Spinning at the Seams

“I’m sorry what?” I asked, I refused to believe that he was going to be my lab partner for the rest of the year. Having him as my editor was bad enough, but now he’s going to be my lab partner! Why does fate hate me? Why?

“We’re going to be lab partners,” he repeated, looking at me happily as he sat on the seat next to me, placing his stuff of the floor next to him. He then turned to face me, a goofy grin spreading across his face.

“No, no way.” I stated in disbelief before glancing around the room, surely one of these people would switch with me; I really can’t deal with this!

“Yes, Mr. Cross agreed, he said you were the only one without an assigned lab partner, and that means you and I are lab partners for the rest of the year.” He was smiling a goofy and yet breathtaking smile. I shook my head; no you’re not going to find him cute! He went through your stuff I reminded myself, I then looked at him.

I was about to make some comment, but Mr. Cross interrupted me as he began the class. The entire class period I saw Adam staring at me, a thoughtful look on his face, it was almost the same look he had on Saturday when Mrs. Callows had called on him for agreement. I don’t think I liked this look, it was almost as if he was seeing something inside of me that even I couldn’t see. I jumped as I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, and after checking to make sure Mr. Cross wasn’t paying attention, I flipped it open revealing a text message.

Okay, I’m thoroughly bored right now. What class are you in? – Breanna

I smiled, I loved Breanna, she was a girl’s soccer superstar who I had interviewed a few years ago. We hit it off, and when she started going to the same church as me we had become fast friends. We still went to church together and we usually spent the service making faces at each other, and then hanging out later.

AP Chem., and might I say im really not happy at the moment- Toni

Why not? Whats up? – Breanna

You remember that guy Adam I told you about Sunday- Toni

Um cute new guy, who u went ghetto on yes I remember why-Breanna

Uh cuz hes in this class with me- Toni

Want me to meet u after class make sure he cant walk with u? – Breanna

If u don’t mind yes- Toni

No problem, Id better stop texting u, Miss Cott is getting suspicious, c u in a few- Breanna

I smiled, good, now I could escape walking to my Latin class with Adam. Too bad after Latin I had journalism with him. As I stated before, fate must really hate me. As I glanced at the clock I caught Adam’s stare, he seemed upset about something as he continued to stare at me. I was starting to get annoyed with the staring, it was kind of freaky stalkerish.

“Hey,” I whispered, causing Adam to jump, he evidently didn’t think I would talk to him. He gave me a ‘what?’ look, and I continued. “It’s really not nice to stare, and I already don’t like you so staring at me is not helping your case any.” I stated simply going back to taking notes. If I’d looked up I probably would have noticed the hurt and confused look that crossed his face, before he turned away. Thankfully the bell rang and I ran out the door.

“Antonia,” called a voice behind me, I didn’t stop, and neither did the voice. Suddenly I felt a tug on my bag, and turned reluctantly, expecting to find a persistent Adam, instead Breanna stood there. I sighed, relieved it was her, and she fell into step next to me.

“So I’m gonna guess that the guy with the black hair following us is Adam, am I right?” I looked at her, her light brown hair was in a ponytail, and her tan skin was nicely shown off in her dark brown scoop neck tee. Hazel eyes looked at back at me, and they were looking at me expectantly. I simply nodded, and she glanced over her shoulder, at who I could only assume was Adam. “Huh.” She stated simply looking at me again; she was the same height as me, and the muscles she had gotten during soccer tightened as looked over her shoulder again. I hit her arm, causing her to whip her head around to face me.

“What was that for?” I glared at her, and she simply glared back.

“If you keep staring at him he’s going to know we’re talking about him, and then he’s going to have an actual reason to talk to me in journalism.” She continued to glare, but not as angry this time.

“Still didn’t need to hit me, do you realize that you put some major force behind those hits of yours?” Of course I knew that, the people I usually hit were Marc and Tristan, both of whom normally said something stupid and therefore got whacked on the back of their hard heads. I needed to put some force there if I was going to get any kind of result.

“Sorry, I’m used to hitting boys in the back of the head, I apologize,” I stated giving her my puppy dog look.

She laughed, “Okay you're forgiven, but can I just say he is really cute.” I rolled my eyes, why does every girl friend of mine feel obligated to point that out?

“Whatever, I’d say you can have him but I really don’t want to face the wrath of your boyfriend so, paws of missy!” I scolded wagging my finger playfully. She laughed and waved as she watched me walk into my Latin class where my wonderful friends immediately pounced me on.

“WHAT EXACTLY WERE YOU THINKING?! NOW ADAMS GOING TO KNOW YOU WRITE SPORTS! AND HE’S GOING TO MAKE YOU CHANGE! AND I DON’T WANT TO WRITE SPORTS! I WANT TO WRITE SHOPPING AND FASHION AND POP CULTURE! IT MAKES ME HAPPY!” Molly screamed all in one breath, I blinked a couple times. Where does she get all this energy?

