By Wednesday, Spencer had already had the story printed and ready, but it turned out that Mr. Herberg had another plan in store for us.
"Due to a recent incident, I'm going to have to make a... rearrangement on the assigned pair," he started, in lieu of greeting. "This was a specific request from our principal."
At the word "principal", both Jonah and I stiffened as we both recalled what had happened two days ago.
"Mr. Gibbs and Miss Nguyen, as well as Mr. Abbott and Miss Taylors, I would like to have a word with the four of you, so please remain seated once the class ends," he finished, before launching into the subject of the lesson.
My heart skipped in my chest. I had a kinda bad feeling about this. And I said kinda, because the thought actually thrilled me at the same time.
Spencer looked over his shoulder to me, and mouthed, "Is anything wrong?"
I shook my head and mouthed back, "I don't know. Sorry." But once he'd turned his attention back to our teacher, I couldn't help but feel guilty since I, in fact, knew what was wrong.
Or at least I had a general idea of what could have been wrong.
Once class ended, the four of us remained in our seats, watching as the sea of students made their way out of the room. Then Mr. Herberg motioned us to come forward and sit at the front row, so that was exactly what we did.
"So," he said, clasping his hands together. "I'm just gonna make things simple and straight. Due to an incident that happened a couple of days ago involving Mr. Gibbs and Miss Taylors, Principal Collin wants you to switch partners so that these two are paired up together." He glanced back and forth between Jonah and me. "I've been told that you two need to exercise kindness and patience towards each other, and the principal thought that this assignment would be a perfect medium for that. So now, Mr. Abbott, you are paired up with Miss Nguyen, and Mr. Gibbs with Miss Taylors. Oh my god, calling you kids so formally is starting to make my head hurt."
I blinked. "So... I'm paired up with Jonah?"
"Yeah, exactly, Hannah. You're paired with Jonah!" he echoed brightly, seeming happy that he called us by our first names. I swear sometimes, that guy was a fifteen year old kid trapped in a thirty year-old hot body.
Jonah and I looked at each other, before turning back forward and shuddering at the same time. Well, I was fake-shuddering. But no one needed to know that.
"Wait, wait, wait," Spencer interrupted. "What about our first assignment? Hannah and I have finished it. And I'm sure Jonah and Tracey have been working on theirs too."
"See, that's a bit tricky, but I've come up with this decision. Spencer, Hannah, you've really finished with the story?"
"Yes," we both said. Spencer reached into his backpack and took out the papers, handing it to our teacher.
"What about you guys?" he then asked to Jonah and Tracey.
Tracey replied, "We're almost done. I'm just rereading it through before printing it out."
"Perfect. So, turn in your paper tomorrow, and all four of you are done with the first assignment. I'll score it and move on. Except for Jonah and Hannah... you'll have to make up a story about how you two met, just like you did with your previous partners."
Simultaneously, we both groaned.
"Don't worry, you'll already have your scores by tomorrow. I only make you write your story just so we can go smoothly with the rest of the project, but it won't affect the score of your first assignment," Mr. Herberg explained. It shouldn't make sense how Jonah and I had to write another story while Spencer and Tracey didn't, but then I realized that it was just another form of "punishment" from our Principal.
I bit my lips as I stole a glance at Jonah, who was staring at the desk with a stare so hot they would've probably burned the desk.
"I'm so sorry for the inconvenience, but it was the principal's order," our teacher then said apologetically. "Is that okay with you guys?"
We all muttered "yes", because what else were we supposed to say to that?
"Spencer, Tracey. You might leave the classroom," he then continued, and both students stood up.
Before leaving though, Spencer sent me a glance, and I gave him a reassuring smile in return. He faintly nodded his head, and then followed Tracey out of the room.
"As for you guys," our teacher hummed, and both Jonah and I sat up straight. "I don't have to explain it to you again, but you do understand why you have to be paired together, right?"
Oh, we did have some ideas why.
He explained anyway. "You both need to get along. And this project is all about getting along. It won't be so much of a 'punishment' if the two of you are being good sport about it. Hopefully, it won't be too much of a chore. Please do as well as you can in this project because this is one of the biggest senior projects. You don't want to ruin that just because of some little disagreements between the two of you... right?" he said, his voice gentle but holding a slight warning.
Jonah and I nodded stiffly.
"Okay. Your backgrounds are still the same as they were before, and please write down a story of how you two met, based on those backgrounds. Since you two have already had your scores, you don't have to turn it in by this Friday. However, we're still going along with the project with all the other pairs, so I hope you will be able to catch up on it."
"Okay," I said softly. "Thank you, Mr. Herberg."
He smiled. "You're welcome, Hannah. And Jonah? Please try not to look so sullen all the time. It makes you look old."
I stifled a laugh, and Jonah's face contorted into a scowl before it went blank, and then a small, stiff smile appeared on his face. Mr. Herberg chuckled, and then he stood up to clasp both of our shoulders.
"You can leave now. Good luck on your project!"
We both left, and Jonah immediately disappeared before I could even talk to him about the project or anything else. We hadn't really been talking since Monday anyways, so I just shrugged and turned the other way around toward the lunch room.
It was then that I realized that Spencer had actually been waiting by the door. "Spencer," I said in surprise.
"Hi. So, we're not partners anymore," he said, and we both walked together.
I sighed. "Apparently, yeah. I'm sorry."
He chuckled. "It's alright." And then he sighed too. "Such a shame, though. We would've rocked the project, wouldn't we?"
I laughed. "We totally would."
"What happened? I mean, what incident was Mr. Herberg talking about?" he asked curiously, his voice laced with a tinge of disappointment.
I was disappointed too, because no matter how great for Operation Bite the Apple it was now that I was working with Jonah, I actually had been looking forward to working with Spencer. At least with him, our project would go smoothly and undoubtedly argument-less. "It was something that happened between Jonah and I in Chemistry class. We kinda got ourselves kicked out, and, well... I guess working with him is the punishment for what happened."
"Wait, in Chemistry class with Bishop?" he asked, and I nodded. He whistled. "What did you guys do?"
I let out a groan. "I almost fell asleep in class. Jonah tried to wake me up but then we got too noisy and Ms. Bishop just kicked us out."
He blinked a few times, shaking his head. "Why would Jonah try to wake you up?"
"That's exactly what I've been wondering!" I exclaimed as we both walked into the lunch room. "It was really weird, but then we went into the principal's office and had this heated argument in front of the principal herself. And now, she gave us the punishment by pairing us up together," I said, ending with a huff.
He laughed. "Well, good luck for you then. Gibbs isn't exactly the easiest person to be working with." I rolled my eyes as if to say, tell me about it. "Don't be so down, though. If anything goes wrong, just tell me and maybe I can help?"
I smiled at him. "Thanks, and the same thing goes for you. Tell me if Tracey's giving you troubles. Maybe we can secretly switch partners again?" I said hopefully.
"Maybe, Hannah. Just maybe," he said, before turning to his friend, winking at me.
It was only then that everything sunk in.
I was doing the project with Jonah.
We were getting fake engaged.
And then fake married.
And then we'd plan our fake honeymoon.
And then we'd have fake babies.
And raise it together.
For the rest of the semester.
I pinched myself in the arm and yelped in pain, catching curious gazes. With warm cheeks, I sat down at my lunch table, fully realizing that, nope, this wasn't a dream.
Shit had just gotten real.