Chapter 1

Jason Winkler had little patience. He tried not to show it because he knew it was unprofessional to do so. This was extremely difficult when his class wasn't listening to him. As a young teacher, the youngest in the school, he prided himself on being able to connect with the students in a way the other teachers couldn't. He was only in his mid twenties and was a teenager not long ago, so had an idea of how it felt to be one and understood them better. He tried to be more relaxing because he understood that no one likes being breathed down the neck to do something, especially a teenager. But by doing so, he feared he sometimes lost the respect as a teacher that he deserved. One of those times being this time.

"Excuse me!" he yelled getting some of the students attention. It embarrassed him that some of the students had to shush the other students and were much more successful doing so. "Could someone please tell me why it has been taking so long for you guys to pay attention in class recently?"

Several hands went up. He thought about calling on Fabian or Mara for a respectful answer, but that also meant a long complicated one. He needed the answer to be brutally honest and blunt so that he could get straight to the issue and fix it. So he called on Jerome, who had no trouble answering. "The class is easy"

"Easy?" Jason repeated.

"Don't get me wrong, I love easy" Jerome said. "But we've all gotten A's this quarter and last quarter and last year and so on and so forth. It's not that we don't love the class, it's fun. But we don't feel we learn enough new material and the class feels more like free time at this point"

Jason took in the feedback while looking around the room to make sure everyone agreed with the statement. Well no one else raised their hand, but he could tell the about half of the class disagreed by their facial expressions. The same half that actually pay attention. Anyone that wasn't from Anubis, who struggled a little more. For the Anubis Residents, acting seemed to be very easy for them. And who could blame them? They had plenty experience acting ignorant to current situations around them in order to keep others safe. Jason needed to figure out what to do. He couldn't accommodate for one house and change his teaching habits and skills because he knew the other houses wouldn't be able to keep up. He looked at the time and noticed just five minutes until the school day was over, and an idea struck him.

"Thank you for your input. After class if all of the Anubis residents would stay behind" Jason said ignoring the groans. "As for now, you may talk amongst yourselves, but I expect Monday's class to be more productive"

As the students began to talk about different things-pranks, gossip, school work-he went into the costume department and got out a top hat. When he came out he tore up a piece of paper and wrote six names on six different pieces. He folded them each and put them in the hat and shook them around a little bit. When the period was over most of the class left, whereas the Anubis House residents stayed behind looking at him expectantly.

"I am sorry that you guys aren't feeling academically stimulated in this class. But your house seems to be the only one that feels so. I can't change the class just for you guys" he said. "But I can give you a long term project that will be more up there with your abilities"

"A project?" Joy asked.

"Precisely" Jason continued. "This project is one I give to the Senior class. Instead of doing it next year, I could do it this year"

"If we're doing a senior project this year, what are we going to do next year when everyone else is doing the project?" Mara asked.

"Well that's a good question" Jason admitted. "You will be having class like normally whilst everyone else completes their projects"

"How long is it?" Alfie asked.

"It's a two week project" Jason answered.

"So what is it?" Mick asked.

"Well could everyone split up by gender, girls on the right side, boys on the left" Jason said. They scrambled to get to their spots. "Willow, we have to make it even. You will be on the boys side"

"Me? Why do I have to be on the boys side?" Willow asked.

"Because you were originally supposed to be in Isis house" Jason said and motioned for her to go over there. She sighed and left to stand next to Alfie. Jason took his hat and put it in front of Mara. "Pick a card"

"Just one?" she asked and he nodded. She took it and opened it. "Fabian" she smiled at him and he smiled back, making Nina look at her feet.

"Nope, put it back and pick a different one" Jason said. She sighed and put it back in the hat, choosing the next card.

"Willow" she said. Jason moved to Patricia who rolled her eyes and picked from the group.

"Mick" she said boringly. Jason moved it to Joy.

"Uh... Eddie" she said. She looked at Patricia and shrugged.

"KT, you're next" he said.

"I got... I got Jerome" she said. He moved to Amber who took out the remaining two papers, juggled them around in her hands like dice. The only two people left were Amber's ex boyfriend and Nina's ex boyfriend, so Jason knew who each would get in the end. Amber tossed one of them papers back in and opened the one she had in her hand. She opened it and looked at Fabian.

"I got him" she said pointing at Fabian.

"Which means I have Alfie" Nina sighed taking the paper out of the hat.

"Don't sound so disappointed" Alfie said.

"All the boys, and Willow, stand by your partner" Jason said. They each went to the person they remembered had their name.

"Will you please tell us what this is about now?" KT asked.

