Love of Tomorrow NaNo

CHAPTER Reducio 1

LOVE OF TOMORROW ━━━━━━ True love stories never have endings... ━━━━━━

WORD COUNT Reducio 1016

“I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there is life after that, I'll love you then.” Closing her book, Rose smiled, recalling the beautifully written lines she had just finished reading. She was certainly not one for romantic novels and such, but she had technically not been reading a romance novel. It was a fantasy book, her favorite genre, that just happened to have a wonderful romance woven through the words. With the book closed on her lap, she admired the cover for a few moments more before standing up. Soft ambiance music played through the speakers in the school library, giving it a homey feel as always.

Every morning before school Rose found herself in the school's library, which while not very large, was an ideal place to be when she wished to lose herself within a book in the mornings. Today was no exception. Carefully placing her book back in her bag, she slung the bag over her shoulders and began the walk to her first class of the day. When she arrived in the English classroom, she found it to be in quite the state of disarray without the teacher present. The boys were making quite the mess, taking full advantage of the teacher's absence.

Sighing, she took her seat and took out a notebook, flipping to a blank page and getting ready for the class. So monotonous were her days in school, she wished sometimes that she could go on adventures like the characters in her books. She wished that, at the very least, something interesting would finally happen in her quiet little town.

Once the class had begun, Rose wrote down her notes dutifully. The small print held many words, and yet they meant close to nothing for the sixteen year old. They were just words. She would write down notes tomorrow and the next day and the next after that. Every day for the next six years she would do this. After that she would be expected to settle down, find a good job, and start another monotonous routine for day after day. There was no escaping the fate of repetition here and she detested being sentenced to it.

Physics, AP world history, and astronomy passed quickly enough. Once more, there was nothing even remotely interesting to make note of in any of the classes. Her next class happened to be her favorite though, which perhaps would give her spirit precisely the uplift it needed. Entering the choir classroom, she smiled, a smile of true happiness for the first time that day. Choir was the one time she could lose herself and let go to enjoy the moment. The music, the people, everything about choir was like a little piece of heaven on earth for Rose.

There were no desks in the classroom, only chairs that were on different tiers. A large space was in the front of the room with a piano and plenty of space for the director to, well, direct the students. Taking her seat with the other alto singers, she took out the music for one of the songs they had begun to learn. Once the bell had rung signalling the start of the class, the director, Mr. Barde, wasted no time. He immediately started taking the class through the warm up drills. Nearly as soon as the warm ups were complete, a girl a year older than Rose rushed into the classroom.

"Sorry I'm late," she apologized to Mr. Barde. "My forensics teacher asked me to stay to finish up my test." She handed Mr. Barde a slip of paper. "That's perfectly fine, you haven't missed much," he replied, taking the slip.

The girl went to take her seat, directly behind Rose. Rose knew the older girl, but not very well. Her name was Maia and she was the section leader for the altos, but because she sat behind the younger girl, Rose hadn't been in a lot of face to face interactions with her. Aside from that, it was only a few weeks into the start of Rose's junior year of high school. She had been more focused on finding her footing in the new school year and making good impressions on the teachers than making friends.

As Maia walked through the aisle to take her seat however, Rose couldn't help but notice how gracefully she walked and how beautiful she looked that day. It was as if she was seeing Maia for the first time in a completely new light. There are thousands upon thousands of words and phrases in human language. There are millions of ways to put those words together to describe someone or something. And yet, even with the millions of words there are in this world, Rose could not even begin to describe how she felt about Maia in that moment.

Maia took her seat and the class resumed as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Rose, however, had the utmost trouble focusing on the music in front of her. The eighth and quarter notes seemed to fly off the page and twirl around in the air dreamily. The earlier events of the day felt so trivial compared to her feelings now. It was like everything else had been wiped away and now it was only that which had happened before Maia burst into the room that day and what had happened and would happen after. Rose's mind was swirling with bright colors and happy thoughts, and yet everything that was happening was so confusing for the junior.

Was it love that she felt towards the older girl? Or was it something else that she simply could not explain? She needed answers. What was this strange phenomenon that had her feeling this way? Rose had had crushes before, but nothing, no silly crush on a boy had made her feel like this. It was as if the entire world had flipped upside down and landed in a way that made new things come to the surface. New feelings, new ideas, new loves.

