As a little girl, I stayed locked in my room 24/7, not having any intention to go out to interact with people. For a 10 year old, I was pretty mature for my age and I knew the bullshit and ridiculousness that came with some people and I avoided them at all costs. Of course some people were an exception. I met Sharice in kindergarten by the swings. She was always the popular one since kindergarten but I instantly felt her genuine and warm personality. Since young, I never liked sharing so my very first interaction with Sharice was when I pushed her off the swings so that I could have it to myself. She loved me immediately. Evan I met a while later in middle school. We were paired up to do a project about photosynthesis. I paid no attention during class so obviously I pushed all the work to Evan which he appreciated a lot. Evan always liked doing things on his own which is why he hated group projects. To be honest, whenever there was pair work I would always pick Evan so that I could do less work. It was a trade deal. I met Zahid the last. I first saw him in History class but never really paid attention to him until he started working at Techtropolis with Sam. Soon, we started doing every History assignment together and I eventually introduced him to Evan and Sharice. We've been inseparable since.

The only sleepovers I ever went to were with Evan and Sharice. And those weren't real sleepovers. We just hung out with each other until we were too tired to go home. But right now, here I was, opening my eyes to wake up on Izzie Stewart's couch. I got up and stretched but was disappointed to see the other side of the couch empty. There was a pink blanket on top of me and I was confused because I did not remember having one last night. Did Izzie put it on me when I was asleep?

I heard someone come out of the kitchen and I whipped my head around to see Quinn. She was holding a coffee mug. "I got no sleep last night! The girls kept kicking me!" She said and I chuckled. "Where is everyone?" I asked. "Everyone else went home and Izzie's been at the cafe since 7. The early morning crowd is crazy," She replied, taking a sip of her coffee. "She told me to tell you that you can hang around and watch TV if you want. Unfortunately, I can't hang around I got a stupid project to work on. See ya Gardner!" Quinn said, patting my head.

Well this is awkward... The moment Quinn walked out I sighed. I turned on the TV and scrolled through Netflix but nothing seemed to entice me. Going to Izzie's cafe was at the back of my mind but I was honestly nervous to hang out with Izzie alone. She may not even be available to hang with me right? She has to run the cafe. "Oh fuck it," I muttered to myself and switched off the TV.

I made my way to Maison's and Izzie's face immediately lighted up when she saw me. She had her hair in a bun and was wearing an apron. There was a notebook and a pen in one of the apron pockets and a pair of tongs in her hand. This girl is seriously the death of me. "What are you doing here Newton?" She asked when I walked towards her. "I'm robbing you..." I whispered and she laughed. "I was bored so I decided to come."

"Well lucky for you, our famous Boston cream pies just came out fresh. And you, Newton, being my very special guest-of-honour, gets the very first one for free," She said, ending off with a giggle, that had the power to completely melt my heart. "Is it really the best? I'll be the judge of that," I said, smirking while taking the plate she had slid across the counter towards me. "Henry! Could you take over for a while?" Izzie asked a curly-haired boy who walked out of the kitchen. He smiled and nodded while Izzie left the counter and brought me to an empty table.

"Is that your brother or something?" I asked, remembering that Maison's was Izzie's family business. She shook her head. "He's just some guy my dad hired. He's chill though," She replied. It was really weird that Izzie and Henry were the only ones at the cafe. Shouldn't her parents be here? I didn't wanna press further so I simply nodded. I took a bite of the pie and I actually went to heaven and came back. I closed my eyes for a while, savouring the sweet taste. "Holy shit Izzie! This is phenomenal!" I said, going back to take another bite. "I know. It's my recipe!" She said, bowing down. Dork...

I picked up my phone to see a message from Sam.

Sam: Pick up eggs before you get home.
Sam: Also, mum and dad are fighting again

I sighed and put down my phone. "Everything alright Newton?" Izzie asked. "Yeah.." I figured that it was too soon to open up. And I was just starting to get close to the girl. "My parents are gonna freak if I'm not home soon," I said and she nodded. "Well, it was nice hanging out with you for a while," She replied with a nervous smile.

