Aria’s POV

The rest of the school day seemed monotonous compared to what happened during lunch and once it was over, Matt and I decided to hang out at my place until it was time for our date.

Once we were in my room, Matt and I laid down on the bed. He slowly wrapped his arms around me and I rested my head against his chest. Physical contact was still hard for me, but I listened to the sound of his heartbeat to keep calm. I hated having Asperger's, it already cost me a mother, I didn’t need it to cost me anything else. He rested his chin on my shoulder and kissed my cheek. Feeling me flinch, he loosened his arms, “You okay?”

I nodded, turning my body around so we were facing each other. “I’m fine, it’s just my stupid Asperger’s.”

He gently my hair, “You know I love you, right? Because I do, I love everything about you.”  

“I know you do, but… you shouldn’t have to constantly check on me.”

He smiled, gently resting his forehead against mine. “But I want to. Don’t worry, I got you.”

“Don’t worry… it’s like you don’t know me at all.” I playfully replied.

He chuckled pressing our bodies a little closer together. “I have a lot of faith in you and I know you can do it. It’s just harder for you than most people to turn it on and off.” He noticed my facial expression drop and pecked my lips lightly. “And there’s nothing wrong with that. A lot of people…-”

“Can we change the subject, please?” I asked cutting him off.

He nodded. “This has been the most interesting/shocking first day of school.”

“Really? More interesting than when you met me for the first time?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Touche, let’s call today the second most interesting/shocking first day of school.”

Small smiles formed on our faces as we thought back to the day we first met.

Narrator’s POV

Flashback

Our favorite group of friends was found at their ‘usual staircase’ when trouble arose coming from across the hallway. The school’s ‘Queen Bees’ began to advance on a new student and had the poor girl cornered against her locker. Naturally, our group of friends rushed over to help her but didn’t expect what they were about to see.

“Hey, Pippi Longstockings, what gives? Do you think you’re too good to talk to us? Just because you got to travel the world with your dad doesn’t give you the right to be a stuck up .”

The new girl didn't even look phased by what just happened. In fact, she looked rather annoyed. Taking a deep breath, she started to explain in a quiet voice. “As I told you earlier today my name is Aria Hunt, not Pippi Longstockings. I have Asperger’s which is a form of Autism and because of it I’m terrible when it comes to social interaction.” She looked Annie (the leader of the ‘Queen Bees) in the eyes and said in a rather assertive voice, “I remember telling you that specifically. So you’re either deaf or selectively stupid, take your pick.”

Annie was red as a lobster, as a crowd started to form around them. One person gasped as couple others cheered Aria on yelling “Yeah! that’s what I’m talking about! Speak the truth, we will not be oppressed by this dictator!”

Annie turned to her group and glared back at Aria, “Your hair is like something a rag doll would wear. And as for your clothes, can we say E Weekly’s worst dressed.”

Aria replied, “Yeah, well at least I don’t dress like a .” More cheers and laughter came from the crowd as our main characters pushed their way through catching up to the center of attention. Mason put his hand on Annie’s shoulder and lightly pushed her aside. “Alright, place your bets here! In this corner, we have our cheeky little mouse, Aria and in the other corner we have, Annie the school’s number one who-...”

Mark put Mason in a light choke hold, “Shut up, we’re trying to not start anything, not help cause it.” Mason put his hands up in surrender and stood straight with a grin on his face.

Suddenly, the science teacher Mr. Cornell and Mr. Sasai the Auto Tech teacher stepped in and broke up the crowd “Everyone, go back to class! Pull up your pants young man, this isn’t the circus!” Mr. Cornell yelled out.

“What is going on here girls? You should be on your way to class.” Mr. Sasai asked with a frustrated look on his face..

Before they’re noticed, our main group of friends tried to make a break for it but unfortunately got caught. “And where do you think you’re going? Why is it when something always happens it’s is always you five?”  asked Mr. Cornell.

“We’ve been asking ourselves the same question, sir,” Riley said quietly.

“This will be a warning for all of you, next time it will be detention.  Now get to class!” Both teachers yelled as they walked off to their classrooms.

Annie turned to look at the boys and bluntly stated, “I don’t look like a , this is what all the women of Paris are wearing.” She looked desperately at her girls and whispered, “I don’t look like a , do I?”

Before anyone could even respond Aria replied, “Is Hamlet tormented by his mother’s uous relationship with his Uncle?”

Annie looked back at her with a confused expression on her face, “Who?”

