Curveball

Chapter 2

Walking into school the next day felt weird. People who don't normally stare or even look my direction are and I'm not sure whether to embrace it or to shy away from it. Either way I reach my locker and spin the combo, opening it up and taking my books out. 

Chelsea as always is at my side and gushing about how excited she is that she gets to start her morning sitting next to Carter. I can't help but laugh at her. She's at a crush on Carter for as long as I can remember and now she has the opportunity to sit next to him every morning. Her dream has come true.

Making our way into class I notice Gavin isn't there yet and I almost sigh in relief that I don't have to face him yet as I have no idea what I would say. Yesterday afternoon when he asked me for my phone number I got so embarrassed and flushed I didn't want to have to face him just yet. 

I pull my chair out and take a seat, readying my notebook to start class when the door swings open and in comes Gavin followed by Carter and they are walking in with a really pretty girl I've seen hanging around them before. 

Gavin laughs at something she says and I suddenly get a feeling of jealousy in the pit of my stomach. 

What the heck, how can I be jealous of a girl talking to Gavin, he's not mine and just because he asked me for my number yesterday doesn't mean I have a claim on him nor do I want one. 

Shaking that feeling away I turn my attention away from the trio and back to my journal, but its not long before I hear the chair next to me scrape the floor as Gavin takes a seat. 

I ignore him and pretend like I'm busy doing something, he doesn't buy it though because he starts making friendly conversation. 

"Good morning Sarah how are you?" His question shocks me, just the fact that he's talking me shocks me but I still turn to him and reply.

"Good Gavin thanks for asking." He chuckles at me seeing how surprised I am and continues.

"You know its crazy that we got paired up as partners but I'm extremely glad we did because astronomy isn't my greatest subject and I know you are incredibly smart. I promise I will do my best as your partner as long as you promise not to judge me too harshly and leave me in the dust." A giggle escapes my lips involuntarily and I quickly cover my mouth feeling bad he might think I'm laughing at him but he just smiles that adorable smile in return. 

"Deal" I manage to get out before Mrs. Pratt gathers everyone's attention to get the day started.

"Good morning and happy second day everyone. I know some of you have heard the rumors about their being a project and while they are true, I told everyone yesterday that this year will be different on how we do things. This project is one of those things.

Instead of having a final exam this project will be a big part of your grade at the end of the year but you are give the whole school year to complete it and the last couple weeks of school you will present to the class as a final exam grade. 

Everyone got super excited about that myself included. Who wouldn't rather do a project all year long than have yet another EOC to study and cram for to graduate, no thank you I'll take the latter. 

The boys continued to hoot and holler than excitement over the news of the project and Mrs. Pratt quieted everyone down to proceed.

"I'm going to start by passing out rubrics for the project and assign each partner group a topic and then you will be free to start researching for the rest of the period. If you have questions feel free to ask, however  there is one stipulation to this project. Most of the work will be done outside of class. I will allow 30 minutes twice a week at the end of each period for you to do some work in class but most of it needs to be done on your own time be it at your partners house or the library. There will also be deadlines to meet at the end of each quarter that have to be turned in for participation grade."