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Before Mrs. Anderson says anything, she hands us each what looks like our papers, which is weird because we turned them in electronically. When I look down at it, I notice it’s not my paper; it’s hers.
“What’s this?” I hold it up in question.
“These are your papers, written about each other. I want you to read it and see what you think.”
I shrug and turn to leave, but am stopped short.
“Then, I want you to do the assignment again.”
I close my eyes in frustration and take a deep breath. “What was wrong with it?”
“Let me guess. You got most of that information from the yearbook?” Mrs. Anderson says, and I try to hide my reaction. “It’s pretty obvious. And, Natalie, yours is a little better, which tells me he gave you more information about himself than you gave him aboutyourself, but it still wasn’t enough. The point of the paper was to learn about who the other person is on the inside. Not what they show everyone here on school campus. You can have until Friday to turn in a new draft, but I will not give you any more class time, so you two have to figure out another time to work together.”
I glance at Natalie, and she still hasn’t given me the time of day. She just nods her head to Mrs. Anderson and turns to leave without saying a word.
How can she be so mute all the time?
I put up my hands to my sides in disbelief to show Mrs. Anderson what I have to deal with, and she just shrugs one shoulder.
“This project is more about working with different personalities than just writing the paper. You’ll figure it out.”
She walks away from me, leaving me more irritated than ever that I have to work on this bullshit.
I exit the class and head straight to the couches, where I plop down and drop my head back against the headrest, crumpling the paper in my hands.
“Bad day?” Maya asks, placing her hand on my knee.
I turn my head toward her but keep it lying back. “Let’s just say your yearbook idea didn’t work, and I have to rewrite the paper.”
“Ouch. Sorry.” Her expression matches her words.
I sit up and run my fingers down my face. “How can I learn something about Natalie if she won’t even talk to me?”
“You’re going to have to make her. Show her this feud between our parents is just that—between our parents—and it has nothing to do with us,” she says.
“Yeah … I tried that, and it pissed her off even more when I said her ranch failing was collateral damage to an ever-changing world,” I respond.
“You didn’t!” She smacks my leg.
I hold up my hands in defense. “I’m just stating the truth. Not my fault it sucks.”
“Truth about what?” Ben says as he lifts Maya up, then places her back down on his lap, taking the spot where she was sitting.
“This whole feud between the ranch and TimeLand,” I reply. “Mrs. Anderson is making us redo the paper because we didn’t dig deep enough.”
Ben blows me off. “That’s drama none of us need.”
“Yeah, except it’s messing with my English grade right now.” I unfold it and show him the big red0across the paper.
“Shitty,” is all he says.
Maya places her hand back on my knee. “You’re going to have to force her to talk to you, and you need to figure out how to do it without insulting her. That’s your only option—unless you want to keep that zero.” She jumps off Ben’s lap and smiles big. “Adios, amigos!”
She leaves with a bounce in her step that I know Ben watches for a few seconds too long for someone claiming he doesn’t have those kinds of feelings for her.
I smack his chest. “You’re such an asshole when it comes to her. Just admit it already.”
He rolls his eyes and stands to head in the opposite direction of her, ignoring what I just said.
