Chapter Text
As long as she could remember, y/n was always a bigger girl. The first few years of her life didn't pose as much of a problem - Her personality made it easy for her to make friends. But as she progressed in elementary school, the self-awareness set in, and people who she thought were her friends made comments that she didn't catch onto until years later.
Her parents were unconditionally loving, and they wanted her to be healthy - doctor's orders. Growing up, it was constantly diet after diet and she never seemed to catch a break or lose any weight at all. At some point during middle school, she shoved all of that back and pretended like she no longer cared.
Around her third year of middle school, her mental health took a deep dive into rock bottom - Nothing made her happy, and she isolated herself like never before. Her grades plummeted and her self-consciousness consumed her - She started to think that she was never going to lose anything, and she was never going to find somebody who loved her as she was.
High school finally rolled around and all she could think about was getting into a relationship, but almost everybody in her school just ignored her. She had a good group of friends who supported her, but at this point, she was over platonic relationships. She wanted romance.
But it never seemed to happen.
Finally, it was her third year - In just a few months, she would graduate and get out. The first couple of months were uneventful and mainly school-focused. Semester two's midterms passed and she didn't do too badly. But with all of that out of the way, she no longer cared about school and was ready to focus on more than just academics.
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Walking to school in the dead cold of winter was never fun - especially at 5 in the morning. Y/n was shivering her way to the front doors in the biggest jacket she had which helped, but what didn't was her uniform skirt. Although she hated wearing jackets because they made her feel way bigger than she feels she is, she had no choice today seeing as it was below freezing point.
Finally, she made it out of the January Arctic and placed her items into her locker, and changed into her uniform shoes like normal. Absorbing the warmth of the school, she took her time on her way to class, luckily still on time. At this point in the year, she had gotten used to the people in her class - some rowdy, some quiet, and some just in between - Y/n fitting into the more quiet group, but it depends on the person she's dealing with.
Like she did many years previous, she examined the people in her class at the beginning of school in April - scoping out who she could get interested in. This year, her class was alright, but she wouldn't be against the majority. But instead of partnering with somebody she would want to get with, she went with her friend who she was so lucky to have in her class this year - otherwise, she didn't know what she would do.
Before homeroom, she sat on the desk next to her friend's seat like she did every morning, "Hey," she greeted.
"What's up?"
"Nothing, just fucking cold."
"I don't blame you, it's freezing out!"
Remembering how she looks when she slouches over, she wrapped her arms around her stomach, just pretending she was cold. "I'm bored, dude."
"Ugh me too," they slouched, "Hey, I know what wouldn't make you bored..."
"Not another one of your ideas, Cam..."
"You gotta get with somebody! You've been waiting this long for somebody to come to you-"
Y/n cut them off, "But I never make the first move, I know! I just don't know what to do!"
"Just start by saying hi."
"But then what?"
"I don't know, strike conversation?"
"You're no help."
"Just try it!"
Just then, the teacher came through the door, and y/n headed back to her seat. The teacher then came to the podium and cleared her throat, "Good morning everybody, today will be a working day."
The whole class groaned except the major intellectuals, "I know, but this will be different than the rest of them. It will be the starting day of our last major project." the same students didn't seem too happy about it, but everybody was quite conflicted because if this was their last project, why so early?
"It is a multi-month project that will take us to the end of the year, and will count towards your final."
A student from the back spoke up, "WHAT? What could this possibly be about if it takes..." He counted the months left on his fingers, "...3 months?!"
The teacher put on an irked face, "If you let me continue, you would know that you have the rest of January to the end of school in March to do this project - Slacking off and procrastination are not an option..."
Y/n panicked; she was infamous in her family for procrastinating - "How the fuck am I gonna get this done?"
"You will be in pairs and tasked with keeping a log of communication and bonding over the few months while still doing the work for your other classes." Every student had some face on whether it was excited, confused, or scared, "I have assigned partners."
Now that was the finishing touch for them all - Throughout the year, she let them pick partners, but this time she wasn't and it was all making sense. As she called out the pairs, each student was put with somebody who they very rarely talked to in class - I guess teachers are quite perceptive when it comes to these things.
"Next, Cameron and Quinn..." Cam looked at y/n when their teacher called it out, looking petrified. Quinn was for sure one of the quietest in the class, and Cam was the complete opposite. "And last, Y/n and Iida."
"Oh great, the nerd. He yells at me for saying anything even CLOSE to a curse word..."
Iida just nodded, not opposed to the pairing, and ready to get started right away. "Alright, now I would like you to sit next to your partners - These will be your seats for the rest of the year."
The same student from before then raised his hand, "What's the point of this?"
"Good question. They say that you become similar to those who are surrounded with - So for this project, you will test this theory to see whether it is true, or false." Finally, it was all coming together.
Once in their new seats, the class settled and they continued the rest of their day like normal - Most people not saying a word to their partners unless they needed a pencil or something of the sort.
Lunch finally came around, and everybody went back to those who they were friends with, finally escaping the awkward tension of the project start.
While eating, Cam spoke up, "Iida, huh? What's that like?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Taking the conversation off of her.
"I don't know, It's just really awkward so far- HEY!" She realized, "You turned it around! Tell me!"
Y/n laughed, "Fine, fine. It's quiet so far, but he's just so... proper? Makes me feel out of place."
"I get it. I sat next to him during our 2nd year of middle school, and he was the same way he is now."
"Shit. What a guy?"
Cam hummed in agreement, and they continued lunch with random topics of conversation. Finally, it was time for the rest of their classes, and they sat back in their new, uncomfortable seats. Every time a teacher of theirs walked in, they could immediately feel the tension spiraling between the students, making the class a little more shaky than normal. At the end of the day, their homeroom teacher stepped in once more.
"Good afternoon class, how was the first day?" She knew the answer already, but she wanted to hear it anyway. The class remained silent and gave her a face of extreme discomfort. "Alright... Did you all keep track of everything?"
The class dropped, they had no idea they were supposed to do anything of the sort. "Did I not mention that?" She called sarcastically, "With every interaction - good or bad - You both are to track your feelings, conversations, etc."
To say the least, the class didn't like it.
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