Short Stories

Class Project

I never thought that being called up to the teachers' desk could be so nerve-racking. As the class bell rang, I gazed out the open window. I wasn't in a rush to leave the class since I was asked to stay after anyway. My only question was why I was asked to stay after class. As I pried my eyes away from the luscious, green grass outside, I turned back to realize that everyone was gone, and it was my turn to face Mrs. Smith.

I left my seat and made my way over to her desk. It was a nice wooden desk with silver accents on the corners, yet it was cluttered with papers from other classes. She took a sip of her coffee and turned to me. I could feel my hands getting clammy as I clenched them into a ball. Her blue eyes looked to me full of sympathy as she spoke.

"Quill, I'm going to need you to work with someone on this next assignment."

When those words left her mouth I froze. Talking with people had never been something I was exactly comfortable with.

"But, Mrs. Smith, I've always worked by myself," I replied my voice laced with worry.

"I know dear, but you're going to have to," she countered as she waved her hand at the doorway as if beckoning someone to enter. As she did so a girl entered. She had her caramel-colored hair in twin braids, stunning green eyes, and glasses with round frames. Her hair and glasses complimented her cutesy style, which was the complete opposite of mine. With my raven black hair, silvery-gray stern eyes, and black ripped jeans, I doubted I looked very friendly.

She turned to me with a charming smile, "I'm Robyn. It's nice to meet you!" She held out her hand as if she wanted me to shake it. I turned back to Mrs. Smith.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Smith, but I am not going to work with her," I argued, "I would like to work by myself as always."

"Quill, if you're going to act this way, I'm afraid I'm going to have to send you to the office," she announced.

"Fine, I'll go to the office then." I headed to my desk to gather the rest of my things and went to the door, "Good day Mrs. Smith," I said as I walked out of the door heading down the halls to the office.

I had been before so it wasn't anything new, but as I walked down the halls something felt different. I felt as though I had done something wrong. I didn't even say anything to the girl I was supposed to work with; she was just following instructions and I just had to make it more difficult for her.

The obnoxious ringing of the bell interrupted my thoughts. Which was probably a good thing considering I almost ran into the door to the office. I carefully opened the door to avoid alerting anyone to my presence, but the squeaky door was not going to allow me as it sputtered when I opened it. One of the office workers perked up as I entered.

She handed me a paper to fill out, "Write your name and why you're here," she stated as it was handed to me. I filled it out and set it on her desk, sitting down as I waited for the day to end.

As the last bell of the day chimed it's annoying chime, I was dismissed to go and collect my things from my locker. On my way there, I stumbled upon a familiar face with caramel-colored hair and dazzling blue eyes; it was Robyn. She seemed to recognize me as well because once I passed her, she had turned around and fell into step beside me. She walked with me the rest of the way to my locker in silence. The silence wasn't an awkward silence either it was kind of comforting. Once we got to my locker she spoke up.

"I'm sorry," was the first words she spoke. "I'm sorry I made you feel uncomfortable."

I had almost dropped my things when she said that. She had no reason to be sorry. She had done nothing wrong. I was just being challenging. Shutting my locker I turned to her, placing my bag on the floor.

"It's not your fault," I stuttered looking her in the eyes. "I was being difficult and I apologize for that."

At that moment time seemed to freeze around us. Robyn just stood there looking at me with compassion in her eyes. We probably would have stayed like that if the bell hadn't rung causing me to jump. If I hadn't of grabbed my bag when I did, I probably would have left it there as Robyn grabbed my hand pulling me down the halls. When we were no longer at risk of missing the bus, she turned to me and smiled.

"Let's start over. I'm Robyn," she exclaimed, holding out her hand.

After a moment of hesitation, I placed my hand in hers, giving it a shake. "I'm Quill," was all I could manage to say. Robyn smiled as she let go of my hand and started off towards her bus.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow Quill!" She called as she stepped on her bus. I waved to her and walked down to mine. Just barely making it before the door was closed. I walked down the aisle and sat in my seat. For once I didn't feel bothered by the eyes of others on me, and as I put on my headphones and looked out the window. I thought that this partnership might not be so bad.

As the week went on we kept working on our project together. We didn't socialize very much at first, but as the week went on I felt as though I had started to warm-up to her. It must have looked strange seeing the brightest, bubbly, kindhearted person in the class working with a quiet, shy, distant child like myself. Our project was on the founding fathers. Ours ended up being about Alexander Hamilton, which I had nothing wrong with.

At the end of the week, we had to share our project with another group in the class. Robyn and I were paired up with two boys who had done their project on Thomas Jefferson. As we sat down with them at the back of the room, we were told to begin and I was supposed to start.

I could feel my hands getting clammy as they turned to me. I began to start stumbling on my words forgetting where I was supposed to start and what I was supposed to say. I was about ready to shut down when I heard someone else begin to speak.

"Alexander Hamilton was the husband of Elizabeth Schyler," Robyn began. She continued to go on as I took some deep breaths before I jumped back in with my part.

"He went on to run the treasury whilst George Washington was still the president," I continued. I felt my hands stop shaking as I started to feel more confident. Once we were done with our presentation the boys quietly clapped for us. I was so relieved that we were done with the assignment, even though it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

We listened to others as they told us about Thomas Jefferson. When they finished, we clapped for them and went over any questions we had for each other. For the rest of the class, we all talked to each other about other classes and such. It was nice to be able to have a conversation with people without stumbling over words every two seconds.

The class bell rang and we were all dismissed from class to head to lunch. Robyn and I walked together laughing and joking as we made our way to lunch. When we got to our table, Robyn noticed the two boys from our class sitting by themselves and decided to call them over. They expected her invitation and sat down at the table.

One of them cleared his throat and looked up to us, "We never really got a chance to introduce ourselves, I'm Percy and this is Leo," Percy motioned to the smaller boy next to him, who smiled in response, "And you are?"

I smiled back at them, "I'm Quill and this is Robyn," I glanced towards Robyn who smiled brightly at Percy and Leo, "It's nice to meet you!"

We all ended up spending the rest of the lunch hour getting to know each other, laughing and joking around. Maybe some people aren't so bad.

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This is a story I wrote for a assignment for school with some of my characters that are in another piece of work, Quill and Robyn. The point of the assignment was to follow a dynamic character who has a change of heart the way Scrooge did in A Christmas Carol. In other words "bad" to "good" with those terms being used loosely in some ways.