Chapter 9: Someone Less Astute
Everyone in Washington's class was essentially still high-schoolers in mindset. Although there were no "oohs", every eye followed Evan as he left the classroom.
And when he left, everybody snapped away and turned their attention back to their teacher.
"Today, you will be doing this assignment in pairs," Washington said, grabbing a large stack of sheets. "It's a simple, rather short project that shouldn't take you more than a couple weeks. It's really just assigned by the curriculum, in order to foster 'team building' and rapport."
Nobody was listening. As any savvy person in the education system knows, the best way for a teacher to take attention off of what they're saying is to announce that an assignment is being done in pairs. Already, everyone was eyeing prospective partners.
"I will be the one assigning your partners," Washington said, eliciting a series of groans.
"Angelica and Eliza." The two sisters grinned at each other, a mischievous gleam in both pairs of eyes.
"Alex and Thomas."
This was certainly a bad decision. Both boys started screaming at Washington, arguing and cajoling and pleading for a change of partners.
The professor held up a single hand, seemingly giving a death glare to both of them at once, and they shut up.
"Heather and Heather."
The three Heathers looked at Washington in confusion.
He looked up. "Oh. You," He pointed at Chandler. "With you," as he pointed to Duke.
The two of them looked at each other with mutual wrinkled expressions of distaste.
"The other Heather is with Aaron,"
"Other Heather?" McNamara asked.
"Moving on. Jared, you're with Evan when he gets back."
The bespeckled boy rolled his eyes and nodded.
"Alana's with Zoe. Michael and Christine. John, you're with Lafayette."
"Pardonnez-moi, professur," interrupted the Frenchie. "But there is soi… se… seventy or so of us students in this room. How long will this pairing take?"
"Excellent question, Mr. Lafayette. I was waiting for someone to ask that." Washington grinned.
"College isn't like high school. You won't be rewarded for just following the lead. Anyone can do that. At least in this classroom, those who can think freely and question things that don't make sense will succeed, just like in the real world."
"But anyways, here's the pairings."
Washington went over to his desk, clicked his mouse a few times, and a giant list of names appeared on the smartboard in front of the room.
"Have at it!"
"So. You're the yellow Heather," Aaron said carefully, upon getting face-to-face with his new partner.
"Excuse me, but I do have a name."
"Yes. Heather."
This was apparently so funny to Heather McNamara that she started giggling to herself before settling down.
"You're not really one of them, are you? Tom, James, they're not really your buddies, are they?"
Aaron stiffened a little, and looked at the two of them in question. Thomas and Alex were already yelling at each other, with Washington between them. James was way up back in one of the highest rows, speaking quietly with Hercules.
"Wasn't he not here before? Hercules?" Aaron questioned, deftly attempting to switch the subject.
"He transferred here. Wanted to be with his friends. Somehow got it cleared," McNamara said. "But why are you working with them if you don't like them?"
The way she said it. So sure of herself. So confident.
"I do 'like' them, contrary to what you're saying," Aaron said. "I wouldn't work with people I didn't like. With them, we're all going places."
"But you. You're not really friends with those people who share your name, are you? I'm willing to bet you don't really like them at all."
McNamara looked a little shocked. "Of course I like them! Do you even know how long I've known them?"
"Do you even know how long I've known my friends?" Aaron replied.
"It doesn't matter, anyway," Heather finally said. She leaned in a bit, and dropped her voice to a whisper, kind of like how she'd seen it done in the movies. "We're on opposite sides. We're enemies. Understand?"
Aaron maintained a stoic impression. "Understood. Now, how about we get to work on this?"
Across the way, things were not going well with Alex and Thomas. A decent-sized crowd had formed around the spectacle that the two of them were creating.
"And if you weren't such a dumbass, maybe you'd be able to see that I'm RIGHT in this situation!" Thomas shouted.
"I'M the dumbass? Why don't you take your stupid face and shove it right up my-"
At this moment, Washington once again stepped in between them and forcibly shoved them apart. Even still, they both fought against him, trying to get at each other.
"That is ENOUGH!" He actually shouted on that last word, and that was more than enough to make the two of them fall silent.
"Are you two going to work together, now?"
The two of them meekly nodded their heads before returning to their work.
Jared, meanwhile, had literally fallen asleep in his chair. His two limp hands were still grasping his phone, where he was evidently playing a game of some sort. Absolutely nobody paid any mind to this at all.
Towards the top of the room, what had once been a quiet, civil conversation between Hercules and Madison had turned into a very one-sided shouting match.
"How hard is it?" Hercules bellowed. "Nobody else gets sick! Why do you keep on getting sick?"
Maidson responded with a loud, hacking cough, nearly sounding as though he was choking as he reached for his bag and pulled out a tissue box.
It took Angelica and Eliza together to get Hercules to calm down, somehow, with a lot of pats on the back and calm requests to quiet down.
Content that most things were going okay, at least for a little while, Washington went back to his desk and sighed, rubbing his temples. It felt like this was going to be a very long year.
Hello, readers! It's time for another plug-in in the author's notes at the end.
Have you read "Where Paths Cross"? That right there? That's a crossover, a collaboration between several Hamilton fanfiction authors, including yours truly. It's really worth the read. Go on now, go over there and read it.
Thanks for stopping by, and until next time...