I recently started watching The X-Files and asdfghjkl it's so flipping fantastic.
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T H R E E
[ m a y a ]
THE MAJORITY OF THE CLASS PERIOD DRAGGED ON IN A STRING OF AWKWARDNESS.
There was only thirty minutes left of the class period, and ever since are argument had ended, I'd felt Lucas's gaze locked on the back of my head for what felt like ages. I just wanted the class could be over so I could head to the front office before third period and beg for a transfer from Mr. Matthews's second period history class. Anything was better than sitting right in front of Lucas.
I tried to distract myself from Lucas's presence, flipping open my sketchbook and doodling whatever came to mind. I didn't think Matthews would care whether or not I payed attention—he was used to me tuning out half the time, after all. I just had to distract myself from Lucas, and I figured drawing was the best way to do so. Drawing was my escape.
"Hart." I was snapped out of my daze by the sound of Cory Matthews's voice.
My lips curled into a frown. Then, "I- um, what?"
"I'm about to assign a project," he explained. "You need to listen."
"Sorry, Mr. Matthews," I apologized, picking at the cover of my textbook and sending him a sheepish smile.
"Yeah," he muttered, "okay."
With that, he turned back to face the chalkboard, saying, "We're going to conduct an experiment. One that pertains not only to social studies, but to ourselves."
I groaned. Oh brother.
"Now, this was near impossible to get permission to do from the principal, but I finally convinced him," Matthews continued. "So since it was such a difficult process, no chickening out." He said that to the entire class, but he was really just glaring at me, directing it mainly towards myself.
"I'm scared, Peaches," Riley whispered, her brown eyes wide and fixated on her father.
I frowned, saying, "Me too, Riles."
"Let's cut right to the chase, shall we?" Matthews said. "Everyone in this class is going to be paired up. You and your partner are going to get a map, and for two weeks—starting Saturday—you're going to be on a road trip with your partner, following where the map tells you to go."
The class broke out into whispers and chatter, but not me—I was too busy rolling my eyes and mentally screaming at Cory for doing this. He didn't seem to realize that everyone hated me, and no one would want to spend two weeks alone with me in places that weren't our homes.
People started throwing different questions at Mr. Matthews, some of them barely audible.
"Can we pick our partners?"
"What about money?"
"What happens if my parents say I can't go?"
"How big of a grade is this?"
"When's lunch?"
Matthews sighed, beginning to answer all of the questions that the students had asked. "Okay, listen! Can you pick your partners? No, you can't pick your partners. What about money? The school will be giving you enough money so you can pay for gas, food, hotels, etcetera. What if your parents say you can't go? Well, I've called all your parents"—he turned to me—"I haven't yet called Katy, but I'll get on that"—and he looked back to the class again—"and they have all agreed to this. How big of a grade is this? It's worth seventy percent of your final grade for this semester. And Yogi, please refrain from asking me about the lunch times during class."
As if this whole ordeal wasn't bad enough, we weren't allowed to pick our partners—Riley and Farkle were the only ones I would've been willing to spend two weeks on a road trip with, but with my luck, I knew I wouldn't end up with either of them. Mr. Matthews seemed to have a strong enjoyment for watching me suffer.
"Daddy, who's my partner?" Riley asked, poking her hand up into the air.
He sighed, pulling out a clipboard with a paper pinned to it. "I was just getting to that, Miss Matthews."
"Here we go," I mumbled.
"Missy"—shoot! I didn't know Queen Witch was in this class—"you'll be with Dave."
Missy scoffed. "I'd rather be with Lucas, actually, Mr. Ma-"
"I don't care," he interjected, eyes still glued to the paper. "Yogi, you'll be with Zay. Darby, you and Sarah. Brenda, you'll be partnered with Miss Myzell. Riley-"
"Yes, Daddy?" she cut him off, smiling nervously.
He continued, "You'll be with Farkle."
Great. So now I don't get Riley or Farkle.
"Hi, partner," Farkle said to Riley.
She smiled, saying, "Why hello there, partner!"
"What about me, Mr. Matthews?" I asked Cory, lightly drumming my fingers on top of my desk.
"Oh," he said, pairing it with a seemingly nervous laugh. "Right, of course. Miss Hart, you'll be with..."
