IDLE TOWN, jess mariano

⁰⁵the odd couple

「 chapter five 」
❝ checkmate, bitch! „

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"YOUR END OF THE SEMESTER PROJECTS WILL BE IN PAIRS," the English teacher announced to the class. "You will be learning more about your partner—not just vague details, but really learn about them. Then you'll create a profile on your partner."

Aries picked at her nails and let her mind wander off as the teacher droned on in the background about their project. Knowing how the teacher was, the class would probably get a handout about it when she was finished explaining anyways.

"I won't allow anyone else to see anyone else's project unless you're paired together and you have your partner's permission. You have until the end of the semester which includes the upcoming break," she finished explaining. "Any questions?"

"Do we both get the same grade as our partners?" someone asked.

"No," she answered. "You'll be graded individually, however, if your partner says that you provided insufficient information or refused to cooperate, I'll speak to both of you and take away points."

"Do we get to choose partners?" another random kid asked.

Great, now this kid just jinxed us and she'll assign them, Aries thought. She barely knew anyone in her class and she didn't really bother to get to know them either, so she was hoping she could choose and pair up with Lane.

"You guys will be paired up alphabetically by last name," the teacher answered and Lane and Aries exchanged an excited glance. "The list of partners is up on my desk so you can check it out when class is over, which is about now."

The bell rang and a bunch of students rushed up to her desk. Since Aries sat in the back, she lingered on the outside of the madness with Lane.

"We'll probably be partners," Lane said confidently.

"Yeah," agreed Aries. They had always been together when assigned by their last names. "You're K and I'm L."

"And that'll be perfect since we already know each other super well."

Aries nodded happily. "And maybe we can actually hang out without your mom totally despising me since we have to because it's for school."

They slowly made their way up to the desk as they chatted in excitement about the project. When they finally got up to her desk, their eyes skimmed the paper until they found their names which were not circled together. They looked up at each other and frowned.

"Well," Lane said with a disappointed look, "I guess we better find our partners. I'll see you tomorrow."

Aries nodded. "Right. See ya."

She sighed and walked out of the classroom to find Jess leaning next to the door on a random locker bank.

"Hey partner," she reluctantly greeted.

He looked up at her and pushed off the lockers as they started to walk.

"Right. You're L and I'm M," he said, mocking the way she had said it to Lane before.

"You already knew?" she asked with furrowed eyebrows.

He shrugged. "I had my suspicions and you just proved them right. Plus, I was just gonna wait until someone approached me about it."