A/N: I know this story has been done before, but I got an idea and wanted to practice in this tense. Plus I think mine will be a little different... possibly.
A Group Project
Finnick Odair, Johanna Mason, Annie Cresta, and Gale Hawthorne all got paired up to do a presentation for their Introduction to Shakespeare class and each one of them has very different personalities.
Finnick is on the college football team he isn't the star player, but he gets enough time. He wanted to get a good education and he knew an athletic scholarship would be the best way. In high school, he was in almost all the sport teams; swim team, baseball, basketball, football, and soccer. He wasn't good at all of them he was downright terrible at basketball, but always made the team because of his height even though he was more of a bench warmer. He was alright with baseball, but not great. He was great at soccer but not good enough for a scholarship. He was one of the fastest people on the football team and made a good amount of touchdowns. He impressed the scholarship scouts enough for him to get a full ride. Finnick's favorite sport in high school was swim team, but a lot of schools don't give out swimming scholarships. He was content with this and knew that the football scholarship could get him a free ride. Finnick wasn't stupid, but he wasn't the smartest kid in class.
Johanna wasn't the best at school because she didn't give a crap about what would happen after high school. She just wanted to live in the moment, but when the time came for college applications she started to do better in school. She managed to stop getting D's and C's and managed to get B's and C's more B's then C's. She got very good ACT scores and got into the college she wanted, but didn't get any scholarships. She now must work her way through college along with financial aid. Johanna lives with one of the first people she met at school; Annie. While Annie and Johanna are different they gel well together.
Annie was the valedictorian at her high school. Annie has always gotten good grades and likes succeeding in life. When Annie applied for schools she had many to choose from, even Ivy league schools, but she chose a simple college. It wasn't because of the program it was the campus itself. She just loved it there and could see herself in a classroom learning. Annie loves to learn new information, but that doesn't mean she loves school. Annie may do well in school, but she dislikes it. She likes the learning aspects of it, but hates papers and tests. Especially since tests don't test what you have learned, but really how good your memory is. Annie's whole life isn't just school it was more like that when she was in high school, but when she met Johanna she was able to have more fun. They would go to a parties and Johanna helped Annie be more courageous, Annie would have never asked a boy out before if she hadn't met Johanna. College is really making her into the person she always wanted to be when she was in high school.
Gale may come across as mysterious, but he is really just a normal fellow. He looks intimidating or downright mean due to his body structure and face. His face always looks mean unless he is smiling. Gale is just an average person who likes to keep to himself, he enjoys camping and wildlife. The most exciting thing in his life is his best friends Katniss, but he isn't getting completely what he wants from that relationship. He loves Katniss and wants nothing more than to be with her, but Katniss doesn't feel the same way. Gale brought it up once, but Katniss is so dense that she didn't really grasp that he was talking about them instead of another couple.
The group decided to meet up in the library at one in the afternoon. They all showed up one by one Annie first, then Finnick, then Johanna, but Gale didn't arrive on time.
"Can't we just do Romeo and Juliet?" Finnick asks the group.
There was no bother to start up chit chat because none of them really wanted to be here, they all had other things on their minds. Johanna was thinking about her job, Finnick was thinking about football practice, and Annie was wondering if she left her straight iron on; she didn't.
"No because that is what every other group will pick." Annie states. When people think Shakespeare that is usually the first thought that comes to mind so Annie wants to do something more 'original'.
"Jesus don't get her started she can become quite annoying about it." Johanna says. Johanna is her roommate and Johanna took this course because Annie said it would be easy.
"Fine, I'll let you guys pick from the list so I don't seem like a dictator." Annie says remembering Johanna's comment last night; that she is always the leader of a group project.
"Here's the list." Annie says and pulls it from her notebook.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Taming of the Shrew
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
Macbeth
Winter's Tale
"Which ones have been made into movies?" Johanna asks.
Annie sighs.
"I'm thinking Taming of the Shrew. It was a comedy, right? It's better than a depressing tragedy." Finnick says.
"Didn't they do a movie about that like that was very, very, very loosely based on the play." Johanna says.
"Ten Things I Hate About You. That does not count, no matter how much my high school English teacher wanted it to." Annie mumbles.
"Well the Wikipedia page says otherwise." Finnick says holding up his phone.
Annie shakes her head.
"We will not be using it as a reference point though. You actually need to read the play." She says. "Or go to class." She says and eyes Johanna who likes to skip because she knows Annie will share her notes.
"Shouldn't we wait for everyone to get here before we assign parts?" Finnick asks.
"Oh, right Gale." Annie says. Gale is a very forgettable person because he likes to stay quiet and mind his own business or at least in class. Annie doesn't know much about Gale or Finnick really, but she feels like she knows Finnick because of his football status.
"I've got to go to work in an hour so he better hurry his ass up." Johanna says.
"He can just get the leftover parts then." Annie says.
"I guess that is fair, but I think we can wait a little longer." Finnick says.
