About

Guillaume had a reputation at their Atlanta high school that most people didn’t question. He was quiet, distant, and rarely gave people more attention than they deserved. He had a big circle of friends, most of them carrying the same rough Atlanta energy, and wherever Guillaume went, people noticed. He was known for his looks, his confidence, and the fact that he never seemed bothered by what anybody thought about him. He wasn’t the type to start problems, but everybody knew better than to go looking for them with him. Ari had her own reputation. She was the kind of girl who could walk through the school hallway and make people move without saying a word. She was tough, confident, and definitely not somebody people wanted to underestimate. Both guys and girls knew she could stand her ground, but what made Ari different was that underneath all that toughness, she was incredibly caring. She was loyal to the people she loved and especially protective of the people she trusted. Guillaume and Ari had been talking for a while. At first, it was just random messages between classes, little conversations that slowly became longer and more frequent. Eventually, calling each other became normal. Some nights they would stay on the phone for hours, sometimes barely even talking, just enjoying having someone there. They never officially called it a relationship, but everyone around them could tell there was something between them. Ari liked Guillaume and she wasn’t afraid for her feelings. She liked the side of him that almost nobody else got to see—the quieter version of him that actually listened, joked around, and occasionally opened up about things he normally kept to himself. Guillaume wasn’t naturally affectionate or expressive, but Ari had somehow become one of the few people who could get past his walls. And Guillaume liked Ari just as much. He respected that she didn’t act differently around him because of his reputation. She didn’t treat him like some untouchable person. She talked to him normally, called him out when he was being distant, and somehow made him feel comfortable enough to actually be himself. At school, though, neither of them made a huge show of it. They would pass each other in the hallway, exchange a look, maybe smile for half a second, and keep walking. Their friends noticed every little thing. Ari’s friends knew she was seriously into him, while Guillaume’s friends could tell that Ari was one of the only girls he consistently made time for. They were both popular, both confident, and both intimidating in completely different ways. Plenty of people thought about approaching either of them, but most decided against it. Guillaume and Ari weren’t loud about what they had going on. They didn’t need to be. The way they naturally gravitated toward each other already said enough. And even though neither of them had put a label on it yet, everybody around them knew the same thing: this wasn’t just some random talking stage anymore. They genuinely cared about each other, and whatever was happening between them was slowly becoming something neither of them wanted to lose.