The shy girl with curly strawberry-blonde hair followed the principal into the classroom.
She was introduced to the class, as usual, and she quietly accepted the seat in the very back right corner of the classroom.
The teacher began to drone about Ancient Greece, but was interrupted by a blonde boy rushing inside.
"So sorry, Mrs. May!" He said, handing her a crinkled blue slip.
The boy made his way to the girls' desk.
"You're in my seat," he said with a smile.
"Sorry....?" she answered.
The boy pulled out a bag of Flipz pretzels from the pocket of his backpack.
"I'll trade you."
She snatched the bag away and moved into the seat beside his desk. The boy sat down in his desk and then turned back to her.
"I'm Niall, by the way, Niall Horan. Nice to meet you."
"You too," she said. "I'm Darby Gilbert. I'm new."
I'm Darby, in case you haven't already guessed. And that's how my best friend and I met. You wouldn't have known about him then, but I bet you do now.
I was there for him through all that X-Factor stuff. I was backstage at One Direction's first concert. These boys were my family.
Let's fast forward a bit.