Chapter One — The New Girl

The first day at Northridge High smelled like floor wax, perfume, and nerves. Amelia had never been more aware of her own footsteps. Every corner seemed to echo her uncertainty — a new girl in a town where everyone had grown up together, shared memories she wasn’t a part of, and whispered names she didn’t know yet.

Her mom’s words from that morning followed her through the crowded halls: “Just be yourself, Babes. You’ll find your people.”

But so far, the only thing she’d found was a broken locker handle and a classroom she was five minutes late to.

When she slipped into her seat in English, the teacher barely looked up. But someone else did — a boy in the third row, leaning back in his chair with a pencil balanced on his lip. His eyes leaned toward her, not in the obvious, teasing way boys sometimes looked, but like he was quietly curious. Like he’d already noticed something.

Micah.

She didn’t know his name then. She just knew the sharp way his gaze held hers for a heartbeat too long before he looked away, tapping his pencil twice against his desk — a habit she’d come to recognize later.

That was their first encounter.

Silent. Fleeting. But it stuck.

By the end of her first week, Amelia had met Ellis through a group project. She was friendly, talkative, and quick to joke about how “everyone in this town’s related or has dated each other,” which made her laugh. Through Ellis, she met Colton — effortlessly confident, the kind of boy who seemed to draw people in without trying.

She liked him right away. He was kind, funny, and comfortable in his own skin — something she hadn’t yet figured out how to be.

And Micah? He was always there, somewhere on the edge of the group.

If Ellis was the sun — bright, loud, warm — Micah was the quiet orbit around her, all shadow and observation. Amelia often caught him watching, not in a way that made her uneasy, but like he was studying something he couldn’t name. When their eyes met, he’d usually look away first, pretending to be busy with his phone or a joke someone else had made.

Two weeks later, Ellis invited her to a study night.

“Just a small group,” she’d said, “Colton’ll be there. Micah too. You’ll fit in, promise.”

She almost didn’t go. But curiosity — and a little bit of wanting to belong — won.

The night was easy in the beginning. They studied, shared snacks, argued about song lyrics, laughed at dumb videos. Micah didn’t say much, but every so often, Amelia would catch him nodding at something she said — subtle, like he was giving silent approval.

When she mentioned she liked reading thrillers, Micah surprised her by saying softly, “I didn’t think anyone here actually read Freda McFadden.”

She smiled, a little caught off guard. “You do?”

He shrugged, smirking. “I’ve read The Housemaid. Pretty sure I just wanted to see what everyone was obsessed with.”

The comment earned him a laugh from the group, but Amelia noticed the faint pink rising in his ears. She didn’t think much of it — not yet.

But it was the first time she realized he listened.

By October, Amelia had become part of their circle — or at least, close enough to it that people waved when she passed. She cheered for the basketball team because Colton played, she studied with Ellis after class, and she shared playlists with friends.

Micah, though, stayed the same — quiet, careful, and almost frustratingly unreadable. Sometimes he’d compliment her — “You always take the best notes,” or “That color looks good on you” — and she’d brush it off, assuming he was just being polite.

But there was something about his tone, the timing of it — always in front of everyone, always when they were walking side by side or waiting for class to start — that made it feel more intentional than it should have.

Still, Amelia refused to overthink it. She had Colton, who made her laugh until her stomach hurt. She didn’t have time to get tangled in whatever Micah’s silences meant.

At least, not yet.

The weeks rolled into months. Amelia began to shine — winning an award for creative writing, getting mentioned in the school paper, laughing louder, walking taller. She didn’t see Micah in the crowd when she accepted her award, but he was there — leaning against the back wall, clapping once the cheers died down, his expression unreadable.

He told her “Congrats” later, his voice low, his eyes briefly catching hers.

“Thanks,” she said, brushing it off.

She didn’t see how tightly his hands were clasped behind his back.

She didn’t see the way he watched her leave the room — the quiet, contained way he memorized her presence.

To her, it was harmless.

To him, it was the start of something he couldn’t yet understand.

The first time Micah saw Amelia, it was a Friday in late September — still warm enough that the air smelled like grass and old summer.

He’d been leaning against the brick wall outside the art room, earbuds in, sketchbook balanced on his knee, when the hallway seemed to shift.

Not literally, but in that quiet, unexplainable way something changes when someone new walks into it.

She moved differently than the rest of them.

Not louder, not shy either — just… self-contained. Like she didn’t need anyone to tell her who she was.

Her hair caught the light when she passed, and her laugh — soft, a little nervous — made a few people turn their heads.

That’s when Micah noticed he wasn’t the only one staring.

Ellis elbowed him. “New girl,” she said, half a smirk tugging at her mouth. “Transfer from out of town. Heard her family just moved here from Milwaukee.”

Micah shrugged, but his eyes didn’t leave her.

Still, something in him paused.

She was standing near the main office, papers in hand, a little lost but trying not to show it. Her backpack was too big for her shoulders, her hair pulled up in a messy bun that somehow looked intentional.

She was radiant — not in a way that screamed look at me, but in a way that made everyone want to. Her presence bent the air around her, like a quiet kind of gravity.

By the end of the week, everyone knew her name.

Amelia Hart.

She joined a few clubs — yearbook, photography, creative writing. The kind of girl who wanted to belong without forcing it. The kind of girl who noticed everything.

Her name spread faster than she did.

Amelia Hart — the new girl from Milwaukee, a transfer who had that kind of quiet magnetism that made people lean in without realizing it. By the second week, half the Junior class knew she wrote poetry, volunteered on weekends, and took photos like someone twice her age.

Micah noticed everything else.

The way she tucked her hair behind her ear when she was nervous.

The way she chewed on pen caps while reading.

How her eyes softened when she looked at something she loved.

He noticed — and kept it to himself.

For weeks, she passed him in the hallways without a gaze of recognition.

He told himself that was fine. That it was better this way. That she was just another pretty distraction.

But when she laughed — even from across the courtyard — something inside him cracked open.

Ellis was the one who ruined his quiet obsession.

It was a late afternoon in October, and the art room buzzed with conversation. Ellis had dragged Micah along to help her paint banners for the upcoming homecoming event. Amelia had joined the same committee a week earlier.

Ellis, always the social one, waved her over.

“Amelia, right? You’ve met everyone but Micah. He’s my brother’s shadow — mostly quiet, occasionally human.”

Micah shot her a look. Amelia smiled, a little shy but curious.

“Hi,” she said softly.

That was it. Just hi.

But it landed like a match in his chest.

He nodded, muttered something close to “hey,” and went back to sketching — or at least pretending to. He couldn’t draw a single clean line. His focus kept drifting to her voice.

Ellis and Amelia fell into easy conversation, talking about classes, campus life, and books. Micah stayed quiet, listening. Amelia didn’t seem to notice how much he was watching her now — not from across a hallway, but up close.

It wasn’t until later, when she accidentally brushed his arm reaching for a paintbrush, that she seemed to finally see him.

“Oh—sorry,” she said. Her fingers lingered half a second too long.

Micah looked at her then. Really looked.

“It’s fine,” he said, and his tone made her glance up — just long enough for their eyes to lock.

Something shifted. A pause in the air.

Neither said anything after that, but both of them felt it — that slow, magnetic pull that didn’t make sense yet.

Ellis noticed, of course. She always did.

When Amelia left the room, she turned to Micah and grinned.

“Don’t even think about it,” she warned. “Colton already called dibs.”

Micah didn’t answer. He just kept staring at the door Amelia had walked through.

Because in that moment, he knew what Ellis didn’t.

It wasn’t about dibs. It was about gravity.

And Amelia Hart had already shifted his world off its axis.