"I agree." Annie says and smiles at Finnick who smiles back. Johanna looks back and forth at them and rolls her eyes.
Two pretty people working together I wonder what will happen? Johanna thinks sarcastically. I think Finnick the football player has many girls to choose from though.
In about ten minutes Gale shows up, he is wearing a work uniform because Gale works at the bookstore. The uniform is a navy blue and bright white with the mascot -Troy the Trojan- is on the back.
"Hey guys." He says and sits next to Johanna. "Sorry I was late it got really busy at the bookstore and I couldn't get away." He says.
Johanna sighs while Annie and Finnick nod. It is a reasonable excuse, but if he keeps showing up late everyone will become annoyed.
"Have you decided on anything?" Gale asks.
"We're doing Taming of the Shrew. It was Finnick's pick." Johanna says.
"Oh I was thinking Romeo and-"
"Everyone is going to be doing that." Johanna says mocking Annie's voice.
"I guess the teacher will remember us then." Gale says disappointed.
If they would've picked Romeo and Juliet, he and the rest of the group wouldn't have to do so much research or understand. Gale and Finnick have trouble understanding the old English language.
"Yes and that is a good thing." Annie says with a smile.
"Unless we tank it." Johanna says.
"We aren't going to 'tank it' not with me in this group." Annie says.
"Yes because you're the best." Johanna says. Her phone starts to make annoying noises. "That's my get ready for work alarm. I'll meet with you guys later."
"Can you pick your part first?" Finnick asks as she stands up. Johanna grabs the assignment page from the middle of the table.
"I'll do the comparison of Shakespeare's humor back then to the humor we have today."
"Similarities and differences." Annie says.
"Yeah, yeah. I know." Johanna says and places the piece of paper back down. "I say we work through email for the first few steps."
"Sounds good to me." Gale says.
"We can always meet up again if we need to." Finnick says.
"I agree." Annie says truthfully. She doesn't see the point if they are all sitting in the same room and just looking at their laptops.
Annie, Gale, and Finnick choose their parts and get ready to leave. Finnick and Gale start to collect their things while Annie stays put.
"You staying then Annie?" Finnick asks.
"What-" She says and looks up at Finnick into his pretty green eyes. "I mean yeah… I have one more class so I don't see the need to trek all the way back home… if I'm just going to come back." She says.
Finnick sits back down.
"Listen, you're in my Greek Mythology class."
"Really?" She says surprised. Annie is taking that only for an easy elective and she has always enjoyed Greek and Roman mythology.
"Really." He says with a smile. "I wanted to ask you for some help actually."
"With the research paper?" Annie says.
"Yeah actually." Finnick says.
For their midterm project they have to do a seven to ten page research paper on a myth or creature from Greek Mythology. Annie already decided that she was going to do hers on Pandora's Box.
"What do you need help with?" Annie asks.
"Which topic to pick." He says.
"Just pick something we've already gone over or look ahead in the syllabus." Annie says.
"Yeah I know, but I'm not sure I could get a seven page paper out of it."
"You just need to BS it a little then, or use really big words." She says with a smile. "Besides, we can use our opinion a tad".
"Right, did you pick yours already?" He asks.
She nods.
"Pandora's Box." Annie says.
"That's the one where Pandora opened the box and let all the evil out."
"That's the basic idea." Annie tells him. "You could just do one of the Gods I mean the Greeks had tones of them." Annie says.
"The professor strongly implied that he wouldn't like those ideas." Finnick says.
Annie knows he is right the professor didn't come out and say it, but it seemed like you would lose his respect if you did your paper on a Greek God.
"Maybe you could write about the Titians instead." She says.
"Don't those have the Gods in them." He says.
"But it's a certain group of the Gods." Annie says.
"I-"
"Or just about Cronus and why he ate his babies." Annie says.
"What?" Finnick says. They haven't covered that in class yet.
"You know the prophets foresaw that Cronus would be defeated by one of his sons so he ate them after they were born." Annie says.
"That's-"
"But he was overthrown because one the babies were hidden and Cronus didn't notice that instead of a baby he ate a rock. Zeus was the one who defeated Cronus, but Zeus was an asshole too." Annie says.
"I see." Finnick says.
"I think you can get seven pages out of that." Annie says almost excited.
"You sound like you want to write about this." Finnick says.
"Oh, no I haven't done as much research on Pandora's Box as I have with some of the Greek Gods and Goddesses." Annie says.
"You really like school, don't you?" Finnick asks.
"I like learning new things… the assignments not so much." She says with a smile.
"I see." He says.
"Since we are still here we could start the Shakespeare project together." Annie says.
"Sure." Finnick says. Although he does need to be leaving soon for football practice.
"I think this group might be okay." Annie says because she has had problems with groups in the past.
"Maybe, but I don't know about Gale yet." Finnick says. He hasn't been put in the best groups either.
"Well today was only day one." Annie says with a smile.
Annie was right the group project had just started so everything seems like it will work out okay, but there is still plenty of time for someone to mess up.