CHAPTER Reducio 2

LOVE OF TOMORROW ━━━━━━ True love stories never have endings... ━━━━━━

WORD COUNT Reducio 2023

The rest of the class seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye. Rose wished she had the confidence to stick around and start up a conversation with Maia, but instead she rushed out of the classroom, not wanting the possibility of embarrassing herself in front of the older girl to become a reality. It honestly felt like her thoughts were so loud that they were being broadcast to the entire room.

In her psychology class, the irony of the lesson was certainly not lost on Rose. The lesson title the teacher had given them was named The Lessons of Love. The lesson entailed learning about the science behind love, why people fell in love, the stages of love, and many more things that caused Rose to blush a deep red most of the class. When called upon to answer a question about the lesson, she turned an even deeper shade of red and mumbled the answer softly to the teacher.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, much like the beginning of the day, but now it was for completely different reasons. Now, there was something else to occupy the thoughts of the girl. Maia. How she had neglected to notice the other girl and her wonderful qualities before today was the most incredible mystery. How was one able to go from barely noticing another to feeling that every minute spent without them was an agony untold? It baffled Rose to the point of madness.

As soon as the school day was over she walked outside and spotted her friends almost immediately. Luna, one of her closer friends, seemed to notice something was off right away. "Hey, what's wrong?" she questioned. Rose bit her lip, not sure if she wanted everyone in the group to hear the words. "Come here," she muttered, motioning to the right. Luna and Hazel, another of her close friends took a few steps away from the group, both girls had looks of anticipation on their faces, waiting for what Rose might have to say.

"Okay, um..." She wasn't quite sure how to tell her friends she liked someone and tell them it was definitely not a boy at the same time. Luna was pansexual, Hazel was asexual, and she knew they would accept her for who she was, but they both had gone through all of the time they had known each other thinking that Rose was straight, so this should certainly be interesting to say the least. "I may have a crush on someone?" The tone of her voice made it sound almost like a question. Both girls looked at each other excitedly before turning back to see who it was she liked. "It's also, um, not a boy."

Barely a second passed before both girls opposite her broke out in a smile. "What's she like? Is she nice?" "Who is she?" Rose was bombarded by questions from both girls. It was now her turn to break out with a wide smile. "Maia, from my choir class. She's a year older than us," Rose revealed shyly. From the identical looks Luna and Hazel gave her, she assumed neither of them knew Maia. "She's really nice, trust me." The other two smiled genuine smiles of happiness again. "Alright, I probably should be going now, but I'll see you tomorrow?" At their nods and verbal confirmation she turned and left the school.

Once she was home, she went straight to her bedroom, just as she always did after school to work on homework. Her notebooks of astronomy notes plus her computer were spread out on the desk in front of her. However, instead of studying the notes and finishing the work she had, her pencil was tracing little hearts all over on the paper. As she doodled the hearts, she found herself wondering if her mind would always be so distracted and her heart always so confused from now on.

Flipping the notebook to a blank page of lined paper, she started writing. The words came slowly at first and then quicker and full of raw emotion.

I don't know exactly what is happening to me. It's like my mind is on vacation and let my heart take over completely. It's the most odd way of feeling, but I don't exactly have anything against it either. I find myself nervous to go to school for the first time since, well, I can't even remember when. I'm nervous, excited, anxious, and delighted at the thought of seeing her again. I've never felt this way and it scares me, but the excitement overweighs the worry.

Her pencil dropped from her hand as she realized just how conflicting her feelings were. This was the most out of the ordinary thing to ever happen to the girl. Out of everything that she had planned for her life, she never would have expected falling in love to be one of the first to happen. Now instead of thinking about colleges to attend and job fields to go into, her thoughts were twisted into many little knots that made it near impossible to think.

Sighing, she flipped the page back to the notes she had taken earlier that day. The rotation of planets and the infinite galaxies in the world seemed trivial now, but they were a necessity. If she failed to study the notes, she would fail her upcoming test, which would bring her grade down. If she wanted to get into a good college, she needed good grades. Getting a college degree would allow her to get a good job that interested her. Painstakingly, she brought her pencil back to the page and wrote further notes on the lesson. It wasn't even remotely interesting to her at this point, but she was used to enough routine by now that she could adapt and do it, even if it wasn't what she wanted to do.

