He needed something new after the most recent fiasco with Claire. He was looking for a blank slate, one who would need naught but encouragement and devotion to become truly perfect. It was the beginning of the semester when he saw her at the back of the classroom, sitting outcast from the others, hunched over a book and hiding beneath her oversized hoodie. She never spoke, only said her name meekly during introductions the first week. She was always the first one in the classroom, taking the same seat, and always the quickest to leave, never lingering to chat like some did. She liked to be alone—no—she didn’t know how to be with people. She, she would be the one. She was exactly his type: small, quiet, not too pretty, but cute like a newborn deer, shaky and afraid of the slightest sound, always jumping when the professor called her name. She would cling to him if he gave her the chance.