November 2nd

"Okay class, today we'll be doing something a little differently. Put your textbooks away."

The students in Mr. Russell's biology class exchanged confused glances before slowly putting away their books. Amanda Applebee scrolled through her phone's inbox, scanning through he unread text messages. She had no interest in biology, and couldn't care less if she failed. She never knew what anyone was talking about, and she didn't care. She had better things to do than learn, like fix her cluttered inbox. She paid no attention to Mr. Russell speaking at the front of the room, until she felt a tapping on her arm. She ignored it at first, until it became relentless. She looked up at whoever had been tapping her with an annoyed look. It was Hector, who nodded his head at the front of the room.

Amanda looked up for the first time, now noticing almost every head in the room facing her, including Mr. Russell's. "Miss Applebee, you should know that I always know when students are texting in my class. No one just looks at their crotch and smiles. The class laughed while Amanda rolled her eyes and shoved her phone into the back pocket of her jeans. When the laughter died down, Mr. Russell continued speaking. "As I was saying, instead of textbook work this week, we'll be doing a project. Since you're all seniors, this project counts. By counts, I mean it will make up 60% of your final grade this semester, so I suggest you take it seriously."

The class broke out into whispering. Everyone wanted to know what this monster project would be. Amanda could still care less. She concentrated on her fingernails now that she didn't have her phone. They were neon pink and looked great.

Zoe raised her hand. "What's this project going to be, Mr. Russell?"

Mr. Russell cleared his throat. "Now this is a private classroom discussion, and nothing that is said here will leave this room. Ryan, shut the door." When the door slammed with a thud, Mr. Russell began to walk around the room. "Before I introduce this project to you, we're going to talk about something. Let's talk about sex."

Amanda sighed and leaned her head back.

"You all know all there is to know about sex, right? Wrong. You all think you know all there is to know, but you don't. You may be familiar with the concept, and the act, but none of you really know the consequences, do you?"

The room was quiet. No one spoke or laughed. In the 2nd to last row of the room, Jessica rested her head on her desk. Everyone knew that at the beginning of last year, Jessica had gotten knocked up by a frat guy at Centerscore University. Despite everything, she had kept her head high for 8 months, walking around school as she got bigger and bigger, until she was confined to stay home. She had the baby and gave it up for adoption, then went on with her life. If anyone knew about the consequences, it was Jess.

"For your semester project, you're each going to pair up. You will receive a baby doll, to simulate the consequences of teen pregnancy and parenthood. For one week, you will share this baby with your partner. This isn't some cabbage patch doll, this thing is like the real thing. It cries, it spits up, it eats, it wets, it does it all. You and your partner will be parents and expected to treat your baby as if it was real. You will care for this baby with your partner for the week, and then write a report on what you learned about teen parenthood."

The room exploded into chatter. People were already partnering up, grabbing their friends hands and chatting. Amanda didn't even bother looking up, nor did Jessica.

"Not so fast, everyone. Before you get all excited, I'm picking the partners."

The entire class groaned and grunted as Mr. Russell smiled. "Now when it comes to partners, it just so happens that we have an even amount of boys and girls, so everyone will be in a boy-girl pair. There will be no switching, trading, or ditching of any kind. I will find out about it and drop you a letter grade. If you have a serious problem, you won't." He smiled again. "I picked the partners very accordingly, so you'll all be fine. Now for the partners." He picked up a clipboard and scanned the list.

Hector leaned over to Amanda and whispered, "This sucks."

"Tell me about it."

Mr. Russell began reading. "Hector, you're with Taylor. Amanda, you'll be with Colt. Ryan with Jill, Fryan with Maria. Phil and Megan, Kenji and Jessica. Zoe you get Jacob, Spencer you're with Nicole. And finally, Howard you're with Sam. Any questions? No? Good. You'll claim your babies tomorrow, I suggest taking today to get to know the mother or father of your child. Children put a lot of strains on relationships, so make stronger bonds." At that moment, the bell rang ending classes for the day. The class got up, murmuring slightly to their friends about their partners, some nervously and some not. Amanda didn't want to do the project at all, but at least she knew Colt and didn't get stuck with some weirdo. She didn't really see how they would be compatible for the project, but whatever. She didn't see Colt as the 'hands on' parenting type, and she certainly didn't plan to doing the work.

Still, he had to be better than having someone who actually cared about the project and expected her to care just as much. As they were leaving the classroom, Colt nodded in Amanda's direction and walked over. "Hey, looks like we're partners."

She smiled. "Looks that way, yeah. Dumb project though."

Colt shrugged. "Yeah well, I can't fail, I'm already borderline in this class. So can we maybe pretend we care?" He raised his eyebrows up and down, causing Amanda to laugh.

"Whatever you say, dad. See you around." She walked out of the classroom smiling. Colt shook his head. This project was going to be a challenge.

Hey guys, tell me what you think so far. I kind of based this project on the father's day special from a while ago because I liked the idea, but I made it more realistic. I also thought it would be better if they didn't get to choose partners, more tension and DRAMA. ;D let me know which partnerships you want to see chapters about, even though Amanda and Colt's is obviously the main one throughout the story, I'll show other people too. Thanks :)))