The Email Project

Prologue

Location: California

The New Year had just begun, and it was that dreaded time after Christmas break when all the schools were back in session. For Landry Blair, that meant the beginning of his second semester of senior year. He was actually kind of excited for his new classes, and to be around his friends again. Coming from a house of 7 kids, school was basically a safe haven.

The one thing that made him slightly nervous, though, was that he had to join a club. His parents were making him. They said it would be "fun" and it was his "last chance" since he was a senior.

There weren't many clubs at the tiny Astrid High School, being that Landry's hometown was basically a paper town on the map, unknown to anyone outside of California. Astrid had a population of 2,000 and less than a fourth of that made up the high school student body. There was a total of four hundred students at the school, and ninety of them were seniors.

All the students had to look at clubs during advisory on Tuesday, and Landry wasn't too excited about that. He would rather just focus on his classes and maybe try out for soccer in the spring. But because it was his last year at Astrid High, his parents were forcing him to join a club. So he would just have to deal with it.

When it came time to look at clubs, Landry signed up for the one with the most slots open: State Interactions. The first meeting was on Friday after school. He quickly scribbled his name on the sign-up sheet and went back to advisory.

He tried not to think about it during the week, but when it came time for the meeting on Friday, he was extremely nervous. His stomach felt like jello and his palms were sweaty as he walked into the library after school. He didn't usually get this nervous in social settings, but he wasn't too excited about having to join a club with a bunch of strangers.

The first thing they did was introduce themselves, and then the teacher who was leading it handed out a list of names. "The state we've been given this year is Florida," she explained. "Each of you will choose a student off the list to be your pen pal. The object of this is to befriend someone from across the country. At the end of the semester, you'll write a short essay on your experience. Please pick a name off the list and we'll get started."

Landry was last to look over the list. There was just one name left. "Blake Connolen," he whispered to himself as he signed his initials next to it. "This should be interesting."

- - - - -

Location: Florida

It was almost the end of the four dreaded years of high school, and Blake Connolen hadn't done anything. No sports, except for basketball for one week freshman year. She broke her nose the last day of practice, and claimed she'd never do a sport again.

She never did an after school art program or club either; she wasn't good at drawing or painting.

Her parents decided it would be a good thing for Blake to join a club as an extra curricular something. She took a look at the small list that Washington Senior High School had, and found nothing of interest. The clubs for second semester were filling up fast. The last thing to fill was State Interactions.

Blake rolled her eyes and signed up for the ridiculous club. Thinking it was probably just going to be naming the states and capitals of all the states, in which she already knew, she thought to herself, This will be simple.

During the first meeting of State Interactions, the teacher introduced what they would be doing all semester long.

"We will be emailing students from California this semester. You will have all semester to get to know the other student from across the country. Take a look at the list and put your initials next to the person's name."

Without even looking closely, Blake put her initials next to the third name on the list. "Landry Blair," she whispered aloud. She rolled her eyes, and walked back to her seat.

"Who'd you get?" Blake's best friend, Quincy, asked.

"Landry Blair." Once she said it again, she scoffed. "This outta be interesting."