Collision

Chapter 16

Oh...how I love english classes. There are things I actually love about english and others I am not so fond about. Today, our wonderful English teacher, Miss Morgan, thought it was a great idea to do what I found the most infuriating-oral presentations.

"So, I want you all to partner up. Oh, that reminds me I will be partnering you up" Miss Morgan smiled as everyone else groaned. She is an angel isn't she?

"With your partner I want you to do a persuasive oral on the topics I have written on the sheet, which will be handed out....let me just get them"she reached out and looked through her massive folder. I turned my attention to my right to see Mia with her head bowed on the table and her shoulders slouched. She isn't happy. I suppressed a chuckle and turned my attention back towards Miss Morgan.

There was a knock on the door and everyone looked in that direction as Mr Clarke walked in. "Sorry to interrupt your class, but I forgot to give out the homework from the maths class the other day" he said as he held out the stack of sheets to Miss Morgan. I mentally groaned. Come on, there are only a couple of his maths kids in this English class!

She grabbed the sheets from him. "I wrote the names on the sheets in case they forgot they are in my class. Okay, thanks for that" he said wistfully. He grinned at our dismay and headed towards the door.

"No problem" Miss Morgan said as she placed them neatly on her desk.

"Have a great day kids" Mr Clarke chirped as he walked out the door.

His head quickly peeked back into the doorway. "Oh by the way Luke, Ava, Aaron and Jake, it is due on Wednesday " he said pointing to the four of us. He gave us one last wink before he shut the door. Everyone erupted in a fit of laughter...well other than the four of us. Instead we have to do multiple sheets of specialised maths work, yippee. Miss Morgan began passing down the assessment sheets as the laughter died down.

"This is going to be a major part of your end of year report, so I suggest you put a lot of effort in this. Remember that is why you have a partner, double the effort" she said. I looked at the sheet and scanned the topics. They were topics such as gender equality and the vaccination of kids.

"Miss, why can't we pick our own partners?" Luke whined as he received his sheet.

"Because I want you to try working with different minds. Imagine what you could create with someone entirely different to yourself" she said gesturing to everyone else.

"Come on, Jake over here is different to me. He is an idiot and I am a genius! Best combo" Luke said grinning. Jake frowned and smacked Luke on the arm. He winced but didn't say anything.

"Boys cut it out! I am picking your partners and it is final" Miss Morgan said in a stern voice.

Everyone kept quiet afterwards as she finished handing out the sheets. Miss Morgan walked up to the front of the class and looked at all our faces seriously. Okay...it is actually getting weird now. "Hmm...okay, I am going to tell you all who I've picked as your partner...I have actually picked these a while back" she said. Everyone groaned. I bit my lip nervously and played with the strands of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail.

"Uhh..Mia,lets starts with you since you seem so eager" Miss Morgan said sarcastically. I looked over at Mia and she was still in the same position as earlier, with her dirty blonde hair fallen over her face. She immediately looked up as she heard her name. Miss Morgan pulled out a piece of folded paper, out of her pocket and started naming the partners.

"Mia, you are with Natalie" Miss Morgan said. Mia looked like her eye balls were going to come out of their sockets. She whipped her head to me and started muttering curse words.

I raised an eyebrow. From what I know, Natalie is a genius. "What?" I asked as she slumped down and groaned.

"Natalie is the polar opposite of me. I heard that if she doesn't get an A she goes bizerk. You know, like the scary kind" she said as she bit her finger nails. I pushed back a judgmental look and turned to get a glimpse of Natalie, as Miss Morgan went on with naming the partners. She looked horrified. Mia wasn't stupid, she is actually pretty good in English. Why is Natalie so worried? Wow these two are going to have a great project....

"Luke and Jayden" Miss Morgan said. I felt so bad for Jayden, he is so quiet and kept to himself. He didn't deserve the torture of having to put up with Luke.

Luke grinned and stood out of his sit to move towards a mortified looking Jayden. "Buddy, we are going to make a great team. Don't you reckon?" Luke said as he fisted Jayden's shoulder. Jayden looked up at Luke and gave him a weak smile.

"Sure, what ever you say....buddy" Jayden said as scratched his dark, shaggy hair. Luke made a twirling motion with Jayden's hair as he touched it.

"You need a hair cut, buddy. Now that we are partners I can cut your hair for ya'. You can thank me later" Luke said as he patted Jayden's head like a dog. Jayden swatted his hands away and Luke started laughing.

"Leave the poor boy alone, he already has to deal with the fact that you're his partner for crying out loud!" Mia said exasperated. I guess I wasn't the only one who was more entertained by their conversations than Miss Morgan reading out partners.

"Last but not least, Jake and Aaron" Miss Morgan said. Wait...did she say my name. I am sure I would of heard it, or was I that caught up in Luke and Jayden's conversation? I tapped Mia's shoulder frantically.

She looked at me with a puzzled expression. "What's wrong Ava?" She asked.

"Did she say my name?" I asked. She thought for a moment before she answered.

"She didn't, did she?" she said out of the sudden epiphany. I took a deep breath and played with hem of my white, lace top.

"So now that you know your partners, I want you to work together and create a well rounded oral. Remember your goal is to have us persuaded" she said. I raised my arm up nervously. What happens if she actually did say my name and then gets annoyed because I wasn't paying attention. Plus I NEVER raise my hand to speak.

Miss Morgan looked at me with surprise evident in her face. "Ava" she said.

"I am not sure whether you gave me a partner" I said louder than I wanted to, since she probably wouldn't of heard me otherwise.

"I didn't?" She asked as she scanned through her sheet. She gave a face and looked at me. "You're right, I didn't. I must of written this before you enrolled. Hmm...I guess we have a bit of a conundrum here don't we?" She said as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"I'll put you in a group of three" she said after a moment of thought. Wait...I am not working with two other people, she definitely won't put me with Mia and Natasha. I instantly opened my mouth to speak.

"Uhh Miss Morgan, I don't mind being on my own" I said haltingly. She raised her eyebrows looking at me like "you seriously would rather work alone, well okay then". I can tell a lot by people's eyebrows, trust me.

"You would rather work own you own Ava? Well it is up to you" she said. What did I tell you, eyebrows give it all. I smiled in thanks. I felt a fist to my arm, let me tell you it was a hard hit. I pouted and rubbed my arm as I turned to a shocked Mia.

"What are you doing? You could of worked with me! We could of dealt with her together" She sulked.

"No, we're friends, she wouldn't put us together. I mean she put Luke with an innocent Jayden. The woman has no mercy" I whispered. Mia nodded in agreement.

"Okay, so you obviously need to work on this after school. Go to each other's  houses, phone each other, talk on social media. I really don't care, all I need you to do is work together to create the best oral you possibly can because this is major" she said trying to stress the whole "working together" point. I guess the pressure is on for me.