The Letter Project

Chapter 2

Cheers erupted throughout the classroom. I turned my head to the left and grinned at Nor. She returned the grin and faced forward back to Mr. Grayson. He was smiling and waiting patiently for everyone to calm back down. 

Once the last person sat back down and the chatter ceased, he began writing on the board. "For the select few of you who are new or have never had an older sibling in one of my classes or Mrs. Grayson's senior art classes, you are all assigned the Letter Project."

I looked around the classroom to see that everyone seemed pretty happy about it. Some looking a little nervous, but happy nonetheless. 

"Mrs. Grayson and I will take every senior that we have and assign each individual to another senior. You won't know you have and the other person won't know who they have."

Malachi and Norkilia sighed in relief and I internally face-palmed. I told them that, if only they believed me. 

"I know most of you are probably confused as to why my wife and I assigned this project now and not in semester two, but that's because there will be an addition to the project that we will inform you about once we get back from winter break."

Instantly, whispers could be heard from my peers, including us three. "What do you guys think it'll be?" I asked with wide eyes. "They could maybe assign us to another partner?" volunteered Malachi. "Or what if-" Norkilia began but was cut off by Mr Grayson. "Shh, quiet down, chances are you won't be able to guess so save your discussions for later."

Malachi groaned and I laughed. He hates it when teachers tell students to do things on their own time. "Next class is when your first letter will be due..." I zoned out as Mr. Grayson started explaining the requirements.

Who WOULD I get?

Secretly I look around my classroom, most students are still being attentive but there are a few, like me, who are off in their own little world. 

The chances of me getting assigned to someone in this class are pretty low. Together Mr and Mrs Grayson have five senior classes that they partner together. I could get someone from one of Mrs Grayson's class or I could get one from the other two classes that Mr. Grayson has. 

It's not a secret, about 85% of the pairings that the teachers put together are shipped together by the staff of the school. Mr and Mrs Grayson met at a high school in Maine and their English teacher assigned the same project. They hit it off and when they figured out who the other was, they started dating. They're in their 30's now and have two little girls, they're relationship goals. I would be lying if I didn't say I hoped I found myself in a relationship like them. 

Resting my head in my palm, I look back up at the board just in time for Mr Grayson to finish his speech. Nor handed me the instructions for what had to be in our first letter and she winked at me, knowing that I would need it. 

"Any questions?" Mr Grayson asked the class. A few hands shot up. 

Nor took this time to turn to me fully, "So... are you excited?" I laughed at her, "You're joking right? Of course I am, you'd have to be crazy not to be!" She shrugged her shoulders again, "Just checking, maybe I've been best friends with an alien for all these years." Unfortunately, her attention was snagged away from our conversation when Marcus Matthews walked up. He smirked at me and I internally rolled my eyes. 

Marcus was the captain of the soccer team. He's friends with Malachi, but I've never liked him. Nor and I's goal, though, is to be kind to everyone and I wasn't going to fail just because Marcus can be a jerk. It's also school wide knowledge that he's liked Norkilia since our freshman year. So was I surprised when he asked her out to the movies this Friday? No.

Nor nudged me in the side and I turned to her incredulously. "Awe, I would really love to but unfortunately I have to go to Haven's dog's funeral..." she trailed off. What is she talking about? I don't have a dog? OH! I force a few tears to appear in my eyes, "Yeah, my dog passed away last night and I really need my best friend there," I continued, playing along. 

The look on Marcus' face was priceless, "O-oh, I'm sorry for your loss Haven," he stuttered out before turning around and returning to his seat. 

From under the table that we shared, Nor and I high-fived. Malachi looked at us confused, specifically me, as I realized he was probably listening to the conversation all along. Making sure that neither Marcus or his friends were looking, I gave a thumbs up to Malachi. 

Malachi was obviously still confused but seemingly must've realized it would get explained later and dropped it. But, honestly, I was confused too. Why would Nor turn Marcus down? It's normally in her character to at least give someone a chance, and she definitely doesn't normally lie about her excuses either.

Once the bell rang, we had one more class to go to before the end of the day. Dreadfully, I walked to my last period, science. I have never been very good at science, so AP Chemistry has never been my favorite thing in the world. I also have a permanent, all year long, assigned seat next to Oliver Bennett. Not the worst thing in the world either, he's super smart and gets his work done. The dude just doesn't talk much, if at all.

Walking into class, per usual Oliver is already sitting on his stool at our table. Waltzing over I take a seat and flip open the chemistry binder to pull out the homework due at the start of class. From the corner of my eye I see Oliver do the same thing.

He is probably one of the most attractive people at the school, it blows my mind that he isn't one of the most talked about guys in the school for that exact reason.

As I'm watching him from the corner of my eye, I see him obviously turn to look at me. "What?" he asked. "Oh! U-uhm, there's a piece of hair out of place and it's bothering me, sorry!" I respond, hopefully making up for the fact that I was being a cliche high school girl and got caught staring. 

Thankfully, there actually was a piece of his platinum blonde hair out of place and he pushed it back. He didn't say anything and just turned his gaze back down to his worksheets. 

Oliver has bright blue eyes that are pretty similar to Norkilia's in fact. The two of them are pretty similar, but only in the way that Oliver has just the lighter or more grey tones of the same features that Norkilia does. For example, her blonde hair is more golden whereas his is platinum. 

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I reach over and grab the starter worksheet that must've gotten passed out as I was distracted. 

Finally the final bell rings and I shoot up to leave, but Oliver had the same idea. I forgot sometimes how tall some people are. He's the same height as Malachi, so he towers over the average height people, like me. Realizing that he was trapped in between the wall and me, I grabbed my bag and walked out of the classroom.

I met Savannah outside and we walked over to my car. Savannah comes with me most days after school leaving the car that her and Luna share for when cheer practice ends. Nor and Lu Lu have cheer practice almost everyday til 4:30 and Savannah doesn't like to way two hours before she can go home. As for Malachi, he has soccer practice every day until about the same time, so I'm the only option she has. 

"Want to go get ice cream?" I asked. Savannah paused and look around us. The October breeze being quite obvious as well as the autumn colors on the trees. Knowing what she was implying without even saying it, I defended myself by saying, "It is never too cold for ice cream, not during the fall, not even in the middle of winter.'

Savannah laughed and threw her bag into the back of my car once I had unlocked the doors, "Let's go get some ice cream then!"