Clementine hummed as she skipped down to her creative writing class.
When she opened the door, she scanned the room. Creative writing was her favorite class, and one of the reasons was because it had some of her favorite people.
She smiled when she spotted Sage, Dorian, and Georgie all crowded around a table in the corner, whispering conspiratorially about something. Georgie's face seemed red, she assumed it was because he was mad at Dorian over something, which happened a lot.
She glided over the table "Hey guys!" She said, and everyone seemingly jumped away from each other. She raised an eyebrow. That was strange. "Whatcha talking about?"
"How Georgie-" Dorian started, but Sage cut him off "We were talking about how good Georgie's poem is, haha!" She seemed nervous. Clementine blinked "Oh, can I read it?" She asked, leaning to look over Georgie's shoulder
"No!" She suddenly exclaimed, covering up her work "It's. It's not finished. Dorian and Sage saw it by accident."
Clementine shrugged, Georgie had always been pretty protective of their work. "Okay!" She said with a smile "I'm sure it'll be great! Your stuff always is." That seemed to make Georgie more red. Maybe it was warm? Dorian scoffed behind them.
Then the teacher came in and told everyone to sit in their seats. "Alright class, we'll be doing todays project in pairs."
She saw Dorian scrunch up his nose, he hated working with other people. Clementine herself was excited, because it meant spending more time with her friends.
The teacher explained the project, writing a quick short story with the prompt "Key" and they were sent off to choose their partners.
Clementine turned to her friends, but before she could say anything-
"Me and Dorian can work together." Sage said immediately. Dorian gaped "What but-" he couldn't say anything else because Sage was already pulling him out of his seat "C'mon let's go sit somewhere else and brainstorm-"
"I never agreed to this!" Dorian shouted as Sage dragged him off. Clementine giggled, turning to Georgie. "Well do you want to be partners?" She asked.
Georgie gulped "Well, I suppose that makes the most sense." He said, beginning to get out his notebook to write down ideas.
Clementine grinned, and moved her table next to his. Honestly, she was really happy to get to work with Georgie. He was great. Intelligent, talented, witty, focused. Whenever she was around them she felt sorta tingly.
"So, the prompt is 'key' which is honestly the vaguest thing imaginable. There's so much you can do with that." Georgie said, slightly irritated.
Clementine tapped her chin "Weeeelll keys open up lots of things. Locks, lockets, doors-" she would've named more things, but Georgie cut her off "Yeah, but everyone's already going to do something like that. I'd like to have some originality."
Clementine thought "Maybe, the key doesn't need to be physical, it can be a metaphor-" she gasped excitedly "Like when you say you have the key to someone's heart!! We can can write a romance!" She was practically bouncing out of her seat.
Georgies eyes widened with surprise "A romance? I don't know if that's the best idea-we don't have much experience-" he stuttered, blush was on his cheeks. He was probably embarrassed.
"Sure, neither of us have written a ton of romance, but it's something new right? And it's original!" Clementine had to admit, romance wasn't her genre, but that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate it, it was really really sweet!
Georgie still seemed hesitant, thinking it over, before sighing, resigned "I...guess we can write a love story."
Clementine clapped her hands "Yay!" She pulled him in for a hug. Clementine couldn't see it, but Georgie blushed.
The rest of the writing process went smoothly, with the two bouncing ideas off of each other. By the end Clementine was very proud with what they'd came up with.
The bell rang, they turned in their work, and headed out of class. "I think we did really well today!" Clementine said happily. Georgie averted their gaze "Hopefully. I have to say that was...much less difficult than I thought it would be. I enjoyed writing with you." They said. Something about that statement made Clementine feel all warm and fuzzy. She smiled "I liked writing with you too! Though honestly Georgie you should give yourself more credit! You're a really good writer, you could write anything!"
Georgie stuttered "T-thank you, I feel the same about you." Seemingly she tried to gather her composure at the end. Clementine quirked her head, curious at why they seemed nervous, but Dorian and Sage came up behind them. As soon as they came, Georgie quickly said his goodbyes and walked off. Clementine decided to not worry about it.
"How'd your guy's writing go?" Sage asked, usually that would've been an innocuous question, but the way she said it made Clementine feel she was being interrogated. She still smiled "Great! We wrote a romance!"
Both Sages eyebrows flew up, Dorian mumbled a simple "Of course." As if he was frustrated.
Clementine looked confused "What's so predictable about us writing a romance?"
Dorian rolled his eyes "Oh, it's nothing." He sounded annoyed. Clementines face fell, wondering why her friend was so moody.
"Is this about River?" She asked, knowing Dorian had a huge crush on the boy. Maybe he'd gotten rejected?
Dorians face contorted "Ugh!" He scoffed, throwing his arms up and stomping away.
Clementine frowned "Jeez...tough subject."
Sage facepalmed.
