Not A Love Story

Unexpected Pairing

Winning has always been top priority on the list for me. I know that sounds very narcissistic and whatever, but it's the truth. And a huge obstacle in the way of me and winning, is Rome. I just hate him so much. Oh sorry, you don't know him. So, he's this guy in school and since kindergarten, we have had this enmity between us about who is going to be first in class. Of course I always beat him to it, i mean its obvious. But this year, it's sophomore year and not gonna lie, it is getting kinda hard to compete. I mean he did get straight A+ in the mid-terms. I got just one A only because I was sick and couldn't give the French exam. But, no worries, we will beat him to it yet again.

I was sitting in my classroom beside my best friend, Joy while solving trig sums till the teacher started the class. I always sat on the chair that stood third in the second row of chairs, and Rome sat on the chair next to mine. I noticed that he was studying history, focussed with his perfectly round nose scrunched, his rounded rimless spectacles often sliding down his high-bridged nose, his annoyingly soft (don't ask me why I know this, I just do.) curly brown hair in disarray, while he used 3 different colours of highlighters to illuminate that book of his. I'm going to be honest, he is never going to admit it, but he picked up this highlighting hobby from me after he saw that almost all the teachers complimented my book as to how resourceful, filled with extra facts and aesthetically pleasing it was.

Miss Roy entered the class, almost always 5 minutes late, with tons of books in hand. She may be extremely messy and unorganised, but if you ever get in her class, by the time you leave, you will have mastered that English chapter like a pro. "I have a fun assignment for you, class!" she said. Honestly, I liked doing her assignments, they really were kinda fun. Anyways, I did not expect her to say, "We are doing a group project this semester. Team up with whoever is to your.......right. No, left." Yep, you guessed it. Mr. Anderson was sitting to my left, reading that history book of his. And, its so unfortunate that he was sitting next to a wall. So there was no "person-to-your-left" for him. Only.....well, me.

Anyways, it turned out that he didn't notice what Miss Roy said at once, but after he did, oh good lord, you should've seen the look on his face. It was identical to mine, and we both were weirded out by the fact that we had to do something united just so we could win solitarily. We unanimously decided to ignore it though, as long as we could. Out of earshot, I heard Joy say, "Dammit, I have to do the assignment with Shayri, dude. I mean we're friends and all, but I wanted to do it with you, Cal. Wait. That means you're doing it with...." "Yeah. Rome.", I finished her sentence for her. I was dreading it way too much and it showed on my face and in my tone. Rome had been quiet this whole time, I guess he was thinking the same things I was, just silently. But both of us were teacher's pets, so no one interrupted her in order to change our teams. We will just have to deal with it.

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I was just getting into my car after school, when I heard footsteps coming up to me from behind. I turned around and was greeted with the irritatingly perfect, familiar face. " So, should we just get it over with, then?" Rome asked me in an unusually calm tone. "Well, there's no other option, is there?", I said. We decided to meet up at this familiar coffee shop almost everyone in our town went to, on every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday to get this project over with. " But I'm gonna be the team captain and plan this whole thing out; we both know I'm better at organising." "Huh, nice try, Smith. I'm doing the captainship. Definitely. No negotiation."
This went on for another 30 mins till we decided to divide up the work amongst ourselves. It's going to be a looonnggg ride.