Before The Bell Rings - Efaj Alam

Before the Bell Rings
By Efaj Alam

He comes to class early every day. Not for grades. Not for friends.
But for her.

She walks in quietly, like the morning light-never looking his way, never knowing someone's world slows down every time she enters the room.

He plays games on his phone, loses on purpose, just to kill time.
He writes conversations in his head that he'll never say out loud.
And every day ends the same:
She leaves.
He stays behind-wondering if she ever knew he existed.

This isn't a love story.
It's the story before love.
The kind that lives in silence, in timing that never worked, and in feelings too afraid to be spoken.