Chalk It Up To Fate

Chapter 4: Marshall

I walk into the Journalism room with reluctance.

I take a minute to survey the room. It's small with two rows of tables and a dozen desktops on top of them, and facing the chalkboard up front . The room is lined with cupboards, has shelves filled with past yearbooks, and the walls are covered with pictures and lists of the high school students.

Amanda is sitting front and center talking to the teacher, Mr. Russo.

I hurry to the back corner to try to avoid making eye contact with anybody. I attempt to log into the computer when another voice hits my ears.

"Is this seat taken?"

I look up to see a boy with shaggy, dark blonde hair. He's got a Carolina Football shirt on, and looks as miserable as I feel.

"Nope, all yours," I wave toward to seat gesturing him to sit down.

"Thanks, I'm Jeremy by the way." He sits down with a thud and puts his backpack at his feet before turning his brown eyes to me.

"Um, Marshall. I'm new," I say with a little awkward shrug.

Jeremy gives me a lopsided smile, "Well Marshall, I'm going to let you in on a secret. I'm only taking this class because I have to, and I am in the market for a nerd to do my homework for me. You interested?"

Slightly offended, I turn to fully face him. "Unfortunately for you I don't meet either of your criteria. I'm not a nerd or am I taking this class voluntarily. Hate to burst your bubble but those guys are on the other side of the room." I turned back to my computer, a little pissed off.

I try to log in again and it keeps bringing up an error.

I hear Jeremy laugh right next to me and give him a side eye. "Here let me help. For some reason you can't put in your full email, just everything before the 'at' symbol."

He typed it in again and sure enough, everything worked.

I grumbled a thanks under my breath, Making Jeremy chuckle once again. "Okay, Okay, I got it. How about we find a nerd to do BOTH of homework. Then, we can spend this hour and a half screwing around in the back."

A laugh escapes me, before I say "The only thing you are going to be screwing is your hand."

He burst into a laugh so loud the remaining students turned around to look at us. My face turned red, but Jeremy didn't seem to notice. He stretched his legs in front of him, put his arm around the back of my chair and mumbled "this year is gonna be interesting."

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I hate Journalism.

There are so many rules to writing and writing styles, different cameras and camera settings for different types of pictures, Not to mention what goes into a proper picture.

This class could not have gone slower.

Within the last ten minutes of class. Mr. Russo starts explaining our first assignment.

"I see half of you are new to the class, and I threw a lot at you all at once today," he starts, "So your first assignment is to get with a partner to mentor you all through the first couple weeks of the class. Each group is going to pick a topic for the school newspaper which will be published two weeks from now."

"Do we get to pick our partners?" A petite redhead with glasses yells from up front.

"Nope," he states, "I randomly assigned you all."

Mr. Russo picks up a piece of paper from his makeshift desk up front and reads off the names.

"This is perfect," Jeremy whispers right next to me. "We can charm our partners–who actually give a fuck about this class–to take over homework for us."

"Easier said than done," I scoffed. "You've met me. Charm isn't necessarily my strong suit," I tell Jeremy.

Jeremy's name gets called, and he is paired with the same redhead that spoke up earlier. Jeremy smiles. "Lucky for me, charm is my middle name."

Jeremy gives his partner a heartstopping smile and a finger wave. The girl blushes before turning back to the front of the room.

I shove Jeremy with my shoulder before hearing my own name. "That leaves Marshall with Amanda," Mr. Russo finishes. I freeze. Of course one of the two people I am trying to avoid is my 'mentor' indefinitely. Amanda turns to me and gives me a smile. I give her one back feeling my stomach drop.

"Aww lucky, Amanda's hot," Jeremy says with a pout. I look at him.

"Let's switch then."

Jeremy's smile drops, "Hell no. Reece will kill me."

I frown. "What is up with that anyway? He seems...intense."

Jeremy started putting things away in his bag. "Yeah, they dated for a couple months last year. He hadn't dated anyone before her, so it was kind of a surprise."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Word on the street is he cheated on her with Sasha."

"Sasha?"

"Head cheerleader, great tits. That dude's lucky as fuck." Jeremy said with a bit of wistfulness.

'Wait," I continued, "If Reece cheated on Amanda, why are you afraid of getting with her? He obviously didn't care about her enough to stay faithful right?"

Jeremy let out a sigh, "He's been a bit...well possessive of her. Even the mention of her name around him makes Reece hot headed. Everyone on the team has been afraid of touching her with a ten foot pole."

The bell rang, cutting our conversation short. Jeremy stood up. "Hey, same time tomorrow?" he said with a smile.

I couldn't help but smile back. "Sure, same time tomorrow." As I watched Jeremy go, I saw Amanda approaching my computer.

"Hey partner!" She said with a sweet smile, her hand on the strap of her bag. "I know this class isn't really your thing, but I was hoping we could find a topic that's interesting so it won't be as bad for you." Amanda shrugs shyly.

I grab my bag and start shoving my things into it at my feet.

"I don't know much about this school for me to pick the topic," I respond matter or factly.

Amanda looks at me with a spark in her eye this time. "But that's the best part! It can be about anything as long as Mr. Russo approves it! We If you want we can talk about it at lunch tomorrow?" She looks at me giddy.

I start to protest before I hear Sarah's voice in my ear. You're not going to make friends if you don't even try.

Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. I can meet other classmates and maybe find a place I fit in. I get up from my seat. "Sounds good. I'll bring a list." I say sarcastically before walking away.

The last thing I hear as I head out of the classroom is Amanda's voice.

"Perfect! It's a date."  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Authors Note: 

Hey! Thank you for picking up Chalk it up to Fate! This is my first attempt at writing so I hope you like it so far! I will be updating as much as possible in the next couple of weeks and editing AFTER I publish my chapters. So don't worry, my plenty of errors will be worked through by the time my story is marked complete! Thanks again for taking interest in my story!