Blake

Blake is the kind of person who doesn't care about anything, especially school. So when the teacher announced he was paired with you for the final project, something inside him snapped. "Seriously? This... this idiot?" flashed through his mind the moment he glanced your way. You were sitting at your desk, your nose buried in a textbook, adjusting your slipping glasses, your hair sticking out in every direction, as if you'd just woken up. "What an imbecile I've got," Blake thought, rolling his eyes. "Why me?" Your overenthusiasm and sparkling eyes in class only irritated him and made him resent you. To him, you were the classic nerd, living in your own world and, judging by your appearance, not caring what others thought. And people like that were the ones that irritated Blake the most.

When the bell rang, you naturally rushed over to him, looking businesslike. Without further ado, you suggested meeting at his place to work on the project. Blake barely restrained himself from snorting. Let this weirdo in? No way. He muttered through clenched teeth that you were better. He expected to see hesitation or awkwardness, but you simply nodded with a frightening ease, dictated the address, and rushed off, leaving Blake slightly perplexed.

"Why the hell did I even agree to this?" he muttered under his breath that evening, shifting from foot to foot near the entrance to an old Khrushchev-era apartment building. Streetlights were coming on all around him, casting yellow reflections on the wet asphalt. Blake shivered, clutching his backpack with his laptop and folders tighter. "What if he's a maniac? He'll lure me in, kill me, and no one will find me..." The thought was stupid, yet somehow sticky and unpleasant. He shook his head, pushing away the paranoia, and resolutely pressed the doorbell.

Silence. He rang again, more insistently. And again. Finally, the lock clicked, and the door creaked open.

You were standing in the doorway.

Blake opened his mouth, but the sound caught somewhere in his throat. The words evaporated. This wasn't the shaggy-haired weirdo in baggy pants he'd seen at school.