Taking the Lead by Michele L. Rivera

Author:Michele L. Rivera
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2013-11-25T11:00:00+00:00

The rest of the day went by quickly, and soon Micah was in her last class: history.

As she walked to her seat, she glanced over at Emily. Emily’s bruises were almost healed completely. Before Micah could look away, Emily caught her staring.

“What?” Emily asked.

“What?” Micah responded guiltily.

Emily arched her eyebrows. “You’re the one who’s been staring at me all day. You tell me what.”

“What are you talking about? A little conceited, aren’t we?” Micah shot back.

“Let’s see.” Emily counted on her hand. “Outside of school this morning, in the halls, at my locker after lunch, just now.” She held up four fingers.

Micah pressed her forehead against her palm and squinted.

Emily smirked. “Look, I tell you this all of the time. You’re not good at being discreet.”

“Uhh. Oh. Uh,” Micah sputtered.

The teacher began talking about a project, distracting the girls’ attention.

“I’m going to put you in groups of two. This paper needs to be at least twenty pages long, and it will count as twenty-five percent of your final grade.”

The class groaned in unison.

The teacher circuited the room, pairing up students. Contingent on who they were assigned to work with, some students joyfully applauded while others booed and heckled.

The teacher pointed to Micah. “Ms. Williams, you’ll be working with Ms. Mathis.”

Micah and Emily traded looks of unease. A few weeks ago, this would have been ideal. Now it seemed like a punishment. Emily shook her head as Micah received the instructions from the teacher.

“This is due on Friday, the nineteenth,” the teacher said. “Good luck.”

The class protested with more griping, because the paper was due on the same day as their dance. The teacher held up his hands in indifference.

After class, Micah caught up with Emily in the hall.

“Emily, can we talk for a second?” Micah asked.

The noticeable hazel rim around Emily’s light brown eyes implied that Emily had been crying. Emily looked at her expectantly. “Talk.”

“I have to keep my grades up, so we need to work together,” Micah explained.

“Oh, so now you need me?” Emily said in a tone Micah had never heard before and hoped never to hear again.

“Uh, yeah. Okay, look,” Micah started, “I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I was being—”

“An asshole?” Emily finished Micah’s sentence for her.

“Right. That’s what I was being and I apologize,” Micah said.

“We can ask the teacher for new partners,” Emily suggested.

“I think we work well together! Remember last year when we nailed that biology project?” Micah asked excitedly.

Emily gave Micah one of her ‘are you serious?’ looks and then pulled some books from her locker. “Fine. We can be partners.”

“Okay. Do you want to come over Saturday and get started?”

“This Saturday?” Emily asked, annoyed.

“Yes, why? Do you have other plans?”

“I have a date or something.”

Micah folded her arms. “With Jared?”

“Yes.” Emily zipped her bag and hung it around her shoulder. “But that’s at night, so I guess I can come over during the day.”

“Okay, how about eleven?”

“Fine,” Emily said, walking away. Micah watched as Jared materialized and put his arm around Emily.

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