Summary: Zoey is working with one of the hottest sophomores at PCA, Ryan Sharpe, on a World History project. But when he ditches her for parties, does she have any choice but to quit the team? Will she have to work with the most unexpected person just to get a passing grade? And why is everything she is supposed to be writing coming true?

Cold

Sideways Elvis

The alarm radio read exactly 6:59. Within seconds it was going to beep into a new hour, but the three girls kept on sleeping, trying to ignore vivid dreams of Quinn's slick green-and-yellow tube. Zoey rolled over and her hand flopped the bedside table which held the alarm clock. 7:00. Some country song by George Strait blared on the radio and startled Zoey awake. She hoisted herself up on her elbows and looked around.

"Quinn!" she whisper-shouted. "Lola!" Lola opened an eye.

"Quit it, Zoe. I've decided to become a bear." Zoey looked at her quizzically.

"Huh?" Lola raised her head up and gave Zoey a sleepy look.

"I'm hibernating."

Quinn was getting up, untangling the mass amounts of braids that her hair was tressed into.

"Zoey?" she asked. Zoey looked at her oddly, getting out of bed as well.

"What?" she answered warily. If it turned out to be one of the famous and insane Quinnventions, she'd rather not. "You want me to drink hydrochloric acid mixed with a concentrated form of phosphorus sulphate?" Zoey tugged on a pair of shorts. "Or something like that?" Quinn looked at her.

"No, though that sounds interesting. Two things. One, you have a cat on your head and it's not a tidy one. Two, your clock is an hour late."

"WHAT?" Zoey shrieked as she rushed around the room trying to get ready. Lola jumped out of her bunk and started to try on outfits as Zoey shoved on a shoe and brushed her hair.

"But don't we have our Jet X's?" Lola screamed.

"Yeah, if our Jet X's will get us to class in five minutes!" shouted Zoey.

Within three minutes the girls surged outside and scrambled onto their Jet X's, honking fervently as they passed the boys' dorm. Racing, they reached their classroom barely two minutes after the bell had rung. Mrs. Dawson, their World History professor, (bAuthor's Note: Sorry, I don't know the teachers' names, so I'll just go with whatever pops in my head/b) frowned severely at them and pointed sternly with a pen at their seats. Lola and Zoey, subdued, slunk in between Michael and Logan while Quinn took a seat next to Chase, whose hair had oddly flattened to the side during the night and gave him a sort of half-afro. Zoey giggled quietly. It looked like a sideways Elvis 'do.

"Now," started Mrs. Dawson. For some reason, she always seemed to start her speeches with 'now'. It was an odd habit of hers, not unlike her obsession with rubbing her chin with her knuckles. Zoey and Lola shared a glance. "We've just finished our unit on World War II, trust me, there is no more--" The class erupted in cheers.

"--to read." Zoey gaped at her. "However, we will be finishing this month with a project!" Mrs. Dawson's ruddy cheeks rose up to fold under her eyes—which, in some respect, was her way of smiling.

"What's the project?" asked Chase, shrugging.

"Hand, Mr. Matthews. Now, the project is that you must mimic a couple going through World War II, writing about your experiences."

"Couple?" Lola scoffed. "As in, husband and wife?"

"Couple as in husband and wife, Ms. Martinez, or brother and sister, mother and son, father and daughter, cousin and cousin, niece and uncle, great aunt and great-nephew, grandfather and--"

"Okay, we get it," Zoey muttered. Mrs. Dawson looked severely at her.

"If you consider this matter trifling, Ms. Brooks, I suppose I could always give you an failing grade." Zoey snapped her mouth shut and shook her head fervently.

"Good. I'm glad that is settled." Logan raised his hand.

"Can we choose our partners?" he asked.

"Yes. However, all of them must be boy-girl." There were a few giggles as the class tittered and the all the girls looked shyly at some of the boys, wondering who would be chosen, picked, elected.

Lola turned to Chase.

"Wanna work together?" she asked him. Zoey's eyes went wide.

