*Title: When We Were Us* *Genre: Clean High School Romance | Second Chance* *POV: First Person (Emma)*---*Part 1: First Day Again*I never thought I’d come back to Westview High. But here I am, clutching my backpack like it’s a life jacket as I walk past the front gates, surrounded by the same red-brick walls and nervous freshmen.Everything looks the same—same trees lining the path, same faded banners flapping lazily in the wind—but I’m not the same girl who left this place a year ago."Emma!" a voice calls behind me.I turn, and there’s Lily—my best friend since seventh grade—waving like a maniac. She sprints toward me, arms flailing, and nearly knocks me over with a hug.“Okay, okay,” I laugh. “I missed you too.”“Girl, you have no idea. This year has been *so* boring without you. Why didn’t you text more?”I shrug, unsure how to explain that texting her felt like clinging to a life I thought I’d lost for good. “Family stuff,” I say instead.Her expression softens. “Well, I’m glad you’re back. Oh, and... just a heads up. *He’s* here.”My stomach drops. “Who?”She gives me a look. “Emma. You *know* who.”I don’t have to ask again. I know she means *Aiden Carter*.The boy I used to love. The boy I left behind.We broke up the day before I moved. I told him it was better that way—clean break, no long-distance promises, no late-night tears. He nodded like he understood, but his eyes said something else. They said he wasn’t ready to let go.I was.Or at least I thought I was.---Walking into third-period English is like stepping into a memory. Same desks, same chipped whiteboard. And sitting in the back—headphones in, hood up—is Aiden.My heart stumbles.He hasn’t changed much. Still tall. Still effortlessly cool. Still the guy who wrote poetry in his science notebook. His hair’s a little longer, his jaw a little sharper, but those stormy eyes—I remember them.I slide into a seat two rows ahead of him and try not to turn around.Then I hear it.“Emma?”I freeze.I turn slowly, meeting his eyes. For a second, it’s just the two of us in the room. The noise fades. The air shifts.“Hi,” I manage.His lips twitch. Almost a smile. “Didn’t think I’d see you again.”“Yeah… surprise.”We stare at each other a second too long.Then the teacher walks in, and the moment is gone.---Would you like me to continue with Part 2*Part 2: The One I Left Behind*The name echoes in my mind like a song I tried to forget.*Aiden Carter.*The boy with quiet eyes and loud thoughts. The boy who made me playlists and left sticky notes in my locker that said things like *“you’re stronger than the world thinks.”* The boy I walked away from with shaking hands and a breaking heart.I didn’t look back then.But I want to now.At lunch, Lily drags me to our usual table under the tree. But it doesn’t feel usual anymore. Everything is the same—except me. Except Aiden sitting two tables away, laughing at something his friend said, his dimples flashing like they have no right to.He hasn’t looked at me once.Or maybe he has—and looked away.“Are you okay?” Lily asks gently.I nod too quickly. “Yeah. Just weird being back.”She doesn’t push, and I’m grateful. Because how do I say *I thought I could handle this, but I don’t even know who I am in a world where Aiden and I are strangers again*?After school, I see him by the lockers. Alone.I should walk past. I really should.But I stop.“Aiden.”He turns. His eyes are still that stormy gray, unreadable.“Hey,” he says, casual. But his voice is tighter than it used to be.“I didn’t know you’d still be here,” I say, fumbling with the strap of my bag.“Yeah, well. Didn’t know you’d come back.”Silence. Heavy. Like all the words we didn’t say are standing between us.“I’m glad you’re okay,” I say softly.He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “You walked away, Emma. You don’t get to act like you care now.”It stings. But I nod. “I know.”And I walk away—this time with my heart still tangled in the space we used to fill together.---Want me to continue with PartYes, here’s *Part 3: The Words We Don’t Say* — continuing right from where you left off:---*Part 3: The Words We Don’t Say*The rest of class feels like background noise. Mr. Clarke is going on about Shakespeare and metaphors, but all I can think about is the way Aiden said my name. Like it still meant something.I don't look back again, but I feel his gaze. It lingers, and I try not to let it get to me.Try.After class, I take my time packing up. I’m not ready to face him again, but somehow I want him to catch up. I want to know if he still cares. If he hated me. If he missed me. If he ever reread those poems he swore he’d never show anyone else.But he walks past me.Not a glance. Not a word.And somehow that hurts more than anything he could’ve said.---Later that night, Lily and I are on FaceTime. She’s ranting about homework, but I’m somewhere else—stuck in the past, caught in his eyes.“So,” she says suddenly, squinting at me. “What’s the deal with you and Aiden?”“There is no deal.” Very nictyni