Roles Reversed

5

BEEP BEEP BEEP BE- I rolled over and smacked my alarm clock. Sitting up, yesterday's events flooded my mind. Streching, I got up and pulled on some jeans, tee shirt and my Chaco's.

I had some cereal before my phone rang. Who in their right mind calls people at 7:45 in the morning? Shay Riley, that's who.

"Can I help you?" I said into the phone.

"Hurry up. I've been waiting outside for like 5 minutes." I had my own car. I lived 5 minutes walking distance from the school. Why the hell was he here? Pressing the end call button, I gathered my things and walked out the front door. I walked right past him and his car, making my way up the side walk. He followed me at about 3mph.

"Sash, get in the car. Please," he called out the window.

"I don't need a ride, I'm getting exercise. Not all of us are super star athletes!" I yelled back and he threw back his head and laughed.

"C'mon baby, get in," he drawled. That made me stop walking. I put my hand on my hip and faced him.

"I am NOT your baby, and I am NOT getting into that car," I said.

"Fine. But I'm going to follow you there with my radio all the way up," he said matter-of-factly. Before I could respond he revved his engine and blasted Fancy through his speakers. Exasperated, I flung open the door and slid into the front seat. Seeming satisfied, he turned the radio off.

I turned it back on. Glancing at me, he turned it off again. I turned it back on again.

"What are you doing?" He said, clearly annoyed.

"I love this song. Turn it up. Please," I added. He did.

"First things first, I'm the realest..." I sang the entire song on our shirt drive. When I was done I flipped the radio off.

"That was actually pretty awesome," Shay said.

"You sound surprised," I said happily. I could sing, and rap a little, but the only people who ever hear me are my friends and Jay.

My moment of bliss was cut short by us pulling into the school. Shy Sasha was back.

"Uh, thanks, I'll see you in class," I rushed. I hopped out of his car and walked towards the building.

Once I was inside, I talked with Grace and Kiki about our date. They were beyond excited to hear about me and Shays night. I left out the treehouse, but I went over everything else. The bell rang, signaling that class was about to start.

The whole day was a bore really. Even lunch was uneventful, which is unusual. It was now time for my creative writing class.

I walked in to see Aimee flirting shamelessly with Shay. I rolled my eyes and sat down.

"Good afternoon everyone," Ms. Styles said. "Today we are starting our semester project. If you remember me telling you about it at the beginning of the year, you will recall me saying this will be a partner project. We will also be working with the Still-Life Art class," she started, "I have already assigned your partners. When I call your name please move to sit with your partner and then I'll tell you more about the project itself." She grabbed a file of her desk and flipped it open.

"Marley and Gavin, John and Nichole, Michael and Carolina, Shay and Sasha, Aimee and Zach, and last but not least, Baytes and Gabriel." Well crap. Hey, at least I'm not with Aimee. I glanced he direction and she glared at me. Sheesh.

She waited until we found our partners before she started talking again.

"Here's the idea: you will be working with a student from the art class. He or she already has a picture drawn of either a person or a landscape or an animal. Your job is to give that object a life. If it's a human, what's it's life story? If it's a landscape, who lives there and why is it important? Get the idea guys?" This sounded fun. We all nodded. She smiled. "The art students will be coming in shortly. They know who they're assigned to, so they'll come to you. You may talk with your partner until they arrive." She said. I spun around to face Shay.

"This should be fun," I said, trying to be enthusiastic.

He just groaned. "I'm not good at projects, especially group ones. I don't work well with other people," he told me.

"Well maybe this time around it'll be different," I replied. It was then that the art kids came in. A perky looking boy sat across the isle from me.

"Hi! I'm Oscar, are you guys..." He looked at his list but Shay cut him off.

"Sasha and Shay? Yes, we are. Can we see your drawing?" He asked with forced politeness. Oscar eyed Shay wearily but obliged. His drawing was beautiful. It was of a solider and young African girl. I was so happy we had this drawing to bring to life! I looked at Oscar.

"This is incredible," I told him. He grinned and blushed.

"Thank you," he said.

Shay nodded appreciatively. "Yeah man, this is cool. Good job," typical male response. We talked about ideas until the bell rang. The three of us packed up our things quietly. Oscar was the first to break the silence. He leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, "Do you know if Shay is seeing anyone right now? He's kind of hot," he said and I giggled. Shay shot daggers at Oscar.

Oh, the irony.

"No, he's single. And yeah, he is kind of hot," I whispered back.

Oscar spoke up again, except this time out loud, "Do you want to grab a coffee with me after school?" He asked me.

Shay butted in before I could reply. "She has plans," he snapped. With that he grabbed my arm and drug me out of the classroom. I looked over my shoulder to Oscar making a heart with his hands. I just laughed.

"What's so funny?" Shay said sourly.

"Oh nothing. Nothing at all," I replied with a smirk.

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