Julia Davis transfers to their high school when he is sixteen. They're the same age, but complete, polar opposites. She's a quiet, gloomy sort of girl who prefers to stay in the background, tucked away in her own little corner world, while he already has friends and a spot on the lacrosse team.

Their first official meeting is when he accidentally knocks her down on his way to practice.

He's swearing and cursing Will over and over because he is going to be late and being late means suicide runs and Jayden is not a fan of suicide runs.

So he's rushing through the halls, and definitely not paying attention to where he is going, when he slams into something. There's a quiet cry and the paper clatter of books crashing to the floor.

Jayden looks down and oh, there is a girl splayed out on the floor, looking five kinds of dazed.

She blinks up at him a few times, and then flushes. "A—ah! Julia is so sorry! She didn't…she wasn't paying attention to where she was going!"

Another thing about Julia Davis: she was a little weird. She normally talked in third person, and that was kind of strange. She also wore a lot of blue, enough to make anyone think it was all she had in her closet.

"No, no," he says hurriedly, reaching down to help her up. "It was my fault. I ran into you, there's no need for you to apologise. Sorry."

She stares up at him with wide blue eyes and he leans down to pick up her books—no, art supplies, apparently. There's a smear of pale green paint across her right cheek, too. She must have been coming back from Art class.

When he finishes, there's charcoal residue on his fingertips and he is now going to be ten minutes late, but oh well.

Julia takes her things gingerly, and doesn't meet his eye. "Thank you," she says quietly.

"Yeah sure," he says in a rush.

He's gone after that, off to try and salvage any time he can so isn't too incredibly late. It might mean less suicide runs.

Julia just stares after him.