Two Truths & A Lie

Chapter 3

It took us about a week to finally get out of reviewing last year's information and into the new information for our classes. Niall made the week much easier by constantly pulling pranks on the teachers and getting himself kicked out of class. One morning, he covered the bottom of the door handle in fast-dry glue so that Mr. Lewinski got his fingers stuck for a good fifteen minutes. Another morning, he poured some liquor into Miss Jones' coffee. She couldn't prove it was him, but if anyone had the balls to spike their teacher's coffee, it was Niall Horan. The office didn't suspend or expel him because no one in the administration wanted him to fail and be at the school for any longer than he had to be. If they had the ability to pass him a couple of grades in one year, the teachers would pass him with flying colors, especially if it meant never seeing him again.

Raven was only in one of my classes, thankfully. Other than that, I didn't see her in the hallways. I could only imagine she was in the back hallways making out with random guys.

When we finally reached about three weeks of class, Mr. Rinewald assigned a pairs project. We were studying something about force or momentum, something I wasn't really good at. As soon as Mr. Rinewald mentioned "pairs project," Louis and I reached across our desks to grab hands and laughed.

Miranda pouted like she was hurt. "You never pick me," she whined.

I raised my eyebrows at her twice as Niall slipped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Wanna be my partner?"

Miranda blushed. "Yeah... I guess..."

"Mr. Horan, take a seat. I'll be assigning your partners," Mr. Rinewald said. Everyone in the class groaned.

It was my turn to pout at Louis as he retracted his hand and mimicked my pout by jutting his lip out.

"I've written all of your names in this bowl and half of you are going to pick out a slip of paper. That will be your partner," Mr. Rinewald explained.

"Mr. Rinewald," Niall began. "You gave us a talk on being responsible and grown up enough to make our own decisions two weeks ago. Now you won't give us the responsibility of choosing our own partners for a project?"

Mr. Rinewald was not amused. "Nice try, Mr. Horan. Please sit." He started to pass the bowl down the desks and watched as we picked slips of paper and read them aloud. When it got to Niall, he picked out four slips of paper and read them all before picking one.

"Oh look, I got Miranda," he said as if he was surprised, grinning from ear to ear as Mr. Rinewald sighed heavily and shook the bowl to mix the names.

Miranda was beaming again and raised her eyebrows twice at me before picking up her books and moving over by Niall. Louis blew me a kiss and crossed his fingers as I reached my hand in the bowl and pulled out a slip of paper. I squeezed my eyes shut for a second before opening it and then read the name aloud.

"H- Harry Styles?"

Miranda giggled across the room. I glared her direction. Louis was already glaring at Harry.

For the first time in weeks, I heard Harry speak. "Can she pick again?"

Mr. Rinewald laughed. "Don't want to be partners with Miss Hastings?"

Harry snarled and shook his head. "I have a feeling I'll end up doing all of the work."

A small gasp escaped my lips. How dare he say that? Was he insinuating that I was stupid or just lazy? Either way, I was offended. "I don't want to be his partner either," I piped up. "I'll pick again-" I reached for the bowl but Mr. Rinewald pulled it away.

"In real life, you don't get to pick and choose who you want to work with. Look at this as a learning opportunity," he said, walking to the next student. "If you two work well together, maybe I'll give you bonus points."