It was that time of year again – the beginning of the school year. Louis and Tawny were now entering ninth grade. For the first time ever, Louis felt he was actually looking forward to school starting. There was now an entire year ahead for his relationship with Tawny to take off, after they had gotten together toward the end of eighth grade and his summer had been spent mostly on that bogus vacation.

"Hi, Tawny," Louis greeted as always before first period. "Hi, Louis," Tawny greeted back, her smile mirroring his. It was a month into the new school year, a month into the new year of their relationship. Tawny couldn't help but think once more about how much Louis had changed during this time. He had, almost unthinkably, become more serious, more thoughtful, more mature. Of course, he still had his sense of humor, and his unrivaled ability to make her laugh. But he wasn't even playing the same pranks anymore, at least not of the same magnitude. Because the time he normally would have spent on his outlandish schemes were now devoted to her. And when they hanged out, Louis was eager to spend hours just sitting and talking. They just talked about life, mostly, but it was different from when they were just friends. Louis let her know how deeply he cared about her, wanting to know what was going on in her life, what she was thinking, what she found interesting. He took an interest in her poetry, reading through all her poems and asking her to teach him so that he might give it a try himself. It touched her how much he wanted to understand her and for their hearts to connect on a deeper level than before. Of course, she did the same for him in equal measure, but this hardly took a character adjustment for her. The relationship was truly changing Louis and, in a way, making him…more and more like her.

Tawny chuckled slightly at this thought as they walked through the hall in silence, their hands held. Principal Wexler stood at the entrance of his office, a cup of coffee in his hand. "Things have been quiet lately, Stevens," he called out with satisfaction as Louis and Tawny approached. "I suppose we have…the wonderful Miss Dean here to thank for that," the principal added as he glanced down at their interlocking hands. Louis paused briefly to look at him, returning a half-smile, before he and Tawny walked on. He normally would have had a snarky rejoinder at the ready, but just hearing the mention of his relationship with Tawny stopped him. The two of them had become a recognizable couple at school – a status that implicitly brought with it certain responsibilities. His reputation was now inextricably tied to Tawny's, and he loved and respected her too much to act like the school clown all the time. The least she deserved was a certain level of seriousness and maturity from him, he figured.