dh;

The first class of the day is science. The teacher, Mr. Allen, is leaning against his desk in the front, looking chipper. Claire is two seats in front of me, sharing a table with Massie (of course.) Claire has her notebook and pen out, even if it's the first day of school and we're not learning anything. Cute.

"I have good news for you, new seniors. You will not have a science final this year!" He grins. A few students yawn. "Instead, you'll be compiling a project with a partner about something you've learned in all your years of science! Sound like fun, guys?"

"No," Kemp calls out.

Mr. Allen keeps grinning as he says, "And now you can't choose your partners. Good, because I stayed up until midnight picking partners for you." He holds up a sheet of paper. "400 points. Sixty percent of your final grade. Make it interesting, guys. Powerpoints, videos, models. But I want to see extensive research on it at the end of the year. And you have no excuse for a half-assed project. We'll be working on it in class three times a week, at the least."

He sticks the piece of paper with the partners onto the white board. "Make sure you know who your partner is!"

I slide out of my desk and go up to the paper. I spot my name and look at what the little dash connects it to. I smile to myself when I see it.

Derrick Harrington – Claire Lyons

"he might be one of those boys

that's all pretty and vain"

cl;

Massie's gone up to look at the list and I'm doodling in my notebook. Suddenly, I smell something like Polo Black and when I look up, I realize Derrick Harrington is sitting next to me.

I stare at him blankly. I've never talked to him before in my life, and he has this pretty bad reputation – rumor has it that he sleeps with girls in alphabetical order by first and last names, and now he's moving on to the Greek alphabet.

"May I help you?" I ask, sounding colder than I had meant to. I'm probably one of like, three girls at this school who hasn't slept with him yet.

"I'm your partner," he says, looking at me like he means it in more ways than one. I feel a twinge of annoyance. Sure, he could model for Abercrombie and Fitch, but he didn't have to be all arrogant about it.

"Is there a specific reason why you're in my seat, Derrick?" A tired voice asks. It's Massie. She doesn't sound angry or upset. One eyebrow is raised at Derrick's seating.

Derrick smiles almost mockingly. "As I was just explaining to Claire," he says, leaning back in his chair. "I'm her partner for the project."

"So?"

Derrick shrugs. "So, I think it would be more effective if I sat next to Claire," he explains. "We could get more work done." And he gives me the look again, along with a small hint of a smile.

"Oh, and, class, sit with your partners!" Mr. Allen calls out. "You'll be doing a lot of work over the course of the year."

Derrick tilts his head. "See?"

Massie sighs. "Then do you know a..." She scrunches up her face trying to remember. "Kent Harley? Or something?"

Derrick points at the next table over. Massie glides off, and Derrick turns towards me. Before he can say anything, though, Mr. Allen is standing up and ringing a bell, trying to get our attention. "Are we in the third grade or something?" Someone calls out.

Mr. Allen cleverly ignores him and produces a hat. "You'll draw projects from this hat, then introduce your partner to the class. You've been attending the same school for at least four years now..." Joshua Hotz, a boy who had been kicked out of his old school and had subsequently come here to join the aggregation of stupid pretty boys/dumb jocks, made a loud coughing noise. "Well, most of you have, so you should now sufficient information about each other."

"Uh, if we know sufficient info about each other, why do we have to introduce our partners?" The same person as before calls out. I look over to see Massie putting her head in her hands as her partner raises her hand, chewing gum loudly.

"It's just a fun first day activity, Kemp," Allen says calmly. "Would you rather have a pop quiz? That can be arranged too."

"It's cool, Mr. Allen."

Allen takes the list of partners down and slowly reads off the names. I can't believe the people that have been paired together – Alicia and Olivia, for instance. They are the best of friends, and Allen knows that.

"Derrick and Claire," he calls, holding out the hat. Immediately, I go up and get it, but Derrick lags behind. I look at the slip of paper in my hand. Pyrology. When Derrick gets to the front, I show him the paper and Allen says, "Now introduce yourselves."

I open my mouth to speak. "Um, this is Derrington." Then I blush when I realize what I had just said – I had started to say his first name but I was meaning to say his last name. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and restarted. "This is Derrick. Harrington. He um, plays soccer."

"No shit, sweetheart," Kemp says.

"You won't be playing soccer if you keep speaking up in class, Kemp," Allen warns.

Kemp scoffs. "You can't kick me off the soccer team."

"No, but I can fail you in science, thus banning you from any sports," Allen threatens cheerfully. "Continue, Claire."

I don't have anything else to say. Well, I do, but I can't exactly tell the class that Derrick sleeps with girls who have names beginning with various letters of the Greek alphabet. Thankfully, Derrick starts talking. "This is Claire," he says. "She's wondering why you've paired Alicia and Olivia together, but not her and Massie, Mr. Allen. However, I'd just like to thank you, because I might actually pass science this year." He gives the class a bright grin, and most of the girls in the class give back equally stupid grins.

I decide I don't like Derrick Harrington.

"Well, Derrick, I hope you have fun working with Claire this year," Mr. Allen says, almost sarcastically.

Derrick's grin turns into a smirk. "Oh, I will."

author's note: kind of boring, sorry. next chapter has more um, clairington in it, i swear. review si'l vous plait. lyrics are from arctic monkeys.