Holding Back

03 | getting partnered

It was a sunny day after a cold night, Anastasia did not forget to carry a white cap around with her, she walked everyday to the school, it wasn't much far away, just ten minutes walk. It made her sweaty by the time she would reach the school but she owned no vehicle and catching a bus on time was difficult for her.

Anastasia had her ear plugs plugged in, phone shoved inside the jeans pocket as she walked down the street. She did not look anywhere but straight ahead, so when her eyes caught a glimpse of the person riding the motorcycle next to her, she nearly choked.

Damien Greg had just passed her, he was too busy accelerating it to the highest speed to notice her. Anastasia's hair flew up in the air as he went right past her, it was now all messed up, all because of him. She stomped her feet like a five year old and cursed him under her breath. He reminded Anastasia of Maya, yesterday she was so polite to her and on the other side of Damien who was just a creep right now to her.

After several minutes of walking and wiping off the sweat from the forehead, she reached the school gate. Before getting in, she grabbed wet tissue from her bag to clean her face, she kept her cap inside and she loosened her ponytail, leaving them open and free.

Anastasia loved her brunette hair, it resembled that to her mother but mostly she had mostly inherited her father's traits, blue eyes and a nose which was the same as his. "Ana, what are you doing here?" It was Alyssa, she grabbed Anastasia's arms and led her into the school.

"I was fixing my face" Anastasia walked down the corridor which was filled with numerous students who were too busy to pay attention to her and that's what she wanted, no attention, no problems. Reaching her locker, she tried to pay attention to Alyssa's words which were all about her fascinating on the show called Pretty Little Liars.

"Alyssa, did you do Chemistry homework?" Suddenly the two of them were silent, Alyssa scratched her forehead. Anastasia folded her arms, glaring at her best friend. "Damn girl, you are in trouble"

"Alright, I'm gonna go, say the teachers I was sick" Before she could grab her arms to stop her, Alyssa gave Anastasia a flying kiss and disappeared from her eyesight and mixed herself among the bunch of students. She sighed, it wasn't the first time she did that, Anastasia knew she would come back after break because her parents would be mad at her if they knew Alyssa bunked classes.

The warning bell rang, Anastasia grabbed the books she needed and headed off to her first class, Biology. She was in absolute love with Biology, she had wanted to be a doctor since she was a kid, since the time she was taught what a doctor was, Anastasia called herself doctor since she started learning to talk. Her father always wanted her to be one.

Once she was inside the classroom, Mr Klein was already standing in the front of the classroom. Anastasia took her seat in the middle row as usual, not at all paying attention to the students seared around her. "You are Anastasia, right?" She almost shrieked out as she heard someone say her name.

It was Damien Greg once again, sitting next to her, his table was so close to her that she could hear his breathing. "I am" Anastasia avoided looking back at him, she was still recovering from yesterday's incident.

She was officially screwed.

"I am Damien" He introduced himself, his eyes observing her features, she did not dare to look at him still, her heart was beating so very loudly that she was afraid that he was able to hear it. Damien looked away from her, he felt she was ignoring him on purpose but no one ever did that so what was her reason?

All his life, he had got whatever he has wished for, no one dared to turn down his offer, it was like, he was the god and he was worshipped for whatever he did. No one objected to him, his father was the chancellor of the school making his power over the students double, he hated when he was judged so easily, he was certainly a jock but not heartless.

"Students, as you all know, are going to the Science fair very soon and let me tell you, there are so many prizes. And before I further proceed to discuss other stuff, your partners will be assigned by me. I will be picking up chits from the two bowls and you will be partnered up like this'' Mr Klein's voice echoed in the silent room. The bowls that were kept on the table drew the attention of every student in the class.

Anastasia groaned out, she wanted to do it alone, she wasn't an extrovert but opposite so it was a huge problem for her. Without wasting any more further minutes, Mr Klein was picking up the chits and as he called out every name, Anastasia's heart was beating faster.

Damien did not hear his name, not Anastasia's, till there were only four more chits left. Either he was getting paired with her or with someone else, he was not at all excited to work with anyone, not even with Anastasia. So when he heard his name with another name called Shelly he raised his hand up in the air to tell that he was here but when he looked around to see who the other person was, he found none raising their arms.

Anastasia had held her breath the entire time, wishing she wasn't partnered up with Damien and when it came true she was happy but it only lasted a minute before she registered who Damien was assigned partner with was absent.

"Anastasia you partner up with Damien, you partner and as well as Damien's partner is absent" She wanted to bang her head on the bench so hard right now, she wanted to protest but she did not because that would only make her land in more of a mess.

"Guess we are partners, buddy" Damien said in a bored tone, he was not at all excited to see where all of this went but he was sure of one thing, it wasn't going to be a pleasant journey. Anastasia glanced down at her watch as she ignored Damien one more time and she thanked god as the bell rang.

Damien watched her get up and leave as soon as the teacher exited, he knew she wanted to run away from him, it was obvious. On his way back outside he was joined by Sebastian, his only true friend who understood him. When he was just four, he had found Sebastian, they were family friends after all so after their first encounter Damien knew they were going to be great friends.

Maya never looked down at Damien as his twin brother, they acted like strangers, their relationship was rather complicated than being like a sibling relationship, they tried to talk it out but it was not possible when they refused to cooperate with each other and it was fine for both of them, they believed they were better off each other.

"You look like you are going to puke, you alright?" Sebastian asked slowly as they walked, looking forward. "Yeah, I am fine" Damien increased his pace, leaving Sebastian behind, going down the stairs, it was his Calculus class.

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Anastasia grabbed her bag, walking towards the locker, she was tired. It was a hell of a day and she was still in haze that she was paired with Damien Greg. The whole day she never saw Alyssa, Anastasia was sure that she would show up in break but she did not so rather than sitting in the cafeteria, she sat in the library, away from everyone.

Now as she wore a cap on her head yet again to save herself from the scorching heat of sun, she walked silently with a book in her hand, Wuthering Heights. Her head was into the book that she did not look ahead of her and then she heard honking.

It was Maya, she was sitting in her Mercedes and looking at her, stopping next to her. Anastasia tugged a strand of her hair behind her ear, moving towards her car. "Hop in, I will drop you" Maya offered politely with a smile.

"Oh no, it's alright, I will just walk" Anastasia returned back a small smile, no, she was not going to gain the attention of Greg. Maya narrowed her eyes at Anastasia, she wanted to know what was going on in her head but she was too hard to read. "Girl, come on, I am not going to eat you" Maya poured at her, she really, really wanted to help her.

"No, Thankyou Maya but I wanted to grab some groceries too, so don't bother" That wasn't a complete lie, she needed to run grocery shopping and right now, that was all she could come up with. Maya's face fell, she nodded silently, refusing to pursue her to come along with her.

Anastasia saw her give her a smile before waving at her and taking off from there, it was for the best, Anastasia thought. She had enough on her plate already and adding the Greg's was messing up her life even more.

She was more than screwed.