Scholar

Four

Allow me to restate, I only had three classes with Ryan. 3 out of 10. 3/10ths of my schedule was with him. 30%. Less than half. Those classes had about 24 other kids in them besides us. I don't need to do the math to know the odds of us being paired together for a project was low.

Of course, the universe loved me. Really, I couldn't have felt any more like laying under the buses as they drove away the day Ryan and I were assigned a project together in my acting class.

When Mr.Green (who we all lovingly called Mr.John because, you know, John Green) announced that he was picking our partners for our year-long project, I looked over at Ava. Pretty much everyone knew we were best friends, and Mr.Green was cool. I figured we'd be put together.

"Ryan and Alex," he had called out. I looked at Ava who covered her mouth to stifle her laughter. Yeah, of course, she would find that hilarious.

"These pairings are non-negotiable! You all need to step outside your comfort zones and work with new people," Mr.Green explained. There were 23 other people besides Ava, Ryan and I, and this was the "new" person I had to work with?

"Now, the project is to analyze a film or play and write a well-developed essay on theme using evidence from the play or film. I studied English for quite a while, so I expect well-done essays! Obviously, this shouldn't take an entire school year. Therefore, I want you to write an abridged version that conveys the theme to be performed at the end of the year. This will count as your final exam, so you better make it good!

"We'll work on this every Friday, starting today, so you probably won't have to do anything outside of school." And thank God for that. "But feel free if you want to. Now, go! Get with your partners and start brainstorming!" I sighed and stood up, watching everyone else stand up as well. I walked over to where Ryan was sitting against the wall. He was looking down at his hand which was holding his phone and had his earbuds in. I wondered if he heard a word Mr.Green said. I set my bag next to him and sat in front of him. He looked up at me and took both of his earbuds out.

"Can I help you?" he asked, not too kindly. Well, that answered my question. A paper fell between us as Mr.Green walked by, and I realized quickly that it was the instructions for our project.

"We have to work on this project together every Friday, in this class, starting today," I explained, holding up the paper. Ryan placed his hand on it, and I released it and watched him read it. His brown eyes scanned the page, and I looked away because I felt awkward just staring at him.

"Well, you're the smart one. What movie should we do?"

"I'm not that smart." Ryan laughed.

"Yeah, okay," he responded. "Anyway, what movie?" I shrugged. "How about...The Spongebob Movie?" I looked at him and saw a smile on his face. I couldn't help but crack a little smile and shake my head.

"Yeah, no," I told him. He shrugged.

"Well, I tried." I thought for a moment. What movie was something that had a good theme that was entertaining? "Maybe something Shakespeare, that's probably easiest and has the most information online," Ryan suggested. It wasn't a bad suggestion, but I refused.

"No way, I hate Shakespeare." He seemed surprised.

"Really? You seem like you'd like him."

"What makes you say that?" I could hear the defensiveness in my tome and mentally slapped myself.

"You're really smart. I feel like you'd understand all his old English whatever." I shook my head.

"Nope, I don't, and he's boring." Ryan seemed surprised still. "Guess that makes me stupid."

"Nah," he said simply. "But are you sure? You could be Juliet, and I'll be Romeo?"

"Why would you be Romeo?"

"Because you're probably dramatic as fuck and would die for me." I scoffed.

"You wish." Ryan smirked and shrugged.

"We should do White Chicks." Okay, now I was uncomfortable.

"Um, what?" I asked. Ryan made an appalled face.

"White Chicks, the movie, haven't you seen it? I mean, I was just kidding about using it, but you haven't seen it?" Well, that made a lot more sense than what I initially thought he was suggesting. 

"Uh, no, I haven't seen it."

"I shouldn't be surprised. You're probably too busy getting off while doing your homework to watch movies." I rolled my eyes. Ryan seemed extremely amused with himself. At least he enjoyed his own company because I certainly didn't. "I'm just kidding, dude. Lighten up," he said. 

"Whatever," I mumbled. Ryan picked up his phone and threw an earbud at me. I gave him a quizzical stare, and he just smiled.

"Come on, we're watching White Chicks."

"Why?" I whined. He sighed.

"Because it's hilarious, you need to loosen up, and because it might help us think of something we actually want to use," Ryan explained. I was hesitant as I pushed my bag over and sat next to Ryan. He didn't seem to mind how close we were as he opened Netflix on his phone.

I didn't want to be this close to Ryan, but it wasn't because I didn't like him. It's because I was starting to like him. Well, not really, just kind of. Not like a crush like or even a friend like, but it was kind of like a 'I can tolerate you' like.

Anywya, the second Chelsea got over her crush or, more likely, if she got rejected, she would never want to talk to him again. That meant I would never be allowed to talk to him again. I suppressed a sigh. I forced myself to calm down. I was probably just overreacting. This didn't make us friends, and it probably wouldn't. 

This was just being nice which is what everyone wanted me to do. So, there you go, I was just being nice.

~~~

I've never been one to really take pride in things i make, but i love this book so heckin much and i hope whoever reads this enjoys it ;p <3

I've been writing it for a couple of months now, so enjoy while I go through and edit and fix up some of the chapters then post them ;)