'Lola!' she mouthed, half-smiling, half-disappointed. Lola shrugged and winked at her. Zoey smiled. Looking around, she quickly turned to Ryan, a good-looking boy behind her. Ryan was the exact image of the 'darkly handsome and mysterious'.

"Hey, Ryan. Be my partner?" she asked nervously. Ryan shrugged and nodded.

"'Kay, sure. Whatever."

Mrs. Dawson wrote the pairs on the board. "Is this final, everyone?" A ripple of assent was murmured by the class as they all looked at the board.

J.T. Summers and Tammie Griffin

Chase Matthews and Lola Martinez

Amy Lunde and Everett Le Roi

Zoey Brooks and Ryan Sharpe

Quinn Pensky and Michael Barret

Melody Rinks and Cedric Stauffeneger

Zoey turned to Logan. "Logan, you don't have a partner. However could that be?" Logan gave her a sour look and raised his hand.

"Mrs. Dawson, I know World History is fascinating for geeks, but handsome young men like me need their beauty sleep. I was snoozing, and now I am partner-less." Mrs. Dawson pursed her lips, a motion that further accentuated her chicken-like look.

"And what exactly do you expect me to do about it, Mr. Reese?"

"Pair me up with somebody. Hot." Logan leaned in. "Am I asking for too much?" Mrs. Dawson's cheeks once again went up to kiss her eyes.

"No, not at all. Melissa," she called. "Are you partner-less?" Melissa, who had the most unfortunate habit of talking with a lisp, answered her.

"Yeth, Mrs. Dawthon." Mrs. Dawson thanked her.

"Perfect."

Logan Reese and Melissa McBrail

The bell rang, and the students walked out of the building. Zoey was talking to Ryan.

"So, I think if we get in some work this week we won't be as stressed when the final due date comes." Ryan looked at her.

"Zoey, I really gotta focus on basketball practice. You know there's that big game coming up, the one against
St. Lawrence's. Plus, there are some hot girls on campus tonight. Know what I mean? Like Caylie." He flashed a grin in the direction of a slender, somewhat leggy girl with long, smooth and silky golden hair. The perfect bimbo. Caylie spotted him and waved back. "You got me?" Zoey looked down at her feet halfheartedly.

"All right, I guess." Ryan clapped a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks, Zoe. You're the best." He shouldered his backpack over one arm and headed over towards his jock buddies. She watched him go, having a feeling of disappointment, sadness, and resentment roil in her stomach.

"Yeah, right."

"Ooh, you want some aloe vera for that burn?" Logan snickered as he sidled along. Zoey gave him a sour look and smacked him with her America: The Story of Our Nation textbook.

"You just love to hear yourself talk, don't you?"

"Hey!" Logan rubbed the red mark where she had slapped him. "Zoey, eh-ve-ry-boh-dy knows you're lusting after that boy, and all he sees is some—admittedly hot—nymphet who's making googly eyes at—" Zoey, who had until that point been walking away from him, turned around and lifted her eyebrows. (Author's Note: Yes, all, eyebrows. As in plural. I get kind of annoyed by the fact that all the characters somehow magically all have the power to lift only one of their eyebrows.)

"What? Making googly eyes at who?" Logan looked at her questioningly.

"Me, who do you think? Poor Zoey." He shouldered his way past her and swaggered over to Michael. Zoey chewed the inside of her cheek as she thought of a good comeback.

"Who writes your lines, Logan?" she called, making her voice harsh and cold. He turned around and gave her a confused look.

"What?" Zoey smirked.

"Well, I mean, there's no human way you could possibly be coming up with all these sentences yourself. We all know how challenged you are. Even reading Dr. Seuss is too much for your brain." She smiled at him patronizingly. "But don't worry, you'll get up to Junie B. Jones someday."

Zoey caught up to Lola. "What'd I miss, you lovebird?" she teased. Lola blushed and looked elsewhere.

