10 A Partner

Margaret had always been a calm and composed girl. No matter the circumstances, she could stay focused and determine the situation, before acting accordingly. But at that moment, she was completely clueless on what to do or how to react.

She was thankful to this person who clearly saved her from falling on her butt for the fourth time of the day. But she didn't expect the person to be Arthur Bridge.

She was extremely surprised to find Arthur's lazy posture standing before her, his blank gaze seemingly studying her unkempt appearance. Margaret slowly lowered her head, laughing bitterly in her heart.

'We are not matching now, are we, Arthur?'

Arthur was still in his white loose V-neck T-shirt and blue jeans with those super cool white hi-tops. While Margaret, somehow magically transformed into a disaster victim. Her blue cardigan was torn, and dusty with paint splatters. The white rock-star shirt underneath now had a large purple stain on it. Her blue jeans was marred with yellowish-brown dust and dirt. And her favorite white vans were 'decorated' with ugly green blotches.

Yup, they were no longer matching.

Margaret tilted her head up and unexpectedly matched his gaze. And for a second, just for a second – she saw some kind of emotion flicker in the depths of his eyes, before it quickly disappeared.

'Was that my imagination?' she wondered.

Margaret unexpectedly bumped into Golden Dawn's most notorious guy and yet for some reason she wasn't panicking as she should be. She didn't know why, but she felt that Arthur won't do anything to hurt her.

And when she looked into his eyes, she realized why. It's just the way Arthur was looking at her. There was no contempt or mockery in his eyes. Instead, in the depths of his eyes she saw a detached, lonely soul, wandering about without a destination.

She suddenly felt a tug at her heart. It was indeed true that eyes are windows to the soul.

"I'm sorry." Margaret's voice was filled with concern, surprising even herself. Then she blinked her eyes and looked away as if she came out a trance. She awkwardly cleared her throat and turned to him again. "And thank you."

Arthur stared at her for another two seconds and simply turned around, walking into the nearest room. Margaret looked at him with shock, not because he didn't even acknowledge her, but because he went into the class room...for Literature.

She took a few steps forward and peeked inside the room to check if it was changed to 3rd years' classroom. But she saw her Literature professor, Mr. Edward Collins, sitting in his chair going through some papers in his hands. And Margaret even recognized a few students from her year sitting inside, along with Arthur who sat at another desk, looking bored as usual.

'Maybe second and third years are supposed to take this class together?' Margaret thought to herself and came to a conclusion.

She then hopped inside and slowly made her way to an empty desk, which wasn't at the forefront nor at the back of the room. She sat down quietly and lowered her head on the desk as she gently massaged her throbbing ankle while waiting for the class to start.

Two minutes later, the bell rang once again and Mr. Collins put his papers away and stood up. He was a tall man in his mid-thirties with sharp features. He styled his dark brown hair to the side and was wearing a grey vest suit, looking more handsome than many of his pupils.

"Greetings, students. Its good to see you all here again this year." He looked around with a gentle smile and continued. "As you may have already noticed, this year the second and third years will be taking this class together, since you have the same material."

There were some 'oohs' and 'aahs' of realization from the crowd. Few were excited, few were nervous and the rest couldn't care less.

"So to make things easy, we'll be reading the study material in pairs." Mr. Collins declared and there were a few groans from some unsociable fellows. Mr. Collins couldn't help but laugh, as if he predicted such a reaction. "Okay now, you should be thankful, because there are four volumes to read this year and studying with a partner will reduce the burden on you."

At that statement, all the disapprovals slowly quieted down. Margaret on the other hand, wanted to raise her voice in protest. It was good for most because they can share the work with their partners, but for students like her, they have to do their partner's work as well. So they would be better off alone instead.

But she didn't voice her opinion as she knew doing that wouldn't change anything, other than drawing unnecessary attention to herself. And she vowed never to do that again.

"I have already partnered you up, second years with third years. So the sophomores can learn from their upperclassmen and for the third years to improve themselves and set a benchmark for their juniors." Mr. Collins explained his thoughts and everybody nodded their heads. If he puts it like that, nobody can argue anymore.

Mr. Collins was a thoughtful man. He knew that if he let the students to find a partner themselves, there will be much drama and a few would be left without a partner. So he took it upon himself to allocate partners for everybody fairly.

"Alright then. Mark Samuels from 2nd year. You will be studying with Bray Thompson of 3rd year. Next is..."

As Mr. Collins started to call out names, the students began to shift their seating positions.

The room was filled with excitement. Everybody was waiting to hear their names called out, and find out who their partner would be.

But Margaret was indifferent. Or that's how she seemed to be on the outside. She put on a couldn't-care-less face, but inside she was a tiny bit excited at this chance at making a friend. But she wasn't hoping too much on it as she was sure that the chance of her wishes coming true was very minuscule, if not non-existent.

"Margaret Laurence." Mr. Collins called out and she reluctantly raised her hand and looked ahead. "Your Partner will be Jacob Wyatt."

A head perked up at the front row and he looked around until he found her. A wicked smile spread across his face, as color drained from Margaret's.

Aah, Damn! Why was her luck so bad today?

She only wished for a normal, peaceful college life. But she was encountering one misfortune after the other. This was not a matter of being unlucky anymore. This was a conspiracy against her. She really wished she could meet the creator up above and wrung out a decent explanation from him.

But she had to get her head out of the fantasies and face the harsh reality.

She watched a tall bulky figure walk closer as she sighed internally.

"And we meet again, Margie." Jacob smiled, standing in front of her.

Margaret shot him a silent glare as his smile grew wider and wider, resembling a circus clown. She ignored him and turned away, cursing her bad luck, as Jacob walked around her and sat on the other side of the desk.

