Walls

figuring it out

"Miss Jones-Watson, you're partnered with Mr. Thompson."

MJ swallowed her protest, knowing that to argue wouldn't do her a lick of good. Mr. Garou never allowed partner changes without dire justification, and MJ unfortunately had none. Flash's eyes found hers from across the classroom, and she gave him a curt nod to acknowledge their pairing. When his upper lip curled in distaste, she fought the urge to roll her eyes.

MJ was not looking forward to this.

Mr. Garou finished rattling off his list of partners, then instructed them to spend the rest of class determining what text they wanted to present on. By Thursday, he expected each pair to have developed an outline of how they expected the work on their joint project to proceed.

When it became clear Flash would not be sliding into the empty desk beside her, MJ resigned herself to grabbing her backpack and sitting at the front with him.

"So," she said, dropping down beside Flash. She pulled the list of potential texts from her binder, smoothing a wrinkle out of the upper right corner. "Any preferences for our project?"

Flash shrugged, clearly working on an assignment for physics. She knew he took Ms. Warren during 3rd hour—Peter's class. "Not Milton."

MJ snorted, scratching Paradise Lost off their provided list. "I won't argue with you there."

Flash made no further suggestions—in fact, talking with MJ seemed to be the last thing he wanted to do—so MJ took it upon herself to narrow down the offered items at least to texts she was interested in. She didn't feel like doing a play or epic poem this time around, so off went the Bard and Sophocles and Beowulf and Virgil. She would've loved to do Toni Morrison, but she'd already heard two groups quickly claim The Bluest Eye and Beloved. No sale there. Maybe Mary Shelley? She'd always wanted to read The Last Man. The Kite Runner was a personal favorite novel of MJ's, too—

"You don't want to do Antigone?" Flash asked, snapping MJ from her thoughts. "I thought you'd be all over that, Jones."

MJ raised an eyebrow. "And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?"

Flash swallowed hard, pulling away from her steely gaze and dropping his attention back to the worksheet in front of him. "Uh. Nothing."

MJ rolled her eyes. This project was so doomed. "Look, if you don't start offering up some suggestions, I will choose a text for us, and you'll just have to live with it."

Flash huffed, dropping his pencil and leaning back in his seat to raise his hands in mock surrender. "Fine. What about... The Importance of Being Earnest?"

Oh, great. A play MJ had already eliminated. Fantastic.

She bit back a sigh, reminding herself to stay calm. They could compromise. Surely 'compromise' wasn't a foreign concept even to Eugene 'Flash' Thompson. "How about The Picture of Dorian Gray?" she offered after a pause, once she trusted that her voice would remain level. "You get your Oscar Wilde, and I don't have to read a play."

Flash frowned. "What do you have against plays?"

"Crippling stage fright," MJ deadpanned, earning an eye roll from Flash.

"Whatever, Jones." He picked up his pencil and continued working on his physics worksheet. Weird—MJ didn't recognize the problem set. "Sure, The Picture of Dorian Gray is fine."

MJ circled the novel on her list. What with it being in the second-to-last section of texts, she doubted any other group would choose it, and as such saw no reason to inform Mr. Garou of their choice right away. Knowing Flash, he might decide to make her life hell and change his mind before the end of class.