Growing up in a large, middle-class (if not lower) family had its challenges. More than I can account for actually. I had five older sisters and two older brothers. Throw me into the mix and that's a grand total of eight children living under one ro...
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"I'm sorry, Lily. You know the rules. No one is allowed to switch partners, no matter what kind of reason you may have." Ms. Wright reminds firmly. I stiffen in my place and heave out a sigh of defeat. Just my luck. There goes my last shot of gaining any kind of freedom back. Lily sulks by me and I can't help but trace her figure. Who's her partner? It has to be somebody really awful for her to want to change partners that badly.
She's a nice and friendly girl. Almost everyone in the school likes her and vice versa. She pretty much gets along with the entire student body, including the staff and faculty as well. Then my eyes widen once I spot her plopping down besides Xavier Bonatati, the prankster and class clown in our year. Lily looks like she has her own personal raincloud hovering above her head while he, on the other hand, is grinning like he had just won the lottery. The two of them don't get along? That's surprising.
"Did you need something, Rory?" My attention from the duo is broken as I turn to look at my teacher. I recall her words and slouch my shoulders in misery.
"I was just wondering when this project was due," I lie effortlessly.
"At the end of the semester." She replies without hesitance. "I'm sure that should be no problem for you."
"The end of the semester?" I nearly shout out with my jaw hitting the floor. What the hell! That's four months away! Who needs four months to do a simple paper and an activity outside of school? This is unbelievable! Who thought of such a ridiculous project? And with another class too? No, wait... that's not the question I should be focusing on. I should be figuring out who the hell arranged and decided on the pairings! How in the name of heavens did I end up with Noah Costa out of all people?
"Is there a problem?" Ms. Wright inquires with a brow quirking upwards. It has become silent and as I look around, I notice everyone has there eyes settled on me. My face turns slightly hot and I lower my head.
"No," I answer, embarrassed from my little outburst. "It just seemed like a long time to me that's all."
"Well, you see, the thing is this project will count for a huge chunk of your grade. We want every student to pass with high marks which is why we are providing you all with such a generous amount of time to get this finished. We want to see you guys succeed, not fail." She explains to which I numbly nod. "Besides, if you and Noah finish early, you won't have to worry about it. From what Mrs. Johnson has told me, he is an excellent student. You should be excited that you got coupled with your friend. Everyone else got paired with people they barely even know. But don't tell them I told you that or all hell will break loose."
Hold on... "My friend?" I repeat, bewildered. "Did you just call Noah Costa my friend?" Where did she hear that load of bologna from? He and I are definitely not friends. We are far from it actually. Who has been feeding these preposterous lies to her?
"Yeah," she starts of slowly. "While Mrs. Johnson and I were coming up with the list of partners a few days ago during our break, he showed up at the teacher's lounge and politely requested to have you as a partner since you were friends. He told us he still felt unfamiliar with the school and would feel more at ease if he was working with someone he knew. So of course we conceded and granted his request."
