It sounded like a great idea at the time. Just grab everything and run. Her feet were moving faster than her head was, and she couldn't form a single straight thought. All she knew was that once she heard the words 'school' and 'newspaper' together, she should have bolted then. Her feet shuffled into the empty hallways, her bookbag long gone. Probably thrown in a random trash can on her wild escape out of the classroom.
Who needs extra credit anyway? 'Cause she sure as hell doesn't.
She kept on running, and panting, and tripping until she saw gravel and slumped to the ground. It wasn't that bad, really. She'd be with nerds and a thespian Carly for an extra hour of the day every week and that'd be it. No attachments, no meeting outside of school, just this. She didn't know why she was running away from something that could actually benefit he-
Until she remembered that he was there. And he shouldn't be there. He's new, what the fuck does he need extra credit for? Ugh. She'll never forget that awful first meeting.
She was sitting at the desk, hands folded and sitting straight, waiting patiently for Ms. Chu to start talking about the extra credit assignment. She didn't need it, per say, but she wanted to anyway. Besides, the last grade she got wasn't so pretty compared with her stellar 100's. Not that her mother would give a flying shit what she got.
"So deep in thought, I picked up the dirty tissue and-"
"There I was!"
"There he was! He was actually wearing a Darth Vader costume, can you believe it?"
Sam watched in admiration (and just a slither of jealousy) as the ever eccentric Carly Shay and William were relaying the usual tale of how they met to some new kids – reenacted differently every time. She had no idea why they were here, but they were here, and she was grateful. She stumbled up (maybe black wedges were a bad idea), fluffed her blonde hair (freshly straightened), and pulled the hem of her orange polo down.
"Hey guys! What's up?" Sam said casually, hands crossed behind her back. She didn't know what to do or say, so she figured this was the best set-
"Nothing much, just relaying our amazing slash magical story of how we met to these gorgeous freshies." Carly said, twirling the neon pink streak in her otherwise black hair. Carly pointed to the identical bleached blonde big-chested girls and winked. William held in a snicker. Carly ruffled her green tutu and skipped to her seat. The plush office seats were arranged around a long oval wooden table, with cards assigning a certain seat. Sam was slated next to some new sophomore named Freddie. Carly rearranged the table cards so William could sit next her. They high-fived.
Sam felt a pang in her stomach and a knot start to lock in her throat. She wished one of her friends bothered to sign up for this extra-credit mission…
"Carly, sit the fuck down and stop acting like you're on acid. It may be after school hours but you still need to act as if you have some sense." Ms. Chu said, flipping her long hair back and boring holes into Carly's eyes. Carly smirked and hopped into her seat effortlessly.
"Sorry."
"No you're not." Ms. Chu sat at the head of the desk and counted heads. Everyone was here…except for him. "You can't just sit outside of my room until the meeting is over and give me a half-assed 'Woops, I'm sorry, what time did you say this meeting was?' and get off scotch free, Freddie."
"Dammit. How long have you been teaching, again?" The boy asked, his voice deep and scratchy, as if he got punched in the throat repeatedly. Sam couldn't help but stare at him – not because he looked attractive, or anything – but because he had a huge bruise forming on his cheek. He definitely wasn't Harvard material.
Ms. Chu smirked. "Longer than you think. Now, I brought you all here for a special reason. You all have special talents that I'll need for the school newspap-"
"Ew, theatrical superstars have no place writing about what's good slash safe to eat in the cafeteria." Carly interrupted, frowning.
"And the stage manager slash director has no place here, writing a stupid review that we all know I'm going to stamp five stars on." William announced, straightening his purple bowtie.
Sam's palms were starting to get sweaty. She just thought this was some report or group project...?
"Shut-up, you two, I'm assigning you the current events section just to piss you two off. Freddie and Sam, how about you two handle the Theatrics section? Honest reviews on that would be nice…oh, and try to get some coverage on the senior's homecoming…"
Freddie snickered. Sam glared holes into his eyes.
"Freddie, I will resign just so I could have the sweet, sick pleasure of castrating you."
"If you weren't my favorite teacher, I'd tell the principle you said that to me."
"Good boy. Now everyone, partner up! I want some ideas jotted down before we split it."
Okay, so yeah, they didn't technically meet, or anything.
But she could just tell he was going to be trouble! He probably was the kid that got into bar fights and reeked of beer and weed and always bombed tests and were probably getting nowhere in life and-
And he was sitting right next to her!
Freddie slid on his fingerless gloves silently and ran his hands through his disheveled hair. "You ran like a bitch as soon as you heard we were working together." He smirked, and leaned on his elbows, glancing at the cars on the gravelly sidewalk. Sam scoffed. She wanted to stand up (wearing a miniskirt wasn't the best idea…) but she felt like she had to stay on the parking lot floor.
"Well I don't particularly enjoy being partners with a slacker." Sam mumbled, playing with her hair. Freddie frowned but covered it with a disproving grimace.
"Well I don't particularly find being a school newspaper partners with a prissy goody-two shoes is enjoyable either. Now you either suck it up and get back in there so we can come up with headlines, or you could quit and have the guilt of not sticking it through stuck in your mind until you die."
"Wow, you almost made it sound as if I had a choice."
"I figured you'd be the type that falls for that guilt trip stuff." Freddie smiled. Sam knew it wasn't genuine but she couldn't help but smile back.
Hello~!
I'm back with a new story, new inspiration. How was the arc you guys? Personally I thought it was okay, but I'd love to know what you think~!
Leave a review anytime.
Like y'know, now would be nice.