The project
The classroom buzzed noisily in the absence of the teacher. Adelia, with her fangirls swarming around her, was finding faults with the new popular actress's face in a bored manner. Willow just sat there, revising what they had studied yesterday. Charlie, who just got the knowledge magically transferred being the male lead and all, sat there idly watching Willow. His lips were curved in a soft smile as he watched his most important person in the world.
Since then, their relationship had improved a lot. Now they could talk somewhat freely without feeling awkward, eat together every day, and even make small talk during breaks.
"What're you doing, Willow?"
"Oh nothing, Charlie. I was just revising the equations Ms. Everdeen taught us in chemistry today."
Smiling wider, Charlie said fondly, "Oh, you're so diligent, Willow. I wish I could be like that too."
Heat crept up his face as he became a little flustered at the sudden compliment. "It-It's nothing! You get better grades anyway..."
This was just the way Charlie was. He randomly complimented him out of blue about a hundred times a day. But no matter how many times it happened, Willow still got flustered. Hah, how can Adelia easily digest all those praises from her fan-girls? It was plain awkward!
Charlie smiled sweetly, "My grades are just luck. You're certainly smarter than me."
This guy wasn't going to give up, was he? Since Willow had nothing to say and knew Charlie's just going to continue complimenting him no matter what he said, he laughed awkwardly and quickly went back to his equations.
Eyes curved into crescents, Charlie continued his daily Willow worshipping routine. He was so cute! Now that they were friends, Charlie just couldn't help but shower him with praises at any given time. He was just so perfect!
The teacher just stood there for about 10 minutes. Finally, she found her chance to speak, now that the short and sweet moment between the leads was complete. Extras know where they stand, after all.
"Ahem, students, please close your books."
Confusedly, most of the class put their books back into their bags, except a few. Well, those hadn't even taken out their book in the first place. Adelia, of course, belonged to the latter, still lamenting how much trouble her beauty caused her.
"So, you must be wondering, why I asked you all to do that, right?" She asked enthusiastically. However, her cheerful tone was met with silence.
"Ah, you guys seem a little down. No problem, today we're going to do something fun!"
Fun? Willow sighed, seems like they won't be studying anything in this class. The teacher, Miss Cornelia, was a cheerful and bright 25-year-old woman who was just bustling with energy every day. Compared to the sleep-deprived and fed-up with life teenagers, she acted more like a young person.
Although her daily cheerful quotes or bright enthusiasm were not reciprocated at all, she still wasn't fazed. "Exciting, right?"
A little sorry for her, Willow nodded slowly when no one else bothered. She was still a teacher, after all.
"-For your internal assessment marks, you have to do a project."
Clicking the projector button, she started a PPT containing the details of the project.
Okay, some background info first. Yes, this is the peerless romance novel favorite project trope in which, the male and female lead get grouped up every time. And note that, the number of people in a group is always two! They go to each other's houses for the 'project' and end up doing anything but the project. Of course, a re-enactment of the fall of love happens almost every time!
Now, back to the story.
She explained the project was about quickly. Since the leads almost never do the project but it still magically ends up completed, even though all that really happened were a few blushy moments, project information is useless.
Clapping her hands, she scanned the class, still very much full of energy. "So, guys. You have to make teams for this. Team up with your seatmate, I guess?"
-And Charlie's seatmate just happened to be Willow. A coincidence, I must say.