Page 39 of We Shouldn't Be Together
I roll my eyes and turn away from him. “Who’s twisting words now?”
“Tabitha and Kai,” Mrs. Field blurts, striding toward our desk. “All I hear is chatter coming from your desk. Tabitha, must you keep interrupting the class?”
I puff out my shock and point to my chest. “Me?”
“Was it not enough that I rearranged the entire class to minimize your negative impact?” Mrs. Field looks down her nose at me. “What else do I need to do to get you to pay attention in class?”
“It’s not just… He’s the one…”
Mrs. Field gestures at Cammy and Diane’s lab desk. “Camila is thriving with her new lab partner. Why can’t you shape up and get with the program?”
My jaw drops, watching Cammy scribble down notes. My eyes slit as I watch her signature hair twirl around her index finger. She’s playing a role. She’s not working with Diane. She’s putting on a show for Mrs. Field and making me play the bad guy.
Mrs. Field draws a pointed finger between me and Kai. “I need you two working together. No more bickering. The only words to come out of your mouth must have something to do with the class assignment. Got me?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kai and I say at once. His tone makes my skin crawl. He’s loving seeing me hung out to dry.
When Mrs. Field walks away from our desk, “Wow,” draws out of Kai. “Even Camila is pulling her weight. You really are the worst one out of the bunch.”
“Shut it,” I hiss and slap a hand onto my open textbook. “Does Camila have anything to do with this assignment?”
“Don’t get angry with me,” Kai says, stabbing at all my buttons. “It’s not my fault you’re not getting with the program.”
“Wipe the smirk off your face. Remember, if I fail this class, so do you.”
His Adam’s apple bobs, giving me a glimmer of delight. He then sits taller, and the light dims inside me. “Do you know anything about this subject that’ll pull your grade up from an F?”
I hook a finger between the collar of my blouse and my neck. “Well, I’m not actually an F-grade student.”
“But can you actually study?”
I shrug. “If I care.”
“Do you care about failing?”
An exasperated groan rolls out of me. “Duh. Of course, I do.”
“Then can you stop death-staring the teacher, or worrying about where my textbook is, and actually pick up a pen?”
My lip upturns and I cock an eyebrow at him.
He smirks. “The answers aren’t written on my forehead.”
I huff again and snatch a pen from my case. Kai goes back to writing in his notebook, and I scan my textbook to figure out what the heck he’s writing. I lift my gaze to the whiteboard where Mrs. Field wrote a paragraph of gibberish. I copy it all down, hoping something correlates with something in the textbook.
This is usually how I coast through science classes. None of it makes sense to me, but if I can just program a few things into my memory, I usually get by at exam time. The problem with chemistry is, part of the assignment is working on an experiment with your lab partner. At least with Cammy, it could’ve been fun. Maybe. But with Kai… Ugh. I can’t even imagine working with this guy. He obviously hates every girl except Jamie West.
My pen has a mind of its own as I zone out at my handwriting. Soon, there are hearts, flowers, and clouds doodled around my notes. I only snap out of the trance when the bell rings. I gather all my stuff, relieved to get far away from Kai.
“Kai and Tabitha,” Mrs. Field calls from her desk. “I need you two to stay back.”
Mutterings from other students pass us by, and I ignore them as I meet Cammy’s gaze. She’s sniggering at me while she saunters out of the room. I don’t know why she’s acting like she’s suddenly a grade-A student. We all know she’s gonna have Diane doing all her work for her.
“I told you two I only wanted you discussing schoolwork,” Mrs. Field says after the last student leaves the lab. “Correct?”
“Yeah…” Kai draws it out like he’s answering a trick question.
“Then I left your station, and you two were immediately arguing again,” Mrs. Field says bluntly. “I can’t have this in my classroom.”
