The Girl Who Only Talked To Me

Chapter One

On my first day at my new school, I didn't get lost as much as I thought I would. The layout of the new school was basically that of my last school, but this was my third high school in two years, and they had all grown pretty similar to me.

It kinda sucked, starting here ten weeks into sophomore year, but I figured I'd have to just deal with it. There wasn't much I could do.

I sighed as I dropped into a seat in History, my last class of the day. I pulled a small bag of chips out of my backpack and started eating them, trying to hide the loud crunch they made every time I bit down on one.

"Young man, there's no eating in my classroom, is that clear?" The teacher scolded, standing in front of my desk. "You must be Jordan, right?"

I nodded, dropping the chips back into my bag. First day, and I had already screwed up.

Not that it mattered; I probably wouldn't be staying here long anyways.

The teacher returned to the front of the room and I looked at my schedule to find her name. Mrs. Arnold.

"Today, I'm going to be assigning you a project that you will complete over the next two weeks. With a partner-" Everyone in the class immediately turned toward each other, already knowing who they wanted to be partnered with. "Of my choice," Mrs. Arnold continued to the groans of the class. "Here's the instruction sheet. Basically, you'll be researching, building a model of, and presenting a project on one of the Seven Wonders of the World, which I will also assign to you."

I had no clue what the Seven Wonders of the World were. I had heard the term, but I couldn't name any of them. I leaned back in my seat and waited for her to tell me who I was partnered with.

"Max and Charlie. Amy and Rebecca. Ross and Macy," She rattled off names for another minute before she stopped, sighed, and pursed her lips, looking at me in defeat. "Jordan and Skyler."

People in the class started sending me sympathetic glances and I didn't understand why. It wasn't like I had someone I'd rather work with – I didn't know anyone else. I didn't even know who Skyler was.

The class split into their pairs and I looked around and saw a blonde girl sitting alone in the corner of the classroom where the cabinets met the wall. I walked over to her, wondering what was so bad about being paired with her that everyone kept looking at me so strangely.

"Hey, are you Skyler?" I asked, smiling at her. She glanced up at me and nodded, her face curious. "I'm Jordan." I told her, sitting in the desk in front of her and swiveling around in my seat to face her.

"You two are doing the Lighthouse of Alexandria," Mrs. Arnold, who had been walking around assigning projects, told us. She watched us for a second, then walked to the next group.

"Well, what do we want to start with today?" I asked, pulling out my notebook. Skyler didn't respond, just stared at me for a second, so I figured maybe she was just shy. "How about we go to the computer lab or library and start looking up some stuff about it, cuz I seriously have no idea what this thing is," I suggested, smiling sheepishly. She nodded and stood, pulling her books towards her. I looked towards the front of the room. "I'll, uh, go tell the teacher."

Mrs. Arnold said that it was fine if we wanted to go do research, but to come back ten minutes before the end of class. "And thanks for actually trying with Skyler. Most of the other kids wouldn't even consider trying to work with her."

I nodded, confused, and walked back to where Skyler was waiting, wondering why everyone was being so weird about us working together. "We have to be back in class by 2:50. And I'm gonna follow you, I have no idea where the library is," I admitted, getting only a nod in response from Skyler. She stood, frozen to her spot outside of the classroom for a moment before her eyes widened and she dropped her books, looking shocked.