it was a rather breezy wednesday in march when the two met.
teddy was just going about her daily business as a freshman at beacon hills high school.
the fourteen year old had her books clutched right to her chest, her gaze not moving from the tiled floor.
some people called teddy shy, the exact opposite from her brave, popular, jock brother, but in reality, she just hadn't found her place.
teddy liked her brother's friends enough, but she felt like a tag-a-long and a kid when she was with them, so, for the most part, she stayed in only her own company.
><
it was teddy's first day back after spring break, and still, she wandered the corridors, alone as ever.
but, this time, something was different.
she wasn't the only person alone.
a boy with dirty blonde hair and startling blue eyes was stood alone, his books under his arm.
he looked around nervously, scratching the back of his head with the arm holding the books, so, quite blatantly, he dropped them.
the boy blushed, scooping up the books quickly, his eyes flitting to see if anyone saw.
teddy felt a pang of sympathy for the boy, so decided not to look his way.
instead, she made her way to history.
><
on her way, teddy caught sight of her brother and his friends.
"teddy!" her brother called, gesturing her to come over to him and the group of teenagers.
teddy made her way over.
scott and his friends were the only people teddy felt even vaguely comfortable around at the school.
probably because they were the only people 'weirder' than her.
if you could describe werewolves and banshees as 'weird'.
teddy would have chosen a word more closely connotated with 'terrifying'.
teddy arrived to the space by her brother.
"scott."
"you okay?" he asked.
teddy nodded slowly.
"what do you want?."
"just checking up on my favourite sister."
teddy scoffed at her brother.
"i'm your only sister."
"still."
scott sighed at his younger sister.
"what do you want?"
teddy repeated.
teddy knew scott, and she knew if he called on her, he wanted something.
"did you pick up my ap biology text book by any chance?"
teddy looked up to meet scott's hopeful eyes.
he was quite a bit taller than her, maybe a foot or so, but teddy still stood up to him.
"yes."
she sighed, pulling out from the pile clutched to her chest.
"thankyou so much."
scott beamed, causing a smile to play on teddy's own lips.
"it's nothing."
"where would you be without teddy?"
lydia sighed as the group walked away, leaving teddy alone.
teddy chuckled, knowing just how right lydia was.
the bell rung out, causing the row of lockers to teddy's right to shake slightly.
biting her lip as floods of people came towards her, teddy joined the crowd of people to make her way to the history classroom.
><
teddy took her seat on the second row of the classroom, on the left hand side, second from the middle.
no one sat to her right, but one boy sat to her left.
in front of her sat the only person teddy ever spoke to in school other than her brother and his friends.
he was a boy with dark skin, and curly black hair, cropped close to the sides of his head, and longer at the top.
one of his ears adorned a simple silver stud, which stood out against his dark complexion and warm brown eyes.
mason walked into the classroom alone, and sat down in his usual seat, one forward from teddy.
no one usually sat on mason's left, either, and only a shy blonde girl sat to his right, of whom mason didn't speak to.
mason wasn't normally alone though.
he usually hung round with his own freshman posse, steering well away from everyone else, including teddy.
but being alone wasn't mason's style.
teddy guessed that's why mason spoke to her.
"hey, teddy."
mason turned around smiling.
teddy greeted mason and smiled back, but she didn't stay involved in the conversation much longer.
something had caught her eye.
the blonde boy from before— the one who dropped his book— had just walked into the classroom.
the boy looked nervously towards mason with one eyebrow raised, and mason gestures towards the empty seat next to him.
the boy slowly took a seat, looking around like he had done before when teddy saw him.
just as teddy predicted, mason turned around again.
"liam, this is teddy."
the boy, who teddy assumed was liam, stuck out his hand, and teddy shook it cautiously.
for a second, teddy locked eyes with liam, and whatever mason was saying blurred into the background.
"teddy?"
"liam?"
"li!"
finally, mason broke back into the two teenagers worlds, causing them to break eye contact.
"li?"
mason questioned again, and liam spun his head so fast towards mason, teddy could've sworn it could have taken flight.
"s-sorry."
mason chuckled.
"calm it, liam. you kinda lost it there, staring right into teddy's eyes."
liam blushed, and teddy felt her own cheeks grow warm and red.
liam apologised again, but teddy didn't care.
