The Will To

S E V E N (group projects and gags)

When Professor Higgins dismissed class, I quickly gathered up my belongings. I'd arrived late to class that afternoon and was able to select a seat in the lecture hall that put distance between myself and Rey, as I had no desire to recount our long, unromantic walk on Greek Row last weekend. He already knew more than he should, and my sophisticated plan, at present, was to avoid him.

I tried not to think about the impending project that may potentially determine my fate for the FBI internship that I'd have to complete with him and the two others at some point. Like my spiral notebook and Ticonderoga pencil (I would forever have old school tendencies) I tossed that thought into my faded JanSport backpack and hustled down the stairs.

"Thoms, hang back a sec, would you?"

Higgins had both palms placed on the surface of his desk as he hunched over a stack of papers. I crawled to a stop in front of him and crossed my arms, still a bit salty that he was forcing me to endure a group project. I didn't even like riding roller coasters in pairs—I was more of the single-rider type. What about my personality made Higgins think otherwise?

"So, have you come to terms with the project?"

No. "Yes."

His dark eyes narrowed, causing lines to crease around them. He didn't believe me. Good. He shouldn't. Any person who was serious about contending for the FBI internship and said they were excited about the project being completed with a group was a big, fat liar.

"I know you're upset about it," he said, straightening and adjusting his watch so the clock was dead center on his wrist.

"That's the gist of it."

Higgins grinned as students vacated the lecture hall. Only a few stragglers remained. When the room quieted, he said, "Don't tell anyone, but you're about as close to a shoe-in for the internship as they come."

My pulse took off but I didn't let my guard down. "Not with a group project, I'm not."

"I just tell you that you're my number one pick and that's your response?" he said, slightly amused.

"You blatantly stated that members of our groups will do the picking." I licked my lips. "No one will pick me. You don't understand."

"What don't I understand?"

Sighing, I collapsed my shoulders. "People on campus don't exactly like me."

"So?"

"So, if you're leaving it up to them, there's no way I'm getting selected for the internship." Briefly, I thought of Rey and imagined that he might be inclined to vote for me after what he saw over the weekend, but I was trying to avoid that and shook my head to break apart the thought.

"Have a little faith."

"In what?" I asked insipidly.

Higgins breathed a laugh. "You really are something, you know that?" A beat. "Do you really think I'm leaving the FBI internship selection to a class of—this is off the record—dull and uninspired upperclassman? No. Of course I'm not. Who do you think I am?" He thumbed his jaw. "Look, Thoms, I have to do this, okay? The guidelines changed. The internship requires this new"—he made air quotes—"teamwork component, and, what better way to include that than by having this project be done in groups?"

"I can literally think of dozens of other ways," I interjected. "Writing about the importance of teamwork, doing a case study that focuses on teams, completing a separate project in teams but not the one that you use to determine our eligibility for the intern—"

"Okay, okay." Higgins lifted his hands in defeat. "Again, you really are something, aren't you?"

I sighed and hiked up my backpack. I'd been called worse.

"Since you're not getting it, I'll say this once," Higgins started. "You're the best I've got—the best I've seen come through this class in years. I mean that. I could see it the first week of class. You're determined, capable, highly intelligent, and you don't take shit from anyone. They don't tell you, but that's an important skill to have in the FBI."

My temper reduced from a raging boil to a simmer. But I was still hot to the touch.

"Teamwork is overrated," he admitted, though quietly, as a few people remained inside the lecture hall. "But the FBI wants to know if a candidate can pull it together and work with people without completely losing it." He sent me a telling look. (Me? Lose it? Psssh.) "So, pull it together and do this group project, Thoms."

"And I'll be selected as your pick for the internship?" I asked.

"If the work warrants it," he grinned.

I relaxed a little, feeling slightly better knowing that Higgins thought of me as a strong candidate.

"Alright. That's all I have for you," he said. "And try not to kill any of your group members when you do eventually meet up."

I tucked my thumb underneath the strap of my backpack and said, "Why does everyone think I'm on the mission to murder someone?" I thought again of Rey.

Higgins shrugged. "Take it as a compliment."

Lifting my free hand, I sent him a curt wave. "See you next week."

Nodding, he hunched back over his desk and returned to the stack of papers. As I walked towards the exit, a voice said, "Didn't see you last weekend."

Reid. I'd completely forgotten about him. He was wearing all black again and I blamed my obliviousness on this fact. He blended in. I then figuratively kicked myself because I was supposed to be working on seducing him, and I walked towards his desk. He lowered the screen of his laptop.

"I was there. You must not have been looking hard enough." Yuck. The words tasted horrible coming out.

Reid raised a dark eyebrow. "Guess not."

"Was it everything you hoped and dreamed it'd be?"

"It was a party," he said blasély.

"The biggest of the year so far."

He shrugged. "It was alright."

Come on, bro. Give me something to work with.

"Same old, same old," said the guy who, according to Nola, left with an overly peppy campus cheerleader that night. But, then again, that would have been same old, same old for Reid.

"I had fun,"I lied. "Met some new people, tried out some new moves, you know? Nothing like a frat party." The last bit was a stretch but a vague interpretation of the truth nonetheless.

"You in a sorority then?"

"No. Not really my thing. I more enjoy crashing the parties."

He nodded slowly. "Maybe I'll see you at the next one then."

"If you look hard enough," I said and turned to finally leave the lecture hall, gaging to myself when I entered the hallway.

xxx

A/N: Thanks for reading <3