Hello fellow teacher of students! I would love for the two to know each other when they were much younger. There's only a four year age gap between them so-!

Maybe she went out of her way to be friends with him when others kept their distance? And stuck by his side like glue if someone tried to ostracise him because she's not there for that at all. Could have been a closeish friend in high school but only after the deaths of his two best friends did she make more of an effort to bond with him and help him through that period of time. Just a few ideas, of course!! If you have any other ideas I would love to hear them because yes to more people of her age bracket/profession please.