“Tell me, what’s going on this week Stella.” Silence fills the air. “Come on, you need to talk to me. Your mom is paying for these sessions.” The silence continues. “Alright well, we can just sit here then.”  

“I just want to go home” Stella says, annoyed.   

“Why? Why do you want to struggle in silence? I’m here to help you.”   

Stella’s expression shifts as her eyebrows tilt downwards. “But I don’t need your help. I’m fine.” The tension in the room rises.  

“Stella, if you were fine, you wouldn’t be here. Your mom is worried. You don’t talk, you don’t eat.” The counselor begins to lower her voice, trying to show sympathy. “You’re sixteen. These are supposed to be the best years of your life.” At this point, Stella is completely done with the conversation. “Well, it’s not. I don’t know what you want me to tell you.”   

The councilor reaches defeat. “I guess that’s enough for today.” Stella quickly gets up. Her counselor walks up to her. “You have my number. Call me any-.”   

Stella slams the door shut behind her. She begins to walk to the waiting room. “Let’s go Mom.” The car ride was silent, as usual after her therapy appointments. Her mom had learned not to ask questions.   

The next day, Stella heads off to school. She sits alone on the bus, in all her classes, and, of course, at lunch. As she picks at the school food, examining more so than eating, she constantly looks around to see if anyone is pitying her, or worse, laughing at her. She can’t help but constantly feel like she’s being judged by everyone else who has found their place at this school. She used to actually try and make friends, but with enough trial and error, she gave up.   

One day, things began to change for Stella. As she returned from the lunch line, a black backpack sat in the chair across from her. She looked around with confusion. A few moments later, A guy with a full plate of food sits down without hesitation. He’s tall with dirty blonde hair that curls slightly at the ends. His outfit catches Stella’s attention; It’s of an old rock band Stella’s dad consistently talks about. The stranger fails to acknowledge her, so she attempts to do the same, but she isn’t used to being around another student like this, especially a boy. She notices her hands get clammy and her mind get fuzzy. They continue to ignore each other for the rest of the lunch period.   

The next day, Stella expects the student to be gone. She assumes he only stayed to not seem rude. But as she approaches her table, his backpack is there again, and then again, and again.  

A few days later, he breaks the silence. He looks up from his phone with a fry pointing towards her, “Want a fry?”   

“Uh… sure,” she responds, cautiously taking it out of his hand. She follows up with a somewhat bewildered “thank you.”   

He shakes his head upwards gently and picks his phone back up.    

Stella becomes curious about who this mysterious guy is. She wishes so badly she could just work up the courage to ask. And so, one day, she does.   

As he sits down, she stares at him for a second, contemplating whether she should risk embarrassing herself or not. She decided to take that risk. “Hey.”  

“Hi,” He replied.   

“So, I meant to ask, but what’s your name?”   

“It’s Liam.”  

“Oh…I like that name.”   

He grins at her, and she grins back. Yet her grin fails to fade. She was so proud of herself for getting outside her comfort zone, even if it was just something small. As she arrives home from school, her mom immediately picks up on the change.   

“Well, you’re looking cheerful, sweetie.”   

“Yeah kinda” Stella replies.  

“Did something good happen?”  

“Kinda.”  

Her mom picks up on her daughter’s cues of wanting to be left alone. “Okay, Okay, I’ll stop prying.” As she begins to walk into the kitchen, she pauses. “It’s nice to see your beautiful smile again.”   

Stella gives a low smile in return. 

Stella’s mood begins to lighten, and the next day, she decides to eat some of her lunch instead of just picking at it.  

Liam almost instantly notices and takes out his earbuds, which he always seemed to have in. “It’s not as bad as it looks, is it?”   

Stella smiles. “Well, it’s not my mom’s homemade lasagna, but it’ll suffice.” Her cheeks immediately turn rosy as she becomes embarrassed for how random that was, but Liam doesn’t seem to find it embarrassing.   

He chuckles. “You got me there.” Stella grins. Her small outburst seemed to have given her enough courage to ask something unexpected.  

“Why did you decide to sit here? Don’t you know I’m considered the school weirdo?”  

Liam gives a look of pure confusion. “Well, no. I’m actually new here.” They look at each other in silence for a moment. “But I don’t get that feeling from people. I think they just understand you like your time alone, kind of like me.” he smirks at her. Stella had never thought about it that way. Even when she tried to make friends, she often had to distance herself when it became too much. The drama that came with teenage girls just wasn’t for her, but there was never confrontation or a falling out; people just started to distance themselves in Stella’s footsteps. 

Over time, as Stella thinks more about what Liam said, she’s able to come to terms with who she is, and that isn’t a weirdo. She doesn’t have to feel like a loser just because she enjoys being alone. All the weight of feeling like an outcast faded away, and Stella could just live as she was, accepting she wasn’t as social as most other kids, and that was okay. By coming to terms with this, she had less of a reason to try so hard to avoid her classmates. She began smiling and making small talk when she wanted, opening up the door to a new way of living each day.  

She had Liam to thank for all of this. Just one person treating her like everyone else and being real allowed her to find comfort in who she is.  

Liam and Stella continued to sit together and slowly opened up to each other more and more.  

What Stella failed to ever realize is how much Liam was grateful for Stella, too. He had ended up moving after the passing of his father. He was lonely but also closed off. To have someone he could sit with without the pressure of trying to make conversation was all he wanted, and Stella gave him that. She was his peace in a life full of disarray.  

This was a friendship that was meant to happen and one that would last a lifetime.