Petty Desires, by stormluver
Petty Desires
"Students, as you all know, due to the water damage in the gym, the dance scheduled for two weeks ago was cancled. The school board has decided to reschedule it for this Friday, considering that the repair work continues to go well. Also, Kelly Hanson please report to the office for a phone call. That will be all."
The loudspeaker shut off and the students in the psychology class cheered. In his seat, Pacey shivered. Behind him, he heard Andie's excited whisper in his ear and he turned to her.
"Alright class," the teacher began. "I've had the opportunity to read through your papers and I can't help but commend you all." Joey smiled to herself. "The sheer quality of the research and follow - up papers very much astounds me." Her face was filled with joy as she gestured wildly with a thick, bound report in her hand. "I wasn't aware that young people your age were capable of this kind of superiority. And so, because I'm so impressed, I've set up partners for the next project."
The class groaned and Joey felt a sinking in her stomach.
"Now, when I call your name, come up and get your envelopes. Each envelope will have the name of your partner and the topic of your report. These reports will not only be researched and written in a paper, but presented to the class orally." Joey cocked an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Now, come get your envelopes."
As she began to call off names, Dawson turned around in his seat to face Joey.
"I really really hope we're together this time. Doing the last one alone kind of sucked." He laughed and then rose to collect his topic. When he sat down, the look on his face stopped casual conversation.
"What? What's wrong?" He looked up at her from under furrowed brows.
"You don't want to know." Joey's head snapped up as a screech came from across the room. Abby was shaking her head and talking to the girl next to her.
"This has to be a mistake..." Dawson sighed and Joey faced him.
"No mistake about it." Joey surpressed a grin and walked up to get her own envelope. She tallied up the pairs in her head. Dawson and Abby, Grant and Nellie, Marybeth and Jack, China and Chris, Jen and Andie... As the list continued, and she continued to walk, alarms began to go off in her head.
Oh God...it can't happen... She waited until he collected his own, and tore into it at the same time. She momentarily closed her eyes and then opened them again, raising them to meet Pacey's across the noisy, moving room.
She broke contact and sank into her desk. Dawson snatched at her envelope and she held it out of his reach.
"C'mon. It can't be worse than Abby...Remember her? The girl from hell?" Joey raised an eyebrow.
"You never can tell." At the front of the room, the teacher began giving instructions, pertaining to their reports.
"Now, unlike last time, these reports will not be completed during classtime. This time they will be researched, written, typed, and worked out on your own, personal time, in your own homes, at the library where ever. This means that some of you may have to give up some or your normal afterschool activities, such as television and the internet, but most of you will be able to handle it." A few hands were raised.
"Yes Abby?" Joey swiveled in her seat to watch.
"Is it possible to trade partners?" The teacher raised and eyebrow as Dawson eagerly looked for her response.
"Unfortunately, no. I've chosen your partners according to your participation in the last project and I've tried to pair people who might work well together."
Joey looked up at Pacey and found him looking back at her. The bell rang, jolting them out of the trance. Around her, people stood up.
"Remember people! You have a month to complete this project. Continuances will not be issued unless certain circumstances arise. Otherwise, have fun, and we'll get back to this in a few weeks."
People started moving towards the open doorway, shoving and jostling each other. Joey stood, gathering her books together and faced Dawson as he stood in front of her.
"So...walk you to class?" The smile in his voice matched the one on his face and she almost said yes, but the nagging image of Pacey was still imprinted on her brain and she frowned.
"I have to talk to Ms. Krantz about something. How about, I meet you at your locker, and you can walk me from there?" Dawson hesitated and finally agreed, kissing her on the cheek, and then bounding out the door after Jen.
Joey chewed on her lip as she tucked her books under her arm and walked to the desk at the front of the room. The teacher looked up expectantly at her as she approached.
"Is there anything I can do for you, Joey?" Joey put the books down and smiled.
"Actually, yes, there is." She took in a long breath. "I know you said we couldn't change partners, but I think under the circumstances, this would be one case where it's necessary."
"I'm not quite sure I understand."
"Well, you see, I've already had the partner you gave me, and I don't think that's fair when everyone else is paired with someone different."
"I'm afraid I have to agree with her." Joey's head snapped to the right as Pacey spoke from beside her.
"Well, I'm still not understanding entirely. Do the two of you not get along? Do you not work well together?"
"No! That's not it at all, in fact." Joey paused to catch her breath. "We've been friends for years."
"And we work very well together, now that you mention it." Only the girl beside him heard the barely audible catch in his voice.
"Then what's the problem? Anyone else in the class would jump at the chance to work with the same partner."
"Well...I guess..."
"Because, you see," the teacher continued, her clear voice paused dramatically. "You two are part of my own private experiment."
Pacey's eyebrows raised and Joey opened her mouth, ready to speak.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's sort of a behavioral study. You two did so well on the last report, and I wanted to see if that was just dumb luck or some sort of...oh, I don't know..." she searched for the word. "Some sort of...chemistry...between the two of you." She looked at them with her eyebrow raised. "What's your theory?"
"Dumb luck," Pacey supplied. Joey smiled to herself.
"Well, unfortunately for you then, the two of you will just have to tough it out."
Afterwards, they walked down the empty hallway, passes in hand, books tucked under arms, walking a good foot-and-a-half from each other.
"Isn't it illegal to do experiments on your students?" Joey shook her head.
"We signed that contract, remember? Hell, we even got our parents to sign it."
"I never actually read through that letter." Joey smiled, slowing her pace, and shifting her binder. Her fingers on his sleeve stopped him in his tracks as he turned to face her. Her fingers remained on his arm and Pacey looked at her.