Her sleep that night was restless, and every time she awoke she could only think about seeing Maia the next day. When the sun finally rose above the horizon, Rose was up out of bed and getting ready for school. Nervousness flooded her veins, but happiness filled her heart.

Once at school, she saw no reason to break her usual routine of going to the library before the day was to start. Besides, she wouldn't see Maia until choir anyways, so there was no need to get herself in a twist this early in the morning. Walking the familiar hallways to the library, Rose smiled. If you had asked her a week ago she surely would have denied it, but now having some familiar routine to follow was quite nice.

Normally, there were only one or two people that she passed this early in the morning while walking to the library, so she was unsurprised when she heard footsteps from around the corner. From around the corner a girl turned and began walking in Rose's direction. Glancing at the girl, she realized it was, in fact, Maia. She could practically feel her face turn red as she looked down until Maia had passed her by. She was mentally kicking herself for not looking up to at least smile at the other girl, but at the same time she was glad she hadn't made eye contact. At least she hadn't made a fool of herself. Fading into the background may not be the most delightful thing in the world, but it was safe.

Her heart still racing from the unexpected encounter, she took her usual seat in the library and pulled out her book. The City of Glass. That sure described how delicate she felt in that moment. Opening the book, she began to pour over the words on the page, which dumped her right in the middle of an epic battle between the protagonists and a group of demons. After the battle scene there just so happened to be a romantic scene between two of the main characters. What had seemed like some far away fantasy of another world seemed to be shed in new light today.

Rose buried herself in the words of fantasy and adventure, losing all senses of time and space. The only thing that roused her from the world of paper and ink was the ringing of the first bell. "Dang it," she muttered under her breath. Her English classroom was too far away from the library for her to be able to make it in time for the second bell which signalled the start of the classes. She gathered her things together and started the walk to the classroom, where she was almost sure to be embarrassed by her own lateness.

Unsurprisingly, the second bell rang its shrill tone as she walked through the math wing. She had gotten so close and yet it still hadn't been enough. With a heavy sigh of breath, she continued her walk until she got to the English room. Rose hated being the center of attention, but now it seemed it was unavoidable. Hand on the door, she turned the knob and entered, striding into the room with as much confidence as she could muster.

Perhaps the teacher wouldn't even notice she was late. Perhaps he would be too busy disciplining the boys that made a mess daily to worry about her. Perhaps he would be lenient and in a good mood that day. If she could just get a few steps farther to her seat... "Rose." The familiar voice of the teacher rang out and Rose stopped and closed her eyes, her face going red with all the eyes of the class on her.
"Yes?" she replied in a tone that was almost a whisper. "Do you have a pass, or are you simply tardy this morning?" he asked her. She opened her eyes, her face still red, and replied without turning around. "No, no I'm just late."

"Very well, take your seat," he instructed. As she sat down, she felt the embarrassment of the moment come into sharper focus as she replayed the events in her head over and over again. It was certainly not the best start to the day that she hoped to be wonderful. First she had barely glanced at Maia, to nervous to even look at the girl, and now she was not only late for the first time in years, but the teacher had felt the need to put her in the center of the spotlight and make her look a fool. Hopefully the day would get better soon.

Pre-Calculus rolled around quickly enough, the class just before choir. Rose felt as though her heart would burst from her chest it was pounding so much. She found herself going over what she would say to start a conversation with Maia in her head.

As she took out her pencil, a packet of papers landed on her desk. She looked up quickly, the thoughts rushing out of her mind. A quiz? It had to be a pop quiz, for she had not heard of another the entire week. Mathematics were not her strongest suit, but it was better than a physics quiz, that was for sure. Sighing, she began to read through the first question.

The day had not improved too much from her lateness in English. There had been a few other instances throughout the day, this pop quiz being one of them, which she wished to have picked a better day to try and talk to the girl she was crushing on. By the time she got to choir she would most likely be in no mood to talk because of the test. For whatever reason, Rose always felt extremely insecure after a test, whether it was a pop quiz, test, midterm, or final. Her small insecurities were one of her worst traits. All she could hope for now was that she could muster enough courage to talk to Maia next period. Just as she had mustered the courage to walk through that door, she surely had to have enough courage to talk to someone.

