"Riley, what the heck?" I asked as I covered my face with my arms, leaning over and onto the table. He freakin' let me think he had somewhere else to go, when he was headed to the same class as me the whole time. When I looked up, he had a huge smirk on his face and was walking up to me. "Hey, it's not my fault you assumed I was going somewhere else," he said, shrugging his shoulders in an innocent manner. I rolled my eyes as he chuckled, but it wasn't until I noticed him sit at the table behind me that I was no longer amused. "Sup, Drew," he greeted, dapping up the social underacheiver behind me. "The same old stuff, man," Drew, according to Riley, shrugged. So the selfish prick's name was Drew. That sucks. I really like that name. Well, now it was "liked" since it was associated with him. But, clearly, so was Riley. Why?! Why does the first cute and friendly guy I meet have to be friends with him. Riley is so nice, why would he even want to be friends with him?! I started to write him off, until it hit me. I didn't even know this "Drew" guy. Maybe he wasn't that terrible and I just caught him on an off day. I owed it to him to give him a second chance at a first impression. Deciding to let what happened this morning go, I turned my attention to the empty seat at the desk up front. So, my first teacher was a time-controlling tightwad, and my second was an inconsiderate time-waster. Perfect! Again, that was sarcasm. As if he was reading my mind, Riley called my name. "Hey, Natalie!" I turned around, looking at his angelic face. "Yeah?" I answered. "I hope you weren't planning on learning anything this period, because Mrs. Shaffer is rarely even in here. Most of the time, she's in the teachers lounge and only stops by to give us some worksheets." The idea of having a full hour and a half with basically no teacher nagging my head off was actually exciting. It would give me time to make a few flyers. They wouldn't be anything amazing, but they'd serve the purpose I needed them to. "Well, when does she usually come by with the worksheets?" I asked, wanting to get that out of the way as soon as possible. "Looks like right now," he smirked, raising one of his eyebrows, gesturing to the young woman that just walked in. She looked average in her teacher get-up, but I could tell that she was pretty. Her brown hair was pulled up into a tight bun, military style, but her face was soft and pleasant. "Okay, pass these back to everyone," she directed, handing a stack of papers to the people at the front. "I'll be back to collect these before you leave. Work by yourselves or in a group, I don't care, as long as they're completed by then." And without even making sure we understood, she left, closing her door on the way out. "Dang. She didn't even acknowledge her new student. Are you okay, Natalie?," Riley teased in a fake pity voice. "Doesn't matter to me. I'm used to being invisible." When I looked up, Riley was shooting me a concerned face, that I pretended not to see, and he let it go. But, when I started turning back around, I noticed a pair of green eyes staring at me. I wished that goblin wasn't sitting there, but I was giving him a fresh start. I'd just have to keep reminding myself of that. When I got my worksheets I was expecting to work alone, but Riley sat in the seat beside me. I looked over at him, raising my eyebrows in suspicion. "What?! Don't tell me you don't want to work together. I thought we were becoming friends!" he whined in a dramatic way, clearly trying to be funny. But, I purposely didn't address his "friendship" comment because I still wasn't sure about that. "I don't know," I said in a teasing manner. "I'm pretty sure you're just going to goof off." "Well, I am offended. I never goof," he swore, placing a hand up like he was under oath. "Isn't that right, Drew?" I glanced back at Drew, who's attention was on his paper, not us. A few seconds later, he looked up at Riley and then me, an annoyed expression growing on it when he looked at me. "Don't you see me trying to work?" he grumbled. I turned back around, not trying to get irritated by his lack of manners. Turns out it wasn't that easy. "Well, I promise to be good," Riley asserted, accepting that his "friend" didn't have his back. Looking at the title of the worksheets, "Why Did Rome Fall?", I decided to let him help. World governments wasn't my best subject. I hoped he'd be helpful, otherwise we could be there for a while. "Okay, fine," I caved, and a grin appeared on his face just like that.