Just a Competition

Chapter Four

        Jamelyn hadn't spoken to Hayden in a couple of days, almost a week, and she actually seemed to be purposely staying away from him. That left him wondering if he had done anything wrong, but he also figured she was putting space between them because they were competing. Every time he saw her, he seemed to forget that. It wasn't just a competition, it was their future. One person got it, the other didn't.

        He took a deep breath as he looked back over to the board, attempting to pay attention to the teacher although he already knew everything he had been teaching so far. Hayden could easily take the test and pass. Chemistry was one of his better subjects. That was a good thing too because he had the class with Jamelyn, and it was overall hard to pay attention.

        Why was she so distracting? A girl had never been able to work her way into his brain before, why was she different? Maybe it was the way she looked when she smiled, or maybe it was how she looked when she was deep in thought. Or maybe it was the way she talked and listened to him like she honestly cared about the conversation instead of thinking of other things, and what added to that was the fact that she wasn't even trying.

        That thought had him looking over to her table, unluckily right next to his. Of course she was seated next to Parker, they had seemed to be getting closer to each other ever since that day he ate lunch with them. Although, it wasn't as if he ever ate lunch anymore anyways, Jamelyn hadn't invited him since.

        He then turned back around to his own table, looking at the people around him. Being new, he got added onto another group. It seemed Amber had a way of persuading because she talked Mr. Jameson into putting him at her table right across from her. How had she even gotten into an AP class? Had Jamelyn just underrated her when she was telling him about Amber and Mallorie? She didn't seem like the type to do that so Amber could have persuaded herself into this class as well. He would have liked it more if she was at least beside him, not able to stare at him the entire time. This was just awkward.

        He was attempting to not make eye contact with her, but failed when his eyes shifted away from the board and to her own. That made her smirk and obviously made her think she could make her foot brush his leg. He knew what she was suggesting, and he wouldn't go for it. He pulled his feet underneath his chair, tucking his legs closer as well after looking back to the board. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her roll her eyes before looking back down to her nails.

        He took a deep breath as he exited the class, the bell ringing while he was completing the last of his calculus homework. He had finished the chemistry worksheet before time ended and was told he could do homework if he had any. As he had looked around the room, he noticed Jamelyn reading a book, Parker working beside her. Of course she would be finished, and she had probably finished her homwork as well. He would have been finished too if he didn't have extra work from transferring over.

        Being a new kid was harder than he thought. Not only did you have extra work, but the teachers didn't trust you with anything or typically choose you to answer or do things. You didn't exactly have any friends, and if you did, you didn't have many. And to top it all off, you didn't know where anything was or when anything was. Hopefully, he would find somewhere to fit in soon though.

        After grabbing his French binder, Hayden shut his locker and made his way down the hallway, brushing past the crowds of people along the way. He was just about to pass Jamelyn and lifted his hand up to wave when he noticed Parker was with her. She wasn't even going to see him wave because she was too busy paying attention to the tall dirty blonde, and as he passed, he heard Parker say that he would see her tonight. Then, they parted ways.

The bell rang just as he slipped into French, taking his usual seat. He also noticed out of the corner of his eye as Jamelyn slipped into class shortly after him, taking her own seat. The teacher didn't seem to mind it from either of them as she began to write the assignment for the day on the board, but he quickly noticed that this wasn't just any assignment. It was a partner project, and she had already assigned partners.

"This week garçons et filles, you are going to be working with a partner to put together an oral presentation that will explain the major differences in the lives of the french and americans in complete french. I have already assigned you each a partner. I will be passing around a paper explaining the guidelines and requirements while you all can check the one stapled to the board to find out who your partner for this assignment will be. It is due in one week." And, with that and a wave of her hand, most of the class hurried up to the board to see who they would be working with for the rest of the week.

        Not as eager as the rest of the class, Hayden slowly got up after a few of them sat back down. Waiting in the line, he looked around the classroom breifly, noticing that Jamelyn was still in her seat, watching the backs of the people in the line, looking as if she were zoned out. Perhaps she had chosen to wait until everyone sat down. Now that he thought about it, that would have been the wiser choice.

        Turning back around, he noticed he was next in line and stepped up to the board, looking down the rows of names paired together. At the bottom, he found his, but he never would have expected to recieve the partner he did.

        "Looks like we're partners for the next week," a soft voice came from behind him, causing him to turn around, eyes still a little wide. Jamelyn had walked up from behind him, peering at the list from behind his shoulder without him noticing. She looked a bit puzzled, if not perplexed at the fact but not exactly against it. "You alright?"

        The lift of her eyebrow caused him to snap out of it, closing his mouth and fixing his expression. He wasn't usually like this around girls at all. He always had something to say, but around her, he was always speechless. She left him that way. "Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." He nodded, scratching the back of his neck.

        "You could come over to my house this afternoon if you want, and we could start on the project," she offers, still seeming wary at the way he was acting.

        "That sounds good..." he trailed off, biting his lip before she gave him a nod. Awkwardly, he watched as she went to sit back down and he returned to his own seat. Then, Madame Gentry instructed them to look at the blue sheets of paper she left on each person's desk as she began to give another, more descriptive overview of the project.

Partners with Jamelyn - would that be such a bad thing? Would he even be able to concentrate long enough when around her to contribute anything to the project, and how would Parker feel about them meeting up after school? Wasn't she supposed to be meeting Parker that afternoon if he remembered correctly? It was a Friday after all.

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I'm sorry that it took so long to complete this guys! School got busy, and I lost inspiration! I am planning to write more in a shorter amount of time from now on. Again, I apologize for the time it took. How do you think Parker will react to Jamelyn and Hayden being partners? Will Hayden and Parker get into a brawl?
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