Overdosed on Love

Chapter 7: We Meet Again

Hunter

I was really tired by the time I got to my fourth period English class.

It's like a normal thing for high schoolers to be tired all the time in school, but I had stayed up late after my trip to the hospital, and hadn't been able to sleep until three in the morning. I had suspected that the flumazenil had been the reason to keep me up. That shit worked better then caffeine.

However its magic healing powers could only stretch for so far, and by fourth period I was all burned out and ready for bed. Coach Price was gonna kill me if I couldn't pick up my energy level for practice.

"Okay everyone," Mr. Montgomery addressed the class. "Listen up, because this is your important semester project. This assignment will be your final grade before finals, so you better do well because I don't want you all begging me to give you extra credit to boost your grades before finals week."

I looked over my shoulder to my friends Tyler and Isaiah and we each exchanged stressed out looks. My grades were fine, but one couldn't help but worry about these sort of things every single year.

It was while I was looking at my friends that I saw that behind Isaiah, in the back of the class, was Max flipping through a fat book in mild disgust. It suddenly clicked in my mind why it had felt like I'd seen her before. She was Max Griffin, the girl from my English class that had transferred to my grade in junior year.

"So I'm assuming you've all got your copies of Oliver Twist?" Mr. Montgomery asked. I reached into my backpack and got the fresh, crisp copy I'd recently picked up from Barnes & Noble. I had heard about this book, but I had no idea what it was about. I guessed it had something to do about a boy named Oliver from the title and illustration on the cover.

"Dude, Mr. Montgomery, this book is like three hundred pages," a classmate, Byron Brown complained. "Can't you give us a break? This is like, our senior year." Everyone else started muttering in agreement.

"Hey, hey, quit the whining I could've made you all read War and Peace so count your blessings," Mr. Montgomery said evenly and everyone shut up. None of us actually knew what War and Peace was about either, but we'd heard the horror stories that it was like the longest book or something, and incredibly boring from start to finish.

"Well, I've already read Oliver Twist," Keke Wood said in her usual condescending manner, and everyone rolled their eyes.

"That's wonderful, Keke, then I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it a second time," Mr. Montgomery smiled sweetly at Keke making her frown. She wasn't wiggling her way out of this project like she'd managed to junior year. "So anyway, you'll be working in partners for this project."

Everyone immediately started looking at one another. Tyler, Isaiah, and I made eye contact immediately as did everyone else in the classroom with their friends, or people who they felt comfortable working with.

"However," Mr. Montgomery cut in, "I'm picking your partners."

Instantaneous groans filled the classroom.

"Mr. Montgomery this is tyranny!" Isaiah spoke up immediately. As much as I wanted to laugh at his overdramatic reaction I had to agree.

"No, every time I let you guys choose your own partners you just end up messing around and give me half-assed assignments at the last minute. So I'm hoping the uncomfortable pressure of being responsible of something that's worth twenty percent of your grade with someone else will... motivate you all with your senioritis." Mr. Montgomery looked at all of us with a smug shit-eating grin, and we glared as he looked at his clipboard. "Okay, so I took all your names and put them in a random generator, so here we go. Isaiah and Tyler you're together, a very productive group I'm sure."