Diary Of An Introvert

Chapter 01 | Stuck With Him

Why didn't Pat wake me up? We have the same lectures this morning and - she could have just woken me up!

Feeling backstabbed by her roommate's betrayal, Joanne sulked bitterly on her bed. Resuming her sleep was the only thing she could think of. Going to lectures now would be a waste of time anyway and she had just two today.

That was when it hit her. Her second lecture that day was English and their lecturer had informed them of a project he was to assign to them this particular day. They were all to mark attendance so he could address them on what the topic was about and who their partners were.

Remembering this made her groan. Joanne didn't do partners or study group and this was going against all her beliefs as a human being but she needed the extra grades so badly. Maybe she could persuade him into letting her work on her own.

Luckily she was able to get prepared under thirty minutes. Joanne noticed a medium sized bulge covered by a black polythene bag. She roughly ripped the nylon from the substance. It was a donut, and a cup of coffee placed beside it.

Behind it laid a note,

This is my way of saying sorry for yesterday, here's some food hope you forgive me. I ordered a double espresso without milk cause I've never seen you drink milk before. Something suddenly came up and I had to leave so I won't be in class today. Have fun!

Joanne was puzzled by this unexplainable behavior Pat was exhibiting. Joanne was sure all the weeks she had known her Pat didn't care about anyone but herself. But Joanne wouldn't complain. In fact she was more than grateful. Immediately she grabbed both the snack and the steamy cup of coffee, munching on them as she started her journey.

As if on cue, Joanne entered the class immediately after the professor did. Earning her a glare from his old wrinkled face. Subtly, she stalked off to the furthest vacant seat she could find and dropped her bag on the table. Looking around she could see new faces. Older faces particularly and they seemed to be ones from a higher class.

"Can I have your attention?"

Poor guy. These kids - as she liked to call them - never pay attention and were always buzzing with the latest topics in town. Tapping their phones like their lives depended on it. All the man asked for was some-

"CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE?" The lecturer demanded with a rather more firm and audible voice taking Joanne and everyone else by surprise. Soon, silence plagued the room.

"Thank you." He continued, proud of his achievement. "In the last class, I told you about the project you were going to take on, with your partners, and so as many of you may have guessed, it is going to be about everything that's wrong with your country."

"Trump!" A boy from the row right before Joanne yelled, making everyone including her laugh.

"Save that for your essay." He said. "One more thing, the sophomores from English major will be joining you, they are more experienced and -"

So that's why there are new faces.

"I hope I'm partners with Cory Williams!" A girl beside her gushed, the other girls giggled before repeating the exact same words.

Geez. What was with this Cory anyway? He has been on her Instagram feed since like forever and refused to go away. The more people continued to mention his name, the less she wanted to hear anything having to do with him.

The professor paired everyone in the class but Joanne remained glued to her seat and didn't make her presence known till everyone except her had partners. She made her way to the professor and stopped him before he could leave.

"Hi, Mr Ahmed."

"Oh hello Joanne, can I help you?"

"Yes please, I w-was wondering if I could do the project." That was not what she planned on saying. Mentally scolding herself almost immediately she said. "Alone I mean, can I?"

"I'm afraid not, it's a team's work. You could do it alone but your grades will reduce, by 50% at least."

What the heck?

Hopefully she had thought it wouldn't be that much since it was an improptu project but the grades she would be losing was enough to reduce her GPA from five to two.

"I can help you get started by telling you your partner now." He flipped open a book covered in ink and began searching through. Joanne thought he was really nice. "Cory Williams."

You've got to be kidding me.

There was no way she was going to be on the same project with Mr popular. The thought of it alone made her stomach turn. She needed to ask for another person, someone with a low-key profile. Joanne didn't mind doing all the work, just not that dude. Being partners with him would attract unecessary attention and that was that last thing she wanted.

"Um sir, can I please have another partner that isn't this person?" He was about to reply, perhaps positively, then a figure came behind her draping his left arm around her shoulders.

"No can do babe, you're stuck with me." Cory - the guy plastered on her Instagram page - said.

The thought of shoving him aside came naturally to her because she hated any form of physical contact and did he just call her babe??? Then again she didn't want to appear rude to the professor but still if he thought it was okay to just run his arm around her and call her babe.

Oh he's in for a treat.

She stomped on his foot, the one closest to her and he yelped in pain, good.

The professor lookef uncomfortable trying to study their body language, so he asked, "Is there a problem Miss?"

Joanne charged forward with the intention of declining Cory as a partner but he yanked her back under his arm and smiled innocently at the lecturer. "Everything is fine Sir. My partner here just can't wait to get started on the project, right?"

She was too busy squinting her eyes to figure out what that peep-squeak was up to, that she found it difficult to reply the professor. What the hell did he want?

The professor adjusted his glasses, his signature I'm-fed-up-with-life-and-you-people-make-it-even-harder-for-me face pulling together. Before she could make sense of what was happening, he was gone. And a particular golden haired spoilt brat stared at her for too long that she found herself lost in his intoxicatingly deep green eyes.

"Guess that's settled then." Cory said. He loosened his grip on her shoulders and held her hand, dragging her in the opposite direction.

Author's Note:
So I posted this story before earlier on Wattpad, around June/July last year and then early April again this year but during my free time I unpublished it and began some serious and heavy edition on this story. So it's not gonna be the same as it was before, it's even better now.

I've been pushing my limit to make the story as real, consistent and awesome as ever, and it's back to third POV. I know it's really inconsistent-ish of me but gomen minna, so please people, enjoy!!

Love, Tomiwa :)

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