Haley Dailey [Suite Life]

Chapter 3 - Paired up Together

At school a week later, Haley sat in the back of history class. She ever-noticed Zack's presence in the room, and she continuously glanced at him. She wondered if he noticed. Usually, guys noticed when she stared at them. It was so hard not to stare at Zack. He was just so good-looking, especially in that blue shirt that brought out the blue in his eyes. She noticed the last time she talked with him that he had very attractive hazel eyes.

"Okay, I paired everyone with a partner for this assignment, and I'll have you know that it was totally random," Miss Tutwiler said.

"The assignment was random?" that pretty and fashionable girl London asked. Haley gathered since she had been there that London wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. How mean that was. The girl couldn't help it if she wasn't that smart.

"No, the partner-pairing was random. I'll read off the names."

She did so, and Haley's heart jumped profusely and started pounding when her and Zack's names were read off in a pair. She took deep breaths. When had she ever been this nervous about being paired with her crush before? Never, in the past five times it happened. That just proved that she came to like boys rather easily.

"Now, get with your partners everyone while I pass out the assignment sheet," Miss Tutwiler ordered.

Haley stayed where she was, and she suddenly found a desk sliding next to hers. "Howdy, partner."

She looked over at Zack, and oh, how he looked even more good-looking up close with his hair swooshed that that! "Hi."

The assignment sheet appeared in front of her, and she started to read it silently. She heard Zack say, "So, if we could get an A on this assignment, that would be great. See ya in thirty minutes."

He folded his arms on his desk and laid his head on them. She stared at him for a moment. Yes, she knew that he mooched off of people's work, especially his brother's—she was told this in the study group she had with Cody and Bailey.

"This is a partner assignment," she said boldly—boldly for her, that is, since she was normally shy. Coming on the ship somehow changed that, at least a bit. Maybe it was the fact that she made new friends instantly.

He brought his head up. "Did you say something?"

She gulped as he waited for her to respond. She didn't want him to think negatively about her. "Um, at least stay awake. How about I start, and... we talk about something other than the project?"

His brows shot up. "Huh, okay. Do you know anything about Top Commander?"

"That's a video game, right?"

He gave her a disbelieving look. "Only the best video game ever made, aside from Galaxy Zombie Attack. Nevermind, you wouldn't know. You don't look like the video game-playing type of girl."

She wrote some things down in her notebook from the textbook. "I guess I'm not, but I have cousins back in Boston who like that zombie game. They've played it at family get-togethers. Too much gore for my liking."

"Hey, the gore is the best part! Especially after you eat four spicy beef burritos and a taco, then all of that goes onto your opponent and they lose."

She was also told that he was a bit disgusting—Cody mentioned the state of Zack's room, as well as his mental state. "I guess I won't have burritos for lunch."

Zack smirked, and Haley loved how cute that was. "You know, the talk of food is making me hungry." He reached a hand in his back jeans pocket. "No, not that one." He reached his hand in another and pulled out a smooshed sandwich in a plastic baggy. "Ah-ha. Found it. I knew it was there—I put it there last week." He opened the baggy and took a bite out of the PB&J sandwich. Haley's eyes widened in shock. "Want some?" he asked, showing her the sandwich.