Mellie-

"I'm Tara," she sniffles. "Thanks."

We start down the hallway. For some reason, I've had "Helpless" stuck in my head all morning. Probably because I was listening to it while I was doing my homework yesterday. I love that Hamilton song.

Then I hear the sound of running footsteps, and someone shouts, "Tara! Here!" 

Tara, Paris and I turn around, and that's when I see him.

My brain drowns out all noise: Tara's sniffles, the rattling of the air conditioning, Paris fiddling with her purse. Everything slows down. Seconds become minutes for me. All I can hear is my pulse pounding in my ears, and all I can focus on is him.

You walked in and my heart went BOOM.

He has golden blonde hair and a dazzling smile. He's wearing a green jacket and a light green shirt. And his eyes...they're a bright, brilliant blue, the color of the sky on a clear sunny day. On someone else, they wouldn't have had the same effect, but on his face...

I look into your eyes and the sky's the limit.

I feel light as a cloud, like any moment I'm going to start floating. Why do I feel like this?

Oh look at those eyes, oh...

I have to know if this is real. I need to ask Paris as soon as this boy goes away. Am I being a foolish, stupid girl, feeling like this based off of looks alone? Am I that shallow?

Suddenly I become aware that he's talking to me. "I-I'm Richard. Hi," he says. Richard. 

Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em.

I smile brightly, trying to cover up my nerves. Peppiness is always a good strategy. I wave a little and say as enthusiastically as I can, "I'm Mellie!"

He apears nervous. My heart sinks. Either he's nervous about his first day like his sister, or he's weirded out by me. "I-um, I've got to go....."

He starts to walk away. I'm still smiling dumbly. 

"Wow, that was abnormally perky, even by Mellie standards," Paris whispers, and Tara giggles. We continue walking down the hallway. Why is my heart still pounding so hard?

"So," I say lightly- at least, I hope I sound light and nonchalant, and not as shaky as I actually feel. I think for a moment, then come up with a relatively discreet way to ask Paris about this without her thinking I'm talking about. She'll never notice! "Back to movie ships. Some of them are so sappy. Like...like love at first sight! I mean...well, do you think it's shallow when someone in a movie has a crush at first sight? Shouldn't it like, be what matters is on the inside?"

Paris frowns thoughtfully. "That's a good question. Well, there's really two definitions of crush. The first is a crush 'at first sight.' Crush stage one, I like to call it. It's based on looks alone. It's not shallow; it's normal. It's what first draws someone to someone else." She pauses. I listen intently. Without looking like I'm listening intently, of course. "Then there's crush stage two. It's already been set off by stage one. Now, as a movie character starts to get to know their crush, their personality, et cetera, they actually start liking someone for who they are. That's a real crush. A lot of times it doesn't happen without the first one first."

I stifle my sigh of relief. I'm not shallow after all! I'm normal.

He could be mean. He could be rude. He could be a bully, a little voice inside my head whispers. You don't know him yet.

I tell the voice to shut up. I will find out

Mellie's Mission #1: Do well in middle school.

Mellie's Mission #2: Make friends.

Mellie's Mission #3: Get to know Richard without acting like a crush. 

Act normal, normal, normal, I tell myself. Treat him like a friend, be friendly, and make it clear to him you're just a friend. That way, he'll trust you more, and you can find out more.

*****

As you can guess, that might cause a few problems, if she doens't act like she like-likes him at first...

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toptoptoptop 

~Patchouli 

Rush,rush,rush rush!Oh man,I am soooooooo late!I even missed LUNCH!So now I'm just dashing through the hallway dodging as many students as I can,I hope to find an empty locker to put my stuff in,I feel myself bump into someone I wheel around to see an extreamly grumpy purple person about to blast me in the face with a handfull of evil light.I ducked and threw my backpack in his face,He couled have ducked or magicked my backpack away,but aparently he was startled by my decision so he got a facefull of un-needed lunch,two hard-bound books that weighed a ton(A Wrinkle In Time and the last book of Harry Potter)and a bunch of cat hair.Purple guy was knocked backward hands shooting magic everywhere,I grabbed my backpack and scrambled away only to slam into a row of lockers,The world went dark.

