How To Stay Afloat (BxB)

Chapter 2: Lovely group projects and smalltalk

"Hi besties!" Carla squeals when Harry and I walk into the classroom the next day. I'm not sure if this is some kind of joke they got running or if she's saying it all serious.

"Morning." I say and settle down in my chair next to her.

"How was your afternoon after I went home?" Harry wants to know when he has all his stuff unpacked.

I smile. "It was great." Because, it kinda was. It was exhausting, but not bad.

"Yeah, Sam's house is gorgeous, seriously. Oh and his brother is super hot." Carla gushes.

How does she know? I raise my eyebrows at her. "You didn't even meet him?" I say.

"Yes, but I saw a picture and of course I follow him on Insta." She explains holding up her phone as proof.

"He doesn't come around a lot. He lives more than two hours away and only visits every three weeks probably." I explain.

Carla closes her eyes and puts her hands in praying position. "Oh please universe, bring me prince charming!" She mumbles into her hands.

"She's manifesting." Harry explains, chuckling.

I've heard of manifesting, the law of attraction. I just think it's a bunch of bullshit, but if it makes her happy?

"Good luck I guess?" I say, but honestly, my brother probably wouldn't see her as girlfriend material.

Caleb isn't over his first girlfriend of three years, I think. She's had an accident, leaving her mentally and physically disabled. It's been almost a year and he never mentioned any other girl ever since.

He changed. We don't talk as much anymore.

"I don't need luck, just the power of the universe and my charm." She says. "Just call me when he's around so I can come over."

"I will." I definitely won't.

The first three periods go by fast. Maths, biology and spanish. I had to choose between french and spanish, at my old school we had to learn two languages. I also had latin classes back then.

"I actually kinda like philosophy." Harry says when we walk back into the classroom.

"I hate it." I state simply. "It's just dumb dudes coming up with stupid theories."

"Actually, there's a little more to it than just that." He says angrily.

"If you say so." I say and sit down on a chair next to Harry and Carla.

"Hi class, I guess we can skip the introduction and get straight to our syllabus." The teacher starts. "I know you will have lots of stress at the end of the semester, so I decided to give you a big assignment at the start of the year. You're gonna form groups of two and will do three assignments over the course of the next six weeks."

Great. Groups of two. My two new friends will most likely end up as a pair, so I need to find someone else.

"Each pair will get one topic. The first task, due in two weeks, is to write a five page paper on it. And please don't use wikipedia as source. I give you the pages from the book that are related to your topics. Second you're gonna interview each other and write down what you came up with. Lastly, you will each write a reflexion on the whole assignment. But be sure to put each of your reflexions in one document. The project will be 50 percent of your grade, the other half is how you behave in lessons and your exam grade. Alright you have ten minutes to form pairs and then I'll explain the details." The teacher, Ms Harris, explains.

"Sorry dude." Harry says, indicating that they formed a group already.

I hate pair projects. Either the person doesn't wanna do anything or they do it badly and I end up correcting everything. Or they get too enthusiastic and want to write more than asked.