The Trench

Chapter 13 - Aimee

Professor Michaels smirked in triumph, obviously enjoying everyone's objection to a paired project. There was a loud "boo" that came from the right side of the room somewhere.

"I told you." Mae rolled her eyes as she turned her head and looked at me, I chuckled.

"Instead of calling out 28 names, I'm sending a paper around with the names of each student and their new partner for the week. Embrace your partner, get to know them, use your likeness or your differences to create a work of art. Art in presentation form because on Friday you'll present your project to the class. Now get the paper and find your partner, you now have 45 minutes."

Professor Michaels laid his marker back down on the whiteboard and walked over to his desk, taking a seat and opening his laptop. As he typed away he was twisting his office chair back and forth, I found it charming and a little childish and bit back a giggle. I glanced at his hair, the sides short and the top a bit longer and messily styled. I was wondering if he just woke up like that or if he used gel to make it look that way, when he glanced up and caught me staring at him. I quickly darted my eyes to the white board beside him, pretending to look at the topics instead. The slight smile and shake of his head was a tell tale that I wasn't sneaky enough.

How embarrassing.

"Are you done ogling our professor yet?" I hear someone whisper to me from my right and I jump in my seat. I turned and a girl was grinning at me, like she just caught someone doing something they weren't supposed to.

Let's face it. I was, I guess.

"You're Riley, right?" She asked me with a tilt of her head as she waited for me to nod. "Great, I'm Aimee. You're weekly partner." She said the last bit with a wink and a finger snap and I couldn't help but laugh at her charisma.

She was petite and about the same height as me. She had wavy shoulder length hair that was died a shocking but gorgeous shade of mint green. She had a wide smile and large, dark blue-grey eyes.

She hands me the paper and I immediately hand it to Mae, who looks at it in disgust.

"Oh god." She throws her head back dramatically before passing the paper behind her. "I'm paired with Jed..." She crinkles her nose and looks two rows ahead of us, where Jed is already grinning and waving to Mae.

"Hey, he's super smart. You're gonna ace this no problem." I try to make light of the situation, but there's no use. Jed is a straight A student, he's captain of our colleges chess club, science club, and debate team. He wears glasses that are twice as big as normal, and they make his slender face look unusually small. He's a nice guy, but he's also a bit creepy around ladies.

You would think a nerdy fella like him would be shy and nervous around the opposite gender.

Nope, not Jed.

He climbs the few stairs to Mae's desk still with a huge grin still plastered on his face. He's wearing jeans with a green button up shirt....and bright red suspenders. Oh god.

"Good morning malady." He actually bows in front of her. "Shall we start our quest? I have everything laid out on my desk already."

"Kill me now." Mae muttered under her breath so he wouldn't hear, but I did. I contained my laughter until after she reluctantly left her seat and walked to his desk, throwing a death glare at me over her shoulder.

"Oh god, she's pissed." Aimee laughed out loud beside me.

"At least I got paired with someone I semi know." She elbowed me gently in the arm and guess I looked confused. "You turned your application in at the clothing store on Pine Avenue; I spoke with you for a few minutes."

I think back to when I first got here. I was walking around the historic downtown and stumbled upon an adorable clothing store with a help wanted sign in the window. Now that I think about it, it was Aimee who handed me the application and helped me chose an outfit.

"It was you! How could I forget?" I said sheepishly as I pointed towards her bright hair and she nodded.

"Don't tell, but I heard the manager speaking on the phone about your application. She seems super interested, dude."

I hope so; I've been here for a little over a month and I still haven't been hired anywhere. I have some savings from my job back home, but it wouldn't last me forever. I missouri I was a hostess at a local restaurant, I cleaned stalls and braided manes and tails for people at horse shows, I threw and put up hay, and literally did any job possible to save money before I left for college.

I glanced at the clock and realized we only had 30 minutes now to get our presentation subject picked, so we got to work.

-

"Alright, looks like everyone has their topics approved, except for you two." Professor Michaels shot a stern look towards two guys sitting in the back, but they didn't hear a word since they both had headphones plugged in their ears.

"You're all dismissed." He waved a hand at us in a shoo-ing motion and everyone started gathering their things and heading towards the door. Once in the hall I stopped and waited for Mae who emerged from the doorway looking at least five years older than when she left.

"Soooo...how'd it go?" I looked at her with mock anticipation for her answer and a grin on my face. I knew exactly how it went, but I wanted to hear it from her.

"Ugh, well he already had his idea of what he wanted to do." She said exasperatedly. "Something about radioactive particle decay and a cloud chamber...whatever that is. After that it was all him telling me about his video games."

She rambled on about some video game with knights and warrior women with little clothing; she waved her hands around the air in front of her when she spoke. I couldn't help but laugh because I knew which game she was talking about. My ex boyfriend loved that game; it was so ridiculous to me.

As she's talking I see her face falter for just a second as she looks at something behind me. I turn around and I see Aimee walking over to us waving.

"Hey, Riley! I forgot to grab your number so we can work on this stupid thing." She smiles at me and takes her phone out and she stops beside me as I start rattling off numbers.

"What on earth are you wearing?" I stop mid sentence and we both look up at Mae confused. Aimee looks around the hallway to see who she's talking to, but Mae is looking directly at her.

"You always did have an interesting sense of style, if that's what you call it." She said with a sneer, her gaze on Aimee was ice cold and I stood there frozen in shock.