It's Tuesday and I was still basking in the afterglow of my win yesterday. I don't think anything beats the feeling of finally achieving what you've wanted to achieve for a long time.

When Miss Rachel announced me as the captain, I worried about what Linda and Sophia would think. However, they handled it well. They congratulated me and tried to joke around about me taking their crown. It was a bit awkward but I couldn't tell if they were actually chill or pretending.

I got around to doing my morning routine as usual. This time, I put extra effort into my fit and makeup. Not because of anything or because I wanted to impress anyone, but because I felt the need to show up looking better today as a sort of toast to my recent win.

Once, I was done dressed and eating breakfast, I made my way to school. Funny how I detested school just a few months ago but now I saw school as the reason I was getting better as a person.

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I got to school right in time for my first class. I had AP chemistry first and lately, I no longer looked forward to it. Reason? Tyler. He had been not so subtly staring at me lately. Yes, I liked him and probably still have teeny tiny feelings for him but I was over that now.

I didn't want anything with Tyler anymore for many reasons. First of all, I wasn't interested in any romance for now. Secondly, I wasn't interested in being enemies with Linda. I just wanted to have a peaceful aesthetic top teen life. Last of all, I didn't like him that much anymore.

Anyways, when I entered the class, Tyler wasn't there and I did a little celebration dance in my mind. That was short-lived, however, because he came in 10 minutes later.

Mr Corny began class and in about 5 minutes, I didn't really hear him anymore. He became background noise at the back of my head. That was mostly due to the fact that I had studied the topic ahead of class and I understood it better than he taught it.

However, since I wasn't focused on Mr Corny, I was able to notice how many times Tyler glanced at me throughout the class. 8 times. Ew.

"So", Mr Corny started bringing me out of my reverie, " I mentioned last week that you would be assigned projects. But I decided that it would be in groups of two. Not only to build your teamwork skills but also to reduce my workload."

When he said that, you would think it was a joke. It wasn't. Mr Corny was just like that, always saying things he shouldn't as a teacher.

No one reacted though, everyone was already used to his ridiculousness.

"You won't be choosing your partners though. I will.", he continued.

The whole class groaned in disapproval.

Personally,  I didn't like the fact that I had to partner with someone.  I like to work alone because I'm always partnered with people who didn't really give two 'sheets' about their education and it just ends up in me doing all the work.

As he called names, my heart started to beat harder. I was worried that my luck would run out and I would be paired with Tyler or some loser in class.

"Lauretta Bauer and Tyler Williams."

My heart sank.

Tyler immediately looked at me and smiled. I tried my best to look unmoved but I was dying inside.

After he was done partnering us, Mr Corny made us draw ballots to decide the topic we would work on.

Tyler and I drew Qualitative Analysis. I was excited, at least, my luck wasn't completely off today.

We weren't able to talk about how we'll get around to doing it because we had other classes to attend till lunch.

.

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"Yeah, I just prefer their gloss because of the scent and how long it lasts throughout the day." I said in agreement with Linda.

We were talking about the new line released by one of our favourite makeup brands. Linda and I got the lipgloss and lipstick and we were talking about it.

Tyler was also at the table but wasn't saying much. I caught his eye about 3 times and I really hoped Linda wouldn't notice. He made me so angry with his behaviour.

"So Lauretta, about the project, how do we go about it? Do we meet at your house or mine?", Tyler asked out of nowhere.

Why couldn't he talk about this later? Is he trying to make Linda hate me?

"We don't need to go to each other's house. We can always go to the state library. It closes at 11 pm. I'm sure we can get things done every day before it closes. We have one week before we submit anyways.", I replied

I was proud of myself for how nonchalantly I pulled that off even though I was anxious on the inside.  I couldn't help but sneak a peek at Linda just to see if I could decipher her feelings.

She had a blank expression however so I couldn't tell. It was either she was purposefully hiding her true feelings or she just didn't care. Either way, I had to play it safe.

"Alright then. Every day?", he asked like the others weren't there.

I was absolutely irritated.

"Yes, if we want to get anything done. We don't have enough time. We could just meet from 6 to 10.", I said

"Today?", he asked.

"Of course. As I said, time constraint. ", I responded.

Spending so much time with Tyler was going to be a dangerous thing to do but I had no choice. I was just going to have to tap into every self-control from my future and send it to my present.

I glanced at Linda again and this time she was engrossed in what she was showing Sophia on her phone. Maybe she didn't actually care and I was just overreacting.

Thank you all for reading. Seriously, I really appreciate you all. Thank you.

Tag for the chapter: joblessraven