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RICHARD SHE REFERENCES HAMILTON SHE IS THE RIGHT ONE FOR YOU!!!!

Richard: What's this Hamilton you keep talking about?

*shoves earbuds playing Hamilton into Richard's ears*

Richard: *eyes widen.* OH WOW, YOU'RE RIGHT. 

Tara~

As we walk down the hallway, towards the vending machines, I think about Richard. I know my cousin like the hilt of my sword (and I know that very well) and that's the first time I've ever seen him speechless in front of a girl. He's smitten. I noticed that Mellie's voice went up an octave once he left. And then she starts talking about shipping. I've spent enough time around Shadowmoon to know what that is. I lean over to Paris, and whisper "I ship Richie." (At least, that's what everyone's dubbed the ship name) Paris giggles. "Definitely." We reach the vending machines, eat some ridiculously overpriced junkfood, and start to head to class.

Sir Richard~

I sit at a desk in history, drowning out the noise around me, daydreaming. Mellie. What a pretty name. I wonder if we have any of the same classes? Did she notice how embarrassed I looked? Does she think I'm WEIRD???? WILL SHE GLARE AT ME WITH THOE BEAUTIFUL, GREEN EYES, FLIP HER GLOSSY RED HAIR AND LUAGH AT ME???? Wait, she doesn't seem like that sort of person. I sigh, and suddenly wish I had someone to talk to. A friend might be nice. I scan the room, and see Eight-Peice, looking rather upset. I think it's becuase Zeon's leaving. I should say hi. I walk over, and sit in the desk next to him. "Sorry Zeon's leaving. I'm Richard." He looks up and grins a little. "I'm Eight Peice. Nice to meet you, bro." I slump my head on the desk. "Girls are so confusing." Eight Peice smiles. "Tell me about it." 

8-Piece

~~

I feel like a cloud is hanging over me. I just found out Zeon and Quill are moving, only having been at the school for a week or two. I wonder how my brother's taking it. He won't admit it, but I think he kinda likes Quill. I sigh and put my head on my desk, morose. Suddenly, I pick up footsteps nearing me. Jerking my head up, I see a taller boy with tousled golden hair approaching me.

"Hi," he says, holding out his hand. "Sorry to hear Zeon's leaving. I'm Richard." I take his hand and shake it, brightening a little. I always love making new friends.

"8-Piece," I reply, and he smiles. Quickly it fades, though, as a girl with bouncy orange curls and cat ears. Her name's Mellie. She's in my algebra class. Mellie skips across the room, plunking herself in a seat a few row diagonal to Richard's. She's talkin' with somone, and pretending not to notice Richard. When he tentativly waves, her face blushes red and she turns to her friend, giggling. Richard slumps on his desk, he groans.

"Girls are so confusing," he moans. I chuckle, remembering the awkwardness I felt around Hemin.

"Tell me about it," I say. "Who's the girl in question? No, wait, let me guess... Mellie?" He flushes deeply, blue eyes darting to her. It seems she hadn't heard... I laugh quietly, grinning. Then Mei calls the class to attention and begins the lesson. It's about fractals and infinte numbers. Pretty interesting for math. I sneak a glance at Hemin, whoe hand just shot up again. Her eyes are shining as she breathlessly gives the corret answer and earns a nod from Mei. I turn back to my worksheet, smiling. 

Sorry, I haven't posted in a while! Just been stressed out with stuff, busy with writing again, and losing motivation with this. Sort of.

Quill~

We are leaving. How else can I put this? I stayed up late one night writing, and a song came back to my head. Hello by Adele. I've grown... quite fond of MewFour. Really fond, in fact. And I was crying over leaving. I just joined this school, made new friends, and... a crush, just to leave. So what would a logical, yet heart-broken girl do? Write a farewell song to her crush. Because, thinking over it, he'll learn you like him, but you won't have to be embarrassed. Why? Because it is a farewell song, meaning you won't be around to see his reaction.

