Bad Boy's Baby Girl

Cooties

*Monroe's POV*

Calculus goes by quickly, and I'm one of the first to make it to philosophy. As I watch the people file in I realize I'm instinctively looking for Cade. When I see him walk in just as the bell rings, I give him a tentative smile which he returns and takes his seat.

"Alright class, so this week we will be starting a project on various philosophers throughout history. This project will be done in pairs," at this everyone starts murmuring excitedly. "Quiet down please!" The murmuring stops. "You will have to submit a written study as well as give a 20 minute presentation to the class. You will have the whole week to work on it, and presentations start next Monday. Once you have chosen a partner, send one representative to come see me and I will assign you a philosopher."

The chatter starts up again as people work out their partners. I turn to Cade and he says, "Partners?" I nod and say, "Sure. I'll go get our topic." I make my way over to the teacher and she says, "Ah Miss Thorn, how did you find your first week? Did you manage to find a partner?"

"Um, it was good thanks. Yeah, I did. Cade Gryffon." At this she looks up at me with a raised eyebrow and says, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Is there a problem with that?"

"No, no. It's fine. Just making sure," she writes something down and then says, "Your assigned philosopher is Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz."

I just nod and return to my seat to find that Cade has pushed our desks together. I sit down and look at him with an amused expression and ask, "Do I want to know why the teacher felt the need to ask me if I was sure I wanted to be your partner?"

"Did she really?" I nod and he cringes a bit before saying, "No you probably don't want to know." I decide not to push the topic but make a mental note to ask Maddy and Charlie about it later.

"So we got Leibniz."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Well he wouldn't have been my first choice."

"Why not?"

"Don't get me wrong, he was a ground-breaking scientist/engineer/mathematician; the guy basically invented differential and integral calculus. But as a philosopher, I can't say I subscribe to his system of beliefs."

"And why exactly is that?"

"Because he was a perpetual optimist who believed that God was perfect and made the world perfect and personally, I think that's a load of shit."

"You're right, that does sound like a load of shit. So where do we start?"

We get to work researching and by the end of class we have a pretty solid outline done. I'm pleasantly surprised at how well we work together and how much effort Cade is putting in.

As we're walking to the gym, he says, "Just so that I can mentally prepare myself, are you planning to show us all up at football too?"

I laugh and say, "No, I don't think so. Volleyball is my strongest sport for sure. I was just lucky that it was the first one we played."

"Hmm, I'm not sure I believe you, but okay."

We head to our respective change rooms and I find Charlie already there.

"So, are you gonna join in and play today?"

"Contact sports are NOT my thing," she says.

"Charlie, it's touch football. No tackling. All you have to do is not get touched." I pull off my sweater and as I'm grabbing my t-shirt Charlie whisper yells, "What is that?!" while pointing to my shoulder. I try to look but can't see anything, "What is what?"