CHAPTER Reducio 3

LOVE OF TOMORROW ━━━━━━ True love stories never have endings... ━━━━━━

WORD COUNT Reducio 1892

The winding hallways she walked through to get to choir seemed endless and yet over all too soon. Rose had made up her mind that she would try her best to initiate a conversation with Maia before class was to start. Starting this conversation could be a stepping stone necessary to getting to know the other girl better. Still, Rose had never been particularly good at talking to other people. In fact, the friends she currently had she had been friends with since elementary school when she was a bit more adept at making friends. Trying and failing would be more honorable than not trying at all, but was trying and making a fool of herself a good option?

Eventually, she decided she was overthinking the entire thing. What should have been relatively simple was beginning to be warped into something nearly impossible. She just needed to stop doubting her own abilities. The only thing that was keeping her from taking the leap was herself and her tendency to overthink things until she chickened out.

With that in mind, she squared her shoulders, closed her eyes for less than a second, and took a deep breath. Without allowing herself another second to let herself get caught up in her thoughts, she entered the room. She spied Maia almost right away sitting in her seat behind Rose's own and reading through the music to one of their more complicated songs.

Rose strode forward intent on complimenting Maia or finding some other way of starting some conversation between the two. As she walked the few steps to where the chairs were, however, she found herself imagining scenarios in which she made a fool of herself. Tripping over her own feet, stumbling over her words, and a million other things which made being late to English seem downright simple.

So as she approached Maia, she stopped short, turned, and sat down in her own seat. With the older girl only able to see the back of her figure now, she closed her eyes tightly. Her mind was both a blessing and a curse. Able to give her the gifts of the love to read and learn, and yet at the very same time give her the curse of overthinking herself into a deep, dark place. In fact, it was the same mind that had given her the anxiety that had caused her to sit down instead of being bold and speaking to Maia as she had been planning all day.

Maia didn’t know that she had planned to talk to her though, so all was not yet lost for today. If Rose were to turn around and start a conversation… “Alright class, let’s get going. We’ve got a lot to go over today!” Mr. Barde announced loudly. With another heavy sigh at her missed opportunity, Rose drew her music out from her bag. This time when she took in a breath it was to sing. She could feel the emotion bleed into the song as the class sang the words and notes.

Mr. Barde cut the class of unexpectedly and looked as if he were in deep thought for a moment. “It’s uneven,” he decided. “I think I’ll have to move some altos around to better mix voices.” Without further explanation he began switching altos around in the group. “And Rose why don’t you go up one,” he continued. She nodded without fully comprehending what he had said. She moved up one row to her new seat. While she still sang brooding about missed opportunities, she realized a bit late that she had been placed directly to Maia’s right.

Finally Mr. Barde’s slightly eccentric methods had been an incredibly good thing for Rose. She recalled one instance in her freshman year when he had moved her to a soprano simply because he did not like how the song currently was sounding. Needless to say, she could not sing the soprano part as well or easily as alto. That concert was a big fail for Rose. She remembered afterward though in the best detail. Everyone in choir comforted her. They made it feel like she may not have been as bad as she thought. She needed some encouragement like that right now.

At the conclusion of the current song, they were instructed to take out the newer one from their folders. As Rose got her own out, she realized someone was standing above her. Looking up, she found it to be Maia who was standing there. It took her a moment to register that Maia had left her folder on the chair on the other side of Rose’s when they had switched seats. “Oh, sorry!” she exclaimed, moving aside so that Maia could get to the folder. “No you’re good, don’t worry about it!” the older girl said kindly.

As they rearranged to get back in their original positions, Rose felt miserable, yet jubilant at the same time. On the plus side, she had spoken to Maia. On the flip side of that though, all she had said was an apology, which, while necessary, was not the best thing to say for a first impression.

At the conclusion of choir, Rose stood and turned to her left, ready to try again to talk to the older girl. “So-” she began, but was cut off quickly, but not purposefully. “Did you finish the trig assignment?” a girl Rose recognized as one of Maia’s friends asked Maia. “The trig assignment? Yes, I thought it was-” Maia’s words were cut off to Rose’s ears as she shut the door behind her, exiting the classroom. Every opportunity she had it seemed was a missed one. Still, she had to keep pushing through the rest of the day, no matter how trivial it might seem in comparison to her other, more extreme problems.