"what was that all about?"
mason asked again in a hushed voice as the two turned back around.
"it was like, love at first light or something."
liam scoffed, hitting masons arm lightly, but he blushed again all the same.
"nah."
"then what was it?"
mason continued to pester.
"nothing, man."
the dark boy grabbed liam's shoulder, forcing him to face him.
"li, seriously."
"uh- she has really nice eyes, okay?"
liam improvised.
mason raised an eyebrow, but turned to face the front of the classroom all the same as the teacher began talking.
liam was, for once, grateful that the lesson had begun.
he couldn't take masons interrogation anymore.
because he knew if mason asked anymore questions, he'd find out that there was some truth in what liam had said.
><
after history, teddy wandered out the door slowly.
she didn't necessarily want to leave, like all the 'normal' students did.
she enjoyed history, and the lessons went by too fast, in her opinion.
this one went by particularly fast, though.
but teddy refused to believe it had anything to do with liam.
her, liam, and mason had spoken a number of times throughout the lesson.
she had noticed that liam too had a particular passion for history, especially greek and roman architecture.
she wasn't too interested in that subject of history, though, if teddy was honest.
it was just buildings.
teddy much preferred the mythology; greek, roman, viking, egyptian.
she also liked kings and queens and emperors and heroes.
she enjoyed, as cruel as it sounds, looking at the mistakes they made.
maybe it was incase if teddy was ever in that position, as unlikely as it may seem, she would know what not to do.
><
teddy wandered the corridors alone, her books still clutched to her chest, until someone called her name.
"teddy!"
there it was again.
it was mason; he was stood with his little posse.
the only one she knew by name other than mason was liam.
teddy hated how all of their eyes were on her as mason paced down the almost-empty corridor towards her.
"teddy!"
teddy bit her lip as mason arrived beside her.
"you okay?"
"yeah, why?"
teddy knew what was coming.
scott had said this a million times.
"well.."
mason looked like he didn't want to say it, even though it was obvious.
teddy raised one eyebrow, egging him on.
mason scratched the back of his neck.
"you're on your own."
"i know."
teddy stated simply.
then, mason did something she didn't expect, and wouldn't expect, from anyone, ever.
"you, you maybe wanna come round with us?"
teddy eyed up the people behind mason.
there was a blonde boy with broad shoulders and a square jaw and blue eyes.
he had his arm around a girl with dark skin, and long dark hair to her waist, who teddy assumed to be the boys girlfriend.
the only other boy there was liam.
making a mental decision, teddy smiled.
"okay."
"oh-okay, good."
mason seemed surprised by teddy's answer.
teddy herself was surprised by her own answer also.
together, mason and teddy made there was towards masons friends.
when they were about a metre away, the blonde boy stepped forwards, offering out his hand.
"garrett."
"teddy."
teddy shook his hand gently, and grinned slightly.
it wasn't until the girl stepped forward that teddy's grin faltered.
she smirked at her, thrusting her hand towards teddy rather aggressively.
"violet."
violet didn't even wait for teddy to shake her hand before retracting it.
girls like her were the reason teddy didn't make friends.
finally, teddy turned to liam, who gave her a reassuring smile.
she found herself walking towards him.
once again, she found herself looking into his baby blue eyes, as he stared back into her warm hazel brown ones.
mason chuckled, shoving liam so the pair broke eye contact.
"we get it, li, she has nice eyes."
><
mason and garrett wouldn't stop joking about teddy's 'beautiful eyes' until the bell rang for next period.
teddy blushed whenever her name was brought up, but violet scowered at the shy girl viciously.
if looks could kill, teddy would've been dead dozens of times.
teddy found out that today was liam's first day, and he had just transferred from devenford prep.
"is it your first day too?"
garrett had asked, his arm wrapped around violet's waist.
"no, people just don't really notice me."
teddy responded truthfully.
violet made a sound that sounded somewhat like a snort, but both liam and mason scowled at her.
garrett pretended not to notice.
eventually, the five went their separate ways to get to lesson.
just before teddy made her way to maths, a familiar voice called out to her.
"teddy?"
it was liam.
"yeah."
she said softly.
"can you show me where the maths room is?"
a smile broke out on teddy's face.
"yeah, that's where i'm headed, too."