His voice trailed off, almost like he was refusing to tell me who my stupid road trip buddy was going to be. I narrowed my eyes, pushing myself up in my seat and crossing my arms over my chest. If he didn't want to tell me, that only meant it had to have been someone he knew I wouldn't want to be with—I was definitely going to murder him if he kept this up.
"Who will I be with?" I spat clenching my fists, nails digging into my skin.
He released a deep sigh, squeezing his eyes closed and reopening them seconds later. Then, "Lucas."
Just the mention of his name was enough to send me jolting into a standing position, slamming my hands down onto my desk. My sketchbook jumped in the air for half a second, and in the periphery of my vision, I saw Riley wince at my actions. But I didn't bother stopping as I clenched my teeth, glaring at Cory.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Matthews," I managed out through my gritted teeth. "I must have heard you wrong. Could you repeat that for me?"
"You and Lucas are partners," he rushed out, jamming the words together to the point where I almost couldn't make out what he was saying.
"No we're not!" I shouted, slamming my hands down on my desk again. Riley winced once more, even covering her eyes with her hands.
Cory shook his head. "Maya, it's set in stone. You and Lucas-"
"Stop saying his name!" I demanded, laughing dryly. "He's not my partner, Matthews!"
"Maya," Cory said in a warning tone.
"Don't Maya me, Curly!" I hissed, ignoring the fact that the entire class was watching the incident unfold. "I can't believe you would do this to me!"
He looked back and forth between me and Lucas, before finally sighing and muttering, "Maybe you should take a breather out in the hall."
"That's the first intelligent thing you've said!" was my final sentence as I snatched up my sketchbook and pencil, storming out the door, being sure to slam it behind me.
Tears of anger stung my eyes while I rushed to the bench just a few feet from the History room, plopping down onto it and resting my sketchbook in my lap. I tried to calm my uneven, ragged breathing, but it wasn't working, the tears stupidly cascading down my cheeks and stupidly splashing onto the cover of my sketchbook. I roughly shoved it off of my lap, watching as it flopped down onto the ground, but I didn't bother making a move to pick it up. I was too upset.
I placed my elbows on my knees, burying my face into my hands in shame and anger. Why Cory had decided to partner me with the one who was partially to blame for my almost-loss of Riley was beyond me, but it was almost like he wanted to cause more drama between the group of us that used to be as close as it could get. Riley probably hated me again, and there was no way I was going to get her back this time.
After a few moments of my anger sobs, I heard the door to the history room open. I didn't bother looking up, because I knew that it was probably Riley out here to either tell me that she was sorry for me or to yell at me for what Cory did. So I simply rolled my eyes, even though whoever had came out of the room couldn't see since my face was being shielded by the palms of my hands.
"Go away, Riley," I choked out, the sound being muffled by my hands.
"It's not Riley."
I stopped crying then, dropping my hands from my face and jumping up from the bench. Blue eyes glared into green eyes as I clenched my fists, trying with everything I had in me to contain the anger inside of me that was threatening to boil over at any given moment.
"Well, if I'm not in the mood to talk to Riles, shouldn't that tell you that I sure as heck don't want to see you right now," I spat.
He frowned, saying, "Maya, I know you're upset-"
"Upset doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling right now, Huckleberry!" I cut him off. "I am ticked off! You are the last person I want to see, okay?"
"Maya-"
"If I can't even sit in front of you, imagine how horrible it's going to be for me to have to spend two weeks alone with you!" I interjected again, but I couldn't stop myself. I was far too angry to keep my feelings bottled up inside.
He exhaled, running a hand through his hair. Then, "I know that you hate me, and spending two weeks alone with me will probably kill you, but I don't hate you. You're still my friend, Maya, and besides—this is a big part of our grade. We can't fail. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, but this is something that we have to do, and I think we can do it."
I wanted to argue. I really wanted to argue, to tell him that I didn't want to work with him, but I couldn't do it. We used to be really good friends, and even so—this project was seventy percent of our final grade, and we couldn't just blow it off. I knew what I had to do, and I knew that I had to be Lucas's partner.
"This is strictly a business relationship, Ranger Rick," I stated, rolling my eyes. "We're doing this because we have to—not because I want to."
He let out a light laugh, nodding his head slightly. "Alright, Maya. I can live with that."
—❀—
so yay they became sort of friends again in this chapter!
I think they'll actually start the trip at around chapter five or six.
xoxo, Jenna
[ unedited ]