Tardy

There's NO We, There's a Me

I am not a dog person. I'm not a cat person either. To be perfectly honest, I don't particularly care for pets in general. I'm not a pet person.

I hate the idea of pets. Having a being obligated to give you unconditional love and follow you around, waiting for your reciprocation, is just sickening to me. I mean, dependency is a horrible thing. It is the downfall of man and the uprising of non-progression, yet we accept it and expect it from our so-called "pets".

Maybe I should ask Dylan. He's been a faithful little pet for over a week now; waiting for me at the rose bushes to take that five-minute stroll to school. Rainstorm and all, he was always right there without falter. And it was sweet, to a certain extent; kind of like a baby.

At first, they're cute and adorable, how they want you to hold them all the time. Then they become dependent, a burden really, because they want you to hold them. All. The. Time. Then again, to be perfectly honest, I'm not a baby person either.

I walk over to the rose bushes and there he is; holding a rose and debating over whether or not to pull it from the bush. If he decides to, then I'll have to kill him. Who died and named you God and gave you the right to pull my (Mrs. Jenkins) roses for your own satisfaction? But if he decides against, I suppose, I guess, he can stay.

As I finally approach the bush, Dylan turns to me with a smile and lets the rose go. I guess I won't have to kill him. "Well aren't you a fresh breath of halitosis," he chuckled as we started walking towards the school.

"That's your upper lip your smelling buddy," I retorted as I gave him a playful nudge in the shoulder.

"Aren't you awfully cheery this morning."

"It's Friday. This the last time I have to see your face for two days. What could be better?"

"Again with this. You can say what you want, but we all know your going to miss all of this," he claimed as he took his hands to make a spherical ring around himself.

"I'm still trying to figure out what all of "this" is," I mocked as I imitated his action.

"That's not important," he assured. "Just know, you love it." He is just soooooo full of himself.

When we finally got to Mrs. Brady's class and she gave us our usual greeting, we made our way to the back of the room. "Today class, I'm assigning you all a project. You will all be reading a scene from Romeo and Juliet and will have to present it in front of the class," she declared as we took our seats. "We will be doing the first two acts. There are twenty people in this class; ten boys and ten girls. So you need to find a partner. You can do that now because it's due on Monday." The class took no time to disperse from their seats to find their partners.

This was the first partner project she had assigned this year. Group projects were worth about thirty percent of your final grade in this class, so when you go to seek out your group members, you have to be strategic. Robert Kerrigan was quite the thespian. Acting in every school musical, play, and winter showcase since freshman year, so he would be your ideal partner for this assignment. But, Talia Christenson was a drama queen. She had a knack for over-exaggerating any and everything, so she would probably make a great match for him. I wonder, who would make a good match for me?

"I wonder what scene we're getting," wondered Dylan as he sat on my desk. Hold up, did he just say, "We"?

"There's no we, there's a me," I corrected. What does he think this is?

"Come on. Don't be stubborn. It's a partner project and its not like anyone's jumping down your bra to work with you," he divulged. As much as I didn't want to agree, it was true.

People were stirring away from me as an option. They would rather be trios than a duo with me. I was the emotional recluse that no one wanted to deal with. Dylan on the other hand, had Sally Wilkinson as an alternative. Sally was quite the smart cookie and he'd get a decent grade with her. Plus, she's been staring him down this whole time, waiting for him to make eye contact with her so she can make her move.

For some reason, I didn't like that he had options. If he was really tired of dealing with my crap, he could choose Sally and I would be left waiting for whoever didn't have a partner. That was usually Jack Turner. He was even less wanted than me. He was the kid that would get picked last in gym class. And I would be stuck with him and ultimately end up with and "L" for this assignment. So, I'm taking away his options.

"Fine. I'll be your partner," I mumbled.

"I'm sorry, didn't hear that. Can you say that again?" He joked.

"You'll never get me to say that again."

"Oh well, one can always try."

"Oh perfect pairing," said Mrs. Brady as she walked over and handed us a script. "You two will have Act I, scene 5." I sat down and began glancing over it.

As I read our assigned scene, there was a word that came up quite often that was making me very uncomfortable; kiss. I haven't kissed anyone since him, and I'd like to keep it that way.

Just as I was about to ask for a different scene, the bell rang.

"So your place or mine?" smiled Dylan as we began walking to the front of the class.

"Mine." I replied without hesitation.

"Great. I told you you couldn't escape all of this," he said as he made the gesture from earlier. As soon as I realized what I agreed to, I regretted it.

"Wait..."

"Be ready at 10 am," he interrupted.

"But..."

"No buts! See you then," he continued as he walked towards the door.

"Ms. Fitz and Mr. Mathers, can I talk to you for a moment," asked Mrs. Brady. We stopped in our tracks and turned in her direction. Dylan walked over to me and we walked to Mrs. Brady together.

"Since you two are perpetually late to my class, your project is due first thing Monday morning. You two have to be here thirty minutes early or you will fail the assignment. Think of it as time to practice," she ordered. Before I could object, she was pushing us out of the door and on our way to next period.

She wants me, of all people, here. On-time. Holy Crap.

"Well, this should be interesting," laughed Dylan as he walked to his next class. And I just stood there wondering how the hell I was going to do that.