I'm Scott Malkinson

4- Partners?

Scott rested his head on his hand as he absentmindedly doodled in his notebook. The doodles were nothing special, just a bunch of random circles and stars smooshed together into the margins of the paper. Scott wasn't very artistically gifted; he'd rather be reading but Mr. Garrison got really aggressive about people reading in his class. Scott didn't understand it. They were in school, they were supposed to learn, reading was learning, therefore he should be able to read in class. He didn't see the logic in refusing to allow it, especially when all his teacher ever talked about was celebrity gossip or his boyfriend, nothing of actual educational value. Then again he didn't see the logic in half the things Mr. Garrison did.

"Alright you little pricks, pick a partner for your project," Mr. Garrison told the class. Scott kept doodling in his notebook. He already knew nobody would ask to be his partner and that he'd just get stuck with the last person to find one, as was his usual routine, probably Tweek (it usually was).

Except unexpectedly, Scott heard Craig ask Tweek to be his partner. Those two hadn't spoken much since they broke up in sixth grade. Scott wondered if they were going to get back together, or if they'd just worked things out so they could be friends again, then quickly dismissed the thought. They weren't getting back together. They broke up because Craig is straight, so it wouldn't make sense for him to go out with Tweek again. Besides, speculating on other people's sexualities was rude; he shouldn't be doing it, even if it was just in his own head. He felt guilty for even thinking about it. Scott would probably bring it up in his weekly confessions.

"But Craaaig," Clyde whined. "I thought we were going to be partners." 'Me too', thought Scott. Craig and Clyde were almost always partners in this class, so them not being partners was seriously changing his calculations of who his partner might be.

"Not this time, pick someone else," Craig replied. Scott gazed around the room. About half the kids in the class seemed to be paired off by now, but there were still plenty of people still trying to figure it out. He looked back down at his notebook, lightly chewing on his tongue as he scribbled more stars, waiting until Mr. Garrison would eventually ask who hadn't found a partner yet and forcibly pair up the stragglers.

Just then, Clyde turned around in his desk, and leaned his head against Scott's, right in front of his notebook, forcing Scott to look directly at him. Clyde gave him a big goofy smile, looking up at him with big brown eyes that reminded Scott of a puppy. H̶e̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶c̶r̶e̶d̶i̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶c̶u̶t̶e̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶g̶l̶e̶. "Hey Scott, do you have a partner?" he asked.

Scott felt a warm feeling wash over him. Was he seriously asking to be his partner? He tried not to get his hopes up too much. Even if they were partners on this project, Clyde would likely go right back to ignoring him once it was finished, just like everyone else did. "No, I don't have a partner yet," he answered, doing his best to keep his voice casually disinterested.

"Well you do now," Clyde replied, lifting his head off of Scott's desk. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Here, put your number in so we can plan a time to meet up." Even if it inevitably proved to be temporary, Scott thought it felt nice to be noticed. He couldn't help but smile as he put his number into Clyde's phone.