My Share of Sand (A Calabasas Fable)...Slightly Revised Edition

10-You And I

Tuesday, September 7

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All eyes were on Ms. Stranahan as stood up from her desk, cradling a big stack of paper in her arms.

"Now that we're past Labor Day, we can really begin our work for the year. What I'd like to do is to divide the class into two-person teams, and you'll work together on a few big projects each term. Your partners are assigned. I don't play favorites. No BF, no GF, no BFF. But it's not completely random either. When we did the activity with the candles on the first day, where we talked about your hopes for the year, I was taking notes, and I tried to use that information to pair people I think would be compatible with one another. Your first partnered project, which will be due Friday, October 6th is something I call How & Why. As we study the emergence of civilization in the ancient world, each of your units will be assigned a different cornerstone of civilization, and you'll research how it originated, and why it originated, and you'll put together a presentation on it. This sheet I'm handing out has the pairings and the topics."

Already, there was some hubbub and, even titters, as the people in the fronts of row studied the names and topics.

God, I would faint if it's me and Templynn, Colinda thought.

COLINDA QUARLES/TEMPLYNN TREAT= "Marriage"

She didn't faint.

But it all seemed far too perfect, not only the pairing, but the topic. I wonder who Darius got?, she wondered as her eyes scanned the page.

HOLDEN FICKLER/DARIUS PURVEYOR= "Money"

Oh boy.

She looked over at Holden, who wore the expression of a man who'd been hit in the gut with a baseball bat. There was genuine resentment on that face, and on the lips of the man who had called his new scholastic partner "the most miserable person on Earth."

"All right," teacher smiled, "If you could pair up with with your partner, and I'll give you the study packets for your topic."

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"Are you okay?"

The very first thing Colinda's conscience reminded her of right before Templynn walked over for their scholastic partnering was "don't stare!", followed by "don't faint!", but Templynn called her out as soon as she sat down.

"I...uh...um"

"I guess maybe what I mean: am I okay?" Templynn sat her purse down on the floor. "You gave me this kind of odd look, so I wasn't sure what what was happening."

"I'm just tired," Colinda lied.

She wasn't really giving Templynn a look, she'd been lost in thought, fantasizing about the impossible possibility that Templynn would've kissed her right this moment.

"Can you believe we're already past Labor Day?" Templynn continued.

"I'm actually glad we're past it." Then Colinda froze.

Templynn appeared to be looking at her hands. "What happened to your nails?"

Colinda opened her palms and spread them out in front of her own eyes.

"You didn't paint your nails." Templynn voice was peppered with disappointment. "You always used to wear this purple polish that was hot!"

"Well," Colinda explained, "I'm not allowed to use it anymore."