No Status Quo

14. Perfect Timing

"You are to pair up with a fellow student, and work on this project together." Sir Bradley informs us, bringing a stack of papers on his desk with a thump. I already knew who I was going to partner with.

"You will show your research through a presentation and submit an essay form of it as well; this project will be graded, understood?"

There's mutters of "yes, sir" around the room. No one was a fan of geography much, including me. But better this than history. Learning about Napoleon is not interesting at all.

Sir nods appreciatively, "Alright then, you have till the end of month to finish this." He says, "Get your partner and come to me for your topic."

I wait for everyone else to go first, pretending to be engrossed in reading Geography: A necessity, which was one of our reference books. My hand was better than last time, and the bandage had gone. It still hurt sometimes though. Ren had brought my car to school while his friend drove his motorcycle. I carpooled with Kate, and thankfully she didn't suspect anything.

Raising my head up a bit, I see nearly everyone has gone. Liam and his new girlfriend, Jocelyn, collect their file and go out of the room, chatting animatedly.

I stand up and hear a scraping of chair before Ren comes to my side.

"Want to pair up with me?" I ask eagerly.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." He chuckles and we approach the teacher's desk.

"Ah, Miss Rosen and Mister Accetta," he takes out a dark green file and hands it to us, "How to regulate the effects of erosion, is your topic. Make sure to submit it by time, and if you have any sort of queries, feel free to contact me."

"Sure, Sir." Ren and I say in unison.

"Have a great day, kids!" Sir Bradley says warmly and we exit the classroom.

"So, when should we start working on it?" I ask, handing Ren the file for him to see.

"After homecoming would be better, I think." He says eyes on the bright page. He's right. Homecoming is in four days. We'll have plenty of time by then to work on this project and get it done before deadline hopefully too.

"Alright," I say. "What do you have next, by the way?"

"Art." He says. I smile, I have art as well.

"But I have to talk with my French teacher regarding my previous assignment," he tells me, "So you go on ahead, I'll see you there."

"Okay, see you then." I say with a little wave as he waves back and jogs upstairs while I walk further into the corridor before entering the art room. The scent of paint greets me and I inhale deeply, so good.

"Gina!" Kate waves me over from aisle three. Getting my art bag, I walk over to her and hug her.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask as we pull back.

"So we're going to the mall tonight, to get dresses for homecoming." She says as I put on my apron, "And shoes, jewelry, basically everything. Handbags too." She adds.

"Miss Green, quit talking!" Miss Varner barks.

"God, fine."Kate rolls her eyes while I smirk.

"Alright students, surrealism, it was an art and literary movement that utilized," Miss turns to the board and starts writing while listing down, "Fantasy," another scrawl on the board, "myth and dream imagery when creating art. Keep that in mind."

I get out my art supplies while she drones on about the importance of dream imagery in surrealism. She stops writing; her face similar to one's when you remember someone suddenly. And soon enough, she says, "one minute, students. I'll be right back."