phase one

✪

goldberg sat down in a huff, grasping the attention of everyone around him.

guy gave him a puzzled look, wondering why his friend was so upset,"what's wrong with you, goldie?"

he groaned, feeling like if he had to explain himself, it would only make the situation worse.

but, he wanted the attention, so he decided to spill his guts,"i have to come up with a month long psychology project by this afternoon. and i got nothing."

connie laughed, finding the idea of goldberg trying to figure out the ins and outs of the human psyche more than comical,"you're in psychology?"

he looked at her blankly, unable to find the amusement in life at this very moment,"i don't have time for your attitude, connie. if i don't find a project in time i'll fail."

connie shrugged, caring not all about the fate of her friend's grade,"just do something easy. study personality types or something."

goldberg sighed, pushing around his food with his fork, for the first time in his life having no appetite,"jameson already took that one."

"i'm sure you'll find something," averman replied, annoyed at goldberg's complaining, "now stop talking about it, you're bumming out my mac and cheese."

goldberg simply rolled his eyes, continuing to sulk. he didn't have the slightest idea of what he wanted to do.

and he really needed this project. it might surprise you to know this, but goldberg hasn't exactly been psychology oriented this semester.

he had gotten distracted with hockey. at first, he was trying to sabotage julie, so he could have his spot back, which took up most of his time.

then, he was trying to become a good defenseman, which also took up a lot of time. and in all that, he had started lacking academically.

he needed to make a good grade or he wouldn't get the credit for taking the class. it was important that he found something really good.

he looked around at his friends, thinking they might give him some sort of inspiration.

none of this fared well for goldberg, until his eyes landed on y/n. she was sitting next to julie, who seemed to be speaking to her, but y/n paid her no attention.

she was staring wearily at charlie conway, who was sitting with his new girlfriend, linda.

goldberg looked between the two of them, an idea slowly starting to form in his mind. he sat up, feeling a whole new attitude coming on.

he realized that his project had been sitting right across the table from him all along.

he leaned over to connie, needing to make sure he knew the facts,"hey, connie."

she looked over at him, setting down her fork, "yeah?"

"y/n," he started, glancing over at her,"she likes charlie?"

guy scoffed, shaking his head,"understatement of the year."

goldberg nodded slowly, leaning back to collect his thoughts.

he didn't have to ask if charlie was in love with y/n, he had known that forever. ever since y/n stayed out with dean and fulton and charlie didn't go to sleep until she walked through the dorm doors.

he wasn't sure if his plan had the legs to stand on, and was trying to think it through. he knew he wanted to do something with charlie and y/n. he wanted to know how jealous they could get before they both snapped.

but he didn't know how he was going to manage to make charlie jealous. charlie had a girlfriend already.

but y/n didn't have a boyfriend.

goldberg gasped, his plan coming full circle. y/n definitely didn't have a boyfriend. but that didn't mean she wouldn't get one for the sake of this project.

and, to add insult to injury, it'll be one of charlie's teammates. but which one?

goldberg did a mental run-through of everyone on the team, trying to figure out who would be perfect to solidify his project.

there were many factors that took people out of the running immediately: guy was currently dating connie, fulton was too nice to scheme, kenny's mom won't let him date, y/n would never date dean, russ is too immature, and julie and y/n dating wouldn't have the desired effect goldberg was looking for.

in the end, there was only one person right for the job: adam banks.

goldberg scrambled to his feet, wasting no time in going to tell his teacher about his concept.

"i gotta go." he said quickly, grabbing his backpack and running off.

this action caught the attention of y/n y/l/n, who was pretty sure she had never seen goldberg run before.

"what was that about?" she questioned, looking to averman.

he simply shrugged, choosing not inform the girl of the goalie's psychology project.

"who knows?" connie sighed, looking down distastefully at her food.

y/n nodded slowly, deciding it was useless to assume her friends could explain anything to her. they were all wrapped up in their own worlds, and those worlds hardly involved thinking about anyone else.

"well, we better get to class," she stood up talking to guy, and grabbing her tray to throw her trash away,"we've gotta get to the lab early or all the good lab coats will be gone."

guy nodded, standing up with her,"you're right."

connie gave them a confused look,"what makes it a good lab coat?"

guy gave her an incredulous look, like it was an obvious answer,"the ones that are most flattering to our figures."

"cinched at the back, ends at the thigh." y/n smirked, telling everyone the lab coat that looks best on both her and her chemistry partner.

connie rolled her eyes, tired of trying to understand her friends,"just- go."

y/n and guy shared a smile, walking off together. they were by far each other's best friends. no one understand them but them, which is something they quite liked about their friendship.

while y/n and guy walked to chemistry together, goldberg stood in his teacher's classroom, trying to explain his half-baked plan.

"i have a project." he stated proudly, like it was some sort of accomplishment, despite the fact that all his other classmates had come up with ideas a week ago.

his teacher, mr. hollis, set his fork down and looked up at the boy,"i'm listening."

he nodded frantically, trying to come up with a name,"project, um, project....heart," he smiled, feeling like he had hit the mark,"yeah! project heart: a project in which matters of the heart are involved."

mr. hollis nodded slowly, his interesting peaking,"go on."

"i-it's a matter of the heart, is what it is," goldberg stuttered, trying to understand what had come to his mind moments before,"i wanna know why people who like each other would rather hurt themselves than risk rejection."

his teacher, mr. morris, tapped his chin thoughtfully,"and how will you do this?"

"i have these friends," goldberg started to explain, taking a seat in front of his teacher, as if that was going to help his idea flow better, "and they've liked each other for...god, they've liked each other for years. but they never told each other. still haven't. and now one of the friends has a girlfriend, but i know he doesn't like her as much as he likes my other friend-"

"yikes." mr. hollis said, hanging onto his student's every word. he had always found teen drama interesting, and now that it intersected with his class, he knew this could very well be his favorite student project he'd ever been presented.

"right," goldberg nodded in agreement, finding the whole thing exhausting. he knew it'd be much easier if they'd just admit their love for each other, but he also knew if that were the case, he wouldn't have a project,"so, i wanna set up the single friend with our other friend. it's the perfect plan, because charlie- i mean, subject one- has always been jealous of this guy. i wanna track their emotions, their actions, and how long it takes for them to finally admit their feelings. i want an in-depth look at why we don't tell people how we feel."

mr. hollis smiled, knowing this was potentially the best thing goldberg would ever do in psychology 101,"i like it. i think it could be great, if you're willing to put in the work."

goldberg nodded,"willing and ready, sir."

"alright," mr. hollis smiled, pulling a sheet of paper from his desk drawer,"the full briefing is due on friday."

goldberg grinned, feeling like his luck had turned around completely. he was excited to start this new project, feeling for the first time like he cared about psychology.

he was interested in what he was going to find out, hoping everything would go according to plan.

the plan that he had not yet made.

he didn't know exactly where this project would go, but he knew where to start. he needed to write his brief, but he also needed to make sure the participants were going to go along with his plan.

and to add another wrench in his plan, he knew the subjects couldn't know of his true intentions. it would skew the data and nullify his entire concept.

he had to go about this very carefully, which had never been his specialty. he doesn't think three steps ahead, and he definitely isn't slick. this could have very well been the most difficult thing he's ever done.

he wasn't sure that he would be up to the challenge, but he knew this could only go one of two ways: either he succeeds and he gets both a great psychology grade and his friends get to live happily ever after, or the project somehow fails and team chemistry is thrown completely off, destroying the team forever.

yes, the balance of the team literally rested in the palm of greg goldberg.

good luck everyone.