Weeds

Weeds - Chapter two

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It was Friday, and as the wise Katy Perry once said, 'TGIF'.

It had been a whole five days since Elliott had moved in and I had discovered two things about him: One, he barely slept. I would go down stairs to grab a mid night snack, as I usually did and every time he would be on the couch reading. Two, he liked jogging. Every morning at exactly five am he would leave the house and come back at seven drenched in sweat.

Bridget was the first to notice his jogging habit since it interfered with hers.

Fridays always went by quickly and it wasn't until last period that it began slugging away. I was peering out the window , admiring the bright September day, perfect weather too. The ideal day to stay inside my room and watch every episode of Friends ever made.

"Miss. Stone, are you paying attention?"

I wonder if Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox are still friends.

"Miss. Stone."

Maybe the whole cast still get together for shots, I wish I could join them.

"Miss. Stone?!"

"Yes?" Mr .Kerr's voice had invaded my mind and my only response was a three letter word.

"Did you hear what I said?" His teeth were clenched. I decided the guy didn't need more stress, so I nodded.

"Good, now everyone pick your partners."

I stayed seated while all the students buzzed around, I never picked partners I always waited until the other person who was unfortunate enough not to know anyone , was also left and we would ultimately be stuck together. This technique had always worked in my favour, until now. Why? Elliott was the other loner in this class.

Since Monday I had learned we had both of our last classes together. Chemistry and Social Science.

When Elliott plopped down in the desk beside me I wasn't the least bit upset, and I don't think he was either. We were mere strangers, I didn't hate him, I had no reason too.

I balanced my pencil between two fingers and wiggled it as Mr. Kerr explained the project. For the next three months we had to spend fourth period with our partner and study them. We had to learn the way they lived, acted, socialized, their likes and disliked; when the three months were over we had to give a presentation on our partners.

My first instinct was how easy this project would be. In fact my mental words were 'Easy peasy lemon squeeze.'

The rest of the period was left to start getting to know our partners.

The majority of the partners were kicking it off well, all enclosed in animated conversations. Elliott sat still , he showed no emotion. He didn't have a nervous tell. His legs were still, feet planted on the ground, his fingers weren't drumming, his arms neatly crossed across his chest, no twitch what so ever.

To put it nicely he resembled a vegetable, but I wondered what he was feeling.

"Are you just going to stare at me or are we going to start doing something?" His eyes were closed as he asked.

"I'm not staring."

"You've been staring at me for over three minutes."

"How would you know that? You had your eyes closed the whole time."

"Exactly my point."

He got up and moved his desk so that it was directly in front of mine. He was wearing a Dylan Stone shirt.