Cecile's New School

Working with a Partner! (What's so Noteworthy About That?)

Chapter Six

Cecile sat in her English III classroom doing nothing.  Her teacher sat sleeping in her desk while everyone else read or whispered loudly. 

Cecile didn't have a book or friends in this class, so she just stared at the clock.  Thirty minutes left. 

She looked at her plain wooden desktop.  She ran her finger over the carvings and notches in the wood. She then used her finger as a pencil and her desk as a pad of paper. She leaned against her hand and tried to make the time fly by using her imagination.

Cecile jumped in her chair a few minutes later after the teacher suddenly made a loud snort. The class quieted down to watch Ms. A. She sat up quickly in her chair and looked around.  Her eyes were wide with fear as if she didn't know where she was. When she saw the students, her panic ebbed away. She yawned. "Hey...  Y'all partner up and...  Work on...  Page 215..."  She leaned into her rolling chair and drifted back to sleep. 

Cecile looked up with excitement as the rest of the class began talking again.  'Partner up'?  Really?!  This was her first partner project! 

She looked around.  Most didn't care about what the teacher said, or they were already partnered. 

Well, there had to be at least one loner like her.

Suddenly, Cecile caught eyes with someone.  She smiled, but the gaze darted away from hers.  He wasn't going to get away that easily.

She got up and walked all the way to the back to see him.  He stared at his textbook to avoid her gaze. Cecile placed her hands on her hips and gave the boy a stunning smile, though he didn't look up to see it. "Do you have a partner?"  She asked him. 

He wiggled awkwardly in his seat as if he could feel the heat of her gaze digging into the top of his head.  Without his permission, she sat in the empty seat next to him and scooted over. 

He jumped when her desk clinked into his. "I'm Cecile Braydon!  What's your name?"  She pressed.  He squirmed and refused to look at her. 

Now that she was beside him, Cecile could see that he was a brown haired boy with a dusting of freckles across his nose and cheekbones.  He reached up and tried to pull down his bangs to cover his face.  

She looked at the paper on his desk.  He had helpfully wrote his name on it before she had gotten there. "'Ben Mont'?  That's a nice name!"  She smiled. 

He finally turned to her.  His chocolate eyes were visible when he let go of a lock of his hair.  It fell softly back into place. 

"My name? Thanks..."  He muttered. A bit of blush joined the freckles on his cheeks. Cecile got of glimpse of something shiny on his teeth when he spoke.  Braces. 

"So!"  She reached inside of the desk, pulled out the literature textbook, and opened it to page 215.  "Let's get started, Ben!"  She beamed.  The boy didn't argue.

They quickly did their work with the shy Ben actually putting in input.  He slowly began speaking more, but it still was only a small amounts.

"Wow!"  Cecile marveled when they were finished. "That was fast!  We must be a good team!"  Cecile nudged him playfully with her elbow. 

Ben rubbed the spot where she dug her elbow into his arm. "Yeah..."  He grinned back. 

"Let's always be partners in here.  I don't really talk to anyone else."  She looked to all the other happily paired classmates in the class.  He nodded.  "Yeah..."  He agreed again. 

She looked to him.  Her bottom lip jutted out skeptically. "Don't just agree to agree.  We don't have to be partners if you don't want to."  She told him seriously. 

Ben caught her gaze quickly. Cecile's own eyes widened at his random assertiveness.  He shrunk away when he saw her surprise. "N-no."  He looked away. 

"I..."  He forced himself to look into her eyes.  He wouldn't look away. "I really want to be your partner!  And maybe your friend..." He added before finally looking away.  He breathed a sigh of relief. That took a lot out of a guy like him.

A huge smile broke out onto Cecile's face.  "Of course!  I would love that!  You should meet my other friend, Foster. I think you'd like him, though he is a bit dramatic at some times."  She smiled kindly. 

He nodded with a smile breaking out on his face.  "I'd like that, Cecile." 

The bell then rang.

Writer's (me) note:

This chapter actually made Claire, one of my editors/friends, tear up.  I have no idea why.  She just kept repeating 'Sha!' when the two would interact.  And now, her new favorite character is Ben.  I actually wanted to name Ben 'Jeremy', but Kyle, another editor/friend, got triggered and started calling Jeremy 'Jerry' like he did for 'Barry'.  He doesn't like the name Jerry because of Rick and Morty.  The only Jerry he thinks is cool is the one from 'Seinfeld'.  Good thing no Jerry's come to our school.  Whew!  And also, I have NO intention of putting Cecile and Ben together despite Claire's want for Becile.  Sorry girl.  They just aren't meant to be.  But anyways, thanks for reading!

                                       -Kailyn