Amabelle had never been an A-grade student. She'd narrowly passed high school, and although she had the first exam of her first semester of college on January 11, she had spent the night before, and the night before that, up late drawing up plans, that were as detailed as much as they were impractical, to find each of her friends the perfect life partner. This is because, as bad as a student, there was something Amabelle applied herself to with perseverance and decision: acting as a matchmaker.

Her career began at the tender age of eight, when she helped her best friend at the time get together with the boy she had liked. Of course, they broke up after three days and immediately after he had tried to get together with Amabelle herself, but she was little then, it was only the beginning of her career, which then continued with many small pieces of advice to her often unsuccessful classmates that were given with a lot of love.

Her first real success came at the age of thirteen, when she helped her father win over his now-new wife. The plan had worked all too well, as he was now so in love that he wrote to his daughter only occasionally, and they saw each other once or twice a year.

The price of true love, after all…or maybe not.

She had tried in vain to set up her mother with her neighbor, Mr. Sleefing, the widowed father of Denny and Max, but she had had no success.

This time, however, she was more determined than ever to stick to her resolution, at the cost of failing every class of the semester. Her dreams of getting into the movie business, after all, came second to making the world a more romantic place, and her friends happier. That was the real purpose of her life.

The result of her sleepless nights, however, at the moment was only the presence of two deep dark circles and an awareness of her surroundings that was almost non-existent.

But she had a plan for Clover, a plan she would begin to implement that day, at lunchtime.

Provided that Diego agreed to come.

Diego Flores Fierro, 24 years old. Nice and very sarcastic boy. Amabelle had met him at the beginning of the semester, in October, desperately looking for the right room for her very first class. She later discovered that she had entered the wrong building and had inadvertently gone to medicine instead of film studies. She'd missed her first class, but gained a friend. And this was a more than satisfactory result.

Before the holidays she had planned to add him to the group, and since he was single and an excellent match for Clover, the girl had found it advisable to hurry things up and have him integrated as soon as possible.

For this reason, even though they were theoretically still on vacation, she had organized a study session in the library as an excuse to talk to him, and thank goodness he had returned to the city the day before, since his family lived not far from there, in a town a few hours away.

Arriving at the meeting place, Diego welcomed her, chucking to himself.

“You look like a zombie, did you call me to infect me with some strange virus?” he asked, taking a step back and covering his face with his scarf, emphatically.

“Nah, you wouldn't be my first choice of contagion. I'd adopt rats, let them bite me, and then I'd distribute them throughout the city, so as to infect as many people as possible” Amabelle explained practically, yawning loudly.

“I don't know if I'm more admired or worried” Diego looked at her, surprised by the promptness of her mental reflexes.

"Anyway, I only got very little sleep," she explained, stretching.

“Studying?”

“Kind of. Listen, are you free for lunch?” she asked then, smiling coquettishly.

“I think so. Why, any interesting plan on the horizon?” Diego inclined his head, interested.

“Yup. Since you are a traitor to the country and always go to the Quatrefoil Bar, I thought I could finally educate you and invite you to lunch at the Corona Café. And introduce you to my group, at last” she explained, looking at him with puppy eyes.

“Wow, I didn't expect the moment to come so soon. What an honor. I don't know how much better it is than the Quatrefoil, but I think I can give the Corona a chance. What time?” Diego agreed, shrugging his shoulders.

Amabelle's smile widened so much that her cheeks hurt.

“Half past noon. It will be great! I'm sure you'll really get along with Felix, Max… Clo” Amabelle said the last name in a low voice, to herself and trying not to betray a mischievous gaze.

She was so busy thinking about the two guys together that she didn't even realize the dark expression that had formed on the boy's face upon hearing that name.

However, he made no comments, and let the girl talk nonsense, waiting for her to stop her frenzy.

The news seemed to have completely energized her, as if it had injected a barrel of coffee straight into her vein.

“Oh, but I'm talking too much” she realized after a couple of minutes of babbling, and turned back to her companion, who in the meantime had sat down on a low wall and was looking at her amused, with his nose red from the cold “Should we enter the library?” she proposed, returning to the unofficial reason why she had called him there.

“Sounds like a good plan” he agreed, getting up and brushing the snow from his pants.

“Out of curiosity... do you have a resolution for the new year?” Amabelle then asked her friend, as they started walking towards the building, next to the university.

“To tell the truth, I didn't think about it” he admitted thoughtfully, opening the door of the building to let her in, like the gentleman he was.

“Actually there is something I would like to do” he added then, after a few meters.

“Shoot, I'm all ears” she encouraged him, curious.

“Well, it's nothing special. In short, since I got back I’ve wanted to see someone again, but I'm not entirely sure it's a good idea” he admitted, playing with the piercing on his eyebrow.

Amabelle had discovered, in those months of knowing each other, that Diego had grown up there and then his parents had moved away when he was little. She didn't think he still had any connections. It could be a problem for her plan.

“A girl you have a crush on?” she supposed, trying not to be too intrusive but dying of curiosity.

“Oh, no! Absolutely not! I'll be damned if I ever have a crush on this person!” Diego exclaimed, wrinkling his nose.

Amabelle breathed a mental sigh of relief.

“I understand the situation. Well, if you ever decide to confront this person and need some support, don't hesitate to ask. My friends and I have an ongoing challenge where everyone has a resolution to achieve by the end of the year” she explained, proudly.

“Which one is yours?” asked Diego, as they sat down in their usual place in the library and pulled out their respective books. The difference between the theater history textbook and the seven hundred-pages medical compendiums was obvious, but neither had ever commented on it.

“Let's say… help my friends not to be alone anymore, if you know what I mean” she winked at him.

Diego understood and chuckled.

“Very unique. Am I included among these friends?” he asked, out of curiosity.

“If you join the Corona Crew, definitely. Otherwise, there are still good chances” she confessed, in a serious tone, while looking for the page where she had stopped her study.

“My mother would adore you, then. She's been asking me to settle down with someone for years” Diego complained, doing the same with two tomes.

“Silence in the library!” came the stern warning from the next section, making them jump.

“Well, let's get to work” Diego changed the subject, pointing to the books.

Amabelle nodded to him, and they both began to study.