Chapter Three: Biology Lab Partners

A week passed, and Anastasia became more depressed than ever. Dimitri was infuriating in his "innocent" way; she decided that in order to keep Mr. Jingles, she had to hide him in her dorm; during the weekends she had to work at her aunt's apartment; the authorities still didn't have a lead on her parents' murderer; and to further complicate matters, her parents' funeral took place.

Monday morning she stormed into school. "Great," she thought to herself, "I have Biology today, and I bet a project will be assigned. Could this day get any more irritating?"

"Ana, wait up!" Cassie called as she rushed through the school doors. "Not seeing you over the weekend is such a drag. I don't even get to see Mr. Chimes when you're gone." Anastasia smiled. Mr. Chimes was Cassie's nickname for Mr. Jingles.

"Sorry, but wherever I go, the cat goes."

Cassie shrugged lightly. She stared expectantly at Anastasia. "So, what do you think of my new sweater?"

"It's great. Love the lavender."

Cassie wrinkled her nose. "It's not lavender...it's a majestic purple."

Anastasia shrugged. "I'm sorry. I love the 'majestic' purple." Anastasia began walking toward the classroom.

Cassie followed, and in her pursuit she witnessed something that astounded her. Anastasia was entering the Biology classroom...at the same time as Dimitri. They collided, and Anastasia just kept walking, no apology or anything. But that wasn't what shocked her....

Anastasia took her usual seat and Dimitri sat directly behind her.

Anastasia noticed that Cassie walked into the room with an empty expression on her face. Cassie sat down quickly, and then whispered to her friend. "Ana, you know how I was teasing you about Anya and whatnot?"

"Yeah, and if you're going to talk about it, it better be an apology."

"Anya," As soon as the word left her mouth, Cassie quickly corrected herself. "Ana, I saw you bump into Dimitri, and you should have seen the way he looked at you!"

"Cassie, that's enough."

"But listen!"

"Please."

Her friend nodded reluctantly and straightened up in her seat.

To the relief of both girls, Professor Castillo entered the classroom. "Hello, class. Let's get started."

* * *

". . . and so that is how eukaryotic cells developed. And now, for the class project." Several students groaned. "Your assignments are to research eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells and then write a report comparing and contrasting them, saying how they helped influence the beginning of life on Earth through endosymbiosis; complete a lab assignment demonstrating the Miller-Urey experiment; and finally write a report on your results of the experiment. Several key items to note are that: One, Earth came into existence about 4.6 million years ago, and two, life first appeared on Earth about 3.5 million years ago.

"Give me five minutes to assign partners."

Anastasia and Cassie smiled at each other. Students started gossiping amongst themselves as the teacher shuffled through papers for the attendance list.

"Now, I don't want anybody to get upset with who he or she gets paired with. Furthermore, I don't want people to jubilate. Keep your thoughts to yourself. First group: Charles and Miranda. Second group:....

"Fourth group: Cassie and Crystal." Cassie and Crystal exchanged surprised glances. Anastasia's eyes widened. "This can't be possible." "Fifth group: David and Tim. Sixth group: Anastasia and Dimitri." Anastasia didn't hear anything after that.

Dimitri smiled as he tapped Anastasia on her shoulder. "Anya, this is going to be so fun!"

"Yippee," she said less than half-heartedly. Fortunately, Dimitri did not pick up on her sarcastic tone.

After the bell rang, Anastasia stuffed her books into her backpack. She was still feeling grouchy about the project pairings.

"So, where are we meeting, your place or mine?" Dimitri asked.

Anastasia's eyebrows raised. "Excuse me?"

"You know. Where are we meeting to get started on the project?"

"Oh, how about...um, let's see...how about neither!"

"What?"

Cassie leaned over from her desk. "She'll meet you in the park at six."

"Great! Thanks!" Dimitri left the classroom humming and grinning like the cat who swallowed the canary.

Anastasia radared a fierce glare at Cassie. "What did you do that for?!"

"Ana, you're stuck with him. One way or another, you're going to have to learn to get along. Or at least for this project."

"Or, I could ask Mr. Castillo if you and I could switch partners!"

"Um, no. First of all, that wouldn't be fair to Dimitri. Second of all, that wouldn't be fair to me.... I mean, Crystal would get to be partners with him!"

"Okay, on your second point, I could actually care less; I don't care if Crystal steals the egotistical man of your dreams. But, I guess you're right on that first point." She took a deep breath and sighed. "You're right, you're right. I'm just gonna have to suck it up and deal with it like a man…woman, I mean," she quickly corrected herself. "Who knows, perhaps I could learn a thing or two in the process. In a weird way, this might actually turn out to be fun!"

Cassie hugged her friend. "Have fun." She started to walk away. "Oh!" she exclaimed as a second thought popped into her head. "Please, at least try to make an effort."

"I'll try.... By the way, you have great tennis shoes. I love the hot pink! What is that, a new trend?"

"Yep, yep, that's true. It's really taking in Los Angeles," Cassie replied as she modeled her brand new shoes.

Anastasia giggled and left the classroom.

"Hey, Cassie," Crystal asked between the pops of her gum, "what's up with you and Ana? Your shoes are totally magenta, not anywhere near hot pink."

"I wish I knew," Cassie replied softly under her breath.

* * *

Dimitri sat in the park under the biggest oak he could find. He tapped his foot and glanced to the left, then to the right. He proceeded by looking at his watch. It read 6:05.

Anastasia paced impatiently in front of the fountain. "Where is Dimitri?" She looked up at the big clock. It read 6:05.

At 6:30 she sighed, picked up her notebook, and stormed off to her dormitory.

At 6:35 Dimitri kicked a stone near the path, thrust his notes into his backpack, slung it onto his shoulder, and then marched off to his dorm.

Anastasia stomped up the stairs to the fifth floor of the college dormitories.

Dimitri ran up the back stairs.

Anastasia reached the fifth floor and headed for Room 517.

Dimitri hit the fifth floor and sulked to Room 515.

Anastasia stared at the floor in her tirade.

Dimitri picked his head up as he reached his room.... "Hey!"

Anastasia looked up. "Whoa!"

They collided again.

Dimitri stared her in the eyes. "Watch where.... Anya, where were you?"

"I should be asking you the same thing, Dimitri. And, for the record, my name's Anastasia, NOT Anya!" She pushed him aside and continued to walk. She pulled her keys out of her purse.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about." She jammed her key into her doorknob.

"No, I don't. Why are you mad at me?" He asked and reached for her arm.

"Just.... Look, don't talk about it, okay; it's only going to upset me." And with that, she slammed the door in his face and left him standing alone in the hallway.

Inside her dormitory, Anastasia dropped her bag on the floor. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply and leaned against the metal door. Exhaling, her eyes opened to see two familiar faces staring up at her. Cassie, Crystal, and about a million papers were sprawled out on the floor. Crystal was popping her gum and petting Mr. Jingles.

"So, how did it go?" Cassie asked in her chipper way, though she pretty much already knew the answer.

"I'm going to bed...."

So, what do you think of the project pairings? Each reply is deeply appreciated. Thank you for reading and responding!