Cry Me A River

Chapter Two - Partners

{Landon}

"I hate this class," I said to Pierce as we walked toward our last class of the day.

"It's yearbook. How bad can it be?" Pierce wondered. I scoffed.

"Bad. The teacher hates me."

"That's not a total surprise. Most of yours do," he replied. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see you later," I said. Then I turned and walked into my final class of the day, only to see the new girl, Dakota, sitting behind my desk. Great. I let out a sigh and walked over, slipping into my seat just as the late bell rang.

"So, today I've decided to split those that aren't working on the layout into pairs. There will only be about three, maybe four," Mrs. Myers said.

"What are we going to do in pairs, exactly?" I asked without raising my hand, which is one of her biggest pet peeves, and probably the reason she hates me.

"Landon, thank you for waiting instead of speaking out, but anyhow..." she began, already annoyed. "One of you photograph whatever event I assign you to today and next week, and the other will take notes, and eventually, we'll sort through and get them into the yearbook," she finished, giving me a look I was all too accustomed to. The teacher pointed toward me, but it took me a second to realize she was pointing at the new girl, behind me.

"Will you also choose who photographs and writes? Or will we be able to work it out between the two of us?" Dakota wondered.

"Oh no, that part is up to you two to figure out," Myers replied. "Alright, so I'm putting Mark and Jenny together, Sara and Jesse, and Landon and Dakota." I sighed, groaning internally. I'm not a people person, let alone a 'work-with-a-partner-daily' person.

"Everyone get to know your partners and I'll assign you your topics at the end of the period." I blew out a breath of air and rotated in my seat to face Dakota, who glanced up at me.

"So... I'm Landon," I said sarcastically.

"Ha. Ha," she mumbled, writing something down in a book.

"What're you doing?" I wondered.

"Reading this book for my language class. I have to catch up since I started like two weeks late," she replied. I chuckled. "What?"

"You're just so serious, South Dakota," I said with a smirk.

"Okay, what's with the 'South Dakota,' 'North Dakota' stuff?" she asked. I shrugged.

"Just nicknames to screw with you," I replied. She rolled her eyes.

"Why?" she wondered. I shrugged.

"Because you're new and it's in my nature."

"I never wanted attention, Landon. And now I have all the girls giving me looks," she said, annoyed. "You're like some higher power to them and it's weird." I smirked at that, but continued anyway.

"Oh please, like you didn't want the attention. You've been here for... what? Six hours? And you're already friends with half the student council, which happens to also be one of the most popular group of girls at school," I explained.

"Well I'm sorry I'm new here and am just now learning who's popular and who's not," she fired back. I put my hands up in surrender.

"Touché," I said just as Myers cleared her throat.

"Landon, Dakota. I want you two to go to the football game tonight and take notes on the scores, the main players, anything interesting to the world of sports. Got it?" she ordered. I nodded and tuned out as she gave assignments to the other two groups.

The bell rang minutes later.

"See you around, South Dakota," I told her, picking my backpack up off the ground and slinging it onto my shoulder. Then I walked out, leaving her fuming in her seat.

**************

"Mom! I'm home!" I yelled, pushing the front door closed behind me. I dropped my backpack on a chair at the dining table and walked into the kitchen, yanking open the fridge. As I grabbed a day old breakfast burrito out of it, I heard the click-click of heels on the wood floor. My mom turned the corner just as I bit off a huge bite of burrito.

"Well hello son," she greeted, a small smile threatening to make its way through her usual post nap frown. My mom works most nights at the hospital, so she's sleeping while I'm at school.

"Hi," I said with my mouth full. She rolled her eyes and rubbed my shoulder as she moved by me to get to the coffee pot.

"I have to work a double shift tonight, after this meeting I have. One of the nurses called in sick, so you're on your own for dinner tonight. There's twenty bucks in the cookie jar on the fridge. Order something. You know where the take out menus are" my mom told me. I nodded, giving her a tight smile.

"There's actually a football game tonight. I have to go, it's part of a yearbook assignment. I have to take notes while Dakota takes pictures," I let her know. She smiled.

"Dakota, hmm?" she asked. I huffed out a breath. Damn it. I'm usually careful not to mention names around my mom. I don't ever have serious girlfriends, and she worries about me. So whenever I mention names of girls, she immediately gets ideas.

"Just a person I have to work with. Nothing special about her mom. Besides, she's new," I told her. My mom back handedly slapped my shoulder and gave me a disappointed look. "Ok, sorry. There's nothing special about her to me," I corrected.

"Not what I was looking for, but I'll take it. We'll work on it," she decided. I chuckled and dropped the burrito bag into the trash.

"I'm gonna go do homework. See you later mom. Love you," I said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing my backpack and heading down the hall. I pushed my bedroom door closed and turned my music on, turning it up all the way.