Living Again

Living Again~ Three

CHAPTER 3

Don't let it get to you Marissa. That is exactly what they want. I kept telling myself this as I walked into the corridor. Even though I was walking fast with my eyes pasted on the ground, I could just feel their eyes trained on me. Some of them were whispering, some were trying to hold back giggles. I was not going to get all teary and make a fool of myself in front of all these people. I practically ran to my first class- history.

Two more days left until the summer holidays, everyone was excited. Except for me. The lesson began and I took notes carefully. At the end of it, Mrs Charles, our teacher, dropped the bomb. We had to do a project on World War 1 over the holidays..with a partner. She went over the details and started pairing up us.

"And Ethan Reed, you're working with," Mrs Charles looked through her list. Those few seconds I hoped he got some idiot, I bet he would be happy to work with that Rebecca girl since they're both exactly the same. Jerks. "Marissa."

What?! No, I am not working with him. Not after what he did to me. I look at the back row where he sits and I can see he looks baffled. He meets my glare and I look away. I am so not working with that backstabbing jerk.

I just couldn't wait for the bell to ring. I could hardly wait until I could jump off my seat, go up to Mrs Charles and demand to change partners. If that wasn't possible, I'd be more than happy to work on my own. I had a little speech planned out in my head already.

The bell rang and I did exactly what I had in mind. I waited for the rest of the students to leave, I could see Ethan was doing the same.  

"Can I help you two?" Mrs. Charles inquired.

Before I could say anything, Ethan stated, "I'm certain Marissa here doesn't want to work with me. So we were hoping you could assign us to different partners."

He sounded so sure, so precise, I wanted to add something but there wasn't much else to say. I couldn't find my little speech, even when I searched through my head frantically. The teacher raised her eyebrows at me as if confirming whether it was true. I simply said, 

"I feel the same way. Please miss, there really is no way I can work with him."

I could feel the anger rising within me as I remembered how I felt when after waiting three bloody hours and the sinking feeling within me when the waitress told me they were closing. But right now as I quickly glanced at him, he seemed so different. Maybe because we were in front of a teacher. Urgh I'm so stupid. He hates me, I hate him. He's not a friend, he's an enemy, just like the rest of his gang.

"Well kids, I'd love to help you out but I'm afraid changing partners is not possible.." 

I cut her off desperately saying, "Thats fine, we could work on our own, we're both better off that way. Right?"

I looked up at Ethan, raising my brows. And then something happened which I didn't quite understand. Ethan looked back at me as if he was in pain, guilt blazed in his dark eyes. I couldn't believe it. No. No. Im just imagining this. He's Ethan Reed, he's the reason I spent the night on a bench dripping wet. I looked at him with hate, merciless. I knew he wasn't sorry, he'll just go back to his friends and tell them how he totally fooled me with that one look. If he really thinks that's going to happen, then he has no idea who he's dealing with. I glared at him until he looked away.

"If that's what you want." He finally replied, his voice hoarse. 

I eyed the teacher hopefully. 

"Kids, I don't think it would be fair to the other students to just let you two work on your own. I'm sure there are other pairs who are not fond of each other, but they're dealing with it. And so should you two. And Mr Reed, I believe there is a lot you can learn from Ms. Miller."