10 Feet Down (Original Version)

Chapter 7

"Ms. West, I'm sorry but you can't switch partners. Not when everyone already has one." Mr. Garrett puts his stack of papers in his briefcase ready to leave for the next class to come in.

"I can't do this project on my own?" I ask hopefully? "I would really like to do this by myself instead of with a partner."

"Evangeline," he stops midway and turns to me. "The reason why I do partners is so you can learn how to work with different people. Not everyone is always going to be easy to work with. I'm sorry, but I have a meeting I have to get to."

He rushes out the door and I'm left reeling and feeling disappointed. I sigh and make my way out of the lecture hall. I gave Mr. Garrett so many reasons why I didn't want to be partners with Tre and he didn't listen to any of them. He said he knows Tre and was doing him a favour by letting him in this class.

"He's going to be difficult sometimes but he has a lot to contribute to this project." Professor Garrett said right before he stepped out the door. "You're a smart girl Evangeline and you're doing very well in here, but you could learn a little something from Tre."

What is that supposed to mean? What can I learn from someone who is rude and doesn't take our work seriously?

I'm a little confused by what he just said but I open up my messages to send a text to Tre to see if we can meet again. I'm still really embarrassed about him almost catching me spying on him, but I swallow down my pride and send him a text. He wasn't in class today, which seems abnormal since I always see him in the same seat in the back of every class. I sometimes feel like his eyes are on my back a lot during class, but I keep my attention to the board and never look back to see if he's really staring at me.

Hey, you want to meet again to work on our project soon?

I'll try to get a head start on the project before we meet just in case he doesn't do any work again. I'm not going to be surprised if he doesn't. I don't expect anything from him anymore. That lesson was learned the first time. I'd rather do all of the work because at least I know we'll get a good grade.

I put my phone back in my dress pocket and head out of the classroom that's starting to fill with students for the next class. I go back to my room, stopping to grab a bottle of water from one of the food carts outside, and Samira is sitting on the floor with canvases spread around her.

"Hey!" She looks up from her canvas with a smile on her face and a paintbrush in her hand. "How's it going?"

"It's going okay, I guess," I sigh and set my backpack on my bed.

"Why just okay?"

I sit down next to my backpack with my hands in my lap and tell Samira my situation.

"So I went to talk to Professor Garrett, my philosophy of religion professor, and asked him if I could do this project myself instead of working with Tre."