The bell rang signaling that homeroom was finally over.

Only seven more classes and it'll all be over, I thought.

Keeping my head down, I quickly slung my backpack over my right shoulder and hurried out of the classroom. Or, at least I tried to hurry out of the classroom.

"Hey, you! Katy? That's your name right?", someone had called.

It was him. Max. My breathing quickened and I could sense my body starting to shake from head to toe. Every muscle in my body was tense and I knew that any word that came out of my mouth would be interrupted by deep, sharp breaths. Slowly, I turned around, scanning the room for him. My eyes locked with his and it was as if I had known him for all my life. I felt a deep connection to him but how could that be? I had never seen him before.

"You, um, left your pencil here...I don't know if you want it or not...I just thought I'd ask...", he said shyly. He looked down at the floor and mumbled, "I'm sorry...that was stupid...".

I didn't remember taking a pencil out of my bag. Maybe I had but I just didn't remember? Either way, I quickly walked over to him, keeping my eyes glued to the floor when BAM! As I rounded the corner to make my way down the aisle of desks my ankle locked around the desk and I fell forward banging my head on another one of the desks.

Grunting, I slowly tried to lift my head to look around and see who had watched me trip and fall. Besides Max, the only other person in the room was Mrs. Alberts who seemed unfazed by the incident.

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh. My. GOSH. Are you okay? You hit your head pretty hard. Maybe I should take you to the nurse...or you could get someone else to take you I mean if you don't want me to...?", he quickly blurted out.

I did NOT just trip and fall in front of him and I certainly did not want him to have to take me to the nurse. I wasn't sure I could get there without tripping and falling again though and I didn't have any other friends. Not that Max was my friend. Just an acquaintance. Right?

"Um...sure I guess if you want to," I said, my face burning up.

"Okay! I mean, yea..sure..if you need some help...you'll have to tell me where we're going though. I don't know my way around here yet," he said as he held out his hand for me to take.

I grabbed his hand. It was soft and warm and I never wanted to let go. Using the strength I had left I tried to pull myself up but fell back down. As I fell he reached down and wrapped his arm around my waist. He let go of my hand and scooped me up into bridal position. I rested my head softly against his chest, my arms wrapped around his neck.

"Mrs. Alberts, I'm going to take her to the nurse and we can come back for our backpacks later", he informed our teacher.

She just smiled and nodded.