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The first thing he saw when he walked into math was a seating chart. Names on desks, his– fortunately– in the back corner.
He was separated from all of his friends– Tango in the front and Impulse in the corner opposite to him. They were really the only people who made math bearable for him last year, especially when he considered Tango's math genius.
He didn’t really know the people on either side of him; though he’s seen and heard of them before. To his left was a boy with messy blond hair, a red sweater, and the nerdiest looking glasses he’s ever seen. The nametag on his desk read Grian.
To his right was Impulse's sister, who looked heaven sent.
She had shoulder length ginger curls that framed her face perfectly, freckles dotting all along her arms, legs, and face, and the most mesmerizing green eyes he thinks he’s ever seen. They shone like emeralds, suiting her name; Gem.
Gem was too focused on her conversation with Grian to notice Etho gawking at her, leaning back in her chair so she could see the boy on his other side.
He doesn’t pay attention to the syllabus that day, he just finds excuses to look her way and think about how much prettier those hypnotizing green eyes would be, centimeters from his.
—
“What’s up, Etho? Why so quiet today?” Skizz asks after he’s been sitting at the lunch table for fifteen minutes, staring vaguely in Gem’s direction
“Hm?” He replies, not breaking his gaze.
“You’ve barely said anything! I haven’t heard any sort of complaining from you today, you’re just staring into space!”
“It’s the first day, Skizz give him a break,” Said Impulse, scribbling notes in the margins of his summer reading book. “We all know how bad he is with waking up early midway through the year, let alone the first day.”
“Yeah, fair. I guess.” Said Skizz
They, along with Tango and Bdubs, got lost in conversation, not caring to comment on how Etho was not participating, not caring to notice how he was staring at Gem’s fiery curls and her sunny expression, talking with her hands as she wildly spoke to the brunette across the table from her.