The Begining

She ran out of his house, a faint blush evident on her face. Who wouldn't be after what had happened? One of her childhood friends who was also the first guy she had liked, had hugged her and told her that she really mattered to him. She ran towards her house and went into her room. As she locked her room and sat down, memories flooded in.

They had first met when she was five years old. At first, they didn't know each other but soon they became best friends. She was seven when unknowingly,she lost her first kiss to him. It was a dare and they were too young to know. When she had won her awards, he was there. She had always felt safe around him. When she was fourteen, her studies increased and they couldn't meet for four months. The next time she met him, he was a playboy. And why not? He was blessed with good looks. Slowly, she had started developing feelings for him. She was fifteen when she realised that she really loved him. She, however, didn't tell him because she didn't want to ruin their friendship. Every time they met, he would tell her about his past dates and at times, would flirt with her. She could clearly recall the time when he had asked her if she would reject him if he proposed. She would blush and behave like a typical teenage girl when she talked about him.

"Come on, Seraphina. It's time for the party."called her mother, bringing her back to reality. Seraphina dressed up and went to the party. She was determined to confess to him that day. At the party, as she was going towards him, she heard someone ask," Adrian, who's that special girl in your life?" "Her name's Sasha."answered Adrian. Seraphina was sad but then she remembered her best friend, Sean's words"If you love someone, let them go. If they come back, they are yours. If they don't , they never were."A tear slid down Seraphina's cheek as the memories of their first meeting came rushing back to her.

Flashback:

Seraphina and her family had just moved to Chicago from Farmington Hills because her father had been transferred to the company's head office there. Seraphina terribly missed Farmington Hills because it was the place she was born in and she had become terribly attached to the place.

On weekends, she would go to the local market with her mother and in summers, she would go to the nearby lake with all her friends and splash around in the water. During Halloween, she would go trick or treating with all her friends to the nearby houses,especially to Mrs Brown's. She was a dear old lady who loved kids but due to complications, could never conceive any. Thus, she bestowed her love upon every kid of the locality.

Chicago, however, would be different. For one, it was a proper city, not a suburb and that majorly meant a busier and time bound lifestyle. There was nobody she knew in Chicago and as a shy child, Seraphina knew that she would have a tough time finding friends in the city. She had gotten an admission in Mount Christ High School, one of the most prestigious institutions of the city and she was to attend the school from the next day. After offering her prayers, she went to sleep that night, hoping that her first day at school would be a memorable one and she would find a friend in Chicago.

The next morning, Seraphina woke up, both enthusiastic as well as nervous, enthusiastic because she was looking forward to going to her new school and nervous because she had heard stories of how mean and arrogant city people could be and she was sure that she did not want to experience it first hand at anytime in the near future. Wearing her favourite Pokémon Tshirt with shorts, she went downstairs to grab herself some breakfast before the school bus arrived. After having her favourite pancakes made by her mother, Seraphina patiently waited for the school bus with her mother at the pickup point. When the bus arrived, her mother bid her bye and told her,"Be good and make friends". The bus ride to Mount Christ High School was quite uneventful barring the usual chatter of the other children and Seraphina felt quite comfortable since she did not have to sit through an uncomfortable silence.

The bus came to a stop and everybody rushed out of the bus. Seraphina tried to navigate her way through the corridors of her school. After getting her schedule from the school office, she was on her way to her classroom when she saw a commotion in the hallways. When she inquired about it from a girl standing nearby, she said,"You must be new here. This is a pretty normal thing here. Those boys you see there, they're Ethan and his gang. They're the seniors here so they can get away with harassing us juniors. Everyday, it's a different junior. There's nothing we can do to stop it cause they are our seniors." "This was the bullying that Mrs Brown was talking about," thought Seraphina. Though everyone had been telling her to not meddle with Ethan and his gang, Seraphina, even at the age of five, knew that bullying was bad and not justified at all. She wanted to save the poor student who was currently the victim, from Ethan at any cost. She however knew that Ethan would not listen to her if she told him to stop. Thus, she excused herself from the scene and went in search of someone who could help her. As luck would have it, she found Mr Macao, the Principal of Mount Christ High School on his rounds in the school premises. She explained the entire situation to him and requested him to accompany her to the hallway. As Ethan was insulting the young boy, a loud voice resonated in the hallway, "Ethan Rogers, Daniel Cooper and Trevor Sanders, in my office, RIGHT NOW ". Ethan, Daniel and Trevor paled instantly and followed Mr Macao to his cabin, all the while apologizing incessantly. The other students too, started dispersing from the hallway and the only people who remained in the hallway now, were Seraphina and the boy. The boy hurriedly began picking up his books that were scattered across him and Seraphina started helping him in gathering them. When Seraphina got a good look at him, she saw that he was a boy approximately her age, fair complexioned, raven haired with black eyes, which appeared to be red since he had been crying.

"Thank you so much for saving me today", said the boy. "No problem. I'm Seraphina, by the way", said Seraphina. The boy replied, holding out his hand, a wide smile on his face now, making dimples appear on his cheeks and his eyes twinkle

"Hi, I'm Adrian."

A/N: Thanks for reading my story, I love you guys 😊