Chapter Text
Serena Jung was not exactly planning on falling in love.
Her aspirations were, frankly, quite simple: Get through high school, study nursing within the state, graduate with flying colors, become a travel nurse and see the world like she had always dreamed, and maybe engage in a few (okay, maybe a lot) of low-maintenance, non-committed "flirtationships" in between. She had needs, after all. The bottom line is that she had no intentions of taking romance seriously, at least in the near future.
But life, of course, has its way of wrecking everything you thought you knew and wanted.
And for Serena, it came in the form of a meek brunette from Montana.
"Alright, settle down everybody!" Ms. Henderson, their homeroom teacher, said on a random Wednesday morning. "So, as you all know, we have a new student from Montana who transferred here. And today, he's finally going to join our little St. Denis family!"
Ms. Henderson always had her way of making boring things appear more exciting than they actually are, but this was one of those rare exceptions. Whispers began to fill the classroom, with everybody trying to picture out what this new student was like.
"Hey," Serena's best friend Alex nudged. "Wouldn't it be funny if this was the guy who finally made you settle down?"
Serena rolled her eyes. Alex was well-aware of Serena's plans for the future, so Serena knew that she was only teasing.
"Oh, please," Serena playfully pushed Alex's arm. "Just because you and Tim have it all figured out doesn't mean that I want that life too. I have my own dreams, you know?"
"Okay, but what if he was cute?" Alex teased.
"Hmm," Serena fake paused. "I don't really think s-"
"Quiet down!" Ms. Henderson said, cutting through their classroom's noise. "He should be here any minute now. Be nice to him when he introduces himself, okay?"
After a few minutes of waiting, the new student in question finally made it to the classroom—or, rather, awkwardly peeked his head through the door gap.
"Good morning, uh, am I in the right place?" He stuttered.
"Yes, yes! Come in!" Ms. Henderson exclaimed, gesturing for him to enter the room. "Everybody, give it up for our new student!"
The new student slowly walked to the front of the room, clearly uncertain of what to do next.
"This is the part where you introduce yourself," Ms. Henderson whisper-shouted at him.
"Oh, right," He blushed. "Uh, good morning, everybody! I'm Matthew Pearson, but you can call me Matt. I'm a homeschooled student from Montana, and this is my first time going to an actual school. So, uh, yay!" Matt awkwardly exclaimed. "I'm excited to meet you all."
Serena did an internal face palm. "Man, this poor kid is never going to hear the end of it from the jocks," she thought to herself.
However, she had to admit: Matt is kind of cute. One might even say that he is attractive. He's average in terms of height, but he spoke in this clumsily endearing way that made Serena's heart warm up a bit. He had an okay-ish sense of style, she guessed. And he had this cute smile that reached his eyes.
His eyes.
Perhaps what caught Serena's attention the most were his eyes. They looked kind, as if he has spent his entire life taking care of other people and making them feel safe. However, the wrinkles around his eyes suggest that maybe he was tired too although Serena can't pinpoint from what exactly.
"Hey, Serena," Alex whispered, interrupting her train of thought. "Are you alright? You've been staring a nothing for, like, five minutes now."
Oh.
Was she?
"No-yeah, I'm okay," Serena reassured her best friend. "I was just thinking about homework."
Serena reminded herself that Matt was definitely not the first person she has ever found attractive or will ever find attractive. That's one of the reasons why she wasn't planning on settling down anytime soon, after all. She was going to be a travel nurse and she was going to see the world. She has no space for these kinds of comittments in her life.
Sure, she can let herself tap into her imagination every once in a while, just to entertain this new... idea? Crush? (She hated that word). But she was not going to act on it under any circumstances.