The same thing happened every single day.
Everyday, Theodore would leave his fourth period AP European History class with his best friend, William, dutifully by his side.
Everyday, exactly just as Theodore would make a turn down the hallways at 12:16, a girl with light blond hair would come up and hug him before leaving, lost in the crowd of high school students.
At first, his friends teased him about it, but then it later became an everyday thing that they no longer even paid attention to it.
He had learned after two weeks, that her name was Julia, a freshman, from his best friend, who was the Student Council President.
She surprised him immensely when she popped out of nowhere and hugged him the first day of school. He was used to it by the end of the week.
He would see her around campus, but she would always look away when he made eye contact with her. The two never spoke.
Theodore Bystrom sighed, blowing some stray bangs of his auburn hair out of his face. His amber eyes scanned the quiet room as the teacher lectured and the other students typed their notes swiftly and diligently.
"What's up?" William asked, noticing his best friend wasn't typing notes.
"I dunno," Theodore shrugged, placing his hands on his laptop. He began to type whatever the teacher was saying, making a note to edit his notes later. "I just feel like today's gonna be different or something."
"Would this have to do with a blonde, blue-eyed freshman?" William teased lightly, smirking softly when Theodore scoffed in response.
"She's a freshman," Theodore brushed off, knowing it was a lame excuse.
"That's a lame excuse, and you know it," William rolled his chocolate-shaded eyes. 'The two have never talked before, but there was some obvious chemistry between them. Dear Lord, my best friend is an idiot sometimes.' He scoffed when Theodore pretended to be completely absorbed in the lesson.
"Theodore?" a soft, feminine voice asked from beside him.
The senior turned to the source of whoever called for him. He recognized her as Christina, a fellow senior. They've shared many classes together before for the past four years, but he never really paid attention to her.
"… Can I talk with you…? Alone?" She turned to look at William.
"Don't mind me," William shrugged. "I'll pack up for you, too."
"Thanks man," Theodore nodded, before walking out of the room with them. The auburn haired boy couldn't help but notice it was almost 12:16.
Stepping out of the room, he noticed the bunch of his rustling through the hallways, trying to fight to get from one end to another end of the school.
"How can I say this?" Christina asked, looking down at her feet. Strands of her long blond hair fell to frame her face as she did so.
'It's not a soft color like Julia's… And her eyes are a darker blue.' Theodore found himself thinking. 'What? No! Oh God that's weird! Wait. She's speaking.'
"-out with me."
"Pardon?"
Christina took a heavy sigh, breathing in before exhaling. "I was wondering if you could go out with me… I've liked you since freshman year, when we had biology together…"
"Oh…"
Julia Vukoja smiled happily, twirling her pencil in her hands as she listened to the teacher. The short, brief minutes after the bell rang for lunch were always her highlight of the day. It was 12:13 right now. Just three more minutes before she'd see him again.
"You should just talk to him," Silver suggested from beside me. Julia glanced at the friend she had met this year.
Ironically enough, he was Theodore's younger brother, Silvester, but he'll punch anyone who calls him that. He looked like a carbon copy of his older brother. The only difference was that he had grey, almost silver, eyes and was a few inches shorter.
To Julia though, there were plenty of differences. She could see their jaws, body shape, and personalities were different. While the two were both social, she could tell Theodore had more acquaintances as opposed to friends.
The bell let out a shrill ring, snapping Julia out of her thoughts. She quickly gathered her books, slipping them into her bag before leaving the room, with Silver on her heels.
She walked to the direction of Theodore's AP European History class and her locker. It didn't take her long to find him; he was over six feet tall. However, instead of being with William like he usually was, he was with a tall blond.
"I was wondering if you'd go out with me," the pretty blond ended, looking up at the boy.
He was looking down at her with a gazed look on his face. He snapped out of whatever he was thinking and asked, "Pardon?"
The beautiful sighed after taking a deep breath. "I was wondering if you could go out with me… I've liked you since freshman year, when we had biology together…"
"Jules…" Silver said from beside her. He had overheard the conversation as well.
"Let's go," Julia smiled weakly, taking her books from Silver. She went over to her locker she shared with him, opening the lock. She slipped their books in the metal container before closing and locking it.