False.

It all went like this... an embarrassing moment:

~ 

I find myself heading to my locker to gather books for Science. Coincidently? MewFour's locker is just two away from mine. No one's nearby, so I slip the Hello farewell-parody into the vents of his locker. We might have locks, but they still have vents... perfect for messages - or songs. Turning a shade of deep red, I quickly fumble with my lock and grab my Science books.

"HEY SIS!"

Why, Zeon? Why must you come find me now?

"Guess what I found!" Zeon says, eyes brightening. "You'll never believe it."

"Never believe it," I say, skeptical. "Is it another frozen locker? A new crush?"

My brother gives me a hurt look before shaking his head. He's stuck on his home crush, Arwen, even though she doesn't go to this school. It almost makes me feel bad for him.

"Just come and look, Quill. Don't be a MewFour."

"W-What do you mean by that?" I ask, stammering.

"Don't act dumb, only noobs do that."

Again with his gaming tags and thinking.

"I'm not a... whatever you called me. Now if you don't mind, I don't want to be late to-"

"It's in Science."

This catches my attention. I race off with Zeon to our class right as the bell rings. The teacher stares at us, grinning and shakes their head. At least... It isn't the teacher. It's MP.

"What on earth-" I start.

"Well, the teacher called in "sick" as in, tired of us probably. MP took charge," Zeon says, excited. He walks up and gives Masked Piester a high five. "Bro, how's it going?"

They go into a gaming and pie discussion at the teacher's desk while I take my seat in my own desk. I feel so out of place. After my "fight" with Frosty over his bullying MewFour, no one really takes me serious. Besides my few friends. Us nerdy kids are seated while everyone else wanders around the classroom chatting.

Hemin is furiously writing something on the paper, but I have no clue what. I rest my head on the back of my seat and look at the ceiling. A little fly wanders too close to the lights and crumples to the ground, fried.

Something lands in my hands, light as a feather. Looking down, I find a note from Hemin. Glancing to the side, she shoots me a quick smile before returning to reading her textbook - five chapters ahead of most. Gently, my fingers slip on the paper's edge and open to reveal the note.

A little owl's been telling me who is fancying you. ~ Hemin

Fancying me? Who? I glance at Hemin again with a questioning look and she mouths MewFour.

I stand up and drag her to a secluded corner in the room. Usually I wouldn't do this, but with MP as the teacher, I don't mind as much. And no one will here us over their own discussions.

"Who is this owl, and what do you mean, MewFour?" I ask quietly.

"Well..." Hemin blushes. "I've been spending some time with 8-Piece and he's been talking about Nougat and MewFour. He says violet boy won't stop talking about you. He won't in public, but MewFour starts to ramble on to himself in his sleep, or while working on homework and 8-Piece always "overhears". In other words, he's been eavesdropping."

"You like 8-Piece?" I ask, grinning.

Hemin turns red, but doesn't shake her head.

"It doesn't matter, don't change the subject. Do you like MewFour?" Hemin asks.

I think back to the letter and silently curse myself. What if we don't end up leaving? What if MewFour reads the song sooner than later? I cringe. Then everybody will know while I'm still here.

"Is it really that obvious?" I ask, avoiding the question directly.

"Indeed. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them," Hemin quotes.

"That isn't even relevant, Hemin!" 

"It is if you think of it in terms of staring at each other during classes and fighting others for one another... What else? Oh yes, writing love letters to one another," Hemin says, eyes brightening. 

My mouth drops open in shock.

"Stop gaping at me! I saw what you did, earlier. I was heading to the library and saw you slip the note in his locker."

"I... It wasn't a love note," I say. "I was telling him goodbye, since I'm leaving."

"Mhm."

MP calls everyone into order at that moment, a mischievous grin on his face.

"I'm going to teach you something today, students. The science of making pies!"

Only Masked Piester would think of such a thing.

"Courtesy of the idea goes to Zeon, of course."

And my brother.

We spend the rest of class making pies with MP and Zeon's supervision.