"You got paired up with Ezra Harding? Man I swear Miss Richards actually hates you."
Jamie's best friend Sonya said as she burst into a fit of giggles.

Jamie sighed and poked at her school cafeteria food. Today they were serving spaghetti with cold meatballs. The only good thing in the meal was the roll on the side that she'd already picked apart and eaten. She'd probably go buy a bag of chips or a cookie from the vending machine because she was not feeling like eating the rest of this.

She lifted her hazel brown eyes to look across the table at Sonya. Sonya Williams, her bubbly and fun, blonde best friend whom she'd been close with since the first grade. She wasn't sure how her and Sonya had become friends in the first place. They were quite opposite of each other. Jamie was the one who played it careful and safe, but Sonya had always been the reckless little daredevil. She supposed Sonya kept her life fun and interesting and that's why she'd stuck around for so long.

"Yeah tell me about it. How on earth am I supposed to be partnered with Ezra? He's a total douche bag. He's been nothing but a jerk to me since elementary school."
Jamie agreed with a frustrated little huff of air.

Ah yes, Ezra had been around for as long as Sonya had been. They'd all been in the same class since the first grade. And ever since then, Ezra has always picked on and teased Jamie. It was annoying. Sonya usually thought it was pretty funny or amusing, but she usually kept that opinion to herself since she knew how much Jamie despised the boy.

Sonya cracked a grin at Jamie.
"I would be careful if I were you. You'll be alone working on your project together and he'll probably try making a move on you like he has every other girl."
The girl warned her friend.

"You think I don't know that? Of course I know that! That's why I'm doubly dreading being his partner. Not only is he probably not going to do any of the work, but I literally might throw up at the thought of him just trying to make a move on me."
Jamie groaned before pretending to gag, causing more giggles from Sonya.

"I mean it might not be all too bad. I mean, Ezra isn't bad in bed."
Sonya said with a shrug. Jamie's eyes widened.
"Ew Sonya! Shut up! We promised to never speak of such things."
She said, shooting a glare at the blonde.

Sonya had been caught by Ezra's charms last year at a big homecoming party after the football game and they both got a little tipsy and spent the night together. They swore they wouldn't talk about it. Ezra repulsed Jamie. She would not talk about her friend's errors of sleeping with the boy.

Sonya held up her hands in defense.
"I'm just speaking the truth, Jam."
She told her friend with a little playful grin. Jamie frowned.
"I will throw one of these meatballs at you."
She threatened, to which Sonya's eyes widened.
"Okay okay okay! I'm sorry! I'll drop it!"

Jamie lightly rolled her eyes before pushing herself up from the table and tossed her food into a nearby garbage can. Sonya got up to follow her.
"You know you have to go talk to him though, right? You have to plan your project."
She said.

Jamie sighed.
"I know I do. I'm trying to put it off for as long as possible. I figured I should eat something to have the energy to talk to that... man."
She shuddered. Sonya laughed.
"He's not that bad Jamie. You're being a drama queen."
Sonya said patting her on the shoulder as the girls walked out into the hallway.

Jamie led Sonya to the vending machines and pulled out a dollar, inserting it into the machine. She pushed a couple buttons and it spit out a bag of Doritos for her. She reached under the little flap and grabbed the bag before continuing to walk down the hallway with Sonya.

"Will you be there for moral support if I find him and have to talk to him?"
She asked her friend. Sonya chuckled and nodded her head.
"Yeah, I'll be nearby. I've got you buddy."
She said patting Jamie on the shoulder, causing the other girl to smile.

The girls continued walking down the hallway, making small talk with each other as they caught up and talked about what had happened during their day. The hallway was slightly crowded with kids walking to and from lunch or just wandering the hallways.

"Oh... don't look now..."
Sonya spoke up to her friend she said and lightly bit her lip. Jamie looked ahead where Sonya was looking and she made a disgusted face.
"Ew."

Ezra was up ahead in the hallway, tangled up in a heated, hot make out session with Hayden Grey. Hayden and Ezra were an on again off again sort of couple. The term that would better fit the two was probably more of a friends with benefits sort of relationship.

Hayden was the girl in school who thought she was all that and better than everyone else. She tended to be quite the beast. Jamie and Sonya could equally agree that the girl was a witch and that they both rather despised her.

Ezra had Hayden pressed up against the lockers, their arms wrapped around each other. Jamie looked around the hallway, hoping a hall monitor would show up and make the two stop. But it was just students. She sighed heavily before smoothing out her shirt.
"I'm talking to him."

Sonya's eyes widened.
"Wait what? Now? Jam-"
She couldn't even finish talking as Jamie was already walking over to the couple. Sonya let out a little nervous noise and moved off to the side of the hallway and silently watched, waiting to see how this was about to go down. She definitely wouldn't have encouraged Jamie to talk to Ezra about their school project right now while he was making out with Hayden. But she couldn't stop Jamie.

Jamie walked right up to Hayden and Ezra, loudly clearing her throat. Hayden and Ezra reluctantly pulled away from their kiss to look over at Jamie. Hayden shot an annoyed glare at Jamie.
"What do you want? Shoo away little bird."
She muttered, waving her hand at Jamie.

Jamie frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, ignoring Hayden and looking at Ezra.
"We need to plan for our project. When can you meet up with me to work on it?"
She asked him.

Ezra scoffed.
"That's all you wanted to bug me about?"
He asked her in disbelief. He stared at her for a moment before sighing and rolling his eyes.
"I'm busy today. I can meet with you after school tomorrow."
He said to her.

"Great. Give me your phone."
Jamie said holding out her hand. Ezra frowned at Jamie.
"Pardon me?"

"I'm giving you my phone number so we can plan out details. Now give me your phone."
Jamie said again. Ezra raised a brow at her before sighing again, shaking his head.
"Whatever."
He pulled his phone out of his front jean pocket and unlocked it before handing it to Jamie.

Jamie went to his contacts and added her phone number to his phone before placing his phone back in his hand.
"There you are. I'll see you tomorrow then."
She said turning on her heel and walking back over to Sonya.

Ezra stared at Jamie as she walked away, feeling honestly a little stunned overall by the very strange and weird interaction he'd just had with her. He pushed his phone back into his pocket before turning back to Hayden.
"Sorry, where were we?"
He asked. Hayden huffed and pushed him off.
"No. She killed the mood."
She said before walking off down the hallway. Ezra frowned and watched her go before glancing towards Jamie and Sonya.

Sonya was staring at Jamie in absolute shock as her friend returned.
"Dude are you insane? I can't believe you just did that. I actually thought Hayden might try rip your face off."
She said. Jamie grinned at her friend and shrugged.
"I don't know. Maybe a little? It felt really good though, interrupting that and feeling like I was bugging her. I enjoyed that too much."

Sonya laughed and linked her elbow with Jamie and started tugging her down the hallway with her again.
"That was definitely honestly incredible. You're kinda a bad ass Jamie Phillips. And you just gave me one more reason to love you."
Jamie giggles.
"Shut up Sonya."
She said, playfully and lightly shoving her friend's shoulder.

Ezra leaned against the lockers as he watched Sonya and Jamie disappear down the hallway, laughing with each other. He still felt like he was in a weird funk after what had happened. He'd never seen Jamie act like that before. It was different. New. Had Jamie Phillips grown up over the summer? He was now intrigued and interested.

He was suddenly really looking forward to working on this history project with her.