Thomas was scared. Scared that the girl in front of him could see through his smile. Scared that she could see straight through his words. "I'm fine." Lies. He wasn't okay. He wanted to tell her everything in hopes that she would listen. In hopes that she would understand. But he didn't. Instead, he lied to the girl he liked.
Aspen of course didn't believe him, but she was going to play along with him. A smile erupted on her face, but it didn't reach her eyes. Thomas could tell, but it was better to not say anything. With that, he turned around pretending to listen to the lesson presented by the teacher.
Square one was now in the past, but it wasn't conquered as planned.