So, this guy was a 3rd year named Jacob. She thought he was also a 2nd year student.

Wait, then why did he ask her, a sophomore, to write his final report?

She didn't have to think long as the answer came to her immediately and she couldn't help but sigh again.

He must have known about her 'grand show' at the beginning of her first year.

Damn it. She threw her head backwards and groaned.

'Thank you God, very much. Of all the students here, you had to pair me up with this guy.'

"I didn't know you were here too. It is fate that we became partners." Jacob laughed loudly beside her.

Yeah, right. Fate.

Margaret was fuming at the so called 'fate'. Why was her fate so bad?

"Coach told me, if I want to stay in team, I have to clear all subjects. I was really upset at first. But now that I have you, I'm sure it'll be a breeze." Jacob grinned, feeling smug and satisfied as if he had no more worries in life anymore.

Margaret ignored his face full of smile, which was starting to creep her out and spoke as calmly as she could. "What is someone like you doing here, Jacob?"

He dropped his smile as confusion filled his features and Margaret could already predict his next question.

"What do you mean, 'someone like me'?"

Yup, She guessed it right.

"I mean, you are all meat," She gestured her hand up and down his muscled body. "And no brains, much less intellect and insight."

Okay, that was mean but she was in a really bad mood right now.

Margaret heard a snicker and looked around, but couldn't find the source. Oh well, at least someone found amusement in that, because Jacob didn't. He slowly, and eventually realized the meaning of her words and his features hardened.

"Literature is the last place anyone would find you in." Margaret continued. "So, why did you pick this class?"

Jacob was glaring daggers at her and Margaret was internally giggling on her achievement as she made him loose that creepy smile of his. He was much better looking with a scowl rather than a smile. But alas, her happiness was only a passing moment as Jacob regained his face splitting smile once again.

"You are wrong about me, Margie. I am smart too."

She ignored the stupid nickname and raised a brow. "And how is that?"

"Because in any other subject, there would be assignments, projects, reports and crap. But here, we only have to read a book or two." He answered with a proud laugh. Margaret literally face palmed herself and shook her head at his stupid reasoning. "You have to admit it, I am smart."

"You are an idiot." Margaret declared, and for the second time in minutes, his smile dropped.

"Literature is not just 'reading a book or two', you have to write a detailed review and give a brief critique in your own words on the books you studied to get the necessary credits to pass."

Margaret smirked in self-satisfaction as she saw Jacob expression turning grim.

But he immediately gained his smile back.

Damn, how does he do that? Does he have some kind of elastic mechanism pulling his lips and cheeks wide every time he dropped them?

"Well, it doesn't matter. Because I have you." He grinned with a wink, and Margaret was raging inside. He had already decided that she would be the one doing all the work? "I heard that you are super smart and can answer even the senior year questions. I didn't believe it at first but I saw the video where you deduced those crazy equations and blew the day lights out of Mrs. Abernathy."

'And that was in only ten minutes, mind you', she mused.

But yeah, that was a naive and stupid move and the cause of all her misery.

"You are like a super nerd, and you were badass in the video. A 19 year old first year student, outsmarting a senior lecturer with more than twenty years of experience." Jacob said excitedly, as if he was reciting a newspaper headline.

Margaret didn't know whether to laugh or cry but she did feel a bit proud of herself when he put it like that.

But that feeling only lasted for a second and then it turned to helplessness. She really wanted to punch him right in the face for reminding her of that dark event, but the consequences of doing so made her stomp that impulse. Instead she huffed in annoyance and turned away.

Mr. Collins finished reading up the pairs and was now arguing with a neatly dressed, spectacled kid. Her fellow nerd, so to say. Margaret focused on their talk and a small bulb lit up in her head.

She immediately stood up with her bag and hopped towards the front of the class, ignoring Jacob's calls. She reached Mr. Collins and waited for a chance to speak.

"Please Mr. Collins. I can sit with anyone. Anyone other than-" The kid was desperately pleading but Mr. Collins raised his hand, cutting him off without mercy.

"I already told you Mr. Cooper, the pairings are done. I will not change them now."

"But..." Cooper was near tears as Mr. Collins stood unrelenting.

"Excuse me, Mr. Collins." Margaret interjected and both the student and the teacher turned her way.

"Ms. Laurence." Mr. Collins smiled warmly at her. His earlier stern face was no more. "What's the matter?"

"If you permit it, Mr. Collins. I'm willing to switch partners with him." Margaret didn't even finish and Cooper's face brightened at the sudden hope.

"Really, you would do that?" Cooper's eyes were tearing up with relief and gratitude.

'Its okay, you don't have to be so grateful. I'm doing it for myself, not for you.' Margaret thought silently.

"Sure, If Mr. Collins agrees that is." She smiled and they both turned their gazes towards their professor.

Mr. Collins looked at the both of them for a moment and then sighed in compromise. "Alright, you may change partners."

Two pairs of puppy eyes were too much for him to bear.

"Yes. Thank you, Mr. Collins." Cooper smiled and turned to Margaret, shaking her hand enthusiastically. "Thank you, Margaret. Thank you very much."

Margaret simply smiled and returned his hand shake with an awkward expression. She felt as if she was sending an innocent little sheep into a wolf's den.

"Okay then. Mr. Cooper, you may go sit with Mr. Wyatt." Mr. Collins rearranged the pairing in his papers and smiled at Cooper. The poor boy rushed his way to the back, to the bench where Margaret was sitting a minute ago.

She didn't look back as Mr. Collins flipped the page of his notepad and searched for Cooper's partner – Margaret's new partner.

"Ms. Laurence, you will be sitting with..." he dragged his pen on the page, scanning it carefully, before he spoke again. "Mr. Bridge.