"What is it?" She closed her eyes momentarily. He took her hand and removed it from his sleeve, dropping it at her side. Joey opened her eyes again.
"What are the chances that we can be friends again?"
"We've always been friends, Joey." She didn't miss the dismissive tone and she glanced up and down the deserted hallway.
"You know what I mean." This time he looked down the hallway, almost hoping someone would walk by.
"Why do we have to talk about this now?" Her eyebrows shot up.
"When would be a better time to talk about it? After school while I'm at work? How about in 4 weeks when we have to hand in the paper we couldn't finish?" Her expression had grown fierce. "I'm talking about it now, so that you can't find an excuse to avoid talking about it later."
He almost growled.
"That's out of line." She shrugged.
"Fine. Name a time to talk about it and we will. Because whether or not you're capable to deal with it, we're going to have to work together a lot this month, and I don't think that either of us want something else to get in the way."
"Get in the way, huh?" Joey stepped back, thoroughly annoyed.
"Just meet me at the library tonight. At seven. Sort of neutral grounds."
"At least I won't have to worry about being seduced." She laughed.
"Just be there, ok? Because the sooner we get started, the sooner we finish." He nodded, and she began walking down the hall away from him. "I'll talk to you later."
He started to turn the corner and then turned back, his brow furrowed. As she walked away, he watched her.
"Hey, I never actually looked at our project. What's the topic?" She laughed and turned around, walking backwards.
"I'll tell you when we get to the Library." She smiled, turning around, and then back again. "You didn't look?" He felt the corner of his mouth turn up.
"I was more concerned with the problem of partnership than the subject." She nodded, and walked away, talking over her shoulder.
"See ya, Witter." He sighed, walking into the computer lab.
"See ya, Potter."
"She wants us to what?" Pacey shook his head folding his arms. Joey looked at him and couldn't help grinning.
"She wants us to teach the class about safe sex." She bent over her notebook scribbling.
"Excuse me for bringing this up, but doesn't that seem a bit...oh I don't know...risque?" He saw her eyebrows raise.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, teenagers trying to teach other teenagers about something as...controversial as sex. I mean, when the other teachers find out, they're going to have mental breakdown." Pacey's eyes openly admired the curve of her smile and for a moment, he forgot their agreement.
"Actually, I asked Ms. Krantz about that before I left school today. She told me that the other topics were things like Drugs, Alcohol, and Fetal Development. So, I think we're in the clear as far as that's concerned. And, apparantly, they've had every class before us do these reports so, it's not a huge deal." She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "They probably think it's preparing us for life." She looked at him and smiled.
"If that were true, they would have given us this assignment about two years ago."
"It's common knowledge that our high school isn't the most...up to date." She pushed her chair away from the table and stood up, eyes searching around the room. "I think we should be in that section."
They walked across the room, behind several shelves to a dusty and secluded part of the building. After scanning the several rows of books, they looked at each other.
"Looks like we got first pick," Pacey murmured as he ran a finger over the dusty bindings. He knelt and began looking through titles as Joey climbed up on the stool resting next to the shelf. She handed down books to him, and he set them in a pile next to the ones he was pulling out of the lower shelves, and soon, they had a good-sized stack of reading material.
"I think I'm gonna just get this last book, and we'll be set." She was stretched out across the shelf, one foot on the stool, the other, toe touching the cushion, arm stretched above her, slightly to the right as she reached for a thick hardcover book.
"Careful, Jo." He stood up, leaning back against the shelf as she reached over his head, a book in his hands. Pacey leafed through the pages and caught a whiff of peach essence that decidedly did not originate in the paper bindings. His eyes scanned the view above him, a long slender limb that ended in a strong, yet, almost delicate looking hand. His eyes panned down over the slim waist, trim hips and shapely calves that finished off in feet that...were about to tip over a very rickety looking stool. He reached out to put a hand on her waist.
"Jo, do you need help with that?"
"No."
"We can move the stool over..."
"No, I've almost got it." She stretched over his head and sure enough, the stool over turned, taking Joey with it, and she fell into Pacey. As gravity regained control, she slid down, over his body as he clutched her to him, slowing her descent. She looked at him, her hands planted firmly on his chest, and watched him reach behind him, not breaking their gaze, and pull out the blue bound book that had caused the rapid meeting.
As the book feel to the ground, Pacey's other hand moved upwards off Joey's rear, coming to rest on her lower back as he pressed her closer. Her breath was coming short.
"Pacey, I think we'd better...um...go sit down." His eyes were half-closed as they slowly moved over her face.
"In a few minutes maybe." His right hand slid through her hair, fingers almost twitching as they passed through the silken strands.
If we all leap before we crawl, we might fall,
And it's not always candy spun from head to heart,
And it's not always meant to be,
And it's not always up to me.
Over his shoulder, Joey could see through the spaces in the bookcase, carefully monitering the half-empty room.
Joey's tongue flicked over her lips, wetting them as she pulled slowly away from Pacey. "Listen...I think we need to set up some ground rules if we're going to work together on this."
Pacey visibly shook himself, his moving from side to side and his eyes not meeting hers.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He bent down to retrieve the various hardcovers from the carpet and stood up as he had them stacked, balanced on his hands. "Is this all we need?" At her nod, he swallowed. "I think it's time we left. It's getting kind of crowded anyway." As he walked to the front desk, Joey went back to their table, waving to Dawson as she went by and receiving a dirty look from Abby, she noticed how completely, not crowded the library actually was.
Continued....