Accidentally on Purpose

Chapter Eight

Mr. Herberg made me switch seats with the guy who sat next to Spencer, because we were going to finally start on the first step of our building a family assignment thing.

"Don't worry, I'm only gonna make you sit with your partner once a week," he reassured us. "We're just going to discuss about the assignment with your partner."

So I sat down next to Spencer, and he looked up with a boyish grin on his face. "Hello."

"Hi," I said, smiling back.

"No one's getting engaged today yet," Mr. Herberg said, and both of us turned our focus to the young teacher. "I'm going to determine your fates; your supposed ages, your jobs and incomes, your family background, stuff like that. One of each pairs, please come up here to pick your fate from here."

He gestured to the giant glass bowl on his desk, filled with a bunch of folded papers. We were supposed to pick one randomly, just like how Effie Trinket picked out the names of the tributes for The Hunger Games.

"You or me?" Spencer asked, and I shrugged. "Alright. I'll go."

A minute later, he came back with two pieces of paper; one yellow colored and one green. "Pick one," he told me

I picked up the yellow one. "Thanks."

We both unfolded our papers and I scanned through the paper that supposedly held my "fate"; I was twenty-six, an English teacher with a moderate income, and I came from a divorced family, with me living only with my dad and little sister, but I was going to move out once I got engaged. It held some other information, but I skipped through them.

Spencer and I looked up at the same time, with a matching amused smile on our faces. I recited what I had just read to him, and then asked, "What about you?"

"I'm twenty-nine, a CEO in a big company, and I was adopted by a wealthy family who own the said company," he told me. "Not bad, eh?"

"I wonder what's the story behind our first encounter. I mean, how does a CEO fall in love with an English teacher?" I mused, and he let out a chuckle.

"Okay, now that everyone has read their own papers, here's the first assignment for the project: make up a story of how you met your partner. You can discuss it now and work on the story through this week, and you'll have to collect it next Friday."

Today was Friday, so we'd got seven days to work on our story.

"You may write it down on a paper or type and print it. I know this isn't a creative writing class, but please be as creative as possible, alright? I'm not gonna comment on your writing style—I just want to see you guys cooperate with your partners and decide where your stories start. Understood?"

We echoed the word, and Mr. Herberg sat down in satisfaction. "You may start working now. I'll be at my desk right here if you need me."

So Spencer and I sat facing each other, and I dug into my bag to get my notebook and pen. "So... how did we meet?"

"Hmm," he hummed, deep in thought. "Maybe your sister works in my company?"

I stared at him flatly. "My sister is fifteen years old," I told him, holding out the paper, and then chuckled. "Maybe we met in some restaurant and bump into each other and have some cliché moment or whatever?"

It was his turn to chuckle. "I have a feeling that my character only goes to high-end fancy restaurants. Is it likely that we would meet there?" he asked, but then he said, "Speaking of restaurants, did you know that I've started working at the diner since two days ago?"

My eyes widened in surprise and I broke out into a grin. "Really? That's good for you!"

He nodded, seeming enthusiastic. "Yeah, I was so glad when Mr. Taylors gave me a call—he's your dad, right?"