"Nothing, really, Zoey. We kinda decided we'd be cousins," Lola stated, as they walked towards the cafeteria to grab a snack. Zoey grabbed Lola's arm and pulled her into the fresh fruits section.

"Do I have to tie you two together?" she mock-hissed. Lola made a face and grabbed a tangerine. The girls paid at the counter and joined the gang.

"I've been thinking about dying my hair turquoise again," Lola said as she began to peel her tangerine. "I liked it." Michael shook his head.

"No. Uh-uh. Never. Too many memories of 'Steve'." He made sure to put air quotes around 'Steve'. Quinn looked at him pensively.

"You are a most peculiar specimen of homo sapiens," she pondered. Michael's face went pale.

"Quinn, I know what you're thinking, and I would really love to, but I gotta...that thing...with the...Coming!" he stammered as he scampered away.

"Reaction number one!" Quinn clapped her hands together happily. "I love it." Zoey and Chase shared a look.

"Um...Quinn? Exactly what were you testing?" Quinn looked at her as though it were obvious.

"I gave him a pill with a powdered form of sodium carbonate on it and soaked it in a diluted form of fluorine. It's supposed to make him hyper-aware of girls. I told him it was for his cough. Any other volunteers?"

"Hyper-aware of girls?" Zoey asked.

"Hey, look, she's catching on!" Logan exclaimed, clapping his hands. "Bravo!"

"Logan, shut up." Lola threw her tangerine at his head, hitting his forehead and leaving a squelchy, dripping mark.

"Score!" Lola and Zoey slapped hands, which caused Zoey to look at her watch.

"Lolo, we gotta be in class in ten minutes. Bye guys!" They ran to find their Jet X's and hopped on.

After a grueling day of tedious classes, which was a grand usual at PCA, Zoey entered the girl's lounge, where Lola, Quinn, Michael, and Chase were sitting around, watching a documentary on the blue whale's anatomy.

"Have any of you seen Ryan?" Zoey asked, plopping herself down next to Chase.

"Nope," answered Michael, his eyes riveted on the screen. Evidently his hyper-awareness of girls had settled down.

"Hey, Zoey, did you know that a blue whale's heart is as big as a small family car?" Lola divulged. She too was mesmerized by the fluke of the whale.

"Whoa," Zoey replied. "Let's stop this crazy whirligig of fun. I'm dizzy." She rose and turned off the television.

"Okay. Now I'm going to speak very clearly and enunciate. Hah-ve-eh eh-ny oh-ve you seen-eh Ry-ah-ne?"

Chase jabbed his finger towards the door.

"He's over there, Zoe." She turned to see Ryan chatting with Caylie and another beauty.

"Oh, great," groaned Zoey, sitting down again. "I had to choose the player. I don't think it could have been worse if Logan was my partner." Lola patted her arm.

"Now, now. Let's not exaggerate." Ryan turned and saw Zoey. He muttered a quick 'be right back' to Caylie and the other girl and walked over to her.

"Hey, Zoey, about that World History project?" Zoey turned to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"Well...uh, you get started. Stick both our names on it, but, uh, don't make it look too good." Zoey continued to stare at him.

"What?" she asked, shocked. Ryan leaned down and patted her shoulder.

"Knew you would understand. Bye, Zoey." He jerked back up and trotted back to the two girls who were waiting at the door.

"What just happened?" Zoey asked. "What just happened?"

"It's okay, sweetie. No need to say it twice. He just said, as plain as day, to do the work for him," Lola informed her. Zoey turned to look at Ryan's retreating back.

"Hey, Zoey, you really might want to close your mouth. I hear leaving it open is a good way to let the flies in." Chase smiled at her to let her know that he was joking.

"Ah, don't worry about it, Chase. They'll feel right at home in there." A collective groan was issued from the girls. Logan, the Great Logan Reese, had arrived.

End of Chapter One

Please review! Criticism is fine, but flames are just wrong, they're the trademark of a jealous person (I've had my flame moments as well). Thanks a bundle!

-Quip