“Rose,” her psychology teacher called. Her head rose from the assignment to look at the teacher. “Yes?” “Are you alright? You don’t seem to be paying attention or participating like usual today. I must say, it is rather odd for you to be so distracted.” Rose silently cursed the teacher’s intuition before replying. “I’m just working on the assignment.” She held up the paper to show. “I see. Well do try to pay attention, won’t you?” At Rose’s meek nod, the teacher turned her back and began teaching the entire class again.

When the school day had finally come to a conclusion, she wasted no more time at the accursed building. She drove straight home and upon arriving, did not go straight to her room as always. Instead, she dropped her things off and walked outside into her backyard. The yard bordered a line of trees that was only a few yards of trees and grass and wildflowers before it broke off into a large cornfield. Unlocking the fence to her yard, she slipped through it and began to walk off into the trees.

Whenever she needed the peace and quiet of nature to calm herself down and to just think for a good while, she came out here. Scattered across the cornfield were other lines of trees. One that Rose specifically liked was more of a true forest that had at least a mile or two of thick trees. In that one though, one had to be careful of where the stepped, for there were patches of marshland that would sink your foot into several inches of mud. However, in this thicket of trees, there happened to be a treehouse of sorts. There were no walls or roof of this treehouse. There was a single log planted diagonally to allow one to climb to the first platform. At the first platform one had to be about eight feet off the ground. There was something of a ladder made of wooden planks to lead you to the next platform, which happened to be significantly high off the ground.

That day, Rose climbed up to the second platform and sat down, legs dangling off the edge of the wood. It seemed as if fate was against the girl all day. Every time she had attempted to have a conversation with the older girl, her attempts had failed miserably. When she had finally gotten up enough confidence to talk to her, she was already deep in another conversation. Why did such a simple task seem so impossible to accomplish now that her personal feelings were roped into the event?

As she sat perched precariously on the edge of the structure nestled high in the tree, she wondered if all the adversity she had faced throughout the day was a sign. A sign that was telling her that it was not in her best interests to continue to pursue a relationship of any kind with Maia. If that was truly the case, Rose's heart would shatter. She had never felt so deeply for anyone as she had for Maia. Before those two days ago, Rose hadn't even known such a strong emotion was possible.

No, she had decided. If fate was truly working against her then she would simply have to work harder with even more determination. She could not give up so easily, especially with the sheer strength of these feelings.

She climbed back down from the tree, taking extra measures of caution so she would not fall. Her steps were careful, precise, and planned. The next time she tried to talk to Maia, she would not be deterred so easily. Surely she was made of stronger stuff than what she had displayed today? Today was simply one of those days in which it seemed like everything was hopeless until you changed your perspective. Well, that's exactly what Rose would have to do. With a fresh sample of perspective, she was confident that any further mistakes she made could be washed away without a second thought. She would be able to continue trying over and over and over until she finally was able to accomplish her goal.

She began to take the familiar path through the thicket of trees with new determination and courage. The fallen leaves crunched beneath her feet, along with a few sporadic twigs. The autumn air danced along softly, blowing Rose's hair back behind her. Eventually, she began to see her house, which was when the final stretch of land she walked seemed to move quickly. She reached her house, flung open the door, and ran to her room. No matter how strong her feelings were, she could never neglect her classwork. Pencil in hand, she began scribbling away, writing notes and assignments, worksheets and essays. When she finally finished, she felt an extreme sense of satisfaction at the completion of the many tasks she had finished. It once again proved that she could do anything she put her mind to, as long as she did not lose her courage before even beginning.

As the night fell over the sleepy little town, Rose realized she had never felt more alive. Tomorrow was a new day, a fresh start. Tomorrow she could forget about all that had happened during this day and turn her thoughts to the unknown. Tomorrow would be the day in which she would finally be able to talk to the girl for which she felt so strongly. Everything would be okay again tomorrow.

CHAPTER Reducio 4

LOVE OF TOMORROW ━━━━━━ True love stories never have endings... ━━━━━━

WORD COUNT Reducio 911

Choir came around quickly enough the next day. The other classes she attended seemed to go by in the mere blink of an eye to the anxious girl. The start of the class seemed a day like any other, but Rose had come in very determined. Today would be a good day, in which she would finally muster up enough courage to talk to Maia. Easier said than done.

