An Unexpected Twist

The Presentation

Today was the day. Maka sat in her seat, quietly anxious as she waited for class to begin. The bell rings, the last few stragglers hurrying to their seats. Maka looks at the classroom door, waiting for Professor Stein to roll in. She was only kept waiting a few minutes, when Stein comes rolling in, his chair classically tripping over the edge in the floor. No one laughs today as they're all to tense, waiting to see who'll be Stein's first victim.

The professor rolls over to his desk, quickly taking roll. He then studies his students, a few of them sliding down into their chairs under his intense gaze.

"As you all know, today every single one of you will be presenting your project with your partner for me to grade. I expect all of them to be up to par."

A few of the slackers slide deeper down into their chairs.

"First up is Death the Kid with Liz and Patty Thompson."

Maka watches as the three of them stand and walk up towards the front of the room. Kid sets their project up, which is perfectly symmetrical of course. Maka smiles. Kid's symmetrical OCD was a bit peculiar, but it amused her. Kid goes on about the symmetry of the starfish, which is the animal that they had been assigned. Liz does her best to present the rest of the information that they had, but Kid was busily obsessing over the perfect symmetry for anyone to hear her. Eventually the professor told them to sit down, Liz and Patty having to drag Kid back to his seat, still telling the class about starfish symmetry.

Next up was Black*Star and Tsubaki. Naturally Black*Star was going on about what a star he was and that he's way more important that some stupid Chihuahua. As he ranted, Tsubaki handed their work into Stein and quietly waited for Black*Star to finish telling the class that they should all aspire to be like him, and not to be disappointed when they failed. Their time ticked by and Stein told them to sit down. Black*Star marches back to his seat, declaring that there's no way he was going to fail this project.

Maka and Soul were next. Maka nervously stood, grabbing their project, hoping that Soul didn't forget his part. She and Soul face the class, Maka starting off the presentation just as she and Soul had rehearsed. They got through it just fine, though Soul did mess up on a few facts. They turn in their work, Maka quietly pleased. She sits back down, no longer on edge. She watches the rest of the students, only Ox and his partner Harvard coming close to her and Soul.

The bell rings and Stein dismisses the class. Soul catches up with Maka.

"Well that went well."

"Of course it did. I refuse to have anything less that perfection."

"Jeez, you really are a nerd Maka."

She shrugs, stopping at her locker to put her books away. Soul leans against the locker next to hers and looks at her.

"So now that we're done with the project, you've got free time. And you owe me."

Maka sighs, remembering the deal she had made with Soul to get him to do his work. He pulls a ticket out of his pocket and hands it to her.

"This Friday, 7 o'clock. I'll come pick you up."

Maka scrutinizes the ticket, looking back at Soul.

"A concert?"

"Unless you want to hang out at the mall along with my other friends."

An image of Black*Star pops into her head and she cringes at the thought of actually spending time with him.

"A concert sounds good to me."

Soul laughs.

"Alright then. Cya later Maka."

"Later."

Soul walks away, Maka stuffing the ticket into her pocket. She didn't really want to go, but she didn't have much of a choice.

•••••••

Black*Star catches up to Soul at the end of the day, punching him in the arm.

"Since when are you buddy buddy with nerdy Maka?"

Soul shrugs him off, not really in the mood to be interrogated by Black*Star.

"I'm not 'buddy buddy' with her. She owes me."

"Suuurree."

Soul rolls his eyes and keeps walking, Black*Star keeping pace with him.

"C'mon Soul, you don't have to deal with her anymore now that that stupid project is over. Don't tell me that you genuinely like her."

As Black*Star rattles on, Soul starts thinking about why he continues to talk to Maka. Sure she can be annoying when talking about school and a bit uptight, but she really wasn't that bad. And Soul really did see her as a friend, despite what Black*Star said. And he got a feeling that she would need a friend soon.