Beauty of youth

The autumn breeze swept across the schoolyard, carrying with it the faint scent of fallen leaves and chalk dust. Emma sat at her usual spot by the library window, watching the world beyond the glass. Students rushed past in groups, their laughter echoing across the courtyard, but she always felt slightly apart, as if observing from a distance.

That was, until today.

As she flipped through the pages of her book, a voice interrupted her quiet sanctuary. "Mind if I sit here?"

She glanced up, her heart skipping a beat. It was Lucas, the boy who sat two rows behind her in history class. He wasn’t just another face in the crowd—there was something different about him, something that had quietly caught her attention over the past few weeks.

"Sure," she replied, her voice steadier than she felt. He slid into the seat across from her, and for a moment, the library seemed smaller, more intimate, as if it had shrunk to just the two of them.

Please continue