Sodium ━ Land Of Stories

10 | stories

(request for PianistBookworm !)

CONNER turned in his paper with utter confidence. The past couple of weeks, his teacher had tasked him and his class with writing a ten-chapter short story with a topic and storyline of their choice. Naturally, Conner breezed through this assignment. It was almost second nature to write at this point. He was done his story before anyone else in his class was.

And by "anyone else", he meant Bree Campbell.

Yes, she was in his english class again. And yes, she was still grounded. But that didn't change how either of them felt.

As Conner passed to his desk, another body plopped into the one beside him. "Kind of think I nailed that one, not gonna lie."

Conner turned. "Yeah, I think I did too."

Bree smirked, leaning back in her desk. "I don't doubt it," She replied.

Conner felt his cheeks heat up. Sure, it had been three weeks since school started up again, but nothing had happened between the two of them and Conner still couldn't string proper sentences together. "What's your's about?" Is what came out of his mouth next. He instantly found himself curious of what she had written on those papers.

"Oh, the usual," She shrugged. "A complex female protagonist is faced with the death of a loved one, and she has to figure out how said loved one died while running away from the ghosts of her past and so on and so forth..." Bree raised her brows. "How about you?" She asked Conner.

He felt his body heat up, and he nervously tugged on his collar. The mere prospect of the story made him embarrassed. He'll admit, he'd written it well and the plot was pretty good, but some of the events weren't ones he'd want Bree to read. "Just... stuff," He said lamely. "You'll have to wait and see."

Bree didn't seem satisfied with Conner's response. "I'm counting on it," She grinned, stepping out of the chair to go back to her proper seat. She snuck a glance at Conner, and when he caught her eye, she mouthed something to him. "Bet you I'll get a better grade!"

Conner rolled his eyes. He bit his lip to stop himself from full-on beaming. "Bet you you're wrong!" He mouthed back.

**************

Bree was probably right.

As their teacher walked down the aisles giving back tests, he stopped at Bree's desk for a moment to talk to her.

After he moved on, Bree smiled cheekily. "Ninety-six," She boasted silently, holding her test up so he could see.

Conner sat straighter in his seat. He was eagerly awaiting to see how he did on this assignment.

But the teacher breezed right past him, opting to shoot Conner a meaningful look instead.

"Before I let you all go for the day," The teacher said over the class' chatter. "There's one story in particular that I thought deserved more than an A plus." He looked in Conner's vicinity. "I've decided to share this story with you all. I believe it may encourage you to do better on your next project." He took out a stack of typed papers that Conner instantly recognized as his own.