King of Campus

One brow slowly hikes up her forehead as she contemplates me for a long silent moment that leaves me filled with even more unease. Her words are sharp and low when she finally asks, “And you already know that Mr. King won’t be able to contribute his fair share to the project?”

If I weren’t already blushing, I would be now. My eyes slide away from hers before I force them back. “Um, well, I just thought-”

Almost abruptly her slim hand slices between us and my words almost immediately fall off. “There will be absolutely no reassigning partners for any reason other than someone dropping the class. And I do not believe Mr. King will be dropping this class.” If it’s possible, her eyes harden even more until they resemble cold little chips of ice.

“A hard truth you apparently need to learn, Ms. Kaster, is that we don’t always work with the people we want to. Bosses, co-workers… we often find ourselves at odds with them but still we must find a way to compromise and work together for the greater good.” She levels me with one last frosty glare that leaves me wilting beneath it.

“I suggest you find a way to work with Mr. King for the greater good of this project otherwise both of your grades will suffer for it.” She glances rather pointedly at the thin gold watch adorning her wrist signaling that this subject has been firmly closed. “Now, I suggest you use the next ten minutes wisely to discuss with your partner possible topics you would like to focus your project on.”

Feeling very much like a recalcitrant child, I quickly nod before skulking back down the aisle to where Roan is sitting with his long legs spread out in front of him. There’s a slight frown marring his face as his eyes burn into me. Even though my gaze is lowered to the floor, I can still feel him staring.

“Get everything squared away?” There’s a distinct edge to his normally lazy sounding voice.

With my face still feeling flushed, I force my eyes up to his. “Yep.”

Glancing down at the five page packet stapled together, I clear my throat uncomfortably. It’s pretty damn obvious I’m going to be the brains of this operation. And, unfortunately, the labor as well. Roan will add his name to the byline after the project has been completed and that, apparently, will be his big contribution.

Even though I’ve been all but chastised by Professor Paulson for trying to switch partners, I’m starting to work myself up all over again because my scholarship rides on being able to maintain at least a 3.5 grade point average. I can’t afford to lose it. And I’m certainly not going to let getting stuck with this Neanderthal as a partner stand in the way of getting an A in this course. So, if that means I’m going to have to do the workload of two people to eek out that A, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

“I was thinking we could go the case study route instead of the informal content analysis.” Because the main component to analyzing a case study would be research. And research is something I can handle on my own. Even though it’s going to take a lot of time I really don’t have. But there aren’t any other choices to be made. I can’t drop this course, it’s a requirement. I need it to graduate.

Roan continues staring at me through semi-narrowed eyes before nodding his head in agreement. “That sounds fine to me.”

Well… since Roan probably won’t be contributing anything more than that, I’m not really sure what else we have to discuss. Glancing over at the clock on the wall, I notice we still have about five minutes. But I don’t see a point in sticking around here any longer. I’m meeting Lexie for lunch and then I have French and dance. And I-

“You’re leaving already?”

His words snap me right out of my thoughts. “Um, well, yeah.”

I’m just shoving the packet into my bag when he asks, “Don’t you want to discuss what kind of case study we’re going to focus on or when we can get together and work on it?”

For just a moment, I stand there gaping at him in complete surprise. “Ummm… is that what you want to do?”

The hard line of his jaw tightens as his normally smirking mouth settles into an annoyed slash across his handsome face. “Yeah, Ivy… it is. This is a massive project worth more than half the points in this class. I have a tight schedule with my course load, practice, games, and working out, so I’d like to get something firm nailed down as soon as possible. I can’t afford to wait until the last minute. That doesn’t work for me.”

I merely blink feeling totally blindsided by what he’s just said because it kind of sounds like he actually plans on contributing to this project.