Accidentally on Purpose

Chapter Eleven

By Wednesday, Spencer had already had the story printed and ready, but it turned out that Mr. Herberg had another plan in store for us.

"Due to a recent incident, I'm going to have to make a... rearrangement on the assigned pair," he started, in lieu of greeting. "This was a specific request from our principal."

At the word "principal", both Jonah and I stiffened as we both recalled what had happened two days ago.

"Mr. Gibbs and Miss Nguyen, as well as Mr. Abbott and Miss Taylors, I would like to have a word with the four of you, so please remain seated once the class ends," he finished, before launching into the subject of the lesson.

My heart skipped in my chest. I had a kinda bad feeling about this. And I said kinda, because the thought actually thrilled me at the same time.

Spencer looked over his shoulder to me, and mouthed, "Is anything wrong?"

I shook my head and mouthed back, "I don't know. Sorry." But once he'd turned his attention back to our teacher, I couldn't help but feel guilty since I, in fact, knew what was wrong.

Or at least I had a general idea of what could have been wrong.

Once class ended, the four of us remained in our seats, watching as the sea of students made their way out of the room. Then Mr. Herberg motioned us to come forward and sit at the front row, so that was exactly what we did.

"So," he said, clasping his hands together. "I'm just gonna make things simple and straight. Due to an incident that happened a couple of days ago involving Mr. Gibbs and Miss Taylors, Principal Collin wants you to switch partners so that these two are paired up together." He glanced back and forth between Jonah and me. "I've been told that you two need to exercise kindness and patience towards each other, and the principal thought that this assignment would be a perfect medium for that. So now, Mr. Abbott, you are paired up with Miss Nguyen, and Mr. Gibbs with Miss Taylors. Oh my god, calling you kids so formally is starting to make my head hurt."

I blinked. "So... I'm paired up with Jonah?"

"Yeah, exactly, Hannah. You're paired with Jonah!" he echoed brightly, seeming happy that he called us by our first names. I swear sometimes, that guy was a fifteen year old kid trapped in a thirty year-old hot body.

Jonah and I looked at each other, before turning back forward and shuddering at the same time. Well, I was fake-shuddering. But no one needed to know that.

"Wait, wait, wait," Spencer interrupted. "What about our first assignment? Hannah and I have finished it. And I'm sure Jonah and Tracey have been working on theirs too."

"See, that's a bit tricky, but I've come up with this decision. Spencer, Hannah, you've really finished with the story?"

"Yes," we both said. Spencer reached into his backpack and took out the papers, handing it to our teacher.

"What about you guys?" he then asked to Jonah and Tracey.

Tracey replied, "We're almost done. I'm just rereading it through before printing it out."

"Perfect. So, turn in your paper tomorrow, and all four of you are done with the first assignment. I'll score it and move on. Except for Jonah and Hannah... you'll have to make up a story about how you two met, just like you did with your previous partners."

Simultaneously, we both groaned.

"Don't worry, you'll already have your scores by tomorrow. I only make you write your story just so we can go smoothly with the rest of the project, but it won't affect the score of your first assignment," Mr. Herberg explained. It shouldn't make sense how Jonah and I had to write another story while Spencer and Tracey didn't, but then I realized that it was just another form of "punishment" from our Principal.