The Coffee Date

Ch 2: a flower in the distance

As the clock strike 8:40, a flood of students came rushing into class, some of the poor people were trampled in the process, damn. My buddy, Cory, walked in and ruffled my hair for no reason and took his seat right at the back. I glared at him and he smiled widely ''Good morning Zak Zak!'' I rolled my eyes, Zak Zak, a stupid name he called me since we were 8. When everyone were in their seats, our teacher walked in, Miss Zi Shang. We greeted her good morning and she gave us a certain project, that would take up half of our grades. 

Now you see, i might seem like a goody-two-shoes and all, but I am currently failing, and if I get one more detention, I'll get expelled. I've already been warned by our headmistress, Madam June. And I don't really know what I'm going to do about it. Like at all.

''Good morning students, today i have a very important project to assign to you. I have printed out these sheets of paper, please do read the instructions as it is crucial for your project.''

She passed a stack of paper to Raphael, a kid sitting next to Cory, and he passed it over to each student one by one, until it came to me. I held the paper in my hands and started squinting at the small text.

ENDING TERM PROJECT

*crucial for passing grade

Read the instructions clearly: This term, the teachers will pair you up with who they think is best. You are expected to:

a} Cooperate with the partner that your teacher has assigned you to.

 b} Finish the project by the 1st of December, Thursday.

c} Write an article based on the relationship you and your assigned partner has together, gather up information about each other and make a photo album based on what you do during the holidays, At last, add to the article how you feel about each other before and after this project.

d} You have 2 months to finish this project, the teachers will accept no excuses.

Thank you for the cooperation,
Madam June Siew

As you all read the paper carefully, everyone started murmuring in disappointment, nobody wanted to spend their holidays with a random classmate that the teacher picked, especially not me. I hope it's Cory because I'll be spending the holidays with him anyways.

The teacher stood up to get her clipboard.

''Okay! here are your pairs:''

''Aaron and Joshua, Ryan and Wendy, Clara and Joanne, Kiyori and Jeanette, Rachel and Cory-''

shit.

''Adam and Becca, Susanne and Katherine, and last of all, Zachary and Sophie''

''NO!'' Sophie stood up slamming her hands on her desk. ''I cannot be paired up with Zachary Lee, No way, never.''

Miss Zi Shang stared at Sophie, ''Well that's too bad, miss Sophie, If you read the instruction, it stated 'cooperate with the partner your teacher has assigned you to' I assume you haven't read it?''

Sophie sat back down, defeated. She glared at Miss Zi and then at me! As if it was my fault she got paired up with me! 

''Any one else that doesn't like their partner? hmm, anyone?'' Ms Zi called. 

Everyone stared back at her silent while Sophie sulked at her desk.

''Okay, thank you class, you may go to recess now.'' Ms Zi said with a smile.

Everyone got up and went to recess, every step i took, Sophie was glaring at me. Hello, I didn't want to be your partner too! I tried to help you this morning but did you care? no.

As i stood up to go, Sophie walked over to me and grabbed my tie, ''hey, if you think I'm going to withstand being partners with you, you're wrong. Don't think this'll be easy.''

I looked over at her unphased, ''coffee shop, 3 pm don't be late''

she didn't say anything but just walked away.

At recess, everyone was sitting with their partner except Sophie and I. I could spot her outside the school playing with the cats.

Sophie is very pretty, i don't think I ever did think of her that way, but she's angry most of the time, her tantrums ruin a lot of opportunities that have been open for her.

She really was a peculiar creature, yet i couldn't stop thinking about how she looked like a flower in the distance.