Shadows of Yesterday

Chapter 11: Wanted: Dead or Passing

"Liam, I swear, if you don't help me make a decision in the next five minutes, more than just this dino nugget is ending tonight without its head." I held up the aforementioned piece of chicken to illustrate my point before shoving the rest of its body into my mouth. 

The infuriating boy sitting in front of me on my bedroom floor huffed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Yeah, well, you haven't exactly been coughing up opinions yourself, Ms. 'Like-I-Said, I'm-Good-With-Whatever-Option-You-Don't-Want.'"

Two weeks had passed since the phone incident I still refused to talk about and the revelation that no, Liam hadn't been lying about us working together in Spanish. Another randomly assigned pairing. Another round of praying to anyone that'd listen and being disappointed at the last possible second. Apparently, the universe had made me the butt of its least funny joke yet, because I couldn't seem to escape the man of my nightmares even when I tried.

The assignment was simple enough: all we had to do was give a two-person presentation completely in Spanish on any Spanish-speaking country of our choice for at least 5 minutes. Unfortunately, true to form, I had procrastinated the project until the last second, and a certain someone had been "too busy" to meet up until two days before it was due. 

Whatever. At least he'd had the decency to bring snacks.

"Fine, how about Mexico?" I sighed.

He bit into another nugget before answering. "Didn't you look at Medina's list? That was taken ages ago."

I rolled my eyes and heaved myself up off the floor to look at the list he was pointing to on his computer. Sure enough, Mexico had been assigned to a different group already. "Do I look like the kind of person who enjoys doing extra work?" I replied, gesturing to my sweatpants and old hoodie.

"No," he said slowly, "but you seem like the kind of person who doesn't enjoy failing, which is what we're going to do if we don't get a move on."

"Then choose already!"

He groaned. "You are impossible. Fine. Ecuador?"

"Already taken." I pointed to a group near the bottom of the list. "And look, by your very own teammate!"

He leaned backwards to grab another nugget and then peered at where I was pointing. "Which one?" he asked while chewing.

I mentally appreciated the fact that he at least covered his mouth with a hand while he chewed. Ben and Declan were never so gracious. "Grayson Finch, according to the list."

"Of course," Liam groaned back. 

"Chile? It's not taken, I checked," I suggested.

"Whatever gets us the grade."

Just as he said that, I heard two voices coming down the stairs. "Dec, are you kidding me right now? It's the middle of the day, for crying out loud!" came Ben's worried voice.

"Shut up, Ben, get off my case! And it's not the middle of the day, it's 4:30, so don't even," Declan slurred back.

I froze. 

No, please. Not now. Not while I had a guest over. I couldn't bring myself to look over at Liam as the talking continued, but I heard fabric rustling as he readjusted his position on the carpet. 

"No, you know what's going to happen when Mom and Dad get home! Do you think I want to sit there and listen to you three have another fight?"

I heard Liam whisper "another?" as my brothers continued. I swallowed but didn't respond. "Screw you, it's none of your business anyways!" Declan yelled. I heard the telltale noise of the downstairs TV being turned on a moment later.