Why did this kind of day happen to me? One of those days where nothing seems like it could go right. Well, this is one of those days. I woke up optimistic with my head held high, but everything around was trying it’s best to make sure that just couldn’t happen. Maybe I’m exaggerating, because my friends always tell me “It could get worse”, when I go on a rant. Obviously it could get worse, but what’s going on is making me feel worse. Pretty simple I think. I knew it was going to be this way when I woke up, because there was no way I was out of toothpaste. I still ended up having to scavenge what was at the bottom while still looking in the smeared mirror telling myself that today is still gonna be a good day. As I walked through the door my mom said that Ryan couldn’t pick me up on time and would be late. Which he usually can, because he’s never really been the type of guy to have plans or things come up to prevent him from his normal routine. Luckily he was still able to get me barring that we were both thirty minutes late to our first class. This isn’t a problem worth stressing about on a normal day, but today was supposed to be the day we start a project in biology and we could pick our partners.
My partner should’ve been Paul, who’s always been a really close friend of mine. He's really smart and we have always done projects together since I started cheating off of him on sixth grade spelling tests. He never cared though. Mostly because he is a pretty timid person and isn’t very outspoken, kinda like an average nerd, but he’s a great guy, I'd cheat on any test with his.
Well on this day where nothing good could happen, Paul and someone else already decided to be partners, because of my tardiness. So when I arrived at class I had no idea what to do and had no help until the teacher decided to assign me partners with Brooke Rose. The name sounded familiar, but I’ve never talked to her. Even though I knew of her because the school I went to was relatively easy to know at least over half the people you go to school with. I’ve always kept to myself, so this was an experience I was not looking forward to. It’s always been hard to meet new people, and I really wanted to work with Paul. So I asked the teacher with subtle hints so I wouldn’t hurt my new partner’s feelings, if I could bend the rules this once so I can work with Paul. With no hesitation, or tolerance for the attempt of being appealing Mr. Richards denied my request. Mr. Richards wasn’t someone who was very strict, but I can tell he wanted me to go outside my comfort zone and work with someone new. Mr. Richards has only been my teacher for only about a month, and I’ve got to say he’s one of the coolest teachers I’ve ever had. That’s not saying too much considering I’m only a Freshman in high school , but I admire his willingness to help students who learn in a variety of ways. He was also really good at keeping a smile on his face everyday, which can be very difficult when you’re around angsty teens all day. So basically I look like the bad guy if I tried to argue my way out of this one. Although, I get to meet someone new? Who am I kidding this day has been awful, and Brooke doesn’t seem to be making a change.
The only thing I really knew about her is the fact that a couple of years ago we shared an English class where we never talked much outside of saying the basic generalities like “Thank you” or “Excuse me.” This didn’t help at all, because we are currently learning about microbiology and we’re using words that sound like gibberish, so I’m at a complete loss with someone I don’t know.
Now looking from the outside in, someone could be thinking, “this day isn’t as bad as you’re trying to make it seem”. Maybe it wasn’t, and I would have to say that person is right, but when you’ve played out scenarios ten thousand different ways and then the world hits you with one you never thought about. That by itself could cause a bad day, and today was a bad, bad day.
After about five minutes of daydreaming Mr. Richards gave instructions on how the project should be done and the time frame we have to work with. I wasn’t paying attention so either this could mean everything or it could mean nothing, but I had to figure it out without making it obvious that I was oblivious about everything going on around me.
So I turned to Brooke and softly said, “So…when is this due?” I think she knew what I was trying to do and could tell that I was pretty introverted and wasn’t looking for much social interaction.
She replied with a light smirk and a softer voice than what I remember, saying, “We have till the end of the semester.”
WHAT? I thought to myself there’s no way that I’m stuck doing this big project with someone I don’t know and I have to do well, because I have a C in the class, already, and this could help tremendously. Also, why did she chuckle? Does she think I’m an idiot? Could she tell I’m clueless? Does she think I’m funny?