Peridot slunk into AP literature. As usual, the classroom was empty; not even Mr. Maheswaran had arrived yet. After all, most students used the three minutes between classes to chat, text, and whine about their teachers.Most students- not Peridot. She was above such childish nonsense. She had a plan for high school: don't make waves, keep to herself, and stay in the background. She was like a shadow; yes, a shadow; unnoticed. Safe.

She pulled out her laptop and began to type. Her classmates trickled into the room with clockwork predictability. First came the other achievers- Pearl, Lapis, YD. Then the mediocre students- Garnet, Ronaldo, Sadie. Finally, the slackers- Amethyst, Lars, and...

"Hey, Kim!"

Peridot's fingers spasmed over the keyboard; she deposited a string of unintelligible spam into her code.

And Jasper.

Peridot knew three things about Jasper. One: she was a linebacker. Two: her daily caloric intake was large enough to power a small third world country. And three: she was the most insufferable person in the history of everything. If Peridot was a shadow, Jasper was the sun- harsh, demanding, all-consuming. She thought that the universe revolved around her.

Ugh. She couldn't stand her. Yet cruel fate (and a reverse alphabetical seating arrangement) placed Jasper Latu in the seat in front of Peridot for every. Single. Class.

"Latu." Her fingers curled. "I'd love to chat, but I'm busy."

Jasper unplugged one of her earbuds. Heavy metal blasted from it, filled with profane lyrics. She held out a hand. "I need your lit homework, smartass." Even her palms were muscular. Christ. "C'mon, Maheswaran's gonna come in a minute."

Oh, right.

"Ugh. Fine." Peridot reached into her messenger bag. She thumbed through her subject files- red for calc, green for bio, blue for comp sci- and took out a yellow folder neatly labeled 'AP LIT' in black Sharpie. On the rare occasions that Jasper returned her homework, it was stained with blue Gatorade, Cheeto dust, or gym chalk. Once, Peridot received a crushed cockroach. It was impressive, really, how much damage Jasper could inflict upon a sheet of paper. She probably got off on it.

She wasn't scared of Jasper. (Hah! As if that hypermasculine macho-girl behavior could scare her. No, Peridot could see through her like glass. She had daddy issues. Or mommy issues. The specifics didn't matter- she just had issues.) Peridot and Jasper simply had a mutually beneficial arrangement: she would give Jasper her homework, and Jasper wouldn't beat her face in.

"Now, please leave me alone." She handed over her homework and returned the file to her bag. "Unlike some people, I have unplagiarized work to do."

"Yeah?" Jasper narrowed her eyes. "Well, unlike some people, I have friends."

"Really." She regarded her with icy disdain. "I'd think that licking YD's boots would make you pathetic, not a friend."

Jasper slammed the laptop lid onto her hands. She yelped and tore her fingers away. "Thought so," cackled Jasper as she replugged her earbuds. Anger surged through Peridot's veins. See? She's fucking insufferable. Don't associate with people like her.

The bell rang. The classroom hushed as Mr. Maheswaran strode into the room. Grumbling, Peridot slipped the laptop into her bag.

"Hello, class!" said Mr. Maheswaran.

"Hello, Mr. Maheswaran," the class murmured.

"Now, now!" Mr. Maheswaran smiled. "Friday is hi-day. Let's try that again. Hello, class!"

"Hello, Mr. Maheswaran!" the class chanted. Mr. Maheswaran smiled, and turned to write on the whiteboard. "Today, we'll be discussing your term one project."

Disinterested, the class simmered with chatter. "God, what a try-hard," Jasper snickered to another linebacker. Someone near the back- Amethyst, probably- blasted pop music from their earbuds. Peridot rifled through her bag to find her lit folder. She accidentally grabbed her tablet. She moved to shove it back into her bag, but it slipped from her grip and clattered onto the floor. It landed next to Jasper's size 13 foot. Peridot lurched forward as Jasper snatched the tablet from the floor.

"Oho!" Jasper held it aloft. Panic clawed at her throat. She lunged. "Give it back!"

Jasper laughed and dangled it out of her reach. "Someone's desperate," she sang as she batted Peridot's grasping hands aside.

