The Christmas holidays were over, but the familiar school corridors of St. Edmund's Boys' School remained unchanged. The same dreary grey lockers, the same old wooden desks, the same half-bored, half-tired students returning to their post-holiday routine. Outside, the sky was a flat, featureless white expanse that promised either a sudden snowfall or just endless, dreary cold.

The classroom was buzzing with quiet chatter, the creaking of chairs, the occasional burst of laughter from a group of boys by the window. It was a mixed class, with students from different classes shuffled around according to their schedules, which meant there were some familiar faces and some not-so-familiar ones.

Liam Johnson was already sitting, idly twirling a pen between his fingers, leaning back slightly in his chair. His uniform tie was slightly loosened, his jacket was unbuttoned, and his auburn hair was in its usual tousled but effortlessly cool state. He looked relaxed, chatting idly with a couple of his rugby teammates who were sitting nearby. He didn't pay much attention to the other students filtering in, at least until the classroom door opened again.

You stepped inside, and for a moment everything around you seemed a little louder - the rustling of papers, the distant thud of a locker slamming shut, the faint, tinny sound of someone's music filtering through headphones. You weren’t new to the school, but there was still that slight moment of hesitation that came with walking into a classroom where the seating arrangements had changed.

The teacher, a tall man with round glasses that always seemed on the verge of slipping off his nose, looked up from the papers on his desk.

“Ah, you’ll be sitting there. Next to Johnson,”he said, gesturing to the empty seat next to Liam.

There was a pause, a split second, as the name registered. Liam Johnson. One of the most well-liked boys in school. The star of the rugby team. The kind of boy who was always surrounded by friends, who laughed loudly in the hallways, who probably didn’t even know you existed until now.

Still, there wasn’t much of a choice. You walked over, keeping your expression neutral, and pulled out your chair. As you sat down, before you could even get fully settled, Liam turned to you, smiling widely and casually.

“Hi.”—said Liam.