There was no time before the bell rang to start any conversation that would not be interrupted or cut short halfway through. Rose did not allow herself to be deterred by the situation. She would just have to try to talk to Maia near the end of class that day.

Mr. Barde seemed to go on forever for the announcements of the day. As we sang, the voices of all the students fitting together in perfect harmony, Rose allowed herself for the barest of moments to get lost in the song and not think about her worry for that moment. As the song came to a conclusion, Mr. Barde announced he needed to go through and edit some of the music, and the students could talk or work on homework. It was a relative free for all now, giving her the perfect opportunity.

Taking a deep breath, she turned around without even thinking anything through. Maia caught her eye almost immediately, and now that they had eye contact there was no way Rose could lose her nerve now. "Um, hi," she started. "I really like your outfit today." Maia's eyes lit up and her face broke out in a smile of genuine happiness. That was a good sign for the younger girl. "Thank you so much! I had to give a speech today, and I thought I'd dress up a little for it. It can't hurt to look presentable, especially in front of an entire English class, you know what I mean?"

Rose smiled back, encouraged by Maia. "Oh yeah, completely. So, what do you think of the song?" she asked, holding up the music they had been learning just moments ago. "Well, I love the tempo and mood, but I think it would hold up better in four part splits instead of three. I suggested it to Barde earlier today and he said he'd think about it. We'll just have to wait and see I suppose." "Four part splits might be just what we needed. I kept thinking that there was something off, or missing rather, about the song. That was a good idea." Maia smiled brightly again, the smile directed at Rose. Rose had had it in her all along, she just needed the self-confidence to make it happen.

"What-" Maia was cut off by Mr. Barde announcing he was finished with the edits. She smiled apologetically as Rose turned back around and reopened her music. "Everyone go into four part splits, I want to see how this sounds together," he instructed. Rose smiled back at Maia, recognizing the idea as the older girl's. The altos shuffled around, getting separated into alto 1 and alto 2 voice parts. When they were finished, Rose realized that Maia, being an alto 1 like herself, was sitting directly next to her.

The rest of the hour, Rose sang brightly and full of life. She had been able to summon the confidence to talk to the girl she liked and it had gone rather well, if she did say so herself. Walking to psychology, she felt on top of the world. She felt as though nothing could bring her down from the heights she had risen to today, and nothing ever would.

Racing home after school, she found a blank notepad and opened it to the first page of lines. Pencil in hand, she began to write.

I've done it! All I needed was to dig up the courage that I had buried a long time ago. After I had made the conscious decision that today would be the day I would finally talk to her, it was smooth sailing from there. She seemed genuinely happy when I complimented her, which gave me even more confidence. Now all I have to do is keep talking to her bit by bit every day.

Immediately after talking to her I was too overcome with excitement and happiness to do much more than let myself be overtaken by my sheer joy. In the hours following I came to my senses a bit more, but was still jubilant. I smiled at random students I passed in the halls and felt as if nothing could shake my happiness. Now, hours and hours later, I am trying to remember every single detail I can about our interaction. How her eyes lit up to her smile to her beautiful tone to every single word she spoke. And best of all, her smile, her words, they were all directed at me. Who would've thought?

Rose closed the notepad and sat back in the chair, replaying the conversation over and over again in her head, willing herself to never forget the first time she spoke to the girl of her dreams. It was like fireworks and lightning were exploding in her mind, giving her a sensory overload. All that occupied her thoughts for the rest of the night was Maia, and Rose liked that.

CHAPTER Reducio 5

LOVE OF TOMORROW ━━━━━━ True love stories never have endings... ━━━━━━

WORD COUNT Reducio 1191

"So, in light of our beginning of Shakespeare's work Romeo and Juliet, I thought we might play a game before diving into the play." Another day came with another five periods until she was able to see Maia. Now that she had talked to the girl once, she felt unstoppable. What was starting a new conversation when she had already done so the day before? Why, it should come naturally now, just like talking to Luna or Hazel.

All that was left to do now though, was wait the agonizing hours until choir came around. Turning her attention back to the English class, she finished listening to the instructions of said "game." It seemed relatively simple. If one agreed with the statement said, they would have to go to the front of the classroom. If one disagreed, they would go to the back of the classroom. All the statements would have something to do with the play Romeo and Juliet.

