“Uh-huh. So, Sam, what did I miss?” I asked, taking my seat.
“Samantha,” she corrected once more. “And… you missed three days.”
That was not the response I’d been expecting from my straight-laced partner. Damn, she was a ballsy little brainiac. I was impressed. Yet still, I had to call bullshit on her timeline. I knew for a fact I’d only missed two days of chemistry. “Your tally is off.”
She shook her head, the tiniest of smiles finding its way to her lips. “I counted the nap.”
What the fuck?I couldn’t help but laugh. This girl had more spunk than I’d given her credit for. Maybe using her for my own benefit wouldn’t be as painful as I’d imagined. I might even go so far as to say I sort of liked her – not in the lusty ‘Hey baby, you wanna sharpen my pencil?’ kind of way, but the more cerebral, ‘Can I copy off your homework and then maybe eat some of your nutritionally sound homemade lunch items?’ kind of way.
And even though she wasn’t my type at all, I could certainly see her potential. She was a curvy chick, maybe a little pudgy around the middle, but her legs were long and she sported a natural, make-up free face that honestly wasn’t half bad. Really, Sam was just one of those girls who was packaged all wrong. With a few tweaks, like a decent haircut, a tan, and some fashionable clothing, she might actually have a little something. Not for me, mind you. I didn’t have the patience to put into her transformation… not when there was an ample supply of bona fide hotties that came with no assembly required.
Sam actually laughed with me after realizing she’d made a funny, and I was happy to be making some headway with her. Although she still didn’t appear to be my biggest fan, unlike fifty percent of the company I’d kept today, at least she didn’t look like she wanted me dead.
Step two to winning her over: reference a shared experience. “I have a bad feeling I told you about my platypus dream on Monday.”
“Oh, you told me all right.” She laughed, and I watched as her body began to unwind. “That story… it haunted me. I couldn’t sleep – I had to actually get up in the middle of the night and do some research. Did you know that platypuses are one of only two mammals that lay eggs?”
My eyes ran the length of this girl, intrigued that she’d cared enough about the inner ramblings of my incapacitated mind to actually investigate my claims. “I did not know this.”
For the briefest of moments, she made eye contact with me, and we exchanged a smile.
“I thought you’d been transfered back to Mr. Friend,” she said.
“Nah, Mr. Friend was prepared to take his claim to the Supreme Court.”
“You must have made quite the impression on him.”
“Uh-huh. Like the impression I made on you. Be honest: how much do you know about the lifecycle of a platypus now?”
In the most deadpan voice imaginable, she replied, “I could sweep the category in Jeopardy.”
I eyed her, laughing. Dang, she was more amusing than her very uptight exterior would suggest. And even though it wasn’t like me, I was sort of digging having an intelligent conversation. She might have disagreed about that.
“Hey, I’m sorry about missing class.” Honesty? From me? What the hell?
She nodded, accepting my apology. “Why were you gone?”
What could I tell her that didn’t make me sound like a douche? Wracking my brain, I came up with nothing. It was just best to own up to it. “I took a vacation with the boys.”
Narrowing in on me with intuitive eyes, she sounded puzzled. “A vacation? Summer ended four days ago.”
“Right, but I had summer school, so in a way, I go to school year round.”
It was a joke – one she clearly didn’t get. Or maybe she just didn’t find it funny. Either way, it didn’t sit well with her, and as hesitation hung thick in the air, Sam nibbled on her bottom lip. Obviously she had something more to add. Why was this chick makingmefeel insecure?
“What?” I blurted out.
“Look, Keith, I envy your carefree lifestyle, I really do. I mean sometimes I wish I were you, but I can’t afford for my GPA to take a hit. College is really important to me. If it’s okay with you, I’d prefer to work separately.”
No, it’s not okay.What the hell? Most girls would jump at the chance to give me a little one-on-one attention and this… this…nobodywas making me work for it. My first instinct was to be pissed. She just assumed I was going to be a shitty partner without any evidence to the contrary. Okay, well, maybe she had a whole arsenal of evidence; but was it too much to ask for the benefit of the doubt?
Seconds away from blasting her for her bias against stoners – we had rights too – I caught sight of her rueful eyes and stopped dead in my tracks. This wasn’t a diss. For Sam, her grades weren’t a luxury, they were a necessity, and based on past performance alone, I’d given this girl no reassurance that I’d be anything but a strain on her resources. How could I blame her for wanting to put some distance between herself and my stupidity? Hell, I’d do the same if her nerdiness were to suddenly start rubbing off on me.
I should have left the chick alone and accepted her request at face value. But desperate times called for desperate measures. I needed this girl. She was the difference between a passing grade and a drawer full of F’s. I couldn’t take no for an answer.
Step three: show my hand. “What if I told you I was going to get serious about education?”
She lifted a brow. “I’d say ‘Good for you,’ but I hope you understand, getting an ‘A’ in this class is imperative for me if I want to get accepted into a good university.”
