Given The Same Reputation (Labels)

Chapter 3 - Paxton Lenox

I walked into my health class on time. There were already a few students seated in their desks. I took my assigned seat in the back. Class still hadn't started.

I noticed Faye walk in. She took her assigned seat beside me.

Our teacher usually liked putting the troubled or trouble-making students at the back of the classroom. I never quite understood why teachers always did that. Did they think that putting all the bad kids in the back would stop them from doing whatever they were going to do? It was actually amusing because it was so funny how the teacher tried to calm them down when in reality they couldn't.

The bell rang, and most of the class was seated already.

"Breana, take your seat," the teacher, Mr. Pastol, instructed a student in the front. "Alright, this week we will start the baby project. You will be assigned a partner based on alphabetical order, and you two will take care of a robotic baby. I believe in this class we will only have a group of three," he informed. "Alright, I'll begin to call out partners by last names. One of you will have to come up to the classroom to get your robot baby," he spoke. "Armstrong and Astral. Astropal and Bacajol." I pretty much tuned out after that it was going to take a while before he called out my last name.

I looked over at Faye. She was wearing black jeans and a white shirt paired with her black boots. Her hair color was still lavender.

I couldn't deny she looked good. She always did.

"And Lenox," Mr. Pastol spoke.

"What?" I asked him.

"I said you and Ms. Lenards are partners," he informed me and went back to calling out names.

I looked over at Faye's seat, she wasn't there.

Instead, I saw her walking my way with a toy baby in her hands.

I had just realized we were both partners, and I had also realized that this was going to be fun.

"Here." She handed me the doll.

"You got a girl?" I asked, looking at the doll dressed in pink.

"I didn't get it. Pastol gave it to me," she replied.

I nodded my head.

"Alright, everyone is partnered up and has a baby?" the teacher asked.

There were murmurs indicating that they did.

"This is how the project will work," he started. "This will require a lot of homework. You and your partner will be taking care of the baby together. You will have to feed the baby, rock it back and forth, and help it fall asleep. I will know if you miss a feeding. I will also know if you let it sit there and cry, also if you take out the batteries. Right now, they're not working. I will start the dolls today at five o' clock. That means beginning at five o' clock I will know everything that happens to the dolls. Any questions?"

"How will we be graded on this?" A girl in the front asked.

"Ahh, yes, the grading. So, the dolls have a micro chip inside them which I then hook up to the computer. Once I do that, it shows me a report of how you did. So if you do great and the report shows me ninety four percent then that is your grade. If you do poorly and it shows twenty three percent then that will be your grade. Any more questions?"

"How will this co-parenting thing work. Who decides who takes the baby?" I heard another female voice in the front.

"That is up to you guys. You will decide who takes the baby one day or how the schedule will work. But you will not just hand the baby off to your partner and expect them to do it on their own. Any other questions?"