𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄 , drew starkey

twenty-seven

𝟏𝟐 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐆𝐎...

—𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄, 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐀

—𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲

The bell rang, the sound chiming through the corridors, signaling the start of class. At this, students hurried to Mrs. Anderson's eighth-grade English class.

Arabella entered the classroom and settled into her seat, placing her bag beside her. She pulled out a pencil, tapping it lightly on her desk as she waited for Mrs. Anderson to begin the lesson.

As class began, Arabella could hear laughter coming from the back of the classroom. She suppressed a silent groan of frustration, knowing exactly who was responsible. Despite knowing, she glanced towards the back of the class, where the source of the commotion was located.

Arabella's gaze fell upon Orlando, Drew, and Lance in the back of the room, huddled around Orlando's phone. They were all dressed in their lacrosse jerseys, laughing loudly at something on the screen. Arabella never understood why they felt the need to wear their sports jerseys to school.

Drew's unrestrained laughter filled the classroom as he sat on the desk instead of his chair, clearly amused by whatever Orlando was showing him and Lance. Lance, on the other hand, tried to stifle his laughter by burying his head.

Arabella couldn't help but roll her eyes at the boys' antics.

But at the same time Arabella looked back at the group of boys. Drew turned as well, and their eyes met. Instantly, Drew stopped laughing and lightly slapped his friends on the back, gesturing them to stop laughing, they were confused but they did. Drew then hopped off the desk to sit in his actual seat, he straightened up and gave Arabella a light smile.

Arabella didn't smile back. Instead, she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, then turned around to face the teacher.

"Boys in the back, please settle down," Mrs. Anderson announced, her voice carrying over to the back of the classroom to where Drew, Landon, and Lance were sitting.

The three boys quieted down as Mrs. Anderson started to speak.

"So class, today I am going to pair you up with a partner, and you will each be writing a short story. This is to work on communication while writing," Mrs. Anderson announced. Drew's hand shot up, but Mrs. Anderson sighed, "No, Drew, you will not be able to pick your partners for this."

At this, the whole class let out a groan, with Drew's being the most notable. Arabella glanced over to Layla, who sat on the other side of the class, and gave her a sad smile.

"Settle down, please, it's not the end of the world," Mrs. Anderson chuckled, taking out a piece of paper to read out the groups she had picked.

"First group is Amelia and Ivan." The teacher started, crossing off each pair as she continued.

"Layla and Joseph."

"Neem and Landon."

Mrs. Anderson read a couple more names, and with each pair she named, there was a groan from the students in between.

This left Arabella to wonder who she was going to get partnered up with. She really wanted to get partnered up with someone who would actually get work done.

"Our final pair is Drew and Arabella."

Arabella couldn't help but silently curse. She wasn't particularly friends with Drew, nor did she want to be. While they had mutual friends, she had never spoken to Drew. From what she could tell, Drew would not be a good partner for the assignment.