Chapter 48: Assigned Seating
Ms. Carter did not believe in letting students choose their own partners.
"Friendship," she announced on Tuesday morning, writing the word on the board in her sharp, slanted hand, "is the enemy of good work. You will agree with each other, you will be kind to each other, and you will produce something forgettable."
A groan went through the room.
"The project is a joint presentation on an unreliable narrator. Any novel, any century, fifteen minutes, twenty percent of your term grade." She capped the marker. "Pairs are final. No trades, no appeals, no letters from your parents."
April's pen stopped moving.
Twenty percent of her term grade. Twenty percent that fed directly into a number on a board, and the number on the board fed directly into a scholarship letter that lived in a drawer at home, reread more often than she would ever admit.
Ms. Carter began to read from a list. "Chloe and Isabelle Hartley."
