"Stacie, you'll be paired with... Alex. Now everybody gather with your partners, and get to work!" I never really noticed Alex before. He stays to himself, and so do I. I guess you could say we're both shy, but I like to look at it as "more mature" than other people. The only thing I do know is that his best friend is Nick.

"Good luck, Stace."

"Thanks."

We go our separate ways to our partners. When I get to Alex, he is hunched over his desk looking down. His jet-black hair is covering his face, but I can just make out two bright, blue eyes staring up at me. I love his eyes as soon as I see them. His hair looks sort of like a skater boy's, my favorite type of boys' hair. It looks as if he has no pimples or impurities. His face is flawless. I wish my face was like that. I hate the way I look and when I finally like it, some skinny, beautiful mer-girl swims by making me insecure again. Alex looks skinny, but I can't really tell since he is hunched over. The only thing I can see is his hair and his bright, green tail. I have to admit, he does look pretty cute.

~

Alex's POV

Stacie looks so beautiful today. I can't believe I'm paired up with her. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.

Is she talking to me? I can't believe she's actually talking to me! I'm speechless!

Stacie's POV

"So, um, hi, I'm Stacie."

"..."

"Um, what war do you want to do? I really don't care. Any of them are fine with me."

"..."

Now, I am starting to get annoyed. I'm shy, too, but I still talk when I'm talked to. The least he could do is say hi. I mean, how hard is it to do that?

There's silence the rest of the class. Not once did Alex talk. I'm stuck looking at the list of wars we were given to choose from over and over again. When the bell rings, I practically race out the door. I realize I am still racing when Marissa yells my name.

"Stace! Stacie! Wait up!" She is panting when she finally reaches me. I feel kind of bad.

"I'm sorry, I forgot that we usually meet up after class. It's just that Alex ignored me every time I tried talking to him. I was left to look through the papers we got over and over again."

"Man, I'm sorry to hear that, but at least you didn't get stuck with Nick. I was right. I knew he would leave me to do the work by myself. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better, though. If it isn't, I'm going to have to straighten that boy out."

As soon as Marissa says tomorrow, I freeze. I don't want tomorrow to come. I have, like, three tests, and I really don't want to work with Alex.

"Stace? You okay? You haven't talked for like five minutes."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Marissa. I was busy worrying about my tests tomorrow."

"No, you weren't. You were thinking about what's going to happen tomorrow in history with Alex." Marissa always does know what I am thinking, but this time, I wish she didn't.

"Um, so what war did you pick?"

"I was correct. You were thinking about Alex. I chose the Revolution. What war did you pick?"

"I didn't choose anything, yet. I'll probably just choose something tomorrow."

"Well, you certainly have a lot of time."

"What do you mean?"

"The project is due in a month. You really weren't paying attention, were you? What's so important outside? I see you looking out there every day in class."

"I don't really know. I figure it's just because I would rather be outside than in. But, you already know that. Wait, its due in a month?! I don't think I can work with Alex and his silence for a month!"

"Well, you're going to have to. I have to work with Nick, so you have to work with Alex. Mr. Johnson said we can't change our partners, remember?"

"Fine," I sigh, "How did it go with him? Mr. Johnson?"

"Ugh. He yelled at me for yelling at Nick and disrupting class. He said I'll have to deal with working with Nick. I have no other choice unless I want an 'F' for a grade. Oh, and he gave me a detention. I hate him."

~

Alex's POV

I can't believe I did that to Stacie. You're so stupid, Alex. You know better than that. You know never to ignore a girl, and now Stacie is upset with you. Just listen to her.

"Wait, it's due in a month?! I don't think I can work with Alex and his silence for a month!"

You can tell how mad you made her when she raced out that door. Tomorrow, you have to apologize to her. She's a good person. You don't like being ignored, so why the hell would you ignore her? So stupid. You're going to have to get over that crush you have and talk to her.

"Hey, Alex. How'd it go with Stacie?" She was only a couple of feet in front of us. Nick knows I like Stacie, and I know that he likes Marissa.

"Shhhh!" Stacie turned around at that point. She gave me a dirty look and whispered something to Marissa. Marissa nodded, and Stacie quickly swam away. Marissa gave us a dirty look, and then swam away, too. I know Stacie's was directed at me, but I'm pretty sure Marissa's was for the both of us. "Great," I sigh. Stacie was making me feel even worse.

"What? Did I miss something?"

"I ignored Stacie the whole class, and now, she's pissed at me."

"That's a bad move to make, bro. If you want to date her, you should never ignore her. Never. You got to listen to her and speak to her back. Chicks love that."

"I really don't think you should be giving me relationship advice. You've liked Marissa since you were like five, and you still haven't dated her. But, you've managed to date the rest of the school. I'm pretty sure girls don't like that."

"Yeah, but Marissa's a tough one to crack. Stacie isn't. It's finally your chance to make a move. Don't screw it up like I've done."

~

Stacie's POV

"Hey, Alex. How'd it go with Stacie?" I freeze. Did I just hear Nick talking about me? And, did he just say Alex?

"Shhhh!" I slowly turn around only to see I am correct. There stands Nick... and Alex.

"Marissa, I have to go. I'm going to start swimming towards my next class. I'll see you later," I whisper to Marissa. She nods, and I swim away.

~

The day goes by quickly. I don't have much homework, which is good. The only bad things are when I heard Alex and Nick talking about me and when I swam into a wall. I didn't mean to bump into it, it just happened. I was looking at Marissa when I did. My head started hurting badly after that, but I refuse to go to the nurse. She's mean. Not just normal mean, I mean very mean. She once screamed at a deaf merman for not doing what she asked. Poor guy. He obviously didn't hear her. She screamed at him for not hearing her, and he's deaf. It's so stupid. She's so mean. The boy swam home crying. He couldn't hear her, but he could tell she was mad at him when she started using hand gestures and when her face got all red. Therefore, it's a good idea to avoid her.