Kate

“The first sixth-grade assembly.”
I look up at him. “Huh?”
“That’s the first time I saw you. You were sitting in the row in the front of me. I thought you were cute.”
I laugh. “Nice try.” It’s so endearingly Peter to make up stuff to try and sound romantic.
He keeps going. “Your hair was really long and you had a headband with a bow. I always liked your hair, even back then.”
“Okay, Peter,” I say, reaching up and patting him on his cheek.
He ignores me. “Your backpack had your name written on it in glitter letters. I’d never heard of the name Lara Jean before.”
My mouth falls open. I hot-glued those glitter letters to my backpack myself! It took me forever trying to get them straight enough. I’d forgotten all about that backpack. It was my prized possession.
“The principal started picking random people to come on stage and play a game for prizes. Everybody was raising their hands, but your hair got caught in your chair and you were trying to untangle it, so you didn’t get picked. I remember thinking maybe I should help you, but then I thought that would be weird.”
“How do you remember all that?” I ask in amazement.
Smiling, he shrugs. “I don’t know. I just do.”
Kitty’s always saying how origin stories are important.
At college, when people ask us how we met, how will we answer them? The shorty story is, we grew up together. But that’s more Josh’s and my story. High school sweethearts? That’s Peter and Gen’s story. So what’s ours, then?
I suppose I’ll say it all started with a love letter.”
― Jenny Han, Always and Forever, Lara Jean