"First statement," the teacher announced. "I trust my friend's judgement." Rose walked with several others to stand in the front of the room. "I trust my friend's judgement even when my gut is telling me not to," Mr. Jones elaborated. Rose walked to the other side of the room slowly. If her own gut was telling her not to trust someone, friend or foe, she trusted herself more than other people. "I would let my parents pick who I was to marry." Rolling her eyes, Rose stayed on the disagree side of the classroom. Everyone who was on the agree side for the last question quickly came over to disagree for this one. "I believe in holding grudges, no matter how extreme or insignificant." Rose, after a bit of thought, decided to stay where she was. Everyone deserved a second chance, did they not?

After several more statements such as these, it came time for the final one. "I believe there is such a thing as love at first sight." While her class mostly stayed or came over to the disagree side, Rose walked over to the agree side of the room. She had technically seen Maia before she had walked in late that day, but that day it felt like the first time she was truly seeing her, and it had felt like Rose had fallen in love in that moment. Was it true love at first sight? Probably not in the way others wanted to think. To Rose, however, it was.

"Interesting," Mr. Jones mused. Rose assumed he was referring to the fact that only she, out of everyone else in her class, was standing on the agree side of the room. "Rose, would you care to explain why you picked agree?" he asked. Clearly, his asking was not asking at all and more of a direct instruction. She would not be getting out of this, that was for sure.

"Well, I think perhaps, it isn't necessarily love at first sight in the sense many of you might be thinking," she began. She was quite good at debates, that is, when her anxiety wasn't taking over from her being in the center of attention. "It's rather being around the person for a while, but not interacting with them a whole lot. They are there, but you're just used to them being there. It might be someone you sit beside in class that you've never spoken to, or a co-worker, or friend of a friend you've met once or twice. You've seen them before, but love at first sight isn't simply seeing them, it's when you start to notice them. You become physically aware that they are there. It isn't just having them around anymore, it's when you notice them, truly become aware of them, for the first time. That's what I think of as love at first sight."

The class was silent for a minute, including Mr. Jones. Then, one girl tentatively raised her hand. "Can I switch sides? I think what she said was really good." Mr. Jones nodded, and she and several other of Rose's classmates switched sides. "That was a good explanation Rose. I think that merits some extra credit points." She smiled, not at the prospect of extra credit, though it wouldn't hurt, but at the thought of having explained how she felt about the first time she fell in love with Maia so well it had changed her classmates minds about love.

"Alright, that concludes our little game for today," Mr. Jones said as the bell rang shrilly. "But tomorrow we will be starting the play, so be sure to bring your copy!" The students packed their things up into their bags and carried on through their normal routines as if nothing had happened of any interest. Rose packed her things up as well, but was jumping for joy internally at the thought of having such a powerful impromptu speech.

By the time astronomy rolled around, Rose was in an unusually good mood. "The assignment for today," Mrs. Spatesae announced, "Is to select one out of any celestial bodies in the sky and write a report over it. This report must include each of its stars, the story behind it, the best viewing places for it, and more. A complete list can be found on the board," she motioned to the writing on the whiteboard. "You have the rest of the class to work," she finished, and signalled for them to begin the assignment.

Still in a romantic mood from both Romeo and Juliet and having Maia constantly occupy her thoughts, Rose chose to do her project over the Heart Nebula. Later during lunch, Luna and Hazel approached their usual table and sat down with identical grins on their faces. "What's so funny to you guys?" Rose asked. "Have you talked to her yet?" Hazel asked. Of course her two friends, who were hopeless romantics, would start the conversation off like that.

"Yes," she mumbled. The two girls gave shrieks and immediately demanded to know everything. "Come on, it wasn't that big of a deal. We just talked about the music we're working on right now in class, not much else. Mr. Barde was trying to teach anyway." Rose tried to downplay how much the one little conversation had meant to her, when, in fact, it had meant so much more than how she made it out to be. The talk was more than simply a few words exchanged, though to Maia, that's probably all it was.

"Are you going to talk to her again today?" Luna questioned her with anticipation. "I want to, but it seems like every time I try to, I chicken out. I don't know," Rose finished lamely. "That's why you can't plan these things. You've just got to live in the moment. Whatever comes to you in the moment, you should say or do. It's that easy," Hazel replied. "But what if I say something completely stupid while 'living in the moment'?" Rose shot back. "Then at least you tried."