Hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year's Eve! I hope you all have a wonderful new 2014!
The semester continued for the two girls. The more time that went by the more Jane tried to fit in with her fellow classmates but was mostly unsuccessful. She wondered what the big deal was… she didn't really dress much differently than a good portion of the other students, she handled the workload perfectly and now nearly into half of the semester she was well on her way to a perfect 4.0 GPA. She was well aware that people could be cruel bastards just for the fun of it and tried to not let it get to her, but it really bothered her when she was forced to work with incompetent idiots who constantly made fun of her for her smarts and scholarship status. If there was one particular type of student she hated it was the spoiled rich kid who lacked the intelligence to have even graduated high school, let alone get into an Ivy League school.
On her side, it didn't seem like Maura was fairing much better but she claimed that she was used to the treatment. She'd been attending boarding schools most of her life; she at least fit in that way. Her intelligence was very intimidating to anyone who paid her any mind and so they, of course, turned to ridicule and often called her names like 'Maura the Bora' to try to insult the younger blonde. Maura had gotten to the point where she was practically immune and didn't let it bother her; she just wished that Jane would react the same way.
"Listen up everyone! We're going to start on a new project today. Your job is going to be to work in a group of 4 people and build a company with a name of your choosing. You will do research and analysis to develop and market a product also of your choosing and have it compete in the market with products similar to it. The four of you will assign a group leader who will be in charge of keeping everyone in line and grade everyone in the group with regards to participation; their assessment will count at 25% of your grade. The group leader will turn in an additional report on everyone. A 30 minute class presentation will be done the last week before finals. Though you have a little more than half the semester to work on this, I urge you to not put it off; I will notice immediately if you do. Now listen for your name. Once you meet your group, look over the details of the project and arrange meeting times you are free to go."
Jane closed her eyes so that no one could see her roll them in frustration and annoyance. Yet ANOTHER group project she had to work on that would count as a huge part of her semester grade. She wondered just what this had to do with human behavior. Deep down she knew the answer but was still annoyed at the type of work they would have to do. She sat there listening while hoping that whoever she ended up with would at least put effort into the project.
"Fredrick, Mason, Rizzoli and Watson," the professor finished reading the groups.
Jane looked over to Mason, the only one of the group she recognized since the blonde haired guy was in another of her classes. She stood and walked over to his desk, trying to put on her best smile.
"Hey, I'm Jane. You're Brad, right?" she asked, extending her hand.
"Yeah, hi Jane, nice to meet you. Where do I know you from?" he asked.
"We have Psych together," she replied.
"Oh, that's right… sorry," he said sheepishly.
"It's ok, there's a lot of us in that class," she replied. "Do you know the other two in the group?" she asked him.
"No, I don't really talk with anyone," he said.
"I've been hit with something similar," she replied as the other two people from the group approached them.
Jane eyed them up and down discreetly and knew she was in for a world of trouble… two of the students she disliked the most.
"Alright so who's going to be the leader, because I sure as hell am not going to do all that crap!" a brunette spoke up.
"Yeah, me neither," the other stated.
"And you are?" Jane questioned the two of them with a dirty look.
"I'm Bianca Watson, and this is George Fredrick," she said as she pointed to the guy next to her.
"I'm Jane," Jane replied unenthusiastically.
"and I'm Brad," the blonde guy stated.
"I wasn't exactly looking forward to being the group leader either," Jane said. "But I'll do it if I have to."
"Honestly I wouldn't be comfortable with it Jane, if it's ok, I'd rather you do it. I'll help out if you need it," Brad supplied.
The other two were incredibly difficult to work with when it came to meeting times. They had immediately taken out their cell phones and weren't paying any attention to what Brad and Jane were saying.
"Alright, I guess I'LL be the leader," Jane said a little louder.
"Great, just what we need, a Ginzo leading us…" George muttered.
"What the hell did you call me?" Jane asked as she stared at George with a frown.
"I said Ginzo, are you deaf too ginzy?" he sneered.
Jane rose from her seat, ready to punch his lights out when Brad stood and got in between them. Brad towered over the smaller guy and definitely had more muscle in him. It was a no brainer; Brad could knock him into the middle of next week with just a flex of his muscular body.
"Listen asshole, you better not insult Jane again, you understand me?" Brad said as he looked down at the spoiled rich kid.
"Whatever," George muttered as he rose from his seat. "Let's go Bee," he said to his friend.
"Thank you for defending my honor, kind sir," Jane said with a smile as she and Brad sat back down. "I don't know what we're going to do with those two. We're screwed if we have to work with them.
"You're welcome," Brad replied with a smile of his own. "Anytime. I think we'll do alright Jane. We can handle this together if we plan it out accordingly; and I'll back you up when it comes to grading time if the professor questions the big 'F's you should give those two idiots."
"Yeah, I have the feeling they're not going to do a damned thing. So how are we going to do this? What's your schedule like?"
"I have classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; you?"
"I have classes Monday through Friday unfortunately, AND I have a job." I'm sure we can work something out though; I only have one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. How about we meet then? We can also meet during the weekend if necessary. What do you say to meeting tomorrow at 1 in the library? I'll head over as soon as my class is done," Jane suggested.
"Sure, that works for me. I'll wait for you there. Let me give you my number," Brad said as he pulled out his notebook and wrote his information on a sheet of paper. "My e-mail's on there too… just send me a text when you're on your way and I'll tell you where I am; I know how huge the library is."
"Deal," Jane said. "Here's my info."
They rose from the desks and made their way out of the classroom.
"So I'll see you tomorrow," Jane said.
"Sure, I'll see you tomorrow Jane," Brad said as the two parted ways.
So we have a new character... What do you think Brad wants with Jane... does he want just her friendship or is there more to it? I'd love to know your thoughts!
