Meet

**Meet** is the first episode of the first season of *Heartstopper*, and the first episode of the series overall.

## Synopsis

*Stuck in a secret relationship, shy Charlie starts to crush on Nick, the school's popular rugby star, and joins the team against his friends' advice*.

## Plot

**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Charlie Spring returns to school after Christmas break, excited when he gets a message about meeting Ben before classes start. He makes his way through the halls surrounded by others before sneaking off into the quiet and empty library just to find it empty. As it turns out, Ben wants to meet during their break instead, leaving Charlie sad.

Charlie eventually makes it to his classroom to find his new seat next to Nick Nelson. The two share simple “hi”s.

Later, Charlie meets with Ben and the two share a kiss before Ben wipes it off and reminds Charlie not to tell anyone about the two of them.

The next few days go on, and Charlie and Nick keep bumping into each other, like seeing each other in the hallways. Day after day as they sit next to each other, they continue to gree each other with a simple “hi” between them. However, with each new greeting, Charlie’s face lights up.Eventually, the two meet up on their way to maths and share more than the simple word.

Charlie catches Nick doing his math homework and offers to give him the answers. Nick rejects the offer, as he doesn’t want to use him to make his work easier and even tries to keep Charlie from taking his work. This leads to him accidentally drawing on Charlie’s hand, which he then makes into a smiley face. Their sweet moment is ruined when Ben walks by and Charlie tries to say hello, but Ben pretends he doesn’t know Charlie.

At lunch, Charlie is with his friend Taos and Issac, and the trio reminisce to the time when they were a group of four. But that changed after their friend Elle transferred to Harvey Greene Grammar School for Girls, after her transition. Her experience at Truham Grammar School, was flooded with transphobia thanks to a close-minded teacher. Tao then catches Charlie gazing off at Nick playing rugby and refers to him as a golden retriever. He is confused about what the two discuss in form every morning and Charlie thinks back to when Nick’s pen exploded, all over himself.

Tao warns Charlie to be careful around Nick. He is friends with the kind of guys who bullied Charlie last year and is worried that Nick might be just like them. Even if he is different around Charlie when he is alone, there is always the chance he could change his tune when his jock friends are around. Tao fires off a text to Elle, who is enjoying her lunch. He fills her in on the Charlie drama and asks how her new school is. She lies to him about having friends and looks like she is struggling to fit in with the other girls.

The following day, Charlie gets to school and meets up with Ben in the library. Ben apologizes for pretending not to know him. However, Charlie lets him kiss him anyway, but it seems like Nick is on his mind as he glances down at the remains of the silly smiley face from the day prior.

Later at lunch, Charlie hides out in Mr. Ajayi’s classroom, though he swears he isn’t actually hiding. Charlie eventually opens up to Mr. Ajayi about Ben and how he feels. He confides in his teacher how Ben won’t even acknowledge him outside of their secret meetings and expects him to be okay with it. Mr. Ajayi’s advice is for Charlie to talk to Ben and sort out what is going on, but Charlie is not quite ready to confront Ben just yet.

After school, Charlie spots Ben kissing a girl before rushing off. When he is safely at home, he tells Ben that he doesn’t want to meet up anymore though he won’t tell him why or what he saw.

The following day, Charlie opens up to his sister Tori about the breakup and to get his mind off his heartbreak, Tori asks him what his dream guy would be. Umbeknownst to him, as he is describing said perfect guy, he ends up describing Nick.

During the gym period, Nick catches sight of Charlie blowing the other runners out of the water. Afterwards, he meets up with him at his locker and Charlie imagines that Nick is opening up about being gay and in love with him. But in reality, Nick wants Charlie to join the rugby team. Charlie tries to back out, but Nick convinces him to give it a try. It is just a high school team, after all. Even his friends try to talk him out of it, but Charlie seems to be interested in joining.

Before practice, Charlie overhears the other guys talking about him in the locker room, insinuating that they should find someone else, but that doesn’t keep Charlie out. He continues with the idea of joining the rugby team and, during practice, even gets to tackle Nick a few times. The next few days flash by with Nick teaching Charlie how to play during the rugby team’s practices.

Elsewhere,Tao misses Elle and Elle appears to be trying to find her place at her new school.

Ben also doesn’t seem happy about Charlie’s choice to ignore him.

After one particular practice, Ben convinces Charlie to come to see him and talk. Instead, he tries to force himself onto Charlie before Nick steps in and sends him away. As it turns out, Nick had followed Charlie because he was worried about him.

As Charlie and Nick go their separate ways home. Charlie struggles to find a way to open up communication between him and Nick and eventually settles on a message saying, “Thank you x,” which makes Nick smile.

## Cast

* Joe Locke as Charlie Spring
* William Gao as Tao Xu
* Yasmin Finney as Elle Argent
* Tobie Donovan as Isaac Henderson
* Jenny Walser as Tori Spring
* Sebastian Croft as Ben Hope
* Cormac Hyde-Corrin as Harry Greene
* Fisayo Akinade as Mr. Ajayi
* Chetna Pandya as Coach Singh
* Stephen Fry as Headmaster Barnes (voice only)
* Olivia Colman as Sarah Nelson
* Ashwin Vishwanath as Sai Verma
* Evan Ovenell as Christian McBride
* Araloyin Oshunremi as Otis Smith
* Isabel Adomakoh-Young as Miss Greenwood

## Gallery

### Videos

Heartstopper - Official Teaser - NetflixHeartstopper - Official Trailer - NetflixWhat Is Heartstopper? 🍂 Here's Everything We Can Tell You - Netflix