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Rue liked listening to old songs.

That Monday morning, she walked into the classroom, filled with a sense of inspiration and motivation. Emptying her bag filled with her camera, textbooks and notebooks into her desk compartment, she sat down. The soft hum of music playing in her ears through her earphones made her rock back and forth on her chair.

She expected the other students to start pouring into the class in a while.

She was always early. And she liked it that way. There was a sort of magical feeling; being alone in the classroom and free to do whatever she liked.

Unfortunately, there was someone else vouching for the spot of early bird. Just a minute after her arrival, came Avery Black, in all his blue glory. Rue looked up to see him walk in and greet her with a soft "good morning, stranger".

He wore a grey turtleneck, with black jeans and a small beige band-aid that sat horizontally across the bridge of his freckled nose.

'What's wrong with your nose?' she asked.

'Wrong? Nothing's wrong with it. I can smell perfectly fine, thank you very much.'

'I mean the band-aid, Mr. I'm-Too-Snarky-For-My-Own-Good.'

Scrunching his face into a smile, he replied, 'I got punched by my umbrella while opening it the wrong way.'

She snorted.

His lips opened ever so slightly in amusement. This was the first time he'd heard something resembling a laugh come out of her. And that was when Avery Black made it his personal agenda to make sure she smiled at least once every day.

Their conversation was cut short by the arrival of more students.

With a playful smile dancing on his cheeks, he turned away from her and sat down at his own desk. Rue looked down at her own book, when it hit her: he didn't even know her name.

No wonder he called her "stranger".

At the end of class, Rue did something she hadn't done in a long while. So long, that now, it made her nervous and it wasn't even that difficult. As she was walking out, she left a yellow sticky note on the desk of the boy in question, revelling in the sight of his puzzled expression.

He picked it up, but she was long gone, blended amongst the crowd of students on campus grounds.

The note contained one simple sentence.

My name is Rue Hawthorne.

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