— Marleen. (No longer just a girl with a diary. A girl with a story.)

I didn’t know what to do. So I did the worst thing possible. I kissed Liam. Right there. And it was… fine. Nice, even. But over Liam’s shoulder, I watched Caleb put down his cider and walk away.

I broke Liam’s heart today. He didn’t cry, but his crooked smile went completely straight. He said, “Was it the Sophia thing?”

He lent me his pen. A simple black Bic. I’m currently smelling it. It smells like possibilities.

Then my phone buzzed. A text from Caleb: “The library has that new manga you wanted. I put it on hold for you.”

But I saw it, Diary. The physics of attraction. And I wasn’t the mass in his orbit.

Dear Diary,

But here’s the thing, Diary. The story isn’t about finding the one perfect person. It’s about the mess. The wrong turns. The boy with the untied shoelace who teaches you what you don’t want. The boy with the elbow patches who teaches you what you do.

“No one,” I lied.

But the boy who likes the rain? That’s the one I want to build an umbrella with.

An hour later, I found Caleb in the art room, sketching a raven. I sat down across from him. My hands were shaking.

Chloe says I’m overreacting. “He just got distracted,” she said. “You’re the one he lent his pen to.”

Later, Chloe saw me smiling at my phone. “Who is it?” she demanded.

But Liam is different. He reads fantasy novels during lunch. He doesn’t try to be cool. He is cool, just by not trying.

Plot twist. A major one.