Happy Ending

James

A few weeks ago, my English teacher decided to make a do a project based on the book we had just read. She refused to let us work alone, like I usually do.

Knowing nobody would pair up with me, I sat in the back of the room, waiting until everyone had paired up so that the teacher would just pair me with the other outcast.

"Since there is an even number of students in this class, everybody should have a partner. No exceptions. You are not to do this project alone. I want to see effective group work."

I stared at the rubric on my desk. The project was some sort of video/research project. I silently groaned. I hated anything to do with videos.

"James. Since you don't have a partner, why don't you work with Linda over there?"

"Ok" the voice-whom I assumed to be James-, said.

He walked over and sat down. I dared to look up from my desk to see who this "James" guy was.

I am willing to admit he was no too bad looking. The way he was dressed screamed "emo/punk." Eyeliner included. The teacher obviously hated him for it, i mean, why else would she place him with me, who has never done her homework? but to me it shows someone's personality, bright and loud. Compared to me in my dingy old sweatshirt and dull blonde hair, I was as bland as a muffin. Not the blueberry kind either. Just a plain old muffin. And he was a doughnut.

"Hi" he said.

I made a noise slightly resembling a greeting.

"So, uh, project." He said. "What do you think we should do for it?"

After much talk, mostly on his end, we decided to reenact a segment of the book. There is something that forced group work seems to do between students, creating a bond built on mutual hate for the teacher and group work. After a few minutes, I was actually feeling ok with this guy. He wasn't an asshole.

Each day in class we would plan and devise how we were going to create the video. We even made a script. I actually found myself enjoying this project. Soon, though, there were only a few days left until the due date and we had not filmed it yet. The teacher didn't let anyone film during class, unfortunately. That left us with a planning problem.

"So" he said. "Where should we film it?"

"Here at school." I said. "We have all the materials we need."

"But we don't have time during school."

"Before school." I said. "Tomorrow. Can you do it?"

"I'll try." He said.The bell rang just as he was about to say something. I left class without saying anything to him.