Chapter 4: Things Start to Shift
Saturday – 10:46 a.m.
No one was really working anymore.
Papers sat untouched. Pencils stopped moving. Ms. Calder had left the room for "a quick meeting with the principal," and that little sentence had unlocked something in the air.
Aiden leaned back, balancing his chair on two legs like always. "Okay. So… are we really not gonna talk about how weird this whole thing is?"
Ethan looked up. "You mean being trapped in a room with you?"
Aiden grinned. "Exactly."
Noah chuckled under his breath, and even Aria cracked a smile—just barely.
Lana closed her notebook. "It is weird. I didn't even do anything."
"Same," Aria said, quiet but sure. "Someone reported me for drawing. On a sticker."
Aiden turned toward her. "That was you? That design on the website?"
Aria blinked. "Yeah…"
"It was dope." He said it casually, like it was nothing. But her face went a little pink.
"Thanks," she mumbled, eyes darting back down to her sketchbook.
Lana glanced around. "What if… we were all set up?"
The room quieted again.
Noah frowned. "You think someone put us in here on purpose?"
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Why would anyone do that?"
Aiden grinned, leaning in. "I mean, look at us. The genius squad, the quiet girls, and me—varsity screw-up. Maybe they're trying to fix us."
"Or maybe," Aria whispered, "they wanted us to meet."
Everyone stared at her for a second. Then Aiden muttered, "That's creepy."
But no one laughed.
Because deep down, it didn't sound that crazy.
---
11:22 a.m.
Ms. Calder returned with a white box and a small smirk.
"Time for something new," she said. "I've decided that you five will be working together on a community project. You have one week to come up with the plan. Proposal due next Saturday. Work together."
Lana raised her hand. "A... project?"
"Group effort. You'll figure it out."
She placed the box on a desk and walked out again.
Inside the box: blank poster boards, markers, glue sticks, and a note:
> "Your first step in learning isn't always about books. Sometimes, it's each other."
Aiden stared. "What is this, a therapy camp?"
Ethan smirked. "You scared of glue, tough guy?"
Aiden tossed a marker at him. "Terrified."
But this time, everyone laughed.
Real laughter.
Not fake or forced—but something true.
And for the first time since they'd been thrown into that room, something inside the space cracked open.
Not broken.
Just... opening.