You hadn’t even wanted to look up when the teacher announced partners, but the moment your name got paired with Jake Webber, your stomach dropped. Jake — the guy who made sarcastic comments every time you walked into class, who smirked when you got answers wrong.

Now, somehow, you were stuck doing the biology project together.

He flopped into the seat beside you in the library, spinning a pen between his fingers. “Guess you’re stuck with me, huh?”

You didn’t look at him. “Guess so.”

At first, the work was awkward — his jokes were still sharp, but not quite aimed like before. Somewhere between arguing over font choices for the presentation and accidentally knocking over the stack of notes, his teasing shifted.

“You’re actually… not terrible at this,” he said, and it almost sounded like a compliment.

You glanced at him, surprised to see him grinning — not in the smug, mocking way you were used to, but in a way that made his eyes crinkle just a little.

Hours passed, and you both ended up leaning over the same notebook, your shoulders brushing as you sketched out diagrams. He didn’t move away.

By the time you were packing up, the tension between you felt different — less like rivalry, more like… something you weren’t ready to name yet.

As you stood to leave, Jake shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket. “Hey… maybe after we crush this project, we could hang out. Y’know… without all the insults.”

You smirked. “We’ll see.”

He smiled, almost shyly, and for the first time, you wondered if you’d been wrong about him all along.