Just a Scratch

Chapter Seven

No way. No effing way.

Will and I sat next to each other while Mr. H explained the small project we'd be doing. I couldn't hear what he was saying over my mind asking the same question over and over.

Why had he partnered us up?

Why had he partnered us up?

WHY HAD HE PARTNERED US UP?

I came to the assumption that he really did think we were friends. After seeing us talking when I scratched Will's car, I bet he jumped to conclusions and figured we were on good terms. Which we most certainly weren't.

"It'll be due a week from today, so be sure to have it all ready by Monday," Mr. H finished explaining what we'd be doing. We needed to write three short stories that matched the same tone of the short stories we had been reading in class. They had to fit together in some sort of larger story and the third story had to be a combined effort between the two of us.

It sounded like hell.

Mr. H stopped talking and let us get to work which meant that Will and I would have to be civilized with each other if we wanted a good grade on this project.

"Okay," I pulled out my notebook and a pencil, "let's start by deciding what we want these short stories to be about. I was thinking that maybe we-"

"What are you doing?" He interrupted.

Rude, I said to myself but tried to stay levelheaded. I took a deep breath and slowly collected my thoughts. "I know we're not friends and we sort of have this whole 'enemies' thing going on, but I really want a good grade on this project so I figure maybe we could just put our differences aside and work together."

Will sat and deliberated with himself before giving me an answer, "okay. I need a good grade on this too."

I inwardly smiled and get down to business. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad!

-

"I am NOT writing a story about fairies," Will's arms were crossed as he slouched back on my living room couch. We had decided to get the project done as quickly as possible which meant working on it outside of class. He wouldn't let me know where he lived so it was up to me to share my living space.

"Okay," my teeth were clenched and I was one step away from going off on that boy. For the past thirty minutes he shot down every idea of mine and didn't supply any of his own, "well the stories we're reading in class have hints of fantasy so I was thinking that maybe we could tie ours into the same universe."

He just shrugged.

"Alright. This is getting us nowhere. How about we both take five minutes to write down a few ideas and then share."

He just shrugged again.

I wasn't going to force him so I ignored his indifference and set a timer on my phone. My paper had notes written all over it while Will's was completely blank, but I IGNORED that huge annoying fact and tried to come up with a plan for our project.

"Alright," I said after the five minutes were up, "how about we switch papers and write notes in the margins." I reached out to grab his paper but with lighting quick speed he snatched it back, "uhhh..."

"I'll read it."

I brushed off his weird behavior, because tbh I thought all his behavior was weird, and let him go first.

"Sooo," he squinted down at his tiny handwriting, "what if we each wrote our own story from the perspective of one of the side characters and then for the combined story we write about them together as if they're the main characters." He looked at me for a reaction but my face was completely blank.

His idea was oddly brilliant.

This could work!

"Wow! That's a great idea!" I said suddenly, making Will jump.

"Really?" He looked at me skeptically.

"Yeah, that way we're connecting our stories to the authors but we also have creative freedom to work with our own ideas!"

Will seemed genuinely shocked at my response, "so what do we do now?"

"Let's pick out the side characters we want to write about and then we can make an outline of the three parts."

We got to work and started to make real progress on the project. Whenever I tried to see his notes he grabbed them away, which was super obnoxious, but besides that we didn't work too bad as a team.

"What if we do something like this," I passed him my notes as Abi walked into the living room with a bowl full of tomatoes and strawberries. Will caught a glimpse of it and tried to hide his disgust but I saw it. "It's her red day."

"What?"

"Monday is red day. She'll only eat red stuff."

"Oh! No-uh... I wasn't grossed out by her or anything," he quickly tried to explain, "I just really hate tomatoes."

"Yeah, sure," I wasn't convinced. I always saw people looking at Abi a little weird. The way she moves and talks is definitely different from your average person but it always made me upset at how mean they could be to someone they don't even know. Always making excuses to hide their shocked glances.

I tried to go back to my notes but Will didn't let me.

"I'm serious," he said, "I actually hate tomatoes. I'd never be grossed out by her." I looked back at him and he didn't seem as snarky or irritating as usual. "I don't like you, I'll be the first one to say it, but if anyone every messes with Abi then let me know. I'll straighten them out."

I stared at him in mild shock and he was the one to turn away and go back to his notes.

Well... that was oddly nice.

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