End of the year STEM projects were always fun, right?

Apparently not when Isaiah was your partner.

You had wondered why no one wanted to be his partner, so you, being new to your school, thought he couldn't possibly be that bad.

Wrong.

He did none of the work, none of the research, none of the prepping, none of the planning, he just sat there like a vegetable. Not talking, not listening to music, just...there.

You two had gotten kicked out of your house after faulty wiring had caused the sad demise of your mother's favorite house plant, so he begrudgingly let you come over to his house.

His parents weren't home very often, so you were both in his room. You were typing up the final report, and he was laying on his bed like that's where he sprouted and put roots. The house was eerily quiet, the only noise being your typing. He didn't have siblings, and his parents worked late and had unpredictable schedules (God bless all the doctors out there) so he had gotten used to the quiet.

His room was pretty cool, even if he wasn't- navy walls, fairy lights, a dark comforter on his bed with Coraline-esque stars, trinkets and books all over his shelves, and posters all over his walls- bands he liked. The Smiths, Pearl Jam, Radiohead- and he had a vast collection of Fiona Apple paraphernalia.

You made yourself busy, not expecting much from him.

"You're new here. We have an urban legend," he said boredly, rolling over to face you in the laziest way possible.

"If you go in a dark bathroom and chant, 'I hate the mountain man' three times, he'll come up behind you and give you a bad haircut next time you hear Lynyrd Skynyrd on the radio."