6:Calvin Cycle

Avery

"Here!" I closed the book I was reading and grabbed the water bottle that Azai handed to me.

"Thanks," I said before I drank as Azai sat down next to me.

"Caleb, let me copy your homework," Ravi stood up and turned his chair towards where Caleb was sitting.

"Here," Caleb looked up at him and handed over his notebook.

We are currently in our classroom waiting for our next professor.

"By the way, Ave, are you free tomorrow? After class?" I looked at Farrah whose chair was opposite mine.

"Maybe," I answered hesitantly, "Why?" I added.

"Kali wants to go to the mall, just the four of us, a.k.a. girls' day out," Vivian replied next to me.

"Wait, did I hear that right? The four of you will go out tomorrow?" Azai commented.

"Yes, it's our girls' day out since Avery is here," said Farrah matter-of-factly.

"We also want to come," Azai protested.

"Oh come on Azai, it's our girls day out. We need to bond with Avery," replied Kalila, emphasizing the word 'girl' to make a point.

"What makes it unfair is when you make plans, we can't come with, but if Darius and I plan, you're always joining in," My smart twin brother complained, can't argue with the fact that he always wanted us to be together.

"Okay fine!" Vivian glared at him and I just smiled because she's still like before.

"You guys heard that," Azai smiled triumphantly and looked at all of us with a playful smirk, "Tomorrow we will go to the mall after class and Vivian will treat us," Vivian's eyes widened in disbelief but Azai did nothing as he saw that Ravi and Caleb were amused at what he said.

"WOW, your really kind Vivian!" Ravi said enthusiastically.

"Thanks V," Caleb added.

"Ughhhhhh!" Vivian whined and turned her attention towards her cellphone as she put on her earphones in an effort to ignore the guys.

I saw how Farrah held back her laugh while Kalila just frowned at Azai and Ravi.

Azai, on the other hand, was happily laughing with Ravi and Caleb, like they just won in the lottery. Tssskkk, silly.

I looked across Azai's chair and saw Darius quietly playing on his phone, nothing had changed I noticed, well, except for his height— he really grew a lot.

I looked to the other side and my eyes met Zachary's. He gave me a small smile before he turned his gaze down to his phone.

It's been a week but I still rarely talk to him. His attention would often be on his cellphone and he always seemed to be doing something important on it.

"Hey!" I looked up at Azai who was standing at my side.

"Hi," I replied smiling before he bent down and put his arm around my right shoulder and whispered in my ear.

"Alessia wants the four of us to have dinner outside after school, unless you don't want to come?" He moved away slightly to face me.

I looked into his warm brown eyes and I suddenly smiled when I thought that I was looking in the mirror.

"Oh come on, Ave! Stop looking at me like that, I know we're twins." He removed his grip on me calmly.

"Who will pay?" I asked him, seriously.

"Alessia ofcourse," He rolled his eyes before looking at me again.

"Okay, just making sure," After I said that, I looked at my phone and opened my gallery.

Azai laughed at what I said and slightly ruffled my hair.

"Talk to you later," I just nodded and focused on the pictures in my phone.

I smiled when I saw some of the photos of me with my grandparents in Spain. For the past four years, I was happy that they were with me and that they never left me even though I left them this time.

Suddenly, the front door opened and our professor entered. I hid my phone in my bag as everyone went back to their proper seats.

"Good afternoon class," Our professor greeted before he laid his belongings on the table.

"Good afternoon sir," Replied half of the class, softly.

"If I'm not mistaken, last week we've discussed about the Calvin Cycle right?" Most of the class nodded in response.

"I trust you guys wouldn't need a recap on the topic because today I'm going to give you an activity about it. Don't worry! It's a very easy task," Our teacher said before he smiled and picked up a piece of paper that was on his table.

"Sir, is this a group activity or is it individual?" Caleb asked and our professor just shook his head.

"You have to do it in pairs,"

"Okay sir," Caleb replied.

"Okay sis, here we go again," The class started grouping themselves into two's while Azai took his ballpen from his bag and faced me.

"But listen first class, I actually made a list of partners for this activity so don't bother choosing or looking for a partner."

"Ughhh"

"What?"

Some of my classmates exaggerated while I just rolled my eyes at what the teacher had said. I hated being paired with others especially when it's not with my friends, I just don't like the idea.

"Guzman and Cruz," The teacher started calling everyone's names.

After 30 seconds Darius, Caleb, Kalila, and Farrah already knew who they're paired with. Then it was Vivian's turn.

"Ayer and Ward," The professor called out. I looked at Azai who was already looking at me, we both turned to look at Vivian who was already looking at us also. I just shrugged my shoulders as the teacher continued to call the rest of the names on the list.

"Ahm excuse me sir!" Vivian called and raised her hand to get his attention.

"Yes, Ms Ayer?"

"May I ask again who my partner is?"

The teacher frowned before looking again at the paper he was holding, his furrowed brows were soon raised at the realization.

"Oh I'm sorry, I forget about the twins. Anyways, Mr. Azai L. Ward is your partner,"

"Thank you sir," Vivian replied. I looked at Azai who already walking towards Vivian. I'm clearly getting annoyed as the seconds pass by.

Three more pairs of names were called before I was called.

"Ms Ward and Mr Rivera," After our professor said that my eyes quickly looked at Zach who didn't look bothered at all nor spare a glance as his eyes were glued to his phone.

"Unbelievable," I muttered under my breath. I can't believe this.

I took a deep breath and grabbed my ballpoint pen before walking towards Zachary's chair, it looked like I got his attention because he quickly hid the phone he was holding and faced me.

"Hey!" He greeted and I just smiled, he arranged the chair properly next to him for me to sit.

"Thanks," I sat down next to him and looked towards the front where our professor kept talking.

"Okay class, now that you are with your partners, I want you to make a Calvin Cycle on an A4 plain white paper. The more artistic your work is, the better! I'll give you and hour to do it and remember! Brainstorm before making the cycle. You're not allowed to use any kind of references about the Calvin Cycle so brainstorming with your partners is a must. This will be your performance task for the week. I will write the criteria on the board," I can hear some mumbled complaints from our classmates at what our professor had said.

I looked at the person next to me who already turned to face me.

"Oh boy, I don't even know what a Calvin Cycle is? Does it have something to do with Calvin Klein?" I just looked at Zach lifeless after he said that.

"Are you serious?" I raised an eyebrow at him. From all the other students I could've been paired with, why him?

Mierda.

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