Welcome To My Masquerade

English Assignment [23]

*Chapter 23: English Assignment *

The next week went by smoothly without fights. Everyone was surprised that Paul and I were friends once again but they weren't complaining. They were probably annoyed with all the tension and feared having to take sides. I'd be that way, too, if I were them.

Brent and I hung out a lot - against our own will, of course. We had to since we were working on the English assignment together and honestly, I learned quite a lot to share with the class and I think Brent did, too. But what I don't know is what he wrote and that's what I'm really curious about. He didn't know what I wrote either and I was excited to share it because honestly, I don't think most of these people have ever seen this side of Brent.

So you can imagine how I was on Thursday as I walked into my English class, ready to go. The day before, Mr. O'Leary had picked sticks to determine what order our partners and us would share in. Brent and I were chosen fourth.

I managed to sit down in my seat just as the bell rang. Everyone standing quickly filed into their seats as the noise died down. Mr. O'Leary looked up from his the rim of his glasses at us from where he sat at his desk, glancing over a paper.

His eyes scanned the room before he stood up. He was a short, slightly chubby man. He wasn't exactly short but he wasn't really as tall as he should be for a man his age. He was somewhere in his forties and he had already lost most of his raven black hair. Now, there was enough to cover his head but it was thin and there were quite a few bald spots.

He coughed to either clear his throat or gain our attention before smiling and calling the first pair - a brunette girl with glasses named Kimberly and a blond jock named Alex - to the front. I listened to the first few sentences before smiling and zoning out. I could tell that they had certainly learned a lot about each other and in between, something had probably happened like a kiss. I looked between the two of them as Kimberly read her writing to the class, a blush on her cheeks as Alex looked at her with a smile. I could see them together as a couple and they'd be really cute. I bet their babies would be, too. Okay, now I'm going to far, right?

I sat impatiently through the next two presentations, drumming my fingers along the top of my desk.

"Allison and Brent," Mr. O'Leary called, glancing up at us from his paper.

I smiled, grabbing my paper before walking to the front of the room. Brent joined me a few seconds later, standing beside me with his paper in his hand so the writing was towards him, pressed to his stomach, blocking anyone from reading it.

"You can go first," he told me.

I nodded as I swallowed, before taking a breath and reading.

"Before this project, all I'd really learned about Brent is how much of an annoying, obnoxious, arrogant, jerk he is and a rough estimate - because there's too many to count - of how many girls he's been with."

I saw Brent smirk out of the corner of my eye as he let out a small chuckle. I heard others in the class laugh and snicker along while some girls blushed because they were part of that estimated number.

"So you can imagine how I felt when I was paired with him. I'm not going to lie, I was pissed. Brent's very hard to work with and his attitude doesn't help. Not to mention I was already having a bad day that day. So of course, Brent and I were forced to work together, against our will, and write stuff not most people know about each other.

"I arrived at our first after school meeting to begin on this project, only to be shoved into his pool out of no where. I was surprised I got pushed in but by Brent? No. After I had glared at him and changed, we began.