The sun was starting to dip below Crystal Lake, painting the sky different hues of warm pinks and oranges. There was a warm breeze blowing through her dark curls, and romance was definitely in the air.

The Homecoming dance was just around the corner, and sophomore Cameron Nachreiner led junior Audrey Deguzman to the soft bed of sand right outside the backyard of his dad’s beach house.

She was led down a path lined with candles and flower petals, already having an idea of what was about to come next. She looked down at her feet and saw “H.C. ?” written in the sand.

With butterflies in her stomach and a smile that spread across her face, she said yes.

They have been dating for 18 months and have been inseparable ever since. According to Deguzman, their relationship is strong and she would consider themselves to be a “lovey-dovey” couple.

But it had not always been this way for the two. It was not until they were both in the same Chemistry class that they first became friends, despite living in the same neighborhood together.

“We hadn’t really started talking until after we got into high school,” said Deguzman. “Before we started talking though, I was actually making plans with my friends for Halloween, and he was right there. I didn’t want to leave him out so I asked him to come, just to be nice.”

Inviting him out of pity, however, later proved to have a good outcome for the both of them. After the Halloween party, they continued to get to know each other, and had unknowingly spent their first date together.

“The plan was that we were going to go see a movie, and Audrey said that we were going with a bunch of friends,” said Nachreiner. “But then on my way to the movie, she said that no friends were actually coming.”

“He didn’t pick up on the fact that I wanted it to be just me and him at first,” said Deguzman. “But then he got it and he was trying to hold my hand the whole time, so I just let him.”

And from then on, the rest was history, except for their future of course.

“We see each other dating out of high school. We’re looking at East Coast schools together,” said Nachreiner.“I can definitely see a future for us. We even did the whole classic promise ring thing too,” said Deguzman