Amela Carter sat perfectly straight in her seat, flipping through her notebook as if the entire classroom depended on her focus. Behind her, Lila Bennett leaned back in her chair, chewing gum loudly. “Relax,” Lila whispered. “You act like the fate of the universe depends on this class.” “For my GPA it does,” Amela replied. Across the room, Jason Rivera spun a pencil between his fingers, half listening to Mrs. Brown’s lecture. Marcus nudged him. “You’re staring again.” Jason scoffed. “I’m not staring.” Marcus smirked. “You and Amela are literally in competition for valedictorian.” Jason shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I can’t win.” Amela turned around, looking at Jason from across the classroom. Amela was one of Kingston High's top students. She was smart, focused, and determined to stay at the top of every class—and really pretty too. The only problem? Jason. He was in all the advanced classes too, and he tried to one-up her every chance he got. Every test, every project, every award it was always a fight between them. From the back of the classroom, Amela’s best friend Lila Carter leaned forward in her chair, whispering loudly, “This is going to be so entertaining.” Next to her, Marcus Hill, Jason’s best friend and the class clown, snickered. “I’m placing bets on who loses their mind first.” So, when their science teacher, Mrs. Brown, said that they’d be partners for the next big constellation project—worth half of their grade—no one was surprised that both of them looked pretty upset. Jason leaned back in his chair like it didn’t bother him at all, even though Amela could see the small smirk he wore whenever he thought he was winning something. "Mrs. Brown, can I please switch partners?" Amela begged. "I'm afraid not. This project is supposed to show teamwork and that you can work with different people," Mrs. Brown said in a high-pitched voice that made the pair groan in despair. From the side of the room, Noah Bennett, another student in their class, whispered, “Good luck surviving that.” Lila gave Amela a dramatic thumbs-up. “You’ll need it.” Amela sank back into her chair while Jason just looked amused. ˚˖❀⊹₊˚‧︵‿₊୨ᰔ୧₊‿︵‧˚₊⊹❀⊹₊˚‧ A few days later they were in the library together reading about constellations in their science textbooks, giving each other the cold shoulder. At the table across from them, Lila and Marcus were pretending to study while secretly watching the silent tension. Marcus leaned toward Lila and whispered, “Five bucks says they argue before the hour is over.” “Ten says they don’t talk at all,” Lila whispered back. Back at the main table, the silence between Amela and Jason stretched for almost ten minutes. "So… when are we going to start the project?" Amela said, finally breaking the quiet. "It's due in six weeks. We have lots of time to read in our textbooks before we start," he said in a knowing voice. Amela rolled her eyes but kept her focus on the book. "Okay then… do you want to come with me to the beach on Saturday night? The newspaper said it would be easy to see the Orion constellation, and it would make really good pictures for the project." Jason looked at her for a moment, surprised she actually suggested something. "Sure," he said finally. "But I’m driving." He gave her a small smirk as he got up and walked away. From the other table, Marcus looked at Lila with wide eyes. “Did they just make plans together?” Lila grinned. “Oh this is going to get interesting.” -------------------------------------------------------- AUTHORS NOTE: TYYYYY FOR READING I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR A FEW WEEKS NOW :) ------------------------------------------------------- Vision Boards: Next Chapter: In progress
