Kisses and Near Misses

Chapter 1

Jacquelyn "Jacq" Carter yawned in her early morning class but cut it off quickly so she could covertly shoot a text to her best friend, sitting beside her.

Gabriella "Gabi" Pérez snuck a quick peek before eyeing the door to their classroom and returning the missive.

Jacq answered as well but before Gabi could even see what the reply was, their teacher slammed the door shut, startling all the loud students.

Mrs. Prudence Albright was not the school's favorite teacher but she was begrudgingly fair. She could only be described as mousy but her mouth was dragon. Her light brown hair and eyes made her easy to overlook but her acidic tongue made her standout. That attitude didn't help either... She eyed her unruly students, sure they all were there for an easy "A" but she had news for them! "Take your seats! Quiet down!"

Students raced to take seats at the tables.

She stalked to the front of the room and began writing on the whiteboard in black marker. "Welcome to Life Science class. There's a year-long project you each signed up for during the summer so if you can't handle it, you'll simply fail. This is a partnership project and no, you may not switch partners."

The class groaned.

She gave them an evil look. "Settle! This is the Home and Hearth Challenge and it's very challenging."

The door opened and a student walked in late.

She narrowed her eyes behind her large brown glasses. "You're late, Mr. Delaney."

"I am." Cole Delaney agreed as he sauntered to a seat.

She sent him a poisoned look but continued. "As I was saying. This is a hard course."

Snorts were heard.

She brightened, gleeful about stunning them. "The Home and Hearth Challenge is two of you taking care of a child for the school-year."

Gasps rang out.

"Settle! Yes. You and your partner will care for a child from six months to three years old. Some of you will even have two children." She neglected to mention she only did that to the students she truly didn't like. "You and your partner will be a married couple and live in your own home. You have to keep up with your every day routines while caring for these children. If you play sports, you cannot quit. If you have after-school jobs, you can't quit. You must attend your classes. Failure to comply will result in failing."

Jacq didn't care. She'd taken all of her "hard" classes for the past three years and as a senior, only had bird courses. She planned on having fun this year but this might put a pin in that.

Gabi didn't care either. She was busy but she wanted to do this project. She loved kids and she wanted to be paired with her bestie so that they could try out how it'd be when they went off to college next year. They'd always planned on being roommates and this would be great practice.

Other students cared.

Mrs. Albright could tell they were shaken. "You will have income to run your homes but you also will have mini challenges every two weeks and a paper to turn in every week on your progress. In the meantime, since you'll be working on the project, you'll have first period free."

The kids looked at her. What a consolation prize.

She barely could contain her mirth at their dour faces. "You'll get to bond with your children at the orphanage and whichever you bond with will be your child." She returned to the whiteboard and began writing partners' names down.

Plenty of people gasped, upset.

But Jacq was dismayed. "No!"

Mrs. Albright almost cackled. "Yes."