Writers 
By the time the final bell rang, Sarah had almost forgotten about the project.
Almost.
She was standing beside her locker, trying to shove three textbooks into a bag that was clearly too small for them, when her phone buzzed.
She pulled it out.
Ryan: Library. Five minutes.
Sarah stared at the message.
She typed a reply.
Sarah: I thought you had plans.
His response came almost immediately.
Ryan: I changed them.
She frowned.
That was suspicious.
She closed her locker and walked toward the library.
When she stepped inside, she spotted Ryan sitting at one of the tables near the window. His backpack was on the floor beside him, and he was flipping through the project sheet.
Sarah walked over and dropped into the chair opposite him.
“You're early.”
Ryan looked at the clock.
“I'm five minutes early.”
“That's early.”
“You're three minutes late.”
Sarah put her notebook on the table.
“I had a locker problem.”
“Your locker attacked you?”
“Something like that.”
He smiled.
Sarah ignored him and pulled the project sheet closer.
“We need a topic.”
Ryan leaned back.
“Okay.”
“That's it?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I don't know. Something useful.”
He thought for a moment.
“Social media and teenagers.”
Sarah shook her head.
“Too boring.”
“School uniforms.”
“Worse.”
“Teenage sleep habits.”
She looked at him.
“Are you secretly eighty years old?”
Ryan laughed.
“Fine. You choose.”
Sarah opened her notebook.
She had already written down several ideas during lunch.
“What about how friendships change after people move to a new school?”
Ryan looked at her.
“That sounds personal.”
“It isn't.”
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Okay. That's actually good.”
Sarah smiled slightly.
“Thank you.”
“Don't look so surprised.”
“I wasn't.”
“You were.”
She ignored him and began writing.
For the next twenty minutes, they worked surprisingly well together.
Ryan wasn't as useless as she'd expected.
He came up with ideas quickly and helped organize the points while Sarah wrote everything down. They disagreed several times, but neither of them got genuinely angry.
At one point, Ryan reached across the table for the notebook.
Their fingers accidentally touched.
Sarah pulled her hand back.
Ryan paused.
Neither of them said anything.
After a second, he took the notebook.
Sarah looked down at her notes, suddenly very interested in the handwriting.
Ryan glanced at her.
“You okay?”
“I'm fine.”
“You look nervous.”
“I'm not nervous.”
“Then why are you avoiding eye contact?”
Sarah looked up.
“I'm not.”
Ryan smiled.
“You are.”
She grabbed her pen.
“Just write.”
He chuckled and returned to the project.
A few minutes later, Sarah noticed Ryan staring out the window.
“You've been here all day and you still haven't told me why you transferred.”
Ryan's expression changed slightly.
“There's nothing interesting about it.”
“You don't seem like someone who transfers schools for no reason.”
He looked back at her.
“Maybe I just wanted a change.”
Sarah studied his face.
There was something he wasn't saying.
She decided not to push.
“Fine.”
Ryan looked surprised.
“That's it?”
“Yes.”
“You're not going to interrogate me?”
“Not today.”
He smiled.
“Good.”
Sarah closed her notebook.
“We're done for today.”
Ryan checked the time.
“Already?”
“It's almost five.”
He stood and picked up his backpack.
As they walked out of the library together, Sarah realized something that irritated her.
She hadn't spent the afternoon arguing with Ryan.
She had actually enjoyed it.
And somehow, that was much more dangerous.