SUMMER HEARTS // Quackity X Reader

25

It was the week of midterms now, and Tercero had still done next to nothing on his part of the project. You were more than just mildly worried at this point.

You had decided against asking Professor Bernal for a new partner - it was late in the project and as much as you did like the man, he didn't have you under the impression that he would be open to you switching. You had thought about just doing it yourself, but you really didn't want it to come to that, as it wasn't fair.

That left only one option - confrontation. 

You really didn't want to confront Tercero, but what other option did you have? It was time to put your foot down and hope for the best. Hopefully, the shortened deadline and your persistence would drive him to actually work on it, and he would be able to get his part done by the end of the week, when you were set to present your final work for your grade. The thought of giving a presentation was nerve-wracking enough, but giving it when Tercero wasn't anywhere near finished was terrifying.

There was a nagging in the back of your mind as well though, that there was always a possibility that he would take it badly and just procrastinate even more. If you were going to get him to work, you would have to play your cards extremely well. 

Hopefully, he would be in a good mood during class today. 

You walked into the hall with your bag slung over your shoulder and a gameplan in mind. On the walk over you had been hyping yourself up, convincing yourself that you were an adult and 100% capable of having a mature conversation with Tercero about his work habits. You would just keep things reasonable. No emotions, no frustration, just calm reason. 

You plopped down into your seat next to Tercero. He was in his usual morning position - head down, hood up as he scrolled on his phone. His eyes flicked upward as you sat down. "Hey."

"Hi." You said, your voice cracking with stress and nerves.

Tercero looked up fully at that, one eyebrow raised. "You good?"

"Um yeah." You said, clearing your throat and sliding your laptop out of your bag. You fiddled with your rings. This was the hard part. All you had to do was tell him. "I, uh, actually wanted to talk to you about something. Before class."

Tercero slipped his phone away, a splash of hope sparkling in his eyes. "Yeah? I mean, you do seem kind of upset. Nothing happened with, uh, Alex, did it?"

You frowned. "No, Alex and I are fine." You said. "It was more about this class, and our project."

"Oh. That's cool." Tercero said. He looked a little less interested but nodded at you to go ahead anyway. 

You took a breath and calmed your nerves. You were already in the thick of it. The hard part was behind you. "So, this week is midterms." You started. 

"Yup." Tercero said. "This week is going to absolutely slaughter me."

You smiled nervously. "Yeah... um. Anyway, I was just wondering if you were almost done working on your part of our project?" 

"I worked on it a little over the weekend." He said. "We've still got more time though-"

"But like, we don't." You said. "We have to get the presenting part together and you don't even have your slides done."

"We have this whole week to get it done." Tercero said dismissively. "I'll get my slides done, and then you can get the presenting part done, and we'll be good."

You took a deep breath, forcing down the frustration that was bubbling up inside you. Calm reason.

"I'm just worried, because you've been pushing this off since the beginning, and now we only have a week left. I don't mean this to be offensive or anything, but I really think you're just going to push it off again, and I need to get a good grade on this to keep my GPA up and stay in the exchange program." You said. 

"Look, I just work better under pressure." Tercero said. "Promise I'll get it all done."

"I want to believe you, but I dont." You said. "Look, if I don't keep my GPA up, I have to go back to the states, and I would really like to stay here for the full amount of time I signed up for."

"I'm going to do it, okay?" Tercero said. "Jesus Christ... sometimes it's like all you talk about is the damn project and your little boyfriend."

Calm reason, you reminded yourself again. You were not going to blow up at him. 

"Then actually do it!" You said with a little force. "You've said that you were going to do it for almost a month now, and you've done almost nothing. Your part of the slideshow looks terrible, and you have almost no information on the slides."

Tercero huffed angrily, pulling his phone out of his pocket again. "Whatever, I said I was going to do it, and I'm going to do it, hop off my dick."

Calm reason.

"I'm sorry for being concerned about my grade." You said. "I should have just picked someone else to work with."

Tercero laughed under his breath. "Like you know anybody else in this class..."

Calm reason flew out the window. 

"Maybe if you weren't such a possessive jerk, I would." You hissed. "Don't think that I don't know why you even bothered to talk to me in the first place. You're so rude about Alex too, and I didn't want to say anything because I actually care about this project and our grade, but since you're not going to do anything for it anyway, I might as well speak my mind, right? You're actually the worst."

Tercero blinked, laughing to himself. "Alright, whatever."

"Do you not even care?" You asked. "You don't even care that I think you're a pompous asshole? We were supposed to be friends?"

"I don't care that you think I'm a pompous asshole, because I'm not." Tercero said. "I don't need some American exchange student to like me-"

You popped your earbuds in and ignored Tercero until Professor Bernal started the class.