Harmonies of the Heart | 🧡 Jailey 💙 | The Music Freaks

Chapter 1: Partners (in biology class)

"So, you want to work separately?"

Jake hadn't realised when Drew left how much would change. It was weird enough not sitting with him and the guys at lunchtime, but now Drew wanted to switch lab partners. Jake and Drew had been lab partners since freshman year, and they had always turned to each other first when they did a project in pairs. Now that would be different - one of many things that would be different.

(A/N) Jake's biology teacher, Ms Indiana, pinched the bridge of her nose. The poor woman already looked exhausted with her class that day, but this would hopefully take no longer than a minute. If she could help it, that was.

She closed her eyes for a moment. "Given your grades Drew, I see no problem with you working by yourself. But Jake, you'll have to find a partner that will support you, instead of someone you can waste class time with. Drew is a very good student and I trust that you will find a partner that can fill his shoes."
There came sniggers from the other students, and even from Drew before he left Jake's side to sit down. Jake flushed a furious shade of pink and turned meekly to the class to see his options.
His teacher called, "Who volunteers to be Jake's partner?"

And cue the frenzy.

"Me!" shouted a girl up the front. Another girl stared at her partner in offence when she saw her raise her hand. Two more girls shouted, "I do!" in unison, before turning to look at each other excitedly.

Luke and Hailey were in the third row from the front. Luke observed the scene with a degree of astonishment. "Wow," he said flatly, feeling amused. "Jake sure does have a lot of choice. I wonder who he'll pic-" he stopped talking as he took notice of Hailey, grinning. "Never mind."

There was Hailey, standing reluctantly in her seat, with an obviously forced look of nonchalance on her face. She looked blankly towards the front of the classroom with a raised hand, fiddling with the sleeve of her lab coat with the other. "What?" Hailey asked pointedly, innocently glancing at Luke.
He rolled his eyes away, hiding a cheeky smile. "Oh, nothing..."
Hailey chose to ignore his reaction.

At the front of the room, Ms Indiana shook her head. "Just choose," she told Jake, who snapped out of his shocked state and set to actually observing the options. Drew, Henry and Liam stood at the back of the room, watching silently.

"Umm..." said Jake to fill the silence. His eyes scanned over the half-a-dozen girls stretching to make themselves taller over the others. Even so, Jake stopped on Hailey.
"Oh!" he smiled in surprise. "Can I pick Hailey?"
Ms Indiana considered this. "Yes, I actually think that's an excellent choice." Jake smiled brightly and went to stand with Hailey and Luke.

Hailey grinned at Jake for a second, but then she had a realisation and turned quickly. "Oh, Luke-"
"It's okay Hailey! I can pair up with somebody else, I don't mind," smiled Luke.

Willow, one of their classmates, suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. "Um, if you want Luke, we could be partners. Sadie said that she'd be happy to work by herself."
"Sure Willow, that sounds good." Luke nodded. He looked back at Hailey. "So there you go!"
Hailey smiled gratefully at him. She beamed up at Jake, who returned it with a grin.

"Alright everybody, please open your textbooks to page 628, you'll find the experiment there." The three of them looked back to the front of the classroom as their teacher spoke. "The title should say 'Effect of Light Intensity on Photosynthesis'. I'm going to get one person from each pair to get a placemat, test tube racks and floodlight from the back of the room, and test tubes from the cupboard."
Jake silently pointed to Hailey, and she nodded back. It was not a good idea to let Jake handle glass and heavy equipment.
"And then the other partner will come up here and collect the pondweed, tweezers and pH indicator." Ms Indiana gestured to the trolley she stood next to. "Off you go."