Vanessa Carlton — who scored Julia Stiles’ directorial debut movie, ‘Wish You Were Here’ — shares exclusively with PEOPLE that she had met Stiles three decades ago in a biology class when they were both teens in high school.

Julia Stiles had long thought of making her feature directorial debut, but it took a special story to make it happen. The film follows the story of Charlotte (Isabelle Fuhrman), a woman whose life is forever altered after a whirlwind night with Adam (Mena Massoud).