…
The Group Project
Four
I rushed up the endless stairs to the front doors and rammed my body into the door, but it didn't give. "Ouch!" I exclaimed, rubbing my shoulder where it connected with the solid door. I then tried the handle and it easily opened. I tried to take a step into the house, but my foot caught on the floor and I fumbled forward. I dragged myself to stand on my feet again and closed the door behind me. I followed the voices into a room where the group was arguing. "Hey guys!" I greeted them all.
They all turned to me with irritated expressions and Sharpay snapped at me, "Don't interrupt. You're late."
"Sorry, I couldn't find your house."
Sharpay argued, "It's the only one in this zip code, Jason."
"I kept missing the street. I don't know what else to tell you."
"How?" She scoffed.
Martha spoke up, "Will you give it a rest? He's here now at least."
"Everyone else could find my house and be on time. I want to know why he couldn't."
I said, "I'm sorry, Sharpay." I walked around the couch and took a seat next to Martha.
"Whatever."
Martha looked to me and rolled her eyes. She whispered, "Ignore her."
"I try to," I smiled.
"I'm Martha by the way."
"I know. We have algebra together, remember?"
"Oh yeah! How could I forget? You're always pestering Mrs. Daniels to go through the homework problems."
"Yeah," I shrugged. "I guess math isn't my forte."
Just then, Chad entered the room with Ryan following behind him. Ryan took a seat next to us and Chad approached the front of the room. He turned around and clapped his hands together before addressing us, "Now that everyone is here, let's get to work!"
Sharpay raised her hand and said, "I say we should vote on leader first. I mean, why are you assuming you're the leader?"
"Why not me?"
"Because I don't like you."
Chad laughed, "Well that's just too bad."
Kelsi suggested, "Let's have a vote. Everyone who wants Chad to be the leader, raise your hand."
Zeke asked, "What if we're entirely indifferent and just want to get this over with already?"
Troy said to him, "A vote for Chad is a vote for getting this over with quickly, trust me."
Gabriella spoke up, "Hold on a second. I don't mean any offense to you Chad, but I think there's someone better fitted for being the leader. I mean, we don't want to just get this done quickly, we want to get it done right. Wouldn't you all like someone who's known for being academic and organized? Someone who wouldn't settle for anything less than a perfect score?"
I asked, "Who is that?"
"Taylor, of course."
Sharpay spoke up, "I'd be fine with Taylor. I dislike her less."
Taylor said, "Thank you?"
Chad said, "Alright, raise your hand if you want Taylor to be the leader."
I raised mine and looked around as everyone else had his or hers up, too.
Chad said, "It's settled then."
Taylor stood and approached the front of the room, "First, I would like to say how humbled I am to have been elected your group leader. I am confident in our-"
Sharpay yelled out, "You're leading a group project, not becoming class president. Move on!"
I braced for the backlash after my interruption, but no one dared confront me. Taylor stumbled over her words a little before obliging and starting to delegate. I pulled my feet up onto the couch and wrapped my arms around my knees. On the outside, I probably appeared cute and fabulous (what else is new?), but on the inside, I was fuming.
Tonight couldn't be even more of a disaster if this whole house blew up in a freak furnace explosion. I only joined this group to get closer to Troy, but he barely acknowledged me before chatting up that Gabriella girl. Now I'm stuck next to this other guy on the other side of the couch, forced to look on as Troy hits it off with someone else. What have I done to deserve this? I think Karma missed her target.
The tragedy of the situation overwhelming me, I stood to depart the room.
"Umm," Taylor said. "Where do you think you're going? We have a massive paper to write, you know."
I answered, "I'm parched." I crossed around the couch while everyone yelled at me, ordering me to stay. "I'm not going to force myself to stay in here with all of you when I'm thirsty. Dehydration is like certain death to skin. Don't you all know that?"
Chad stood and stepped into my way, "Listen, Princess…No one cares about your pores. We all just want to get this over with. The sooner we finish, the sooner we get out of your hair and you're free to do whatever you want."
I rolled my eyes and reluctantly headed back to my seat.
Taylor continued, "As I was saying, I propose that we divide up the paper according to portion of the paper. For example, a couple of people will do the introduction, someone else will do the conclusion, and the rest will work on the body paragraphs."
Martha said, "Isn't that unfair? The people who have to do the body paragraphs will be stuck with all the research, whereas the people who do the introduction and conclusion just have to summarize all the work the others did."
Jason said, "I'm not opposed to that idea as long as I'm the one who does the summarizing."
Martha said, "All of us should do the same amount of work."
Taylor said, "That's not realistic. It's inevitable that some people will do a little more or a little less. That's just how it is. Welcome to the group project."
Troy spoke up, "There must be a better way than dividing the paper by parts. I agree with Martha that it's going to be unfair to those who are stuck with the body of it."
"Fine," Taylor said. "I don't know how we'll all be able to work on each part together. It just seems excessive to have everyone concentrating on each little detail, line by line."
I yelled out, "Fine! You want to divide us into groups to do each part? Who are we to argue? You are the leader after all. Let's do it your way. How about you start on the paper and we'll just wait for our turns?" I stood, "And since it's not my time yet, I'm going to quench my thirst." With my final word, the group completely fell apart as people left the room and talked amongst themselves while Taylor started the paper alone.
