Her Narcissist

"Misleading a Trendsetter"

laja

It's basically night time and I'm deep into some girl's IG feed when I get a notification that Ms. Waters posted an assignment for us. "Fuuuck," I groan, clicking on it.

"...write a short story with a partner," I read to myself. I smack my lips hard as fuck. "Mann, fuck a partner!"

"What's wrong baby?" I hear someone speaking out of my phone. I damn near piss myself, then I realize that Hoe #2 is still on the phone with me. I rake through my mind all the things I might have said while looking at this other girl's Instagram, but my mind comes up blank. "Nothing. Just some stupid assignment for Ms. Waters."

"Oh."

She's quiet for a moment and I think through a billion excuses I can use to hang up on her. She already told me she'd be back next week, which wasn't any help for my pussy nor hers. Basically, I was wasting time by still being on the phone with her if we couldn't do anything.

"Hey. I gotta go ma-ma. Ima try and finish all my schoolwork so when you're back we can have all our time together," I lie.

"Ight baby," Hoe #2 said.

I hang up and my hand hovers over Hoe #7's contact. Should I apologize? I mean, I treated her the same way I had been treated. Do I even really need to apologize? And it's not like I'm the one who got her pregnant or did that to her.

Still, I should.

I pressed her name but she didn't answer.

"It's probably for the best," I mumble to myself.

I check one my aunt's text. She was letting me know that she had paid all my school fees. One of the perks of having two dead parents was that your aunt now spoils you with college funds.

I send her back a thankful text and roll over in bed.

I check the time and decide it's time to turn in. Maybe I'll get to flirt with Ms. Waters after class tomorrow.

"Good morning, Latterson. Early, I see."

I only nod at Ms. Waters and take my usual seat in the back, glad to not be sitting in the front today. I look around the classroom, trying to figure out who I'm going to choose to work with me for this dumb project. To be honest, almost everyone in here reeks "lame". I don't know how to describe it, I can just walk into a room and assess who could be my prey or my predator.

All the slouched people with bland jackets and faded Converse and Vans don't pose a threat to me. But the  people who put a bit of extra time aside to dress well seem to intimidate me. The ones who are reserved or have lower self esteem are the ones easier to manipulate. The other ones make me fall off my game, and make me feel like we're either equals or they're better than me.

I eye a dude hurriedly writing notes not too far away from me. Yeah, I'll choose him to do the project with.

"Alright, I'll explain this again to any latecomers that may arrive but I'm going to go ahead and start with my lesson for today. If any of you have the Remind app you'll know that you guys have a paired project, or something like a group project."

She turns around in her slack pants and starts writing on the smart board. "Now, don't get all hopeful because I'm not one of your little high school teachers." I roll my eyes, putting the top of my laptop down and watching what she wrote on the board. "I already picked your partners so that you can help each other with your weaknesses and only make one another stronger. I've analyzed each of your short stories and I made this decision last night."