𝙨𝒕𝙖𝒓𝙙𝒐𝙢'𝙨 𝙨𝒆𝙘𝒓𝙚𝒕 - 𝐥𝐲𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐱 𝐟em! 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

chapter 02 - total strangers

"Oh, hello there, stranger."

"Settle down, everyone." Neuvillette's deep voice boomed through the room.

The room fell silent.

"As the first quarter final, I will be assigning a group project. Your job is to create a diorama about the Gilded Age to verify that you have learned all that you have needed to this quarter. You will work in pairs, and you cannot pair up with someone that is already your friend. You need to pick someone who you don't know."

Lynette raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Lynette?"

"Do we have to work in pairs?"

"Yes, and if you can't find a partner, there will be a group of three."

Lyney glanced anxiously across the room, hoping to catch y/n's eye.

Please work with me, y/n.

Unfortunately, she seemed to be focused on listening to the instructions for the project.

I can't group with Lynette, since we have the same last name.

He zoned out, thinking of different outcomes of his plan, only paying attention when Neuvillette said, "You may go find your partners."

The room filled with chatter and noise and people frantically looked for others to work with. They're actually looking for someone that they don't know? Sucks for them.

Lyney unerringly tracked down y/n and tapped her shoulder just as she was denying someone's request to work with them.

Thank the Archons.

"Why, hello there, stranger."

Y/n caught on. "Oh, hello there, what's your name? I don't think we've met," she said, speaking in a slightly louder tone than normal, glancing at Neuvillette for a moment.

"My name's Lyney. Would you like to work together?"

Please, please, please.

"Sure. I'm y/n, nice to meet you, Lyney."

Neuvillette began walking around, writing down the names of different groups and their members. The room was quiet, lending Lyney the opportunity to eavesdrop on different groups.

"Names?"

"Ajax and Lynette Hearth."

This went on a few more times, before Neuvillette came around to them.

"Names?"

"Lyney Hearth and... apologies, what was your name again?" If this act was going to succeed, he needed to be as convincing as possible.

"Y/n Lemaire."

"Okay. I trust that everybody has chosen someone that they know nothing about. Also, if I find that you are having trouble working together, you both will have points taken away in your final score and will need to complete an extra assignment. Is this understood?"

"Yes," answers echoed from students around the room.

He smiled. "Wonderful. You have three weeks to complete the project. You may begin."

As the room grew loud again, y/n sighed. "I can't believe we actually pulled that off."

"I can. We are the best duo, after all."

He was horrified, and Neuvillette simply asking for their names had sent him into a cold sweat.

"So, you remember the directions, right?"

Damnit. "Um...Not exactly..."

Well, this was just embarrassing.

"Oh? What were you doing?" Y/n asked teasingly.

I can just fluster her, and she'll forget, right? "Thinking about you, of course," he winked.

Lynette shook her head from afar, before focusing on her own project.

Y/n was unfazed. "Ah, so you were just zoned out, and you tried to flirt to avoid your embarrassment."

How the hell? Wait, that's not fair, I kinda meant what I said...

"Whatever, whatever. So, what are the directions?"

"We have to include all the main events and changes that occurred, the diorama has to be colorful, multiple pictures are required, and there should be at least four pages worth of writing in total with no specified format. It's worth eighty points."

Eighty? That's insanity! It's the first quarter!

"Well, I'm sure we can pull that off in a couple weeks. No big deal. We can split the writing, and I can do whatever you don't want to."

"Really? You'll do the rest of the project for me? Gee, you're the best."

He deflated. "We will split every task in half."

Y/n faked a playful frown. "Fine, fine. That's fair."

Her expression grew serious again. "Okay, so I decided that we should start with the writing outlines and choose what we want to write about. We should do whatever has the most information available. As for the colors, we can choose which pictures we want to print, then color the diorama according to the overall color scheme."

She's so smart. At that thought, Lyney felt himself blush. "Wow, you sound experienced. We'll do that then."

"Perfect! Well, I'll be counting on you, Lyney."

"As will I for you, y/n."

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I'M SO SORRY I UPDATED IT ON AO3 AND FORGOT TO DO IT ON WATTPAD