Aria held her hand over to cover up her laughter. Yeah, you’re a threat… she thought to herself. “Well if you don’t know the answer to that question, I can’t help you.” With that, she simply walked away.

Annie scoffed and walked in the opposite direction with her girls behind her.

Mason saluted goodbye and walked over to the science wing, the girls waved goodbye on their way to the gym, and Matt and Mark made their way toward the mathematics wing. Both felt a rush of adrenaline course through them as they realized Aria was heading in the same direction. Finding themselves attracted to her both rush over for a proper introduction.

“Hey I’m Matt and this is Mark, what you did back there was pretty impressive. Never seen a snob like her get taken down a peg.” He laughed.

Mark chuckled. “Agreed, she’s made a lot of girls suffer and it was nice to see her scramble. You were truly amazing.”

“Thanks.” She paused and stared at them for a moment“My name is Aria. I’m Dr. Hunt’s niece, he told me you guys were nice.”

“Would you like to sit with us and our friends during lunch, we could meet with you by your locker?” Matt asked softly.

“Sure, I’d love to.” And for the first time that day they saw her smile, a real smile, and it was beautiful.

Matt’s POV

From then on Aria became a permanent addition to our little squad. But there was one slight dilemma, Mark and I had both fallen for Aria and to keep a solid friendship, we decided it would be best to let her choose.

Flashback

On her birthday, we all decided to go to the Aquarium knowing that was where she liked to watch the penguins swim by the glass and watch as the caretaker fed them one by one. She was so excited to be there, it was like she was a kid again.

I had gotten her a charm bracelet with different charms of penguins on there. I wrapped it with a penguin wrapping paper and a white bow.

Just before I was going to give her my gift, Mark pulled her aside and gave her his gift, a Pufferfish plushie. I shook my head as soon as I saw his gift. Dude penguins, she loves penguins… I tried not to eavesdrop on them, but I couldn’t help myself.

As he handed her the gift I could see her face fall. “I like penguins, I thought I told you that?”

Mark frowned. “Ummm… no.”

She tilted her head from side to side. “Hmmm… I must’ve told Matt then. Though it’s not really what I wanted, I shall treasure it always. You’re like the brother I’ve always wanted.”

Mark nodded, his face turning red. “Oh, okay. Thanks. I’m just gonna go over by the dolphin tank now. Happy birthday.”

I tried my best to keep my composure and not look him straight in the eye when he walked past me. He whispered “Dude, you could’ve at least told me she liked penguins.” He hit me on the arm semi-soft, and semi on purpose.

I held onto the gift and walked up to her. “I guess it’s my turn, Happy Birthday,” with a huge smile on my face and handed over the gift to her.

She gleamed with joy, I knew she would love the wrapping paper. “It’s so cute! I’m not gonna ruin it.” She slowly unwrapped the gift and opened the box to reveal the bracelet.

I mentioned to her “You know when a male penguin likes a female penguin he finds the shiniest pebble on the beach and gives it to her as a gift. Think about the bracelet as a pebble, it shines bright in the sunlight.”

She looked at me, almost like she was panicking. Oh , she’s freaking out.

“What is this feeling, make it stop, I’m not ready!” I frantically looked around, hoping that no one thought I was trying to steal her ity or anything.

“Just calm down, ready for what? All I’m asking is for you to give us a chance.” As I started to slowly panic myself.

“A chance?” She asked her eyes wide.

I nodded making sure to maintain eye contact. “Yes, an honest to god chance. I don’t care if you’re terrible with social interactions. I don’t care how slow you want to take this. I don’t care that you have Asperger’s, I just want you to give me a chance to make you happy.”

Aria’s POV

“Aren’t you glad that I said yes, instead of doing what I really wanted to do?”

He chuckled. “Well that depends, what did you really want to do?”

I hid my face in the pillow, trying to hide my blush. “Honestly, I wanted to run for the hills and never look back. I was feeling things because of you and it scared the crap out of me.”

He gently placed the hair out of my face. “Then I am glad you said yes because chasing you all the way up a hill would’ve killed me.”

That was the last thing I heard before the alarm went off next to us, damaging my hearing might I add. “And that is the alarm to let us know that it’s time for date night.”

He pulled me up and gave me a chaste kiss before he took my hand and led me to the car.

~Author's Note~: Hello! As I find myslef writing the story, I've been noticing that Mark (Seongwoo) and BoA aren't really the entire focus of the story, so there may be a few changes to the poster for the story. Thank you for keeping up with the story and your support. Hope you liked this chapter! Please let me know your thoughts.