Above The Fame

E i g h t

The weekend was fast approaching as it was the last day of the weekday, It was Friday. It was Miracle's favorite day of the week because she had less work and double period of English literature. She's not the best in writing, she just loves the teacher. Although, sometimes she'll write a ballad or two.

She can not stop thinking of the fact that Chris now offers English Literature all of a sudden, he was never in that class. But today, he was sitting right behind her and she can't shrug off the thought that Chris joined because of her.

Miracle intentionally dropped a pen so she could take a look at Chris but her heart got caught in her throat when she saw him looking directly into her eyes, his pale blue eyes scrutinizing her movements. He tilted his head to the side, watching her with amusement, of course he knows the pen didn't just fall on it's own. She was sloppy with her movements, anyone could've have noticed what she did. He bit back a smile as he watched the back of her head.

The teacher, Mrs. Arnold abruptly stood up from her chair, slamming her fifth romance novel of the week on the empty desk. She fixed her bright yellow sundress as she stood in front of the class. Clearing her throat before speaking.

"Now that I'm done with that book, it gave me an idea. I'm going to do something with all of you, it'll be your first test. You'll all pair in twos and work on a story together while simultaneously building a relationship, platonic or romantic, I don't care. You'll both be the main characters too," She concluded. Most of the students hands shoot up to ask a question.

'When is it due?"

"You all have till the end of the term," Mrs. Arnold answered the first question. The students sighed a breath of relief because they have been given a lot of time, almost three months. "I've given you all a lot of time so, make sure what you'll submit will be the best it can be because I have high expectations."

"Can we choose our partners or will you pair us?"

"I think it'll be more fun and challenging if I did the pairing," She looked around the class, scanning the room for potential partners. "Ashley, you're with Milcah." She scanned the class again, this time, for her students' reaction.

Everyone in the class knows Ashley and Milcah both have huge crushes on each other, the rest of the class can see it, well, except Chris, he has no idea why the class got excited as they paired those two. The teacher clearly knows what she's doing, always trying to play cupid because she met her husband in a class, she's told her class a million times and its now imprinted on their minds.

She was almost done with the pairing, just a few students remaining, five, to be exact. A male and four females. Mrs. Arnold sighed out loud, expressing her dismay before her eyes and face lit up. She had a solution.

"Jael, Aurelia and Coral, your project will be slightly different because you have to work with three main characters now. I can already imagine it, you'll be a wonderful trio," She was lying, the whole class knew it. The three girls couldn't be more different.

Jael is more reserved and quiet, rarely contributing to the class but her voluminous red hair and ocean blue eyes makes her stand out.

Aurelia is the complete opposite of Jael, with her pin-straight black hair and her equally dark eyes, she's self-centered and likes being the center of attraction anywhere. At a friendly football match within the school, she's making the loudest cheers and it's clearly not because she's supporting any of the teams involved. Even at prom, she made sure she had the most extravagant dress with a date straight out of almost every girls dream.

Coral is the walking definition of a rebel, the only class she doesn't miss is Literature, she's an amazing writer, from poems to dramas to prose, she does it all. She's one of the school's trophy winners, having won several writing competitions.

"And lastly, Chris and Miracle, since you're the only ones left, you're working on the project together. Now, does everyone have a partner?" Mrs. Arnold asks as she sits on her chair. The class mumbled their affirmations.

Meanwhile, Miracle was wondering how Chris became her partner because he was the last person she expected to be paired with. And now she has to write a story involving him. But as her thoughts spiraled she had a question to ask.

"Mrs. Arnold, can the story be fictional?"

"Absolutely, but with real main characters, your side characters or setting might be fictional." She responded and Miracle nodded in understanding. "But don't just use your partner's name just because they exist, in-cooperate their attitudes too, backstories, likes and dislikes, even hobbies. When you do that, they'll appear even more real. During this assignment, you would have studied your partner a lot and that'll bring you closer."

"We still have two periods, what are we going to do until it's over?" Coral pondered, facing Mrs. Arnold.

"You can read Buchi Emecheta's African prose, Second-Class Citizen. I believe you all have a copy," The teacher looked around, her eyes stopping at Chris who yet to have a copy of the book. "You can have my copy," She passed the book to Chris.

Immediately Chris had settled down in his seat, a comfortable silence engulfed the room, only the sound of flipping pages could be heard occasionally.