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“For all Aries out there, something new and exciting hops your way.”

The radio buzzed softly as a girl stepped out of her house.

The rain poured steadily, the sky sagging under thick grey clouds.

June had arrived, dragging the end of summer with it. Students flooded toward the school gates, voices colliding in bright, restless waves.

Among them walked a tall girl with flame-tipped hair.

Dark as ink until the last few inches burst into orange—like someone had dipped the ends in fire and forgotten to put it out.

She adjusted the strap of her backpack.

“Okay… first year. I’m going to make friends. Real ones. Normal ones.”

“Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Did you know that?”

The voice materialized at her shoulder.

Fiona nearly slipped.

“What—?”

A boy had appeared beside her as if summoned by scientific enthusiasm alone. 

Curly hair misbehaving in every direction. 

Brown eyes bright. 

Too bright.

 He wasn’t even looking at her properly—he was looking at the air, at the idea, at the world inside his head.

********

“Quantum mechanics is insane too,” he continued breathlessly.

 “Like imagine shrinking small enough to watch atoms bounce around. It’d be like an endless disco party of particles!”

Her mouth opened.

Closed.

Opened again.

Their shoulders brushed. Stayed that way.

He didn’t seem to notice.

Around them, a collective groan rose.

“Not again.”

“Why does he always ambush the new kids?”

He kept talking.

Words tumbling. Excited. Untamed.

No one was listening.

Except her.

Fiona studied him for a second.

His grin was wide.

Hopeful.

Too hopeful.

“A disco of particles?” she said carefully.

He froze.

Then his face lit up so suddenly it almost startled her more than the science lecture had.

“You get it,” he breathed. “Finally. Someone gets it.”

He hesitated—just a flicker.

“We’re best friends now.”

He said it like a declaration.

Then, quieter—almost like a question—

“Right?”

Fiona stared at him.

This was not what she meant when she said she wanted normal friends.

“…Wait. WHAT?!”

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