"Group yourselves into pairs," the teacher announced.
Liam froze. Please… not random.
"Liam and Mandy," the teacher continued.
Too late.
"Hi," Mandy said, sitting beside him.
"Hi," Liam replied. Silence. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Twenty.
"What part do you want?" she asked.
"Anything," he said.
"Okay… you can do the introduction then?"
"Sure."
Another silence.
This was bad. He had imagined talking to her, but not like this. Not when his brain had completely shut down.
"Liam?" she called softly.
"Yeah?"
"You're… really quiet, huh?"
He scratched his head. "Yeah… that's just me."
She smiled. "I think it's nice."
That one sentence… stayed with him the whole day.