Stupid Cupid

Be my lesbian baby mama

“Wanna be my lesbian baby mama?” I whispered with a grin.

“You know it, Lover,” Maya replied, and she winked at me.

We giggled and looked up to the front of the room where Mrs. Matthews was waiting for the class to quiet down. “I’m sure you all know that this project requires partners,” she stated, and chatter rippled through the room for a couple seconds.

“Well,” Mrs. Matthews drawled, and she picked up a piece of yellow paper from a drawer in her desk. “I’ve already assigned partners.” A moan ran through the class, and I grumbled under my breath about that not being fair.

Mrs. Matthews, ignoring the complaints and protests protesting of her class, started to read off the pairs of people. As my possible partners were narrowed down, I realized that Maya’s name hadn’t been called either. Maybe, Maya and I would actually end up together.

“Maya and Arnold are partners.”

So much for that hope.

After a few more pairings, I realized that Mrs. Matthews hadn’t said my name yet, and there weren’t any more people in the class that I could be partnered with. I raised my hand slowly and asked, “What about me?”

“Ah, Reed,” Mrs. Matthews said, sighing and putting down the list, “Your partner is Parker Hunt.”

“Parker Hunt?” I echoed, confused for a moment. Then, I remembered that Parker was indeed in my health class. He just never showed up to remind people he was a member of the class.

“Yep,” Mrs. Matthews confirmed, nodding her head once.

Oh, no, no, no. No part of me wanted to be partnered with Parker for ten weeks on a project that he didn’t care about. That boy was arrogant and irritating, and I didn’t want to spend the many hours with him that I would need to in order to get a good grade.

“Can I just be, like, a single mother or something?” I asked, leaning my chin on my hands, “Parker’s not here, so I—”

My words were cut off as the door to the classroom was yanked open, and in walked Parker. Speak of the devil, and he will appear. I sat back in my seat and crossed my arms tightly over my chest, which probably made me look like a petulant child. Did I care? No.

“Thanks for showing up, Mr. Hunt,” Mrs. Matthews said, and she handed him the packet she’d previously passed out.

“We’re taking care of an egg?” Parker questioned, raising his eyebrows and giving Mrs. Matthews a look like she was crazy.

“Yes,” Mrs. Matthews confirmed, and she pointed to me. “Reed, here is your partner.” I bit the insides of my cheeks and scowled as Parker’s gaze swung around to me. He smiled crookedly, and I just rolled my eyes.

“Everyone please go sit with your partners now,” Mrs. Matthews commanded, and chair legs scraped across the linoleum floor as people got up and started to move around. Maya looked at me with a mixture of envy and sympathy, and she walked to the other side of the room where her partner was waiting.

Parker plopped down in the seat next to me, and he kicked his feet up on the desk. I was making no move to acknowledge him when I felt a finger being poked repeatedly into my upper arm. Finally, before I imploded, I turned my head slightly to meet Parker’s dark eyes.

“Hey there, Reed,” he said, pushing his unruly, chocolate brown hair out of his face, “My name’s Parker.” I gave him a tight-lipped smile, and before things could get awkward because I didn’t respond, Mrs. Matthews called for our attention once again.