"For the first week" Jason started. "You will be in a couple with your partner for the whole week and you have to convince me that you actually love them. I will be informing Trudy and your other teachers to keep an eye on you"

"Wait" Eddie stopped him. "We have to be in a pretend relationship with the person we got?"

"Correct, but convince me that it's not pretend" Jason said. "You will come to me during each lunch for fifteen minutes for quick lessons that will help you with the project"

"Wait that's not fair!" Patricia said. "How are we supposed to act as if we're a couple if we are already in a relationship with someone?"

"You have to put your relationship on hold" Jason said. "Any flirting, kissing, or hinted infatuation with someone other than your partner is an immediate fifty points subtraction"

"You're kidding!" Eddie said.

"The project starts Monday, have a nice weekend" Jason smiled at them, which made them all more angry. Everyone groaned and went out the door. All of the current couples gravitated to each other, it seemed as if to spend the last two days together as much as they could. Nina and Amber walked together, with KT and Mick in tow.

"I guess this will be easier for us" KT said. "Since none of us are in a relationship"

"True, none of use are in a relationship" Nina somewhat agreed. "But that doesn't mean there's not someone we care for in that sense"

"I love Alfie" Amber stated. "When we broke up, we made it clear we could date other people. I didn't think he actually would. Anyway, I have to spend the entire week pretending like it doesn't bother me that my best friend is going out with my ex boyfriend and that's the same feeling for Nina. And Mick still clearly loves Mara"

"That's true" Mick mumbled.

"But he can't show it" Amber continued.

"Well it's fine" Mick said. "My ex girlfriend actually is in a relationship with my best friend. And I pretend like it doesn't bother me every day"

"So I guess this project is really easy for just you" Amber said to KT. "Since there's no one in the house who you fancy. Right?"

"Right" KT said, feeling sorry for everyone else.

Dinner that night was awkward. No one was looking forward to the project. They all knew things would be awkward, maybe even put a wedge in some of their friendships. They would sometimes glance at their partners and glance at their partners current boyfriend/girlfriend. The only thing people could hear was the sound of forks hitting the plates. Trudy walked through the front door breaking the silence. She came in with twelve books, all different colors. She placed the pile on the table, taking the pink one and handing it to Amber immediately.

"Jason has asked me to give these two you. Further instructions and rules are on the first page" Trudy said and left. Each person took the color they liked the most. and opened the book to the first page.

Rules

1) At least one kiss a day

2) At least one date during the week

3) Do not flirt with, kiss, or date anyone except you partner

4) No breaks. The project doesn't end until the end of the week.

You will be writing a journal entry at the end of each day. Two paragraphs. One with you 'in character' saying how you feel about your partner and what you guys did that day. And one, the only time you will 'break character' to say how you feel about the project so far. No one will read this journal entry but you and I.

Everyone silently closed their books and continued to eat. The silence began to become deafening for Eddie. Things were too awkward. He hated the silence. He decided he needed to say something, to make things a little less... tense. After a year of being the leader, he had began to grow accustomed to taking charge. "Ok" he said capturing everyone's attention, startling a few people. "It's obvious none of us want to do this, but we have to. So I suggest we suck it up and do the project"

"I don't think that's going to happen" Mara said. "None of us are really comfortable with this, so I don't see how we're going to be able to act as if we are"

"Well maybe with a little push" Jerome said.

"What does that mean?" Mick asked.

"It means maybe we need to make things more interesting" Jerome said. "More like a game"

"A game?" Joy asked. Everyone at the table could be quite competitive. Even if they didn't know it. Sometimes with sports. Sometimes with academics. Sometimes with dates. Either way, they all loved a good game.

"On Monday, the game begins. We'll tell Trudy and Jason that we've turned it into a little... friendly competition" Jerome continued. "The couple that has convinced them the most wins"

"Wins what?" Patricia asked.

"Wins no chores for the next week, and five dollars from each person who lost" Jerome said. Things were getting more interesting already. "Tomorrow is Saturday. Tomorrow we'll spend the day with our actual partners. Sunday we'll break up with them. Not permanently of course. We should all be single by noon on Sunday. By the end of the day, we should all have asked the girl out. Trudy will be keeping track and putting points in different areas, like the dates. The kisses. How someone asks someone else out and so on. We'll learn the winner by the end of the week. Is everyone up for it?"

There were nods of agreement. And just like that there was a different feel of the project. It was a competition. Now, it wasn't just about grades. They had to win.

So I'll ask this at the end of every chapter: Who is your favorite 'couple'?