Hilary couldn't help but frown, glancing heatedly across the table.
She was incredibly ambitious and always strived for perfection. She was utterly obsessed with anything that has to do with organization or rules. Because of how much she values rules and authority, Amy upholds an unnaturally high amount of respect and reverence towards her teachers. She was a straight A student, student body president who'd spend hours doing her homework, double checking her answers. She wanted to do her best; she had it all planned out when she entered the Academy – she was going to be the top-class scholar. And God help anyone who stood in her way.
When Miss Kincaid said they were going to do a group project worth twenty five percent of their grade, she had grinned. She was always in the same group; it was her, the level headed Kenny who had to have everything done to his specific standards and her perfectionist friend Emily who analyzed every detail, catching any mistake. Well, that was until the teacher proclaimed they'd pick numbers out of a hat to choose partners.
"To shake it up," she said with a chuckle, producing a hat. Hilary had picked number fourteen, glancing warily at her classmates.
She noticed Ray and Kane glaring at each other, before switching pieces of paper underneath the table. She rolled her eyes; no doubt they wanted to work with their girlfriends. However, when she noticed Kenny and Emily sitting together, laughing about something, she wanted to scream, to throw something.
That was so unfair!
"You're number fourteen too, huh?" Hilary nodded, glancing up at them as they pulled a chair over, slumping down into it. "At least I get a good-looking partner."
Hilary bristled at the laid-back words, glaring across the table. Her glare fell short, her temper getting the better of her. She paused, her thoughts running around in circles; coming back to you've got to be kidding me.
Why did she have to get paired with him? He was the exact opposite of her . . .Tyson Granger, the class joker – he'd just have to pick the same number as her, wouldn't he? He slept in Math class, mocked the literary classics in English, got paint everywhere but the canvas in Art and blew off History to skateboard in the parking lot.
I'm going to be graded because of him, she thought as he fumbled with a pack of gum. If I fail because of him . . .
She was going to kill him – or at least go crazy – by the end of it all.
"Alright," Hilary grumbled, shaking her head as she picked up their assignment paper. "Miss Kincaid wants us to pick either an aquatic or forestry area and observe the animals residing there and make a report to give to the class in a week's time."
Placing the paper back on the table, she glanced up at Tyson, rolling her eyes. It looked like he wasn't even paying attention as he fixed his hat, popping in a piece of gum. "Forest," he mumbled with a shrug.
Hilary curled her nose up. "Oh man…snakes!" She forced down a shudder. "I hate snakes! They're creepy and just . . . ew!"
Tyson smirked, leaning back in his chair. "What? Don't tell me the sought after Hilary Tachibana is afraid of a little snake," he grinned as her face turned red, eyebrows coming together in anger. Laughing slightly, he leaned forward, his chairs' legs hitting the floor with a thump. "If I have to . . . I'll protect you."
Hilary gritted her teeth together; he was mocking her. "I think I can handle it," she bit out, crossing her arms over her chest. "We're doing aquatic anyway."
"I never agreed to that," Tyson commented, narrowing his eyes. "Aquatic is just so boring. But, you go ahead and do your aquatic thing – we can shake things up, you know? Argue the two points; weigh out the opportunities to see which ones really the best."
"That's stupid," Hilary spat, drumming her fingers against the table. "Miss Kincaid would totally flip out."
No need to add, that should she graduate with high honors and a superb grade point average no less then ninety-four point six, she would personally recommend her to every high school and write her a recommendation for the summer abroad internship.
"Well, whatever, he said – and I quote – to shake things up. This it that, and that's what we're doing; you'll learn to deal with it sweetheart. We both get what we want – hey, you got a piece of paper?"
"You could at least say please," she grumbled, ripping a page out of her binder.
Tyson took it greedily, scrawling something across the page, taking up the entire space. "That's my email address – email me your report when you're done," Hilary raised an eyebrow, folding up the paper he'd shoved at her. "I don't have time to hang out with you after work – don't know if I could handle it either." he added as an undertone.
He didn't know the highly sought after, pretty girl from the school could be so . . . stubborn. Maybe, he was glad that he forgot to hand in his application for student council vice president . . .
"Fine, whatever," Hilary shrugged, scribbling down her own email. "Don't you dare send me chain letters, forwards or stupid videos –"
"Got it," Tyson said, grabbing the paper from her, shoving it in his back pocket as the school bell rang. "See you around sweetheart – don't drown, alright? I'm not going to be there to rescue you now." Tyson let out a laugh, slinging his bag over his shoulder, leaving the classroom.
"So, you got Tyson Granger as your partner," Emily commented, sitting down on Hilary's desk. "You're lucky, he's a pretty funny guy –"
"He's annoying," Hilary grumbled, dropping her head on the desk. "He won't listen to a thing I say! I want to do aquatic and he wants to do forestry – so he decided we're doing both and that we're going to debate the subject –"
"Sounds rough," Kenny said, dropping a hand onto Hilary's shoulder. "But, you should be too hard on him, Hil; he knows what he's talking about."
"Yeah," Emily piped up, tossing Hilary's backpack at her. "Don't be so mean to the guy, you should just give in for once – you'd get a better grade then."
"Why do I have to give in?" Hilary muttered, pushing herself away from her desk. "It always comes down to me!"
