I'll Tell You Anything For An A

What's The Scariest Ride You've Ever Been On?

Alyssa J. Oct/24

I'm done with today.

I was done the minute I stepped foot into this gross school.

I was done the minute I stepped into the crisp October air that blew right through my thick school sweater which hung loosely over my irritating uniform.

I was done the minute I woke up to my blaring alarm waking me up from the peaceful dream of me being anywhere but here and now.

So you can imagine how peeved I was when I walked into my last class of the day and saw my psychology and sociology teacher, Mr. Strickland, grinning like a mad man while leaning against the whiteboard.

I heard some rumors about him talking to the other teachers during lunch but I swatted it away as just chatter. But those thoughts came back up as I looked at the sly smile he was holding.

I just wanted to go home so I could have a relaxing weekend.

I walked to my desk on the far side of the room, setting down the heavy textbook I had carried all the way from my locker across the school, gracefully sliding into the small chair. I reached over to grab my water bottle from the side of my backpack, only being met by confusion when I touched the side of the bag where it should be.

"Fucking great," I mumble under my breath when I look down to see a giant hole at the bottom of the pouch where my water bottle should be.

This day couldn't get any better, could it?

People started flooding into the room, I exchanged small greetings with some 'friends' as other classmates shuffled around me and settled into chairs. After a couple of minutes, the final class bell rang and Mr. Strickland left the position where he had been stagnant for the past 6 minutes.

Mr. Strickland is the chill, young teacher of the school, giving curves and exact cheat sheets to test while also making class fun. He started teaching at the public school on the other side of town for a couple of years before transferring to Monarch Academy as the new psychology and sociology teacher.

Monarch Academy or as we call it 'M.A.' is the rich private school filled with preppy affluent kids that have rich parents buying them personal Chanel uniforms. M.A. has two kinds of students, the ones that purposely wear uniforms three sizes too small to grab the attention of fellow classmates that they don't get from their parents or the kids who study their ass off to get praise from their peers because they don't want to be seen as just a rich face. There are the kids who fly and there are the kids who float.

I fly high.

Everyone else floats.

"Hello, hello, students! I have quite a fun surprise to celebrate our Friday!" He rubbed his hands together and picked up a stack of papers, involuntarily making all the students groan. He started walking around the classroom, carelessly placing a small packet on each desk that held a student.

"Do not open this until I instruct you to." He firmly stated.

"So, I got the school to not make you take a test end exam-" Before he could finish his sentence the classroom erupted in a chatter of ecstasy.

"Wait, Wait, Wait! Don't get too excited yet!" The class instantly shut up, allowing him to continue.

"You will have an end of course project that you will be working on through the span of this class. You guys can open the packet now." The class started talking again as they opened the pieces of paper in front of them before the whole room went cricket silent.

Partner Paper

Get to know how they tick.

The other couple of papers were filled with a mixture of basic and personal questions on a scale from 1-4. The last one though was a vague rubric but some of the criteria made my heart halt for a second. Especially the 'compatibility' section.

"You are going to get a partner and use the signs, tools, and lessons I teach to evaluate your partner and at the end of the class you will turn in a paper about your partner following the instructions on the rubric."

Everyone started shifting in their seats, scanning the room to find a person they would feel comfortable doing this project with and I find myself subconsciously doing the same for some reason. I only had two people I could sorta trust to do that project with, my boyfriend Wilson or my 'best' friend Lorena, but even then I wouldn't even think about sharing more than what Mr. Strickland calls a level two question.

Almost everyone made eye contact with another classmate and mentally checks them off, but before I could find a match to settle with Mr. Strickland speaks up again.

"And don't worry if you can't find a partner, I'll be choosing them for you." Everyone groaned but I felt my heart drop, I can't even choose who I spill my guts too?

Great!

I glanced around the classroom to see that most of the class had my same expression of terror on their face as well.

"Camille Daniel and Ollie Payne" The two partnered girls glared at each other.

Oh, this isn't gonna end well.

The girls started rapidly asking the teacher if there was a misunderstanding and if they could switch out partners but Mr. Strickland just continued down the list.

"Clifford Aguilar and Johnathan Cohen" The pair looked at each other before joining in the yells, begging for a new partner.

Wait...

"Clint Wise and Ana Berry" The protest grew louder but he just continued, raising his voice so he could be heard.

He's not...

"Dorothy Dean and Christine Pierce"

He is.

"Herbert Rhodes and Velma Ingram" I understood what he was doing but I had no clue why.

There's only one way to prove my theory.

I slowly turned to the only person I could be paired with if I was correct and low and behold he was looking at me too.

Our eyes widened when we realized we had both thought the same thing and just then two other names were called out.

"Alyssa Jennings and Alexander Scott,"

Oh look, the day could get worse!