“It’s okay Molly, he doesn’t know for sure I write sports, only that I’m going to the game.” Kelsey looked worried and Danielle wasn’t looking at me at all. She was looking past me, an angry look on her face. I turned to find out what she was glaring at, and saw Adam talking to Max. I looked back at Danielle, she was still glaring, and Kelsey and Brooke were now looking at her worried. I could somewhat understand her look, Max was a bit of a class clown, and Danielle was not a fan of his antics. Him with Adam though, I could shudder at the thought. I grabbed Danielle’s arm, best to get away from the door before Adam got the idea that it was ok to come in and talk to me. Kelsey gave me a relieved look, and Molly continued to fume, babbling on as I walked further into the classroom. I just tuned her out, that was often best when dealing with Molly, she tended to babble on a lot, and if you listened to it for to long, your head was likely to explode.

“Molly stop, okay, he’s not going to make us actually switch articles, and if he does we’ll just lie okay? Now, I know what I’m doing with the game situation, and I promise you it will be fine, okay?” I looked at her, not letting go of Danielle, and continued towards my seat sitting down just in time for the bell to ring. With the sound of the bell I released Danielle with a warning glance, and began to work on the problem on the board, wondering what was going to happen next hour.

The bell rang way too fast, and I quickly made to find Mel and Shannon who had German this hour, and who walked with me to journalism. Mel found me first Shannon following behind her.

“So Romans are you finally going to come to your senses today and tell Adam how much you like him?” That was typical Shannon; you had to love her though. Hunter always said that Shannon’s flaw was that she lacked the filter between her brain and her mouth; whatever was running through her brain came right out, always unedited. I just rolled my eyes; she always was trying to hook me up with some guy I despised. Last year it was my brother’s friend Rick, this year it was Adam, at least she wasn’t trying to set me up with Tristan again, that was just plain weird. Mel shoved Shannon, causing Shannon to shoot her a death glare as she bumped into some cute guy walking out of his Spanish class. I laughed and high fived Mel, which caused Shannon to scowl, as she apologized to the guy.

“Not funny,” she hissed as she continued to walk with us.

“Neither is trying to set me up with the evil boy named Adam, how many times do I have to remind you that I hate boys who play sports. I like sports, but the boys who play them are complete jerks.” Just then my brother walked by and knocked my books out of my arms laughing as he walked away. As Mel and Shannon bent to help me pick the up I pointed a finger at my brother, “Exhibit A.” Shannon opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it, obviously thinking better of it. I stood up rebalanced my books and continued walking with Mel next to me and Shannon behind me. “I’m really not looking forward to this,” I admitted as we neared the journalism classroom. Mel put a comforting hand on my arm, and Shannon just rolled her eyes.

“It will be fine Romans, if he harasses you I’ll kick his butt for you.” Shannon was serious about that; she like Danielle, would beat up anyone who bothered me. I never let them, but the thought was comforting. I took a deep breath and prepared myself to enter the room. “Stop being so dramatic, it will be fine okay, you’re surrounded by people who like you, and hate Adam, okay. You’ll. Be. Fine.” And with that Shannon gave me a push causing me to stumble a little as I came into the room. It was just my luck that I happened to stumble into someone. However fate must have been done ruining my life when it made Adam my lab partner, as I managed to stumble into Tristan instead.

“Wow, you know I knew you’d want to fall into these arms eventually, I just didn’t think you would do it literally.” I smacked Tristan’s arm as he helped steady me. He smirked and then blew me a kiss before going to his original destination of the pencil sharpener. I stuck out my tongue at him and he laughed as I walked to my seat. Hunter was already in his seat, and typing furiously on his computer. I turned mine on, and listened to it hum as it warmed up. I glanced around the room and took in the scene. Mel was at her computer, headphones in her ears bopping to whatever song was playing, her fingers dancing across the keyboard. Shannon was rereading her notes, and Sophie was finishing the book that she needed to review.

“Any good?” I asked motioning to the book Sophie was holding. She shrugged slightly causing her black hair to move off her shoulders.

“It’s alright, not terrible, but not something I’d reread.” I nodded, I trusted Sophie’s book reviews, she knew what she was talking about when it came to books. I watched her go back to reading, and watched Ben walk in with Mallory, they were arguing about something, and knowing Ben it was probably something to do with politics. Yep, I confirmed. Ben was waving his arms, he only did that when he was arguing politics, and otherwise he just shook his head a lot. I looked at Hunter again, his fingers had slowed and he was looking at me curiously.

“What do you think about your brother getting a full ride scholarship to the school of his choice, while you have to pay full tuition to whatever school you want to go to?” I blinked, when did Marc get a scholarship, I thought college’s weren’t allowed to approach players till their senior year. Sensing my confusion Hunter hastily continued. “Hypothetically speaking of course, it’s for my article. The idea Mallory presented was really interesting and made me think.”

“Oh, um, well considering that my brother has a two point absolutely nothing GPA, I think that’s really unfair he does nothing but kick a ball, and he gets to go to whatever college he wants, while I work my butt off and get nothing but never ending loans to pay off later, it seems unfair, that my hard work isn’t rewarded. Almost makes it seem like slackers are rewarded while hard workers are punished.” Hunter nodded, and grinned.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” came a voice behind me, and here I thought Hunter was smiling at me and my brilliant speech.