I picked up my bag and was going to leave when Izzie called me back. I walked towards her and she took my phone. I looked at her in confusion as she started tapping away on it. When she gave it back, I looked at the screen and blushed. She had added her phone number and made the contact name to "Izzie<3"

"Call me sometime," She said, winking before breaking out into a laugh. I am going to die.

"You gotta make an appointment. I book up pretty fast," I fired back and she rolled her eyes. We gave each other one last wave before I left the cafe.

I did a little celebratory dance once I was out of her sight. I have Izzie Stewart's number.

My heart felt heavy as I pushed open the front door of my house. So far I've had an amazing first day (and night) with the Clayton track team and I wasn't ready to head back to reality. When I opened the door I saw Sam sitting on the couch with his headphones on, sketching. My parents were in the kitchen having yet another heated argument. "Seriously Doug, you had one job!" Elsa screamed. "Big deal Elsa! You and your stupid dinner parties and trying to make everything okay when it's not!" He argued back and stormed up the stairs. Elsa put her face in her hands and sighed. My shoulders sunk and I dropped my bag on the floor and went to sit next to Sam. "What you drawing?" I asked. "Stumpy."

"There's a dinner party tonight?"

"Yeah, Mum invited Sharice and Evan. And Dad. And Zahid of course."

I laid back on the couch, trying to comprehend Elsa's actions. It's often that Sharice, Evan and Zahid came over for dinner. Especially Zahid since he was Sam's best friend as well. So what was the need for a dinner party? It's probably been a year since everyone has actually got together to eat at the same table and have meaningful conversations. I didn't have a good feeling about this. That's when a crazy idea popped into my head.

"Mum!" I said, walking towards the kitchen to get her attention. "Case, I didn't know you were home. How's Clayton?"

"Amazing, actually. Speaking of that, this little dinner party you and dad are arguing about... can I invite Izzie?" I asked and she raised her eyebrows at me. "Who's Izzie?" "She's the track captain at Clayton. Remember you saw her run during the track meet?" She took a while and then she started to remember. "Sure, the more the merrier."

I grinned and ran up to my room to plop on the bed. I whipped out my phone and smiled at the contact in front of me.

I texted, "Hey Izzie, it's Casey. Do you wanna come over to my place later? My parents are organising some dinner party thing."

I closed my eyes and hit send before placing the phone at my chest. Why was I panicking so much? When I heard my phone ding I instantly regretted it. Oh my God Casey you're such a weirdo why are you already inviting her to your house? But I mean you've already slept over at her house? But that was different, right?

I took a deep breath and looked at the notification.

Izzie <3: Newton!! Miss me already?

I chuckled and flipped onto my belly and started to reply.

"No, just figured you're probably missing me'

Izzie <3: I really am

She seriously makes me all kinds of nervous.

"So I'll take that as invitation to dinner party accepted?"

Izzie <3: Definitely

At this point my head was in a daze. None of this feels real. It feels like a dream. Izzie Stewart is such a dream.

For the first time ever, I actually got ready for guests coming over. I looked in the mirror and tied my hair and let it down repeatedly, not sure about how to style it. I also had 5 different outfits laying on the bed because I just couldn't choose. Thankfully, Sharice, Evan and Zahid had arrived before Izzie and Sharice was in my room helping me out. "You know you look hot both ways but I always love it when you let your hair down," She said. "Well what about the outfit?" I asked. "You gotta be casual so you don't look like you're making an effort but you still need to look like you're making an effort. Also, if your parents see you suddenly making an effort they're gonna know something's up," Sharice said. "Nah, they'll be too busy arguing to even care about what I'm wearing. I'm just hoping they can avoid killing each other just for today. I don't need Izzie knowing how dysfunctional my family is," I said, taking off my shirt to try a green top.

"Don't worry Case. I told Evan and Zahid to not be as embarrassing as usual. I know how important this is to you," Sharice said and I smiled. "I love you for helping me with all this gay drama," I said and she laughed. Suddenly, we heard a knock and Zahid and Evan entered the room.

