you can hear it in the silence

chapter five

Wes

Me and Adare sit down for our Oceanography lecture and I for one was very pleased for her to tell me 'you're smart Wes."

Her, on the other hand, I know she's still pissed at herself for having to say it and pissed at me for, I don't know, breathing.

So I said a little, tiny, small white lie to Cass.
If a girl wants to tutor you, you say yes.

Adare is the only person here who knows I'm not completely a total idiot.
I was in all honor and AP classes in high school with her.

That's another reason why she can't stand me, and why I love aggravating her.
We had every single class together throughout all out years of schooling.
Despite a few that weren't the same, the vast majority we had basically the same classes.

Professor McClain lectures and slowly but surely the time is running out.
We have about ten more minutes left before she gets to the end of her slides and I notice Adare shift next to me rubbing the side of her neck.
She does that a lot during the school year.

"Okay and now to the exciting part!" The professor exclaims.
"For the next month, you will be working on a research with one other person over specific hydrothermal vent that we've discussed this week. These vents are very complex, and affect so much more than just simply the ocean, and it will be your job to discover those."

I can see Adare ever so slightly sink in her seat and go still.

She hates group projects.

Especially the ones where you get to choose your own partner, which genuinely makes not a single bit of sense.

Isn't choosing your own partner the best part about group projects?

I've seen it happen for years.
Anytime there was an announcement over some sort of group or partner work, she froze up.

"This research paper is going to be a lengthy one, 25 pages, but you do have all month long to work on it, and obviously it is partner work so it shouldn't be too much of a load. You do have to annotate and review five articles that are related to your vent and use them as supporting claims. However, I'm not a monster, so you do get to choose your own partner."

The class gets louder as the shuffle of people moving picks up.
Everyone is finding a partner and I can feel Adare slowly look around her seat for a partner.

Despite her moving slowly, she is definitely panicking.

As she moves her head behind her, in front, and then to the left of her, there's no open partners.
There's also no seat on the other side of her and she pauses, knowing she's going to see me when she turns to the right.

I've got a shit-eating grin on my face.
She slowly turns to head to me and makes eye contact.
I can't help but have an arrogant smile on my face.

"No, no," she says quickly. "Absolutely not. No," she emphasizes with a stern look on her face.

"I hate to break it to you Wellsy, but look around," I say with a smug grin on my face and looking around the class and seeing little pairs of two chatting.
"There's no one else who needs a partner."

She looks like I just told her that I strangled a kitten.
And I'm eating it up.

"No, Wes," she says shaking her head. "No way in hell are we being partners."
"Oh yes way we are," I laugh.

"You said it yourself that you need a tutor for other classes," she says, pretending to sound sincere.

Oh screw.

"Shut up, you know I'm smart Adare."

She pretends to have an innocent look on her face.
"Do I though?"
"Oh fuck off, we made the same grades in high school."

"I can find another partner," she says, sounding unsure of herself.
"No you won't," I huff out a laugh.

That's ridiculous that she would even say that.
Hell would have to freeze over before she got up and asked around for someone to be her partner.

I call her bluff, "Wellsy I know you, you're not gonna find another partner," I say like it's comical, because frankly, it is.

She gulps and then finally drops her little act and starts to realize she has no other option.
I feel like I can physically see the gears in her mind turning.

She's silent for a second and then, finally, takes an annoyed exhale.

Got her.

"Fine," she snaps. "But listen, we're going to meet every Thursday at 6pm and.."

I cut her off, "what if I'm not free Thursday?"

"Well are you?" She asks back quickly.
"Yes, but thats not the point Wellsy," I say and see rolls her eyes.
"The point," I emphasize, "is that this is a group effort."

"So Thursday," she says again with her eyebrows raised in a death stare.
"Yeah, fine whatever, Thursday works," I say back quickly.

"And I'm serious Wes, show up. I don't want to get stuck doing this entire paper by myself."
"Geez Wellsy," I breathe out. "Such little faith."

༉‧₊˚✧.*
thanks for reading :p
favorite movie?? mines absolutely little women (2019 version) literally love that movie more than life itself