"Will the following students report to the front office? Graham Urban, Jihoon Lee, Jinx Somer, Madeline Shire, and Nala Carry. Again, Graham Urban, Jihoon Lee, Jinx Somer, Madeline Shire, and Nala Carry, please report to the front office." The announcement booms overhead, deafening compared to the voice of the little old lady substituting for our teacher today.

"That's me." I say loud enough for her to hear. I get to my feet and make my way to the door before she has time to say anything. I walk down the gloomy hallway, this school was always dark and depressing. But it was still better than the place I called home. That was my real hell. As much as I hated school, I hated not being at school more. The front office was only a few classrooms down, so it didn't take me long to get there.

"Fourth door to your left." The lady at the desk says. I nod and walk that direction. Who knows how she knew who I was? I'd only seen her once, last year, when I visited the nurse. When I open the door, there's a small girl already sitting at the long table. I take the seat in front of her and fidget with my fingers. I glance at her, but she keeps her head down. I hadn't seen her before either, she looked like a freshman.

"Hey, what's your name?" I blurt.

"Jinx." She says quietly. What a strange name.

"That's... unique." I say.

"Yeah." She shrugs. She brings her hand to her mouth, biting at her fingernails. Jinx was a thin girl, with long dark hair, and dark brown eyes. Her skin was a middle shade of brown, not very dark, but darker than a tan. She could be more beautiful if she didn't make herself as small as possible.

"Any idea why we're here?" I ask. She smiles and shrugs again. I nod and sit back in my seat, my eyes roaming around the walls of the room. It had the same posters hanging as any other room. Signs that read No Bullying, or You can achieve your goals. Posters that everyone reads but never really pays attention to.

"I guess this is the right room?" A boy asks, entering the doorway.

"Who knows." I sigh.

"Don't know why I was called here, but I'm Graham." he says, nodding his head towards both of us.

"Aren't you that guy that's like... super strong or something? I've seen videos of you lifting the cafeteria tables and all that." I say.

"Oh, that. Yeah I guess. Didn't know I was known for that." he frowns. He sits in the seat farthest away from us, on the opposite side of where I was sitting. He puts his head down. Obviously his talkative manner had run out. A girl comes in less than a minute later. Madeline Shire, the one person I knew so far. It's likely everyone knew her, she was the "gorgeous, popular girl". I've never spoken to her, figured she'd be too snotty to take notice of anyone not popular.

"Hi." she says, flashing a smile when she catches my eye. I nod and look back down at my hands. We sit in silence for what feels like eternity before a teacher walks in, a boy following behind her. He sits down beside me, catching me off guard. The others had left at least 1 chair between each other. Coincidence they all sat on the opposite side.

"Alright, I guess we're all here." The teacher says. We all looked in her direction, probably all wondering why we were here.

"My name is Miss Baker, and before we get into anything else, I would like for you to go around the table and introduce yourself. Name, age, grade, and something about yourself." She finishes, gesturing towards Graham.

"Um. I'm Graham. I'm 17. I'm a senior. And... I don't know. I like to work out?" He starts. Ms.Baker nods and looks at Madeline.

"I'm Madeline, I'm 17. I'm a senior, and I have a cat named Milo."

"My name is Jinx. I'm 14, I'm a freshman... and I like to draw."

"My name is Nala, I'm 16. I'm a Junior, and-" I pause. What could I say about myself that wouldn't seem stupid? "- I like to write." I finished. The boy beside me clears his throat, I noticed that he was fidgeting with his sleeves.

"I'm Jihoon, I'm also 16, and a Junior. Something about myself? I like to read." He says quickly. Ms. Baker nods and smiles slightly.

"Great." She says, inhaling loudly. "Well the reason you're here today is... I have a project for you."

"Why us specifically?" I ask.

"You were picked randomly. Think of it as fate." She smiles. Graham scoffs.

"Fate?" He asks. "Nah, this is just more work I probably don't have any interest in." Ms. Baker frowns.

"Do any of you know each other?" She asks. We glance around at each other and shake our heads in uniform.

"Perfect. So this is more of an experiment than a project. I'll get straight to the point. Starting next week, we will meet here during 3rd and 4th class times every Monday and Thursday. I want you guys to become friends. I'll give you assignments to work on together each week. You can start by exchanging phone numbers or social media accounts." She explains.

"Um. I'm sorry but... you're telling me you want us to waste class time each week to...befriend each other? That sounds really stupid." Madeline blurts. "No offense." She adds, glancing at the rest of us.

"I completely understand why you would think that, but I will let you know that completing each week's assignment will count as 10% extra credit in each of your classes, along with food delivered from any restaurant of your choice with $20 allowance since your lunch break is included during our meet times."

Everyone is silent. As weird as it is to be suddenly forced to become friends, the benefits seemed to make it worth it. Especially the extra credit part. 10% could bump you up a whole letter grade. It would be perfect for me in Science, where my grade always hovered just below a B.

"Tempting." Madeline says, voicing what we were all thinking.

"I won't force you to participate, but I think you'll find that it will work in your favor if you do." Ms. Baker tells us.

"I'll do it." Jinx says suddenly. Her voice was clear and firm, far from what her body language was saying.

"Me too." Graham chimes. I nod, and Jihoon gives a thumbs up. Our attention goes to Madeline. She looked at us, she seemed to be weighing her options. Not that it was much of a choice to make.

"Fine." She finally decides.



(End of part 1/2)