The start of sophomore year flies by in a blur, the heat lingering far too long for it to still be considered summer. Olivia's death all but forgotten for most of the squad. Monse and Cesar spent most of their winter break cooped up at her house. One minute they were holding hands, and the next minute she was giving him the cold shoulder. Nobody really knew what was going on with them but at least those two were always on the same page. Jamal stayed focused on the Rollerworld money he found. And Ruby?

Ruby still wasn't over the death of Olivia. Nearly a year had passed, and he still couldn't shake the sound of the bullet cutting clean through him into her. Jasmine held his hand through the grief, pushed him forward with words of encouragement, but it wasn't enough to get him to stop believing that he should have been the one who died instead of Olivia. Some nights he woke up in a cold sweat, the sound of his name on her tongue before she died haunting him.

"Ruby Martinez," his chemistry teacher droned. "You will be paired up with Isabella Alvarez."

"Who?"

Mr. Johnson's gaze drifts lazily over the students before landing on an empty seat in the corner of the room. "It appears Ms. Alvarez isn't here today. Again." He sighs deep but offers little help to Ruby. "You'll have to find a way to contact her. Perhaps one of her friends would be so kind to exchange that information with you?"

It's not like Ruby was a dumb kid. He was anything but. Some days he felt highly unmotivated to do things though, and his grades fell as consequence. But he needed to pass this semester with something higher than a C or his parents would force him to go to counseling.

"Well, can I be partners with somebody else for this project? Someone who's actually here?"

Mr. Johnson barely glances at the list of names he compiled right before class. "No. You guys will have three, no, two weeks to complete this assignment. I want it done before Valentine's Day so there won't be any excuses as to why it isn't done. Now, any questions?"

On the way to his locker, Ruby couldn't even imagine what this girl Isabella even looked like. Much less anyone else in any of his classes. He felt surrounded by people with no names or faces and couldn't recall how long it's been that way. How long it had been until he registered a name to a face. Isabella Alvarez. Someone Spanish. It sounded like a pretty name for a pretty face, at least.

"Ruby!" Down the hall, Jamal and Jasmine were both speed walking, practically running, to get to Ruby first.

"Ruby, Jasmine thinks that we have way more cash than a high schooler should, and I've been telling her," Jamal looks pointedly at Jasmine. "That we have been mowing lawns for fellow neighbors like the friendly neighborhood kids we are!"

"What?" Ruby shakes his head. If anyone found out about the money, they were screwed. But leave it up to Jamal to let something slip. "That's crazy talk. It is perfectly normal for high school students such as us to find some jobs to make some money."

"Ha!" Jamal points. "In. Your. Face."

Jasmine rolls her eyes, "But you've already got a job. With your dad. Why would you need two jobs unless something shady is going on that I have yet to find out about?"

"And why do you need to know?" Jamal straightens up beside Ruby, with full intentions on tag teaming her.

"Because that's MY job. Duh."

They continue to banter on the way to the cafeteria, Ruby's mind on how to get ahold of this girl. The sound of Jamal and Jasmine bickering was also, surprisingly, a comfort to him as background noise. It almost felt like some normalcy in the world, taking him back to simpler times despite them arguing over how Jamal got so much money. No shady business here.

"Jasmine, do you know who Isabella Alvarez is?"

Jasmine sticks her tongue out at Jamal before answering, "Yeah, I know who that is. Blue hair, skater chick always hanging out with the emo kids by the bleachers. Skips class a lot, has mommy issues at home."

"Okay…" Ruby gives her a weird look. "And how do you know all that?"

"Because she's a stalker and has nothing else to do in her free time," Jamal throws in. Jasmine hushes him.

"Please, Ruby. I have the deets on everyone at this school. Why, what's up? You got a problem with her? Do she got a problem with you?" She squares her shoulders, ready to throw hands with the girl as if she was right beside them.

"No, no. I'm just paired up with her for a chem project and she wasn't here today."

"Ohhh," Jasmine realizes. "I can give you her number, I worked on a project with her freshman year. But good luck trying to reach her, she barely answers her phone. I don't know how anybody could go without looking at their phone every minute of the day! You gotta stay in the loop these days, ain't nobody wanna get left behind!"

Later that night, Ruby contemplated sending a message to Isabella. It would be weird to message her so late; it was nearing midnight. What would he even say? Hi, it's Ruby, and we're chemistry partners. Sure, it sounds normal but under these contexts it would make him seem creepy, no? What if she's already asleep? It would be rude to wake her up over something he could talk to her about tomorrow. And blue hair? What kind of parents let their daughter dye their entire hair blue at this age?

She wasn't in class the next day. Or the day after that.

