04.

bad luck

THE FOLLOWING MONDAY, I was exhausted.

I'd forgotten about my homework and projects during the week, so I spent the whole of Sunday completing them. Emery had also asked me to come over to her house, but I declined her offer after explaining the situation of things to her.

Entering the school with my bag hoisted on my shoulder, my eyes involuntarily sought for Cole the jerk. I twisted my lips in disbelief when I saw him flirting with a girl. From where I was stood, I could see her adjust her glasses more times than I could count. She was nervous, that much was obvious.

When I realized how stupid I looked staring at Cole in the middle of the hallway, I rushed to the locker room to change before scurrying off to my class.

I spotted Caelum sitting on the bleachers like he did every other time we had Gym. He'd always sit out but Coach never threatened him. Even once. I had decided not to take part in the class activity one time and almost got an F that semester. If that wasn't partiality, I didn't have the right word to use.

"What are we playing today, Coach?" a random guy called from the back.

"Volleyball," Coach replied. I groaned in annoyance. "Do you have a problem with me, McCready?" He looked at me, daring me to question his authority.

I scoffed internally. "No, sir."

"Same sides as last time, same teams," he yelled.

They kicked me out of my team five minutes into the game, but hey! At least I tried.

I went to sit with Caelum since he was pretty much the only one I'd conversed with in this class. I couldn't call whatever happened yesterday a conversation, but we exchanged words so it counted.

He was sketching something on his drawing book, but immediately stopped and closed the book when he saw me approaching.

"Hi Caelum," I greeted as I sat. He didn't respond. He picked his things from where they were scattered around him and left the gym. "Rude much?"

After Gym, I fast-walked to the changing room, which was of no use since I still had to change in the middle. I fled to my English class after putting on my uniform, glad I completed my homework. I didn't want Ms. Paula to feed my head to the chickens.

I made my way to the seat beside the window and stared blankly at the board. Crossing my arms and leaning back against my chair, I returned my attention to the classroom conversation when the short, dark-haired woman walked back to her table and shuffled around it.

She lifted a pile of papers. "This will be your homework and I'll assess you on it." Her brown eyes skimmed around the class as she glanced at the clock. "You can start working on it now since we have 15 minutes left."

Suppressing a groan, I scowled at the paper immediately it touched my desk. I didn't feel like working, but my grades were at stake. Sighing, I lazily circled the correct answers. When the bell rang, I thanked the heavens and made a mental note to complete the homework later.

I bumped into somebody on my way out of the class. "Hey, Daesyn." It was Emery.

"Why do we keep bumping into each other?" I asked. "Literally."

She playfully rammed her shoulders with mine. "Fate has a plan for us."

"More like you have a plan for us," I said.

She grinned. "Oh Daesyn, I wouldn't have pegged you as the sarcastic type if we never talked."

"What would you have pegged me as?" I had a feeling she was going to call me a shy, quiet girl, but my curiosity was one of a kind.

She shrugged. "Just a shy, quiet girl."

Called it!

"Yeah. I am not shy or quiet," I said, walking backward. "We'll talk later. I have History now."

She grabbed my elbow and released it when I stopped walking. "Do you want to sit with me at lunch?"

I bit my bottom lip while nodding. "See you at lunch then."

"Bye." She waved before turning away.

I was still suspicious of her, believe it or not, but she hadn't given me a reason to not trust her yet. Emery wasn't the friend I had ever thought I was going to have, but she was better than being alone.

A lot better.

*

Mr. Sean believed pairing students together made working easier.

I wasn't complaining since I never had a reason to interact with my partner and neither did she, but when I arrived at AP US History, my jaw dropped in disbelief.

As I squinted my eyes at the buzzing classroom which had no teacher in it, I realized that not only did my partner replace me, but the only empty seat was beside Caelum.

Of fucking course, I thought sadly as I made my way to the seat. He didn't acknowledge my presence—not like I was expecting him to—as I sat, so I minded my business.

"Okay class, like I said last week, I'll be giving you the topics for your projects." Mr. Sean dropped the large History textbook on his desk with a loud thud, and the buzzing immediately ceased. "And because I don't want a lot of arguing with the choice of partners, know that the person you sit beside will be your partner for this project."

Kill me now.

The day I had no other choice but to sit beside Caelum, we became partners for a project. I sent a small smile his way and got a blank look in return. At least he didn't glare at me, which meant progress, right?

"Both individuals will present something different on their topic," Mr. Sean continued. "You will not do this project during school hours, but in your own time. Sure, there might be one or two periods during the month to work on it, but most of the work should be done in your own time. It will also be a huge part of your assessment, and will be due in exactly one month from now." He took a while rambling about the punishment for the failure to do the project before he began teaching.

"Any question?" When nobody replied, he nodded and made his way to his seat. "You have five minutes left of the class, so occupy yourselves with something productive and do not get too loud."

The sound of chairs scraping the floor wasn't enough to ease my nervousness as I turned to Caelum once again. "Monroe doctrine, yeah?" He nodded without sparing me a glance, and I sighed at how interesting the project was going to be.

After AP US History, I didn't have any other classes with Caelum—much to my relief—and I tried my best to act composed as the classes flew by.

I couldn't wait for lunch.