Silver glanced at his brother one more time, who was now joined by William. The grey eyed boy glanced at Julia before he pulled her to him. "Let's go," he repeated, walking off with Julia under his arms.
"Sorry, you guys still aren't done?" William asked, stepping outside the history classroom. Theodore and Christina were taking awfully long.
"Thanks," Theodore took his backpack from his best friend's hands.
William spotted a familiar head of blond and an auburn one next to it. He was going to say something, but then the auburn-haired one took the blond into his arms.
'Silver and Julia?' William raised an eyebrow curiously at the sight. The senior watched the two freshmen walk off, with Silver's arm slung over Julia's shoulders.
"Uh, Christina," Theodore finally addressed, snapping William away from the fading sight of the two freshmen. "Sorry, but… I can't go out with you."
"Oh," Christina's crystal blue eyes dropped. "O-okay. Well, I'll uh… see you around then." Christina rushed off before Theodore could say anything else.
"She asked you out?" William inquired. He shoved his hands in his pockets.
Theodore nodded, before looking around. "… Is she absent today?"
It didn't take a genius to know who he was talking about. "No. I saw her around campus today," William semi-lied. It was best to let these two work it out by themselves.
"Oh," Theodore muttered. He slung his backpack over his right shoulder. "Whatever."
She didn't hug him the next day.
She didn't come the next day either.
Theodore didn't like the feeling he was feeling. 'It's been three days,' he pondered.
William glanced at his friend beside him. The auburn-haired boy was gazing intently at the clock. 12:15.
'She hasn't shown up for three days already,' William pondered. 'I saw her this morning with Silver, maybe she was absent for the past three days. No… I saw her walk away with Silver.'
The bell snapped him out of his thoughts, making him glance up. Theodore waited patiently as William packed up his own stuff, before stepping out of the room together.
William noticed Theodore's amber orbs dart to the right, looking for the sight of a familiar blond. When he saw none, Theodore continued to look forward, like he was expecting nothing.
William spotted tuffs of blond hair and right beside her, he could see Silver's face. Silver's mouth was moving, signaling he was talking to her. His free left hand moved in gestures as he talked while he carried a history book in his right hand.
William was confused. Silver had history second period. Why would he have his history book now?
Julia stopped and opened her locker and took the book out of Silver's hands. William's face flashed in realization. 'Ah.'
"William?" Theodore's voice chimed, making the said boy divert his attention to his best friend.
"What?"
"You just stopped walking," Theodore pointed out. "What's wrong?"
William took one last look at Silver and Julia before turning back to Theodore. "It's nothing."
Theodore looked to where William's attention was. When he spotted his brother, he opened his mouth to call him before he realized who his brother was with.
The senior found it extremely difficult to swallow his saliva. He opened his mouth dumbly before closing it. He turned on his heel. "C'mon," Theodore choked out. He cleared his throat before continuing, "I want to get some lunch today."
William pursed his lips to avoid making a snarky comment. He wanted to whack his best friend over the head. 'You idiot!' William scolded in his mind. "'Kay," William replied out loud before jogging to catch up to Theodore.
Julia's ocean eyes looked at the retreating backs of the two seniors. Her eyes briefly glanced at the back of the black haired boy. Her eyes then turned to her best friend's brother's back.
"You done?" Silver asked, closing his locker, which was next to Julia's.
Julia turned back to Silver before nodding. "Yeah."
Julia walked with Silver to the cafeteria to get lunch before exiting the building. The sunlight blinded Julia temporarily like it always did, but when her eyes got used to the rays, she scanned the free area.
Students were lounged around in various places on the green grass. Friends were chatting, some were playing music, and couples were kissing.
Theodore immediately spotted Julia as soon as she entered the clear, outside area. William was beside him, chatting about something but all focus he had on the conversation earlier was now on Julia.
Theodore leered over to the male that was beside her. His younger brother, Silver, was beside him. 'Silver knows Julia?'
"Yeah, you didn't know that?" William replied, hearing Theodore's thought.
"What?"
"Silver knows Julia," William addressed. "You asked if he knew her. Yeah, they do. I see them around school a lot. There have been rumors about them going out, but I think they're just best friends."
