I give her a look. “If you just jinxed me, you’re going topay.”
She laughs as we reach the door for her Communications class and wave goodbye. I jog up a flight of stairs after realizing I only have two minutes until my own class starts. I step through the door of the computer lab where Digital Marketing is held and find that most of the tables are already full. The only seats I can spot are in the row directly ahead of a beanie-clad blond whose eyes are locked onme.
I steel myself with a deep breath and then walk over to claim one of the swivel chairs, opening up the school laptop in front of me and loggingon.
“Morning,Peaches.”
I don’t even turn my head. “I thought I told you not to call methat.”
“But you’re just so peachy keen,” drawls Aaron from behind me. “Cutting it close on the time, aren’twe?”
“I came from kickboxing class,” I inform him, “so I’m all prepped to take you out,Penn.”
“Take me out?” he repeats, his tone mocking. “What did you have in mind? Dinner date? A trip to the movies? Romantic walk in thepark?”
“Don’t make me come over there and show you what Imean.”
Aaron laughs. “This isn’t really the time or place Dominguez, but I like yourenthusiasm.”
Our instructor walks in, putting the exchange to a halt before I can get up and start using Aaron as a human punching bag. The thirty people in the class go silent as our instructor, Gary, takes his place at the Smart Board in front ofus.
I’m still shocked at how different it feels to learn in a small college class. I remember the giant university lectures where I was just one of several hundred people listening to an ancient professor regurgitate facts about World War II. Classes here are much more accessible, and I don’t have to move mountains just to make sure my teachers actually know Iexist.
Gary pushes his square-framed glasses up on his nose. He’s wearing aStranger Thingst-shirt over a pair of faded jeans. Most of our instructors are clean-cut professionals, but the idea of Gary in a suit is enough to make me have to stifle alaugh.
He gets away with his scruffy beard and worn-out sneakers by being a marketing genius. On the first day of class he walked in, made a Twitter account to promote a new TV show, and racked up a hundred followers before the lecture was evendone.
“Alright, minions,” Gary begins, “today’s the day. I’m assigning your groups for the campaign project you’ll be working on for the last three weeks of the semester. You’ve known this was coming, so it shouldn’t be too much of a shocker, but I’ll review the concept anyways. Each of you will be working with a partner to design and implement a digital media campaign for a predetermined product. You’ll be integrating all the topics we’ve covered this term, including blogging, web-based advertising, social media engagement— theworks.”
He pauses for a moment to flip on the Smart Board and then takes a seat at hisdesk.
“As you know, the top projects will also qualify to be part of this semester’s advertising showcase. We’ve got a lot of industry professionals attending, so if you’re aiming to get connections with big firms, this would be the chance to do it. I’ll be here to support you and provide feedback on your progress, but the main teaching portion of the course is done, thank god,” he jokes, wiping imaginary sweat from his brow as the class laughs. “Now, let’s find out who your partners are. In the olden days we’d do this with names in a hat, but it’s my job to be digitally engaged,so...”
He opens up an online team generator that already has all our names plugged in and presses the ‘Randomize’ button. Fifteen groups of partnered names appear on the screen. I scan through the list, searching for my own. The closer I get to the bottom of the screen, the more nervous I feel. Neither mine nor Aaron’s names have shown upyet.
There’s no way I’m that unlucky, I think.There’s just noway.
My eyes latch onto the familiar letters of my own name, sitting at the very bottom of the list. I slide my gaze over to the one next to mine and swear I can hear music of impending doom start toplay.
Group fifteen: Christina Dominguez and AaronPenn.
“Well would you look at that,” chimes Aaron’s voice from behind me. “Seems like you’ve got the luck of the draw today,Peaches.”
The rest of the class is buzzing with chatter as people acknowledge their partners from across the room. I’m also facing death glares from several girls who clearly wish they were in my place. For a moment I consider standing up and asking if any of them want totrade.
Instead I take the opportunity to spin my chair around and face a grinning Aaron, wheeling close enough that I can speak in a low voice meant only forhim.
“Listen up,Penn—”
I’m about to launch into a tirade of threats about what will happen if he doesn’t wipe the satisfied smirk off his face right now when Gary calls everyone’s attention back to thefront.
“You’ll get your information packages emailed to you in a moment with more details, but here are the fictional products each group will be marketing. Group one: Just Like Baba Makes, a line of frozenpierogis.”
I zone out as Gary continues with the list. A loop of my week so far plays in my head, and I try to pinpoint when I could have possibly done something so bad it made me deserve getting partnered with Aaron Penn. I cut someone off in traffic on Monday morning, but that’s not nearly catastrophic enough to merit this kind ofpayback.
I search even farther for the dark sin that has to be responsible for this. There must be something terrible lurking in mypast.
There was that one time I broke my cousin’s new light saber on Christmas morning and then threw it in the garbage without telling him, I think.Karma’s abitch.
