Morning light slipped through the classroom windows in thin, dusty lines, like it didn't really want to be there either.
Aylin sat in her usual seat near the window, second row from the back. Not too close to the teacher, not too far to seem careless. Just… in between. That's where she always was. Not the best student, not the worst. Not popular, not invisible—but close enough.
Her notebook was open, but it wasn't the math notes she was supposed to be reviewing.
Instead, there were words.
Messy paragraphs. Crossed-out sentences. A story she had been writing for weeks, about a girl who could disappear whenever she felt like no one was looking at her.
Aylin quickly closed the notebook when the classroom door slammed open.
"Sorry I'm late," a voice said, not sounding sorry at all.
Kerem.
Of course.
He walked in like he owned the place, running a hand through his messy hair, his tie loose like he'd given up halfway through putting it on. A few people snickered. The teacher sighed the kind of sigh that meant this again.
"You're late. Again," the teacher said.
"Traffic," Kerem replied immediately.
"You live five minutes away."
"Very heavy traffic."
A few students laughed louder this time. Aylin didn't. She just looked down at her desk, pretending she didn't hear anything.
Kerem dropped into his seat in the back row like nothing mattered. Like school was just a place he passed time in.
Aylin wondered what it would feel like to not care like that.
She couldn't imagine it.
"Alright," the teacher said after a while, clapping her hands once. "New semester, new seating arrangement."
A collective groan spread across the room.
Aylin's stomach tightened.
She hated this part.
Names started getting called. Chairs scraped loudly as everyone moved around, complaining or whispering or laughing.
Aylin waited.
Her name always came somewhere in the middle.
"Aylin."
She stood up quietly, clutching her notebook to her chest like it was something important—which it was, even if no one else knew.
"Second row. Middle."
That was fine. Normal. Safe.
She exhaled slightly and started walking.
"And… Kerem," the teacher added, glancing at her list, "you'll sit next to Aylin."
Aylin stopped walking.
For a second, she thought she heard wrong.
She turned her head slowly.
Kerem was already looking at her.
"…Seriously?" he muttered.
The class laughed again.
Aylin quickly looked away, her face heating up for no reason she could explain.
The chair beside her scraped loudly as Kerem dropped into it.
"Don't worry," he said, leaning back like this was all some kind of joke. "I don't bite."
Aylin didn't respond.
She just opened her bag and carefully placed her notebook inside, making sure it was fully hidden.
"Wow," Kerem continued, glancing at her. "Silent type, huh?"
Still nothing.
"Or you just hate me already?"
"I don't know you," Aylin said quietly, eyes fixed on her desk.
Kerem smirked a little. "That sounds like a yes."
She frowned slightly but didn't answer again.
Honestly, she didn't want to.
People like him were loud. Unpredictable. The kind of people who pulled attention wherever they went. The kind of people who accidentally dragged others into things.
Aylin preferred being unnoticed.
And sitting next to Kerem felt like the exact opposite of that.
The lesson started, but Kerem clearly wasn't paying attention.
He tapped his pen against the desk. Spun it. Dropped it. Picked it up again.
Aylin tried to ignore it.
She really did.
But after the fifth time, she whispered, "Can you stop?"
Kerem paused, looking at her like he was surprised she could talk.
"…It's distracting."
"Oh," he said, raising an eyebrow. "So you do speak."
Aylin regretted everything immediately.
He grinned slightly and—just to be annoying—tapped the pen one more time.
Then he stopped.
"…Fine," he muttered.
For a few minutes, there was silence.
Actual silence.
Aylin almost relaxed.
Until—
"What's that?"
Her heart dropped.
Kerem was pointing at her bag.
At her notebook.
"It's nothing," she said quickly.
"Didn't look like nothing."
"It's just notes."
"You don't write notes like that," he said, leaning a little closer.
Aylin immediately pulled her bag closer to herself.
"Can you not?"
Kerem leaned back again, raising his hands slightly in surrender.
"Okay, okay. Chill."
But there was something different in his expression now.
Not just teasing.
Curious.
The bell rang before anything else could happen.
Students rushed out, loud and energetic like they'd been set free.
Aylin packed her things quickly, trying to leave before—
"Hey."
She paused.
Kerem stood up beside her, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
"You always this serious?" he asked.
Aylin hesitated.
"…Are you always this annoying?"
For a moment, he looked surprised.
Then he laughed.
"Yeah," he said. "Pretty much."
She didn't mean to, but—
Aylin almost smiled.
As she walked out of the classroom, she had a strange feeling.
Like something small had shifted.
Nothing big.
Nothing important.
Just…
Different.
She didn't know it yet, but that seat—the one she didn't want—was about to become the place she would look for first every morning.
And Kerem—
The person she least wanted to sit next to…
Was going to become the one she couldn't ignore.