“Oh. I never thought about that before.” Morgan said tapping her chin with her index finger.
“Yeah, well…” Brody said in an I-told-you-so tone. He smiled as though he had won the argument. Then Morgan smirked and Brody’s smile faded quickly.
“Your problem is that I don’t really care.”
Brody swallowed a thick lump in his throat. He didn’t understand how her lack of caring was his problem and not hers. As far as he was concerned, he was going to get a good grade on the project. But, since she wasn’t doing anything, she wouldn’t get the credit.
“You forgot that Mr. Mack said that we need to work as a team because we’re all getting the same grade.” Morgan said putting her hands on her hips and raising her head just a little bit higher. It was obvious she felt superior over him, but Brody knew that wasn’t true in the least bit. She wasn’t even older than him.
“That doesn’t mean I’m not going to tell Mr. Mack that you didn’t do any work. I’m sure he’ll make an exception.” Brody countered. He assumed his science teacher would hear Brody out at the least. Morgan never turned in her homework and Brody did. It shouldn’t be too hard to imagine that he would do all the work and Morgan would take all the credit. Morgan was even late to class that day. She missed Mr. Mack’s whole explanation on the project. Did she go up to him after class and ask for the information? No, of course not.
Morgan smirked again. “Mr. Mack is one of the toughest teachers. I highly doubt he’ll make an exception, especially for someone like you.”
Brody narrowed his eyes. He purposely stayed away from Morgan. He knew she was bad news and she didn’t care about anything or anyone but herself. Yet, Mr. Mack drew names randomly out of a hat, so he was stuck being her science partner.
“Also,” Morgan continued her tone icy, “Mr. Mack said we would all get the same grade because he didn’t want to deal with any drama. You would just be creating drama if you went to complain to him and he wouldn’t take that very lightly, would he?”
Brody opened his mouth to protest and then closed it again. He hated to admit it, but Morgan was right about that one. If he complained to his teacher, then Mr. Mack would most likely think Brody wasn’t doing any of the work and was just trying to get all the credit for himself to get an A.
“I mean, I could very well go complain to Mr. Mack and say you weren’t doing any of the work and I was.” Morgan suggested.
Brody’s face dropped. She just read his mind.
But she wouldn’t complain to Mr. Mack and lie to him like that, would she? Yeah, she probably would. Would Mr. Mack believe her over Brody? He hoped not.
“Okay, I think I’ve heard enough.”
Brody jumped at the new voice coming from behind him. Seeing Morgan’s face drop and her eyes grew wide, Brody wasn’t sure if this familiar voice was good or bad for him. It sure looked bad for Morgan.
Brody turned around and stiffened upon seeing Mr. Mack right behind him.
“Mr. Mack,” Brody said, “we both have a free period right now.” He was not going to get into trouble for being in the empty hallways at school when he didn’t have class.
“That’s fine,” Mr. Mack replied.
“I came to find Brody because I suggested we work on our project, but he told me no. So don’t be too surprised if it’s late.” Morgan stated. Brody furrowed his brows but didn’t dare to turn back around and face her.
Mr. Mack cocked an eyebrow. “Morgan, there’s no need to lie. I already heard your entire conversation.”
Brody smiled. Now he turned around just because he wanted to see the look on her face. She was obviously caught, yet she was still smiling.
“So, you mean to say that you heard Brody say that he’s going to tattle on me even though I’ve been doing the brunt of the project?” Morgan asked.
“No,” Mr. Mack glared at her, “I mean to say that I heard Brody trying to work things out with you, but you refused to do any of the work.” Morgan’s smile left her face and she froze.
“Then,” he continued, “he was going to do the right thing by coming to me about it and you tried to twist his words as well as my own in an attempt to talk him out of it.”
Morgan opened her mouth, but Mr. Mack held up a hand to silence her.
“I don’t want to hear anymore on it, Morgan. I’ve heard the whole conversation and I’m not going to continue to allow you to bully Brody into doing this project for you.” Mr. Mack took a deep breath and cracked a smile. “So, good news for you! You can work alone on this project.”
Brody smiled and looked upward praising the sky. He always hated working in groups, but he was able to at least tolerate it if people did their job. Thanks to Mr. Mack, Brody’s headache could finally go away since he never wanted to work with Morgan in the first place.
Morgan hesitated to respond, but she forced a smile and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, that’s good! I mean, now I can finally do the work without worrying if Brody does his part.”
Brody raised an eyebrow. This chick was nuts.
Mr. Mack winked at Brody and then smiled at Morgan. “Don’t forget,” he continued walking. “The project is due tomorrow.”
Morgan’s jaw dropped. Brody chuckled and turned away to leave. This had been a month-long science project and he had already completed it.
I hope you enjoyed this story! Let me know in the comments below.
