Notice Me! (A Conor Maynard AU Fan Fiction)

Chapter 4 - Coursework Plans

We all had to get up and move into our groups. We pushed the two small square tables together and placed our chairs around them. This class always involved getting into groups of four and doing classwork but this was different; when the class got to pick their groups at least I was left with three equally as clever people who just didn’t have friends in this class. We were all quite similar actually, so it made it easy to work together. I’m now sat here with two guys who hate each other, the geeky girl who gets bullied by the popular guy and me. I’m the only person in this group that everyone doesn’t hate. This is going to be a load of fun. Miss Potter came around with an A3 piece of paper and a black marker pen and placed them in front of us as she looked at the four of us and smirked. Sam picked up the pen and began doodling on the corner of the page. She knew this was a bad idea, but I guess she wanted to see if people who don’t like each other could eventually get to a point of being sociable because of this coursework.

“I’m looking forward to hearing what you guys come up with.” She said quietly as she walked off. Sam slammed the pen on the table angrily and sighed.

“She’s done this on purpose.” Sam snarled. “Put me with you guys so we have to overcome hating each other and do this work.” Despite the fact I’d already thought this, I nodded.

“I didn’t want to work with you either, Sam.” Conor hissed from opposite him.

“Guys!” I said in a harsh whisper, leaning further in. I’ve had enough of this. “We’re doing this project together if you like it or not so it’d just be easier on us all if you two would SHUT UP and get on with it!” All three of them looked at me in shock. “I’m the only one who didn’t mind being in this group!” I leaned back into my chair and ran my fingers through my brown hair, letting out a huge sigh.

“I didn’t mean I didn’t want to work with you.” Holly said timidly. The glasses she wore magnified her grey eyes that looked a little scared of me. I’d never had an outburst like that. Ever. “I meant Sam.”

“I meant Sam too.” Conor said with a smirk. Sam looked over at him with anger in his eyes.

“I meant those two.” Sam said flicking his pointed finger between Conor and Holly.

“Oh well that’s touching guys, really it is. Now please can we just get on with the task?” I picked the pen up and scribbled down headers and sub-headers for us to plan our work.

“Who shit on your morning?” Conor suddenly asked me. I stopped writing the word I was and looked to him on my right.

“Excuse me?” I asked politely, knowing he was commenting on my outburst.

“I asked you ‘Who shit on your morning?’” He repeated, making me cringe with the swear words. Why he felt the need to swear in every sentence I will never understand.

“You guys.” I said blankly and went back to writing the word I needed to finish. “Right, what kind of shop do we want?” I changed the subject swiftly.

“A bookshop.” Holly said happily.

“No way.” Sam shook his head. “I’m not doing coursework on a bookshop.” He folded his arms and rolled his eyes. “Why did they put you in this group?” He mumbled to himself.

“A bar or a bookies.” Conor suggested. I looked over to him again.

“What could we possibly know about those things?” I’d never been to a bar and I had certainly never gambled! If we were going to do this coursework well we’d need to be able to understand the way the business worked.

“As much as it pains me to say it I like the bar idea.” Sam said and Conor let out a grin. Well, maybe if we pick a business they both agree on they may end up getting along? Was it too much to ask for them to get along for this coursework?

“I don’t know anything about bars.” Holly voiced what I had said in my head. I didn’t want to say it because I didn’t want to embarrass myself further than I already had!

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” Conor said with a shrug. “Looks like we’re going to have to go out tonight.” He looked round to all of us.

“I’m only going if someone else is. I’m not going on a man-date with YOU.” Sam said, looking instantly over to me. Is that him saying he wants me to go to or he just wants me to break the awkwardness of being with Conor?

“Guys, you do realise this coursework is going to mean we’re hanging out a lot more than you think?” I said quickly. It’s not always going to be pub and bar meetings, I wonder if they realise that…

“What do you mean?” Sam said with one eyebrow raised, his brown eyes staring intently at me.

“Miss Potter said she was going to email us with problems our business will have to deal with. She’s going to do that outside of school hours so we’re going to have to meet up for this coursework a lot after school.”

“No way.” Conor said instantly. “I’m not hanging out with you guys any more than I need to!”

“I second that.” Sam said.

“You two agree on more than you think.” Holly said sharply, which shocked me probably as much as I had shocked her when I had my outburst.

“Look, we at least need to exchange numbers or something, we need to be able to communicate when she sends the email.” I rolled my eyes. Please can you guys just get on? I crossed my left leg over my right and rested my head in my hands, my elbows holding me up. “This isn’t about status anymore, this is about passing this coursework unless you want to fail this course!”

“I’m not having my friends take the mick out of me because I’ve got your numbers…” Sam said. “I can’t do this…” Sam raised his hand and called Miss Potter over. She stood by our table with a smile. “Miss, I seriously can’t work with these people…”

“Sam, if you don’t want to work with these people, that’s fine.” She said and we all stared at her in disbelief. “But I’ll have to fail you on this coursework and your work so far this course has been terrible anyway so you’ll fail this course all together and have to re-take this year. If you’re happy to do this year all over again and wait for me to put you in a group of four with people you don’t know and hate then I’m happy to do that! In fact, the only person who could drop this coursework and still pass is Holly who is already on an A* grade so failing this coursework would only drop her to an A.” Holly let out a happy grin.

“Miss?” I asked. “This email you’re sending us about the problems with the business, are they going to be after school? Like, do we have to get together after school and work?” She nodded.

“I was just about to say this to the class. I’ve picked one from each group to receive the email. You will either have to arrange a meeting or converse over the phone to sort it. I will send one email every day, some will be good things, others will be bad and others will be stretched over a period of time. Bethany, you’re receiving the emails for this group.” I looked up to the ceiling and covered my face with my hands.

“I’ll be doing all the work on my own then.” I sighed heavily. “I’m not going to meet up with these guys, they have reputations to uphold.”

“If their reputation is more important than their work, they’ll keep failing this class and keep coming back for years.” She said with a shrug, talking about them as if they weren’t sitting with me. “It’s entirely up to them.” She walked off without any further need to say anything.

“Look, guys, how about this… I won’t contact you unless I receive the email, I won’t tell anyone I have your numbers and you can still get on with your lives pretending I don’t exist.” I said feeling like it was the only option I had left.

“Yeah I’m happy with that.” Sam said with a smile.

“Me too.” Conor said. I don’t know what ‘reputation’ Conor had, but there was obviously some sort of history with Sam and the popular people. As far as I was concerned he was a person who liked to spend time on his own, so I didn’t know who he was trying to impress.

“Holly?” I asked and she looked down at the floor.

“I don’t know if I can do this, guys. I need to think about it.”