"You're just too used to people doing whatever you want to on council," Emily said with a shrug. "Kenny and I are going to the zoo tomorrow morning, you should come with us; it'll give you some good ideas for your project."
"Sure, whatever," Hilary said with a shrug. "It'll get my mind off Tyson Granger."
She didn't know why Emily and Kenny exchanged a glance with one another before breaking out into laughter. She raised an eyebrow – glancing from one to other, before shrugging her shoulders.
Sometimes, she wondered about her friends.
"So, what did you guys end up picking?" Hilary asked, glancing at the zoo's map.
"We're doing aquatic," Kenny said, pocketing the map. "The tour supposed to start at the aquarium soon – we'll have to hurry if we want to catch it, Emily."
The orange-haired girl nodded, slipping on her sunglasses. "It's going to take us forever to get there," she said, shaking her head. "I'll race you there!"
"You're on," Kenny said with a smirk.
"What tour?" Hilary asked, glancing from one to the other. "I want to come along too."
Emily rolled her eyes at Kenny before turning to glance at her classmate. "It's a tour the zookeepers put on; it's so going to help us out with our research! We're going to knock you off that high horse of yours."
Hilary glared at them as they broke out laughing. "I'd like to see you try . . . but, we've got to hurry –"
"No way Hilary," Kenny said, grabbing her shoulders, whirling her around. "You're going over there to where the forestry animals are – see what Tyson is talking about. No complaints," he added, seeing her harsh glare.
Hilary sighed, brushing Kenny's hands away. "Fine, fine, don't be so pushy. I'll meet up with you in a couple hours for lunch then."
Shoving her hands into her pockets, Hilary sighed. Why were they being so pushy, they weren't usually . . . wait, what if they were secretly dating and didn't want her to know? Hilary shook her head; no, her sister wasn't good at keeping secrets. She felt a shiver run down her spine, forcing a shudder back as she came across a glassed area, small bugs crawling everywhere.
Gross, Gross, Hilary thought, picking up her pace. I'm going to kill Emily later . . .
Secretly, she knew they wanted to torture her.
Wandering away from the glassed area – goosebumps running down her arms – she pulled her map out of her pocket, frowning. She didn't usually come to the forestry area, she thought idly as she folded the map to only show this section of the zoo.
It seemed it was bigger then she thought – there was that many animal life?! This was going to be a long day.
Shoving the map in her back pocket, she glanced up at the large message board of sorts that stood behind her, casting a shadow over her. Raising an eyebrow as she read the posters adorning the board; shaking her head.
She had no idea where she was going anyway, so she might as well go on the zookeeper tour.
And, that was how Hilary found herself climbing onto the trolley, slumping down into the back seats, pushing her sunglasses up. Imagine if someone from school saw her on the trolley . . . she'd never hear the end of it . . .
"Alright, welcome to the tour! Today we're going to see some creepy crawlers up close and personal! If you don't like 'em – you better find another ride," Hilary paused, she knew that voice. "No takers? Well, don't say I didn't warn you!"
Hilary rolled her eyes, biting back a laugh. It sounded like he was talking to her, she thought idly as she looked up. She paused as her eyes landed on the brown clad zookeeper, his blue hair sticking out underneath a green hat.
There was no way that Tyson Granger was a zoo keeper . . .
But, when he spoke through his microphone, winking at her, she shook her head.
No wonder he wanted to do forestry.
Breaking eye contact with him as he pointed to a glassed area to their left; Hilary reached over, undoing her backpack before pulling out her binder. Twirling a pen through her fingers, she brought it down to the paper, taking notes.
Maybe, forestry would be easier . . .
An hour later, Hilary flopped down underneath a shady tree, leaning back on her palms. She glanced around her surroundings – Kenny and Emily were supposed to be here soon.
"I will say, I didn't expect to see you sitting on the trolley," Tyson commented, leaning against the tree trunk. "I thought you hated forests."
"I do," Hilary grumbled, glaring up at him. "But Emily and Kenny –"
"Ah," Tyson hummed, nodding. "But, you should have seen your face when that beetle fell from the branch and those bees showed up. That was priceless; I wish I had that on camera."
Hilary let out a humph! looking away from him. "That was not funny what-so-ever!"
"Don't worry sweetheart, I wouldn't have let them hurt you." Hilary gritted her teeth together; his sarcastic sweetheart comment getting under her skin. "They're used to people anyway."
"Like I knew that," Hilary said, picking herself up off the ground. "You could have mentioned that before!" She gave him a push for good measure.
And that was how Kenny and Emily found them; Tyson lying on the ground, laughing manically with Hilary standing over him, hands balled into fists as she glared at him. "So," Kenny said; confusion on his face. "I see you found Tyson."
Hilary paused, turning around to glare at Kenny. "You knew? That's why I got subjected to a bee gang attack?"
Emily blinked. "Sounds like you had a fun time Hilary," she laughed, glancing at Kenny. "If I were you, I'd run – I've seen that face before."
Kenny nodded in agreement, turning on his heel, heading back the way he came. "See you later Tyson!"
"Oh – I'm not done with you, get back here!" Hilary yelled as she gave chase.
Emily just shook her head, flopping down beside Tyson, leaning against the tree trunk. "So did she really get attacked by bees? Tell me you have that on video . . ."
