Unlikely

"I'm sorry, okay?" Reese told him, tears burning her eyes.

She slid her glasses off, rubbing them gently, giving him a peek of green eyes that was usually hidden by thick bifocals.

"Wait, why-" he tried to say, but Reese was already walking back into the building of the school to grab her stuff and leave.

5 years later...

Reese Clayfield concentrated on the animation, trying to match the pace with the music.

Her headphones were on, and she was using her stylus on her tablet, trying over and over to match the music with the animation she'd design for the last three weeks.

She felt someone shove one headphone down and she jolted, looking up.

"Hey, it's break time. Come on." Ruby Lewis, one of Reeses's few friends tells her. Ruby has her curly red hair in a bun, only a few strands covering her gray eyes. She's tan, having gained a tan from writing camp.

"Oh, can you grab me something to eat Ruby? I still can't get the music to match up one part of the animation." Reese says, showing her the tablet.

Ruby watches it, brows furrowed in concentration. Then she places her face real close to the tablet, making Reese feel awkward.

"Where? I can barely see the mistake, Reese." Ruby replied, folding her arms over chest.

"Well, I see it, and it's bothering me." Reese replied, sighing as she saved the animation to her tablet, and placed it in her bookbag.

She got up, following Ruby to the cafeteria where she bought pizza, tea, and banana cake for the dessert, sitting outside in their usual spot.

"You had communications already right? What's going on in there?" Reese asked, munching on her pizza.

Ruby paused in eating her noodles, trying to remember.

"Oh! Assigned group project." Ruby said finally, drinking down the broth of her noodles.

Reese almost choked on her pizza, taking a long sip of her tea.

"What? No. And we can't even choose our own partners. Not that it matters, since I think I'm only comfortable speaking to one person in there." Reese sighed.

"Is it that rising star FaceTuber? Sienna?" Ruby asked, watching Reese in case she tried to choke again.

"Yeah. I've designed some thumbnails for her as well. And she's commissioned art from me." Reese replied, her cheeks going pink.

Reese was such a cute girl; with black curly hair she kept braided, bangs that covered her green eyes, and delicate features, she could have a boyfriend, or even more friends if she would just venture out of her shell.

"What's the project supposed to be about?" Reese asked, pushing her fork around her banana cake. Her appetite was gone at the news.

Though the class Communications helped Reese deal with her shyness, and introvertedness, working with others would be the bane of her existence.

She never really covered from the social slope she lacked after being homeschooled most of her school years.

"I don't remember. I gotta meet up with my group after school. This is worth forty-seven percent of your grade, Reese, so opting out of it isn't an option." Ruby warned.

Reese just pushed her tray away, sighing.

Hopefully, it wouldn't be too bad.

Reese said her goodbyes to Ruby as she wandered up to the Communications class. Dread had settled in her stomach, and for a moment, Reese highly considered skipping class and feigning illness in the nurse's office.

But Reese remembered Ruby's warning; this project would be worth forty-seven percent of her grade, and as a student on a scholarship, Reese could NOT let her grade suffer.

So with the courage of a meek mouse, she took her seat in the middle of the class, putting her notebook and pen on the desk.

Once the bell rang, letting the other students know it was class time, the Professor walked in, his suit wrinkled.

"Welcome back to Communications. I know summer is fast approaching us, but we still have time for one last project. I'll set you up in groups of four and you will make a commercial for a certain item." He explained, handing out sheets of paper.

Reese took hers, reading over what it said.

Make a commercial, encouraging to buy a guitar, either electric or plain. Make a solid, persuasive commercial that the consumer needs to buy this item. Write down a detailed script, narration is optional.

Reese nodded to herself as an idea formed already, only interrupted when the Professor called out names, setting the groups up.

Reese was assigned with Patrick Davis, and two others she didn't know, taking her stuff over to where they sat.

"Um, hello! I have some ideas for the project if you'd like to meet up after school?" Reese asked, trying not to sound flustered and failing.

"Sounds like a plan! We can meet up at the diner after school to go over it more." Patrick replied, dark brown eyes staring at Reeses's.

She suppressed a flinch, nodding.

Though Patrick had been lukewarm, he had an intimidating aura that made Reese wanna shrink down on herself.

Dark sharp eyes, long brown hair he kept tied back in a braid. His skin was pale, as if he only stayed indoors, and Reese tried to remember how he looked like when he smiled.

She failed, thought process gone when the girl-Kelsey?-spoke up.

"Um, I actually have some extra-curricular stuff I have to work on after school, so I won't be able to make it." She said, chewing her gum noisily.

"Yeah, same goes for me." The guy, Markus, replied. He looked sheepish, and shrugged as if it couldn't be helped.

Patrick and Reese didn't have time to say anything when the bell rang, letting the day be over with. Kelsey and Markus quickly left after giving their lame apology.

"You can still make it, though, right?" He asked, and Reese nodded, getting up with her things. "Great, let's walk since it's just a block away."

Again, Reese only nodded, her voice stuck in her throat.

If Reese was bad talking to other girls, she was even worse with boys. She could feel panic rising as it was made clear this would be one on one work session.

And not one word had been uttered as they walked.

Once the diner came into view, Reese let out some air, as she opened the door. The smell of food, and teas washed over her, and she relaxed.

They picked a booth in the farthest corner, ordering burgers and sodas.

"I have an idea for the script." Patrick said, pulling out a tablet and stylus.

They went over the ideas, Reese and Patrick making a simple script. The tricky part was getting the camera and guitar, but Reese assured him that she would have both ready for when the time came to film.

"Would you like to do the narration?" Patrick asked, and Reese clammed up.

"I'm really bad at speaking. Well, publicly anyways. And I want us to get a good grade. Maybe we can assign it to Kelsey or Markus?" Reese suggested, down with her burger and drinking her soda.

"I feel like that's going to be hard for some reason." Patrick replied, but he didn't push the topic further on Reese.

"Yeah, probably." Reese agreed, grabbing her stuff.

They said their goodbyes, making plans to meet again at the diner for the next project session, Reese heading back to the dorms.