"Oh," Theodore lamely answered. "Best… friends?" He wondered why Silver hadn't told him anything about it. But then again, since entering high school, Silver hadn't had a long conversation with him.
His eyes followed the two freshmen figures, which were now walking to a group that he recognized was the varsity cross country team. Theodore and William were on the varsity basketball team, but Silver realized that running was his forte. Silver was the only freshman on varsity; Theodore knew that much.
Theodore realized that he knew nothing about the female blond. "Is Julia in any sport?" he turned to William.
The black haired boy raised an eyebrow in question. "What? You don't see Julia practicing with the girls during practice? She's on JV Girls' Basketball. She's as good as varsity though, but there isn't any more room and the coach doesn't want to cut anyone."
Theodore stared blankly, before turning to William. "Are you serious?"
William took a sip of his Gatorade. "Yeah. See for yourself later at practice."
So it was true. Julia was in JV Girls' Basketball.
"Bystrom, eyes open!" the coach's voice snapped Theodore out of his glancing. Theodore caught the ball just in time before it hit his face.
Theodore shook his head before dribbling the ball to the net, avoiding an opponent before passing the ball to William, who waved his hands.
William feinted shooting before tossing it to Theodore and the latter threw the ball in, ending the practice match. The coach blew his whistle, declaring Theodore and his team the win before they were split into different groups to have another practice game.
A ball came rolling to Theodore's feet and he bent down to pick it up.
"Sorry!" a female voice exclaimed. Theodore looked up to see Julia jogging towards him. She took the ball from his hands. "Thanks," she smiled up at him before running back to the girls' court.
Staring at her back, Theodore realized he knew nothing about Julia Vukoja. He only realized he knew her last name because it was on the back of her jersey.
Theodore brisk walked over to William, who was at the break table, drinking water. William noticed Theodore walking and took the plastic bottle away from his pink lips.
"Tell me what you know about Julia Vukoja," Theodore demanded, knowing William was bound to have information on her.
William cocked an eyebrow, the corner of his lips twitching. 'So, he finally decides to make his move, huh?' "I'll see what I can find."
Julia Vukoja. Fifteen years old. She stands at 5'5" and weighs 100 pounds. She has all honors classes and shares four of six classes with Silver. The only differences were math and history; second and fifth period respectively.
Theodore could recite that much and more about her. He found it to be stalker-ish of himself, but he paid no heed to it.
He didn't understand why he wanted to know more about her. It bothered him how much she was constantly on his mind. He had gotten a B on his Calculus test because Julia stepped into the room to deliver papers to his teacher.
Just what about her made her so interesting to him?
Theodore sauntered around the school grounds. William had a meeting, so Theodore was alone for lunch.
He walked along the concrete, feet tapping against it. He spotted the girl that filled his thoughts, talking to his brother again. Theodore wondered how he never realized Silver was always with her.
The two exchanged words before Julia squealed happily, attacking the boy with a hug. Silver laughed and wrapped his arms around the girl's waist.
Theodore's face turned into a scowl as he watched the exchange. He was jealous, wasn't he? He watched the two break away and Julia give a kiss onto his brother's cheek.
Silver smiled, ruffled the girl's hair, before turning on his heel and leaving. Julia watched Silver's back as he walked away and only turned around when he was out of sight.
Julia began to walk away, and Theodore's body reacted before he could process what was happening.
Theodore jogged after the girl before she was lost in the crowd and once he caught up to her, he wrapped his arms around her.
Julia let out a shocked gasp. She was going to demand her assailant to release her. That is, until she realized who it was.
Theodore's knees shook as he held her close to him. No words were spoken. No words were needed.
William watched the scene unfold a few feet away inside a classroom. Silver stepped into the room and took a seat next to him.
William turned to the younger boy. The latter's eyes were bright and had a satisfied look on it. "You planned this, didn't you?" William asked, propping his hand under his chin. "When?"
"When I saw Christina with Theodore, I saw it. I dunno how to explain it. It was just a feeling. I just couldn't imagine Christina with my brother. The only person I saw with him now and even in the future, was Julia. Only them."
William looked out the door again, now seeing Theodore and Julia walk away, hand-in-hand. "Only them, huh?"