His fingers hovered over his phone, trying hard to push down the slowly rising panic in his stomach. If he didn't get ahold of this girl, then he was going to have to do the entire project by himself. Hell, it might even be better that way. It means he might actually get an A if he doesn't have to be held down by some blue haired delinquent who always skips class.

Before he let his nerves get the best of him, he types out a quick message. Hey, this is Ruby. Where have you been? We're partners in chem.

Exhaling a sigh of relief, he heads home. His phone stays silent the whole day except for Monse asking everyone when they can meet up.

"Hey, you."

Ruby looks up from his lunch tray, meeting dark brown eyes framed by long lashes and a blast of blue hair. She's the same height as him, as are a lot of other girls, slim build. Wears a black beanie though he doesn't think that's allowed at school. He's sure she knows it too. Could almost be pretty if she wasn't underneath all those baggy clothes. It's almost like she tries to hide it.

The next words that come out of her mouth are, "You're the stalker who's been texting me."

Ruby gawks at the audacity. "Been texting you? I texted you once. Which, by the way, you never responded. And I got your number because three days have passed and now, we only have a week and a half to get this project done."

Underneath her arm is a longboard. That is most definitely not allowed at school either. But she doesn't seem to notice, or care.

She walks beside him. "Well, did you already start it?"

"No. I was waiting for you," he admits. He's still trying to figure out what to make of this girl. She seems too relaxed. She also smells like a hint of vanilla, or fruits? She smells fruity. And no, he wasn't trying to be a creep, it was windy.

"Ah," she grins. "So, I'm not the only slacker around here."

"Isabella, this is a group project and last I checked, one person does not equal a group."

At the use of her full name, she bristles. "My friends call me Izzy."

It doesn't faze Ruby. In fact, he prefers saying her full name because he thinks it sounds prettier. But he's not about to tell her that. "We're not friends, Isabella. We are partners for a group project that we haven't started yet."

She looks at him for a long time, making Ruby fidget. Something about him defiantly refusing to call her Izzy amuses her. Most people know him as the kid who got shot and based on rumors, he wasn't always so serious before then. Freshman year, Ruby wore the biggest smile when he was around his group of friends, kicking it after school. "Okay, Martinez. When do you wanna start?"

He sits down at a table, his friends not having shown up yet. She sits beside him as though they do this every lunch period, as if it's normal. Even leans her head on one hand while looking at him, waiting on his answer.

"Did you just call me by my last name?"

She shrugs. "Yeah. It's still your name."

He can't make sense of her. Her antics are so weird.

"Okay…" he says. "You can drop by my place after school tomorrow." Mentally reminds himself that he needs to run it by his mom first and to make sure she doesn't think that Isabella is his girlfriend. "If that's okay with you."

"Sure thing," she says. "I'll just follow you home tomorrow after school then."

"Don't be weird."

"Not like that! How else am I supposed to know where you live?" Isabella softly punches him in the arm. Everything about this girl is throwing him off right now. "I'll see you in P.E. sixth period."

"We have P.E. together?" He can't recall ever seeing a girl with blue hair in that class. And he definitely would have noticed because it's so vibrant.

She laughs, warm and loud. Something about it hums against his skin, makes his ears tingle. Ruby's so used to girls being well… girls. Secretive, mysterious in their ways, magical creatures that he can't even begin to comprehend. Seeing a girl this comfortable and open with him is a shock. Monse's pretty blunt, but she doesn't count. She's been with the guys for far too long that he stopped viewing her as one of the girls. Even when she hangs out with Jasmine claiming they're spending "girl time" together.

"Yeah. See you around."

Monse and Jamal show up to the table right after she leaves.

"Who was that?" Monse asks, still looking after her.

"My chemistry partner," Ruby says. "She's kinda weird though. She had the nerve to call ME the stalker for texting her when she's skipped three days of class."

Monse pops a chicken nugget into her mouth. "How did you get her number?"

"Jasmine."

"I'd probably call you a stalker too if I wasn't the one who gave it to you."

Ruby rolls his eyes. "Anyway, she's coming over tomorrow to work on the project."

"Okay, but wait," Jamal says. "How did she manage to skip three days of class without getting in trouble with her parents?"

Good point. One that Ruby would have realized if she hadn't made that stalker remark upon their first meeting. "Dunno. Though she seems pretty chill so her parents must be chill too."

"Either that or she's failing all of her classes and her parents just don't care." Monse scrapes her fork into a sad version of mashed potatoes and gravy.

"Monse," Ruby smiles sarcastically. "Always gotta be a negative Nancy."

"What?" she raises her shoulders. "I'm just being realistic here."

"She hasn't dropped out yet," says Jamal. "She could be one of those potential school dropouts but is a major genius behind it all. You never know, she could be the next Bill Gates of the century."