewhere. She couldn’t wait for tonight when her and Elias went off to study. She couldn’t wait for her and Zoe to go shopping. All of the little moments excited her so much. They meant more to her than anyone would ever realize.