Chapter 1 The Girl by the Window
Lily Carter had always liked sitting by the window.
It was the same seat every morning in her English class at Westbrook Sixth Form College in Manchester. The chair was slightly scratched, the desk had someone’s initials carved into the corner, and the window beside her looked out onto the grey school courtyard where students rushed through the cold morning air with coffee cups in their hands.
To everyone else, it was just another seat. To Lily, it was her quiet place.
She liked watching people more than talking to them. It made life easier. Safer.
At eighteen, Lily was the kind of girl people described as pretty only after they looked at her twice. She had soft brown eyes, dark hair that always fell over one shoulder, and a smile she never used unless she truly meant it.
She wasn’t lonely. She was just careful.
“Lily, are you even listening?”
Lily turned and saw her best friend, Sophie Bennett, dropping into the seat beside her with her usual dramatic sigh.
“I am listening,” Lily said.
Sophie raised an eyebrow. “To me or to the rain?”
Lily smiled faintly. “Both.”
Sophie laughed and pulled off her coat. “One day, I swear, you’re going to have to stop living inside your own head.”
Lily was about to answer when the classroom door opened.
And everything changed.
A boy stepped into the room, slightly out of breath as though he had run from the car park. His dark hair was messy from the wind, and his school tie hung loose around his neck like he never bothered fixing it properly.
He looked around the room quickly.
Then his eyes landed on the only empty seat.
The one beside Lily.
Sorry I’m late,” he said to the teacher before walking over.
Lily quickly looked down at her notebook, pretending she wasn’t suddenly aware of her own heartbeat.
The chair scraped softly against the floor as he sat down.
“Hi,” he said quietly. Lily looked up. His smile was warm. Easy.
The kind of smile that made people feel like they already knew him.
“I’m Ethan.”
For a second, Lily forgot how to answer.
Then she cleared her throat.
“Lily.”“Nice to meet you, Lily.”
Sophie leaned across from behind and whispered with a grin,
“Well, this should be interesting.”
Lily kicked her lightly under the desk.
Ethan noticed. He smiled. And for some reason, Lily smiled back.
The lesson moved on, but Lily heard almost none of it.
She became painfully aware of everything.
The way Ethan tapped his pen against the desk.
The way he pushed his hair back when reading.
The way his voice sounded softer than she expected.
When the teacher asked everyone to pair up for a literature discussion, Ethan turned to her immediately.
“Looks like you’re stuck with me.”Lily laughed before she could stop herself.“Looks like it.”
For the next twenty minutes they talked about a novel neither of them seemed interested in. Somehow the conversation slowly became less about school and more about everything else.
He had moved from London.
His parents had separated.
He hated chemistry.
He loved old music.
He wanted to travel one day.
And somehow, without understanding why, Lily found herself talking too.
She told him she loved writing.
That she hated crowded places.
That she always overthought everything.
That she had never been good at meeting new people.
Ethan smiled at her.“You seem fine to me.”
The words were simple. But Lily felt them. And that scared her.
When the bell finally rang, students quickly gathered their bags and stood. Ethan slung his backpack over one shoulder.
“So,” he said casually, “are you always this quiet?”
Lily looked at him.
“Only around strangers.”He smiled.
“So I need to stop being a stranger then.”
Before she could answer, he walked out of the classroom.
Sophie appeared at her side almost instantly.“Oh my God.”Lily blinked. “What?”
Sophie stared at her.
“You smiled.”Lily frowned. “I do smile.”
“No,” Sophie said. “You never smile at boys.”
Lily closed her notebook.“It doesn’t mean anything.”
Sophie grinned.“Sure.”
But as Lily looked toward the classroom door where Ethan had disappeared, something deep inside her whispered a truth she wasn’t ready to admit.
Maybe this time it did.