"Guess who's here Romeo! It's your Juliet. She's downstairs on the couch waiting for you to make out with her!" He said and Evan laughed. "I swear to fucking God I'm going to kill you idiots," I whispered angrily, covering Zahid's mouth. I ran down the stairs to see Izzie handing Elsa something. "It's just a little something from my cafe!" Izzie said. She is so thoughtful and genuine and incredible. I gotta get her stupid boyfriend out of the way.

"Hey Iz," I said shyly, with my hands in my pockets. "You left your jacket at my place you idiot. First day on the team and you already wanna lose your track jacket?" She laughed, giving it back to me. "Why didn't you keep it?" I asked, smirking at my own confidence. I swear I saw her blush slightly. "Come on, I'm hungry," She said, dragging me to the dinner table. At that point Sharice, Evan, Zahid, Sam and Sam's girlfriend Paige were already at the table. Izzie moved closer to me and looked around awkwardly. "Um guys, this is Izzie. She's my track mate at Clayton," I introduced and she waved shyly. "That's Sharice, Evan, Zahid, my brother Sam, and his girlfriend Paige," I said, pointing to each of them. They all said hi to Izzie and so far things were going great. I sat in the middle of Izzie and Sharice while Evan, Zahid and Sam sat on the opposite side. Paige sat at the head of the table and Elsa sat at the opposite side. "Izzie, Casey has told us a LOT about you," Zahid started and I shot him a death glare. "Oh, is that right," Izzie said, smirking at me and I just laughed nervously while Sharice shook her head in disappointment. "How is the food sweetie?" Elsa asked. "It's really good Mrs Gardner," Izzie replied and giggled. The rest of the dinner party ran really smoothly. I even forgot about Dad's absence. Izzie instantly clicked with everyone.

It was around 11pm when everyone left. Evan had offered to drive Izzie but she politely rejected, saying her dad was going to pick her up. "Oh, I think I left my phone in your room Newton," Izzie said and we both went up to my room. "There you go," I said, taking her phone from my bed and tossing it to her. "Iz, I'm really happy you came today. Like really," I told her with the brightest smile. I couldn't proclaim my love for her, with her having a boyfriend and all, so this was the best I could do. She slowly looked down and her smile was wiped off her face. She started fumbling with her phone.

Shit... did I say something wrong?

"Um... Izzie you okay?"

"My dad's not coming," She mumbled, still not looking at me. "Oh, well it's fine Elsa can drop you or you could even stay here-"

"No I mean, he's never coming. He never was going to come." She cut me off and looked up and I knew she was struggling to hold back tears. I simply looked at her, not knowing how to react.

"I have no idea where the fuck my dad is. He left when I was born. And my mum's a fucking alcoholic who's never at home and when she is, she brings home a new guy."

This was so real and so raw of her. I never would have thought. But I didn't say anything yet. "At school, I make up this reality that my family owns Maison's when in actuality, it's my late grandma's cafe. She wanted my dad to take over it but obviously he never did. So they closed it down until I decided to start running it again. Hell, I bet they don't even know about Maison's existence," She said, chuckling at the end while choking on her own tears.

"Your family and your friends... you guys seem so... solid and wonderful. Your mum is amazing I mean... really. And Sam is so genuine and cool and your friends are just..." She drained off while wiping her tears. Of course, that wasn't true. My family isn't as perfect as she thinks it is. But what I'm going through right now is nothing compared to her problems. And there was no way I was going to make this about me.

I slowly stood up and looked at the girl I'm in love with. I was shocked but at the same time I wasn't. Shocked because I didn't think that the track captain with perfect grades and a ton of people after her would have such problems back at home. But I wasn't shocked because as I looked at her, all I saw was her. My Izzie Stewart. And nothing in the world could ever change the way I look at this girl and nothing would make me love her any less. Every day I fall in love with her even more than I thought was possible.

So I took her by her hands and brought her close to my chest and let her break down properly. Because she deserves this time to let go of all these walls she's built up. And she deserves to be raw and feel human emotions and feel like a complete wreck. As she grabbed my shirt to pull me closer, I knew that nothing I say could make her feel better so I just held her as the tide came in.

I want every single thing to do with her. Every achievement, every high, every low. Right now, my entire world revolves around her.