I actually have experienced it from the other side. I (a girl, in high school at the time) once was paired up with a guy perhaps similar to the one in the post. He was autistic and didn’t have great hygiene, but… whatever, I can deal with that; I was cordial and we worked on the project.

Except he started getting really, really creepy. Touching my hair. Hands on my shoulders, even when I asked him to stop. Asking if I had a boyfriend, which I lied about and said yes to get him to stop, but then he started interrogating me about him and demanding photos and claiming he was better. I went to the teachers after it kept happening and they told me that he had some issues and to just deal with it, and that group projects mean working with people of all different types.

So we finish the presentation. Longest two weeks of my life. We had to share numbers for the project, and when it was over he kept sending me flirty and sometimes just weird texts. I only responded once asking him to stop, and when he didn’t I blocked him.

The next year was senior year. We got paired up again. One of those random group project makers. I might have made this face if he looked. I don’t remember. But I did go to the teacher, and got it switched, thankfully.

I’m not saying OOP was also necessarily this bad. But we also don’t actually know the girl’s POV on this. Because I don’t think I was in the wrong for my reaction.