The Ineffable Ruth Rhodes

04 to have her is to have the stars

ruth

Ruth would never tell anyone, but she was in with the plan as soon as she thought the idea over once.

Don't get her wrong— it was beyond ridiculous, something straight out of a romance novel that she was 80% sure would end horribly. But for some reason, she was willing to give it a chance. Maybe she felt as though she'd learn to love herself if she did this for him, or maybe she wanted to pretend she was loved by someone again in that way, so that she'd finally move on from Remy mentally. She couldn't exactly tell you why she would agree. Maybe it had something to do with the bright smile and bright hazel eyes, and curly light chestnut hair.

These thoughts were however, shoved to the back of her head as the said boy burned holes into the side of her head.

"Avoir elle est avoir les étoiles," Ruth's teacher started, pointing at the thin, cursive words on the board. "To have her is to have the stars. Can someone please raise their hand silently and tell me what it means?"

Ruth's hand flew into the air without even meaning it to, and she struggled to ignore the snickers and murmurs at the back of the class.

"Liora?"

"To have her is to have the stars," she began, twisting her pen in her finger nervously, "Put simply means, to have her, her being the supposed lover, is to have the stars in the sky; something usually rare and unattainable but so beautiful and wondrous to the human eye. The phrase is trying to emphasize how incredible the supposed lover is, yet how so out of their reach they are at the same time."

"Very nice, Liora, anyone else have anything to add?"

No one made a peep. Someone at the back sneezed. The teacher moved on.

"Great. Today, I want you to study literature." She puckered her red, glossed lips, pointing at the board with a long, slender, crooked finger. "You can choose which body of literature you study. I want you to go over it with a partner, and write down all the symbols you see—" she pointed to a symbolism chart, "— and really understand the text. That's for the first two weeks. Collect information. Once you've finished that, I want you to move on to the second part of this project; presenting it." The class let out audible sighs. "You can choose one of two ways; a skit with a reading, or a written essay. As a skit is more difficult, it could bump up your grade depending on how well it's done. For those of you who aren't comfortable performing in front of the class, there will be a choice to perform privately in front of me. Any questions?"

The gears in Ruth's mind whirred and clacked. Sumaiya was taking AP 30, so she wasn't in her class. She didn't necessarily need to partner up with someone, but it would've made the work easier and less stressful, especially with the other courses she was taking.

Ruth grabbed her water bottle, taking a long gulp (she could hear it loudly and clearly, that's how she knew the water was going down well) before sighing deeply. Until she realized Vincent was staring at her, jaw ticking with every gulp of water she was taking, his face blank. She couldn't tell if he was annoyed or confused, and she didn't know why he would be either of those things, but it was too late to inspect the look, because as soon as she turned to him, he grinned.

Hey, he mouthed. Partners? She narrowed her eyes at him, and he let out a small laugh. It sounded... nice.

Vincent was far from unintelligent; everyone knew that when it came to his studies he was focused and efficient. Plus, the class they were in was IB 30, meaning the highest they could go in their grade. There was no way anyone who was any less than the best could take that course.

In addition to that, they'd be 'dating' for the whole school year. No one would really find it out of the ordinary by the time the project was due.