Cariño

3

"Nowadays, we use social networks to present ourselves to others. What we show, or what we hide, says a lot about who we are. And this is what the pair work I want you to do is about. I want you to create your partner's profile for a social network."

Samuel sat up "Wasn't this language and literature class?"

Martín shrugged "Welcome to Las Encinas, man. We can demonise social networks, like other schools do, but we can also use them to learn. Please, take advantage of the opportunity to investigate, to question each other. And most of all, adapt this to your goal. What is it, Christian?"

Christian put his hand down and shrugged "I just have a question. What can I improve in my profile? Nothing! It's perfect."

Lu rolled her eyes and looked at Christian "It can be improved. When he was talking about privilege and intelligence, he didn't mean you." Polo laughed "Boom! Take that!"

Natalia shared a look with Marina and they both rolled their eyes.

Suddenly the bell rang but Martín insisted we sit down "Nobody leaves until they have a partner. Choose one and come by my desk."

Natalia gathered her things and stood up. She walked over to Tomás and smiled "Partners?" Tomás thought for a second and then smirked "I think maybe it's time that you get to know my friends a little bit more."

Natalia frowned "What are you saying?" Tomás looked behind her "Lu doesn't have a partner so why don't you go with her. You can get to know her a bit more, plus she's smart so you'll get a good grade for this. Trust me."

Natalia looked behind and saw Lu hovering around the classroom and she turned back to Tomás "Fine. I'll do it." She walked over to Lu and put on a smile "Hey, Lu! Do you wanna be partners?"

Lu turned around at the sound of her voice and nodded "Yeah, sure! I'll go and tell Martín."

She walked over to his desk and Natalia's smile dropped when she faced a smirking Tomás. "Happy?" Tomás laughed and kissed Natalia on the cheek. He then walked towards his new partner.

***

"So, why did you want to be my partner?" Natalia shrugged "Well, I haven't had the chance to get to know you."

Lu nodded "Likewise. I'm gonna ask you some questions, okay?" Natalia nodded and Lu looked through her Instagram account "Wow, there's a lot of photos of you and Tomás on here."

Natalia shrugged "Well, I'm with him most of the time." Lu frowned "We need to add a couple of pictures of you. Do you have any?" Natalia pulled out her phone "Yeah, I'll send some to you now."

Natalia tapped on her photos and scrolled through the many pictures she had on their. There was plenty of photos with her and Tomás but also with her and Marina.

Suddenly Natalia stopped scrolling when she saw a picture from two years ago. It was of her and her ex boyfriend, Valerio. They were together for a year until he had to go to boarding school.

The two were inseparable and Lu knew this. Lu looked up from her iPad and saw what Natalia was staring at and she sighed "He still talks about you." Natalia looked up from her phone and knew exactly what she was talking about. "Well, it doesn't matter. I have a boyfriend."

Lu shrugged "I'm just saying. When he calls he talks about you mostly. I told him you have a boyfriend but the only thing he cares about is that you're happy."

Natalia smiled "Yeah, I miss him too sometimes. I actually miss when the three of us used to hang out. He wanted us to be best friends."

Lu laughed, thinking about all of those times where he would make them go shopping together.

Lu put down her iPad and smiled "Maybe we should try again. I have a feeling if we get to know each other then we could be good friends. I'm sure Carla would also like you as a friend too. We would be an unstoppable trio."

Natalia nodded "I would like that too. Thank you for this, I needed it." Lu smirked "Anytime, querida." Lu picked her iPad "Now...let's get back to the project."

***

Martín began to walk around the entire classroom, addressing every student sitting down.

"Guys, I got all your projects in my inbox, and I wanted to thank you. I'm very happy with them. I imagine you've realised this was a very important project to get to know ourselves better, and to find out what it is that we want others to know about us. What is the image we want to project? What is it that we hide from others? Are we really...what others believe we are, or do they only see our best side?"

Natalia was relieved as she felt like she had made a new friend due to the project. She was glad that she listened to Tomás in the first place.

But did that mean by making a new friend, she would have to leave her old friend behind?

Natalia's outfit: