A/N: A strange idea that came to me when I was thinking about reality shows O.o Don't ask, my mind is weird. Anyway, R/R please! Oh yes, and I don't know the history teacher's name... review and tell me if you know so I can fix it I just called him Mr. Smith :-P
Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi: The Next Generation. Or the original Degrassi. I don't own much, in fact. I only have about forty dollars and a few pieces of candy from Mexico. Anyway, onto the story.
Summary: A strange line of events brings certain Degrassi students together... closer than ever before.
"Okay, class, now that we're done with our reports on World War II, I'm going to start a whole new project." With a load moan from the class, Mr. Smith continued, "I know, you can hardly wait to get started. The only good news about this project is that I will be pairing you together with partners. Each group will do a report on one of the USA's fifty states. I will give you your partners name, and your state now. Toby and Kendra, California. JT and Liberty, Illinois. Sean and Emma, Texas..."
Emma froze at Mr. Smith's lasts words.
"Sean and Emma..."
She, very unwillingly, glanced over her shoulder at a very miserable looking Sean. 'Why did Mr. Smith have to pair me with him?' Emma thought bitterly, looking back at the front of the classroom, trying to maintain control of her anger. 'He's a criminal. A stealing, lying, jerk. And I have to spend the next two weeks with him. This is going to be great. Just great.'
"Please get started, class. You have the rest of the period to start researching online, and you will have to do most of the rest of the work after school, or in your spare time. This grade counts as a test grade, you want to put the best effort you can into it."
Chairs slid across the floor as people started pairing off. Emma slowly stood up and walked over to the back of the room where Sean was sitting. "Um, hi," she said awkwardly.
Sean just raised his eyebrows and looked around, obviously trying for as long as he could to ignore her. Emma sighed and timidly sat down in the chair beside him. "Well, to get a good grade on this project we'll need to get along... which we clearly don't...so I think we should just forget our past. For the project anyway, because I'm not failing a test grade."
"Another F wouldn't exactly stand out on my report card," Sean replied rudely.
"It's not all about you," Emma shot back, her temper rising, "Could you ever actually consider someone else might be affected from one of your choices?"
"Look. Whatever. I don't care about some dumb History project- if you don't want to fail it, work on it. Alone. Because I'm not going to hang out with you any more than I absolutely have to."
"Sean-"
"Look, Emma, don't."
She sighed, swallowing her anger. Silently counting to ten, she turned to him and sighed. "Well, do you know anything about Texas?"
"Um, it's like, a really big state."
Emma sighed again, louder this time. "I mean, about the economy? Or the leader, or anything?"
Sean looked at her with a face that clearly read 'Are you kidding me?'
"Okay, so, maybe we don't know a whole lot. But we can get some books from the library or something-"
"Look, okay, I don't want to be a part of any little gay study group you're having after school, Emma. I have plans. And I'll help you only when I have nothing else to do. Believe it or not, unlike some people, school is not my number one priority."
Emma again tried to push down her anger. "Okay, sorry, just thought maybe you would want to get a good grade on this."
Sean was silent, staring yet again around the room. The bell rang, and Sean bolted out of the room. Emma groaned and stood up also, following him out of the room. He was going to be a part of their project whether he liked it or not.
-x-
Marco glanced down at the sheet in his hand, and then looked at the doors lining the hallway on the left.
"C'mon, where is it? Room 41...41..." Marco looked at the doors. No luck.
"Looking for the Yearbook staff meeting?" A voice behind Marco asked.
He turned and was met with shining blue eyes looking at him over a pearly white smile.
"Oh, yeah, uh, hey Dylan," Marco smiled nervously. "You wouldn't know where the classroom was, would you?"
"Yeah, I'm part of the staff."
Marco's heart skipped a beat and he followed Dylan down the hallway on the right. "I wouldn't expect you to know where it is, since it's a grade 12 classroom. But, here we are."
He had stopped at Room 41. Marco let out a nervous laugh and said timidly, "Um, thanks."
"Sure."
Dylan flashed one of those killer smiles at him again and followed him through the doorway. A few people were scattered around the classroom, talking quietly. Dylan motioned Marco over to a small group of people in the corner in the back.
"Hey- Tom, Mark, and Joel- this is Marco. He's a grade 10." (A/N: I forgot what grade he's in, correct me if I'm wrong.)
Nods of welcome greeted Marco from around the circle. Tom looked at Marco disapprovingly, turning his nose up. Dylan didn't seem to notice, though, and said, "Marco's new to the staff this year. Help me show him the ropes, okay guys?"
They nodded, except for Tom, who was still looking Marco up and down with unsure eyes.
Dylan turned over to the short Italian boy. "Mr. Thomas, the grade 12 Science teacher, is in charge of the yearbook committee. Don't worry, he's really nice and cool, I'm sure you'll like him."
'That smile,' Marco thought silently, 'Is going to be the death of me.'
-x-
A/N: I know, it was really short, I just want some feedback :-P I promise the next chapter will be longer if you review!
