Dill had his dark hair in his usual short cut. I did not know how he could handle only half an inch of hair. I liked being able to have hair to run my hands through. I would never tell my friends that, the girl jokes that I would get. Dill had dark eyes and was a little shorter than me. Dill sat in a chair across from me, slouching back in the chair. Next to him glared Rachel's dark clothing wearing friend Bridget, big hair and all.
"Hey Rachel, maybe you had a point in being pessimistic on the whole drive here after all." Bridget still kept her eyes on Dill who appeared to be just as thrilled as her.
"Schools, you can't trust them," Rachel responded, but she was turned around not facing the three of us, still surveying the room, her voice distant.
"Rach, you okay?" I asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. She withdrew her body from me in a snap of a reaction.
"Don't touch me," Rachel said. Even through her jacket I could see her shoulders tense.
I tried to remember her friends hugging her in the halls like some of the other girls did. I couldn't think of a time I'd seen that. Actually thinking back to eighth grade graduation she was laughing at those who were crying. She kept shouting something like 'you'll see them in three months!' over and over. She'll calm down eventually.
Principal O'Doherty stepped up to the front of the room.
"Students quiet down, quiet down!" His stern voice was cutting through the voices of the whole sophomore class.
A middle aged man with brown hair that was speckled with gray and white, that I could see even this far back, was up front. A microphone was in one of his hands while his other hand was free to be able to be expressive. I scooted my chair a little so that I could see the principal, leaning back I watched around Rachel's blond head. Principal O'Doherty was a tall, lean man who always wore a pressed suit that seemed to hang just a smidge on his frame. Back when my siblings were in high school he was a decent guy, but apparently a few years ago his wife and him started having issues in their marriage. Rumors spread around the school that his wife left him, that they split up, that there was a full-on battle of a divorce. That one of them was caught cheating, you think of any form of gossip that could have been thought up, and it was mentioned. Ever since then Principal O'Doherty had been a hard-ass, ruling Adams High with an iron fist that was apparently desperately needed for a very low key suburban town.
"Before you continue to harass the teachers to fix your room arrangements, there were no mistakes made. That's your roommate." Principal O'Doherty paced, his eyes scanning the room that was now hushed except for a few whispers. One of his hands was somewhat open, rolling around in the air as he spoke. "The project will be taking place over the next few months, possibly longer depending on how things go. Spending more time with your partners will help the project develop for the full experience. That is one of the reasons we said no electronics on the trip, we want you all to be focused on the task at hand."
He stopped in the center of the platform upfront. Principal O'Doherty's body was directly facing the student body. All of us waited for him to continue so we would finally hear the details of the alleged project. My eyes drifted down from Principal O'Doherty and to Rachel. The girl was stressing from the moment the permission slips were passed out during homeroom. Rachel's emotions weren't fully furious or crazed, but more curiosity and dread of who she would be paired up with. GPA was a heavy weight on her and she was the type to stress over that since kindergarten. When our friends were a little side tracked I tried to calm her. I joked with Rachel that worst case scenario that she would mess with her partner, Rachel didn’t like that.
"We want our students at Adams High to be able to enter the real world prepared for life and what will come their way. We have a reputation to keep up. Now I'm sure you students have over the years seen on television or even from grades above you, the marriage project. You and your partner will learn to co-operate with each other, in addition to learning the basic skills it takes for a couple to function in a marriage."
"Oh, for the love of God," Rachel mumbled under her breath, with her elbow resting on the table she leaned her head against her hand.
I might never have been Rachel's number one friend, but I do try to look out for her. I admit that I have been known to pick on her over the years, but I was never that bad. I'm not that mean, like I tell her to stand up for herself against others. My picking is more like joking between the two of us than harshness. For example a few guys made a nickname for her (that she hates) and I call her that sometimes. At the same time I tell her to tell on them since a teacher heard someone saying it to her and told them to stop. When I do push her buttons it always seemed different. I can't explain it, but it just was. It was also written on
