Shift

[4] Projects

Theresa was tapping her pencil restlessly on top of her desk as she flipped the page to a new magazine.
I loved history so I was wide awake. That might be because I had four cups of coffee. Whoopsie. Our teacher came back from the teachers lounge and started passing out packets of paper.

"Okay take a look at this packet. Starting next week we're doing a project that's worth 30% of your grade which also means if you fail this project you don't get your degree." Mrs. T smiled. "This should be fun." I heard her whisper under her breath as she passed by me.

"You will be able to have partners on this project," Mutters spread throughout the classroom. "But I will be picking your partners." She finished. I looked at Theresa she had a look of hopefulness and then it was crushed.

"Okay I want Grace Andrews and Haley Scott. Theresa Davis and Kayla Collins," she continued on until there were only six people left to pair up. Jack and I were one of them.

"Eleanor McCartney and... Jack Richards." Yes! She picked the last two pairs and then dismissed us. Jack got up and walked over to my seat. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. See this is the stereotypical stuff high schools get a rep for.
-Bad boys
-Annoying popular girls
-Preppy cheerleaders
-the sluts
-Mean jocks
-wallflowers
-nerds
-geeks
-the average kids
None of that is true, everyone mixes with each other. It's not separated into certain categories and if we step out of that borderline we'll die. Not all of the guys have muscly arms and have six packs. Jack is just plain skinny but a good skinny. I asked him about it and he said its fast metabolism. He's healthy skinny but he doesn't have a six pack. The only reason I know that is because I saw him coming out of the boys locker room and he was still pulling a shirt over his head. Ah, that was a beautiful day that I played over and over in my mind a million times.

"Just our luck, huh?" He smiled and scratched the back of his head messing up some of his wavy black hair. It was messy already but running his hand through it made it stick up even more. Butterflies in my stomach fluttered.

"Yeah I guess. At least we're not stuck with people we hate for the next..." I trailed off looking at the packet to see how long we were going to be paired up. "Six weeks." I finished and shoved the paper in my bag. Jack got up and walked next to me.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow Eleanor." He smiled and was about to turn the corner.

"Hey Jack!" I called after him. He turned to face me. "You can call me Ella." I smiled as he nodded and walked the opposite way.

"You got Jack as your partner! This is a good sign now you can get him to notice you in a more than friends light." Theresa pounced on me.

"Don't scare me like that! I could've died! But Theresa this is going too fast I don't know what to say most of the time when he tries to talk to me but I don't want to be rude. He's so sweet and I wouldn't want to hurt his feelings." I whined.

"Elle, you were just partnered with him for a project. It's not like you're married and he's suddenly announcing he wants ten kids." She shook my shoulders. I laughed. Theresa always knew how to lighten the mood. She was right though all I had to do was be myself. Well then I'm screwed because I can't think straight around him.

"Hey you guys, why is she flustered and looks like she's about to pass out?" Spencer walked up behind Theresa and pointed to me. I was breathing heavily.

"Ellie, breathe, it's just a project the doctor didn't announce that you have cancer and are dying." She rubbed my back soothingly. My breathing steadied.

"Come on guys we gotta get to lunch or I'll starve!" Spence complained.

"Hey Kitten." Adrian jumped into our conversation. He pecked Theresa on the head and slung his arm around her shoulder.