The Sea's Call

Chapter 2: Partners

*** Here is Blake. Oh, and i forgot to tell you that the last image was of Emerald or at less what I thought Emerald should look like. ***

Chapter 2

In class Blake and Emerald went to their respective seats. As they were sitting by themselves Mrs. O'Reilly turned to the class and said, "Hello class, today we will be working on a project..." cut off by the class's collective growth Mrs. O'Reilly continued to say, " I know, I know, you guys don't want to do this but you have to, now you will be working with partners for the next 3 weeks on this project."

She then took out a bowl that had these strips of paper in it then said, "Now this is a major part of your grade so suck it up. What I'm going to have you do is each of you will draw your partners at random from this bowl, this is so I can make it as fair as possible."

"Ok then , Mike Ables please come and select your partner."

* * *

As I sat patiently to select my partner I was hoping to God or anyone who would listen that no one would choose Emerald before I got there, and that's when I did get there it would be me.

"Blake Anderson."

Hearing my call, I stood up and could immediately feel all the eyes of my classmates watching me. It was so nerve wrecking, that I slowly walked to the teacher's desk and placed my hand into the bowl. As I was searching for some semblance of her name Mrs. O'Reilly said, "Okay Mr. Anderson we don't have all day." hearing the rest of class snicker I quickly took the paper that I thought was hers. Pulling it out I could feel my heart in my throat and open the paper to read 'Emerald Jones.'

* * *

Hearing my name being read off his lips sent a jolt of fear and excitement through me. The fear, because 'IT' would try to kick my ass if she found out. That and I don't know if Blake still doesn't like me, I mean he did use to bully me back in our freshman year, but after that he just stopped. The excitement was because I heard Blake was pretty decent at science so I don't have to worry about him not taking some of the work. At least I hope he would, then again I don't know, it's just he's so hard to read sometimes and he's always has a mean look on his face. It's almost like he can't tolerate being around others or to be more precise, me. I mean I see him sometimes stare at me and to be more precise it's more like a glare. It's that or he can't stop looking at something that's always happening behind me, and it's not like I can just go up to him and say 'HEY! Why are you staring at me?' so it just became easier for me to avoid him altogether.

With all the partners selected Mrs. O'Reilly went over the basic outline for the project and told us that she wants some form of evidence to prove that we did the project together. And like that she sent us to discuss with our partners about our topics. I slowly stood up, grabbed my things and began to walk over to Blake's. All the while thinking about what if situations. Such as him treating me the same way he did our freshman year, or if I'm not doing the work at all. I know I was excited about him at least trying to take on some work but he doesn't have to and it was pretty presumptuous of me to assume otherwise. Finally sitting down in a seat that was vacated by another classmate, I opened my mouth to tell him that I will do the project but was quickly cut off by Blake.

"Okay so this is how it's going to go, me and you will be working on the project together I refuse to let you do this by yourself. You hear me?", he paused and I quickly nodded my head 'yes'.

"Now then are there any particular days that we can't work together?", shaking my head again, I even said, " okay how is it everyday and maybe once on the weekends?" nodding my head again, he got a frustrated look on his face and said, "Can't you talk?!", in a loud tone.

I flinched and was going to shake my head again. I quickly stopped and said, "Yes."

"Okay then good to know my partner is not mute. Have any questions for me now?" he said with a frustrated tone. I quickly noticed in my head 'yes' when huffed and gave me a look. "What is it?"

"Um, well I was wondering why we are meeting every day?", I whispered. He suddenly began to look nervous at that moment and said, "It will be easier if we both were there for every part and get it done faster. Especially since I don't want to be around you longer than I have to." shocked by that statement I closed up even further and just nodded my head while looking down.

Hearing the chair move I looked up to see Blake grabbing his things, "Okay then I will meet you after school today at the library." and like that he was leaving to go sit with his friends.