"Stop!" Peridot's eyes widened as Jasper turned on the tablet. "Stop-"

Her lockscreen featured Firecracker Jinx from League of Legends wearing a qipao with a high slit up the side, showing firm, milky thighs. Jinx was furiously making out with Vi.

Jasper's eyes boggled out of her skull. "What."

"Don't- don't-" Peridot snatched back the tablet. "Don't touch my things!"

"All right, class," said Mr. Maheswaran, and Peridot was never more grateful for an interruption. She stuffed the tablet back into her bag. "Don't-" she stalwartly avoided eye contact. Her cheeks burned with the fury of a thousand naked suns. "Don't- shut up-"

Jasper gawped at her, horrified. "The shit."

"Language," Mr. Maheswaran snapped. "And attention, please." Jasper snapped her mouth shut. "Thank you. As I was saying…"

Peridot lowered her steaming face to the surface of her desk. Yep. This was it. She might as well jump off a building. Or impale herself on a dull kitchen knife. Or fly into the fucking sun. Because her life was over.

"...as follows." Mr. Maheswaran pointed a remote at the overhead projector. The fan whined as it was roused from slumber. "Find your partner, please."

She raised her head. 'Peridot Kim' was at the bottom of the Word document, right next to 'Jasper Latu.'

"Shit," Peridot muttered.

"Shit!" Jasper exclaimed.

"Language!" Mr. Maheswaran said. "Now, class, get to work."

Peridot closed her eyes. Ha. Ha. Hagggh. Forget about her lockscreen- her AP literature grade was going to shrivel and die like a fetus torn prematurely from the womb. And her GPA- her GPA! If Pearl fucking Gilligan snatched valedictorian from under her nose, she swore to God, she was razing this godforsaken establishment to ashes.

"What was that?"

Peridot opened her eyes. It took her a few seconds to realize that Jasper was talking about her lockscreen. "It's none of your business." Jasper snickered. "And it's not weird!" Jasper's snicker turned into a bona fide snort. "The contents of my lockscreen are irrelevant," Peridot snarled. "We need to discuss the project, which is, need I remind you, eighty percent of our-"

"Aren't they sisters?"

"-eighty percent of our-"

"So that's incest."

"eighty percent of our-"

"You're into incest."

"-eighty! Percent! Of! Our! Term one grade!" Peridot slammed her fist on the table. Pearl glanced over. She looked concerned for Peridot's mental health.

"Fine," Jasper snorted. "Let's talk project."

Peridot pressed her lips together. Fury simmered in her gut as she squinted at the whiteboard.

DUE FRIDAY OCTOBER 31:

An original typed screenplay, 100+ pages.
An original short film, 100+ minutes.
A reflection, one per group member. 3 pages minimum.

Her head ached. She took a deep breath to flush out her violent fantasies. Of course she wanted to imagine Jasper getting torn to shreds by an army of fire ants, but her lit grade came first. It had to. It always did. "Let me guess," Peridot said sourly. "I'm doing all of it." It wasn't a question; it was a statement of fact. "Well, too bad- I'm not. I'm taking six AP classes. You'll need to do some of the work- that is, if you want an A."

"Tch." Jasper crossed her arms underneath her chest. To her surprise, Jasper seemed to be considering her proposition. She raised her eyebrows. Why... did Jasper Latu suddenly care about her lit grade? It was uncharacteristic, and unnerving. Linebackers didn't just...

Oh, wait. She didn't care.

"If you want to help, fine." She zipped up her bag, shwwp. "If you don't, fine." She could handle this project on her own if she had to. "I'll be in the library tomorrow until six."

"I have to hit the gym."

She snorted. Typical. "What you do with your time doesn't concern me." Peridot sniffed. "If you want to work on the project, you'll know where to find me."

The bell rang. The room bustled with activity as students grabbed their books, pens, phones and filed for the door. "Oh, and you don't have to return my homework." Peridot got up. "I've gotten into the habit of writing two copies. You can keep your coffee stains and cockroaches, thanks."

Jasper's eyebrows drew together as Peridot grabbed her bulging messenger bag and left.