Ace steadily drummed him fingers on the hard wooden surface of the library table as he waited for his partner to show. He glanced down at his watch, only to have his highlighted bangs fall into his face. He sighed and brushed them behind is ear with his other hand. Once again he looked at his watch. 12:48... His partner was supposed to be here at 12:30. Where the hell was she?

Payge had gotten to the library on time, she was just out front talking to her friends when she lost track of time "sorry guys but im late haha im gona get goin in here to get this damn thing done, catchya later!" as she walked in she thought of how rediculous this project is going to be, shes going to have to do the whole thing herself! "sorry im late i--" Payge realized that her 'study buddy' wasn't even listening..

Ace growled slightly as he heard her approach him. The stupid girl was eighteen effing minutes late. He snapped his head up when he heard her start talking. All he could hear was �blah blah blah�. It was annoying. "Hn. Sit." He said quietly and harshly to her.

"wow your quiet.." she said, she let her words trail off at the end. she threw her bookbag down on the floor and began digging through it, with her pink hair falling into her face. "well what are we doing this lame thing on anyways?" payge felt so weird around him, as if he was going to pull out a knife and stab her or something. whatever. This will probly be all on her anyways.

Ace glared. "We are doing this on Ancient Egypt." he muttered softly, slouching slightly in his chair. "It has to be five pages long." He added as an after thought. He reached over to the chair next to him where he�d placed all his books. He managed to find five good resource books on Ancient Egypt, and two books he�d been wanting to read for a while, The Odyssey and Dante�s Divine. He pulled out the one he'd liked best and opened it to a random page infront of him.

Does this guy even know what.."what are our sub topics? do you have this thought out at all?" this guy is weird, so quiet, Payge rolled her eyes and whipped out a huge book on ancient Egypt and her CD player and started blasting anti-flag, a little too loud, she started kind of dancing sround in her seat when Ace reached his hand over and ripped off her head phones..

"Keep it down." He growled lowly. "We�re in an effing library for Christ�s sake!" Ace glared harder at her and threw back her headphones. "There are no sub-topics, the teacher is allowing us to do this project on what ever the hell we want. Didn�t you even pay attention in class?" He asked.

"i can be as loud as i want to be" Payge said in a loud voice "and does it look like a pay attention in class? NO" okay this guy is a pure moron! wow.."i still think it would b organized if we used subtopics, i may not pay attention but i am smart, your the one im worrying about.." she giggled "heh" she thought it would be best to change thesubject, "so subtopics, subtopics.." she mumbled. then she said "do you have any ideas at all?"

Ace rolled his eyes and flipped her off. "If you can�t keep your fucking mouth shut, I�ll sew it shut. The Egyptians did that." He threatened. She was so fucking annoying, she was going to fucking make them fail. Ace sighed, his parents wouldn�t like it if his grades were to falter.

Payge sighed loudly "that would be a cool thing to put in our report" she winked at him as she pulled out her flavored water from her bookbag this dude is a total nut case she though "but if you dont keep that finger donw ill fucking bite it off" she giggled she loved being rediculous at times like there

Ace twitched. "Fucking cannibal�" He muttered. He sighed softly. "Look, I can�t fail this class, if you don�t want to do anything, I�ll do all of it. We�ll probably get a higher grade if I do it alone anyway." There, he�d said his peace, now he could blame any failing on her. Though his parents probably wouldn�t be very happy either way.

"oh my god.." he thinks I..ME..PAYGE SANDERS would make him fail?! she though, "your the one who will get us the failing grade, liek i said before i am smart and this happens to be a topic that i already nkow a lot about." wow, now he's getting past payge's cute little punk inage and into her bitchy side, you can insult anything about her and she couldn't care less, but never insult her inteligence.

Ace frowned at her, who the fuck did she think she was? He glared as hard as he could at her. "I would make us fail?! I�m the straight A student! I�m the one who pays attention in class! I�m the who excels in every single subject! I�m the one whose parents-" He cut himself off there, no point in making this a family matter. He relented. "You know what? You want to do this by yourself, go ahead."

"wow you don't even know my grades," she was really pissed off now, anyone who insulted her gpa or her knowledge was bound to pay "she flipped her hair back and sat her book up and began reading, Ace thought the way she flipped her head up was kind of cute but she was horrible. Payge could think of nothing but how her grades were good and how that ticked her off so much

Ace groaned. "You grades are above average but not good enough to be the best, right?" He smirked. "Mostly low A�s and B�s." He�d looked into her files earlier that week, he didn�t want to be working with a total dunce. "And with your grades in history, which is your lowest subject, the grade that you, working alone, would get on this is most likely between eighty-five percent and ninety-five percent. And that is not a hundred." he concluded.

Payge was getting so pissed off she wanted to strangle him! "dude you are pissing me off so it would be for the best.." she pause "if you wouldshut the fuck up!" she didn't need this right now, okay she could tune out her parents, the teachers, her family, but why not him? god just focus she thought "can we just focus on the project,and not my grades?"

Ace snorted. "Whatever, I don't care." He honestly had no interest in the project, all that mattered was that they passed with a one hundred� His parents would kill him if he got anything less. "So long as we get a hundred on this, I can�t get anything less than that or-" He cut himself off again. "We can�t get less than that."

"well that works for me, then we accually have to..to work together.." she shuddered at the thought he was a goth a depressed uptight loser with no friends, i am a popular cute punk girl, the two of us dont make a good comonation she thought "so lets just get this over with okay? im willing to lessen up on being a bitch, if you'll lessen up on being an asshole, deal?" she held her hand out to him.

"Don�t act like it�s the end of the world� But I�m not an asshole, I am who I am." He fiddled with his labret, spinning it. "If you�ve got a problem with me leave. I can�t get anything lower than a hundred anyway." He sighed and flipped through the pages of the book.

"you keep mentioning that you can't get lower than a hundren," she sed in a curious voice,"why not?" she was so curious about this guy he was so mysterious, kinda cute, but a major pain and a super asshole "and im not leaving just yet.." she added with a slight giggle.

Ace opened his mouth to speak and then closed it. "It�s� nothing� " Liar. His mind chided. Ace looked away from Payge. He glared down at his book. If only he didn�t have parents� or older brothers� Life would be perfect then, he wouldn�t have to be the head of his class, of his grade.

"no, no i want to know, i mean geez if its soo important.." she stopped herself, even though he was being an asshole, she wasn't a bitch that jsut wasn't her. so she picked up where she left off reminding herself to be cool about it, about him. "then you should tell me, i mean you dont have to, of course but.." great now sehs babbling wonderful! she sighed and awaited his reply.

Ace sighed. "My brother, Luffy, was head of all his classes, highest scores on all his test, never missed a day of school, football team captain, and valedictorian. My parents were so proud of him� They want me to be like that, graduate with top honors and go to an Ivy league school." He frowned down at the book. "I can�t even do what I want� I have to be the best, it�s just how it is with my family� So I have to get a hundred� I�ve never gotten anything lower than that." He shifted around nervously this was the first time he�d ever told that to someone.

"did you ever say anything to your parents?" she suddenly felt bad for him, not really for him, but for being a rude to him. "im sure they would understand..yaknow?" god now she didnt know what to say for the first time in her life payge did not know what to say. "ugh" thast all she could manage she was confused she was shocked, and above all she was feeling weird, jsut, weird

"Yeah I have� They don�t listen to me� It�s always �Luffy this� or �Luffy that�. And when I show them my grades and my accomplishments they say I could do better� But what's better than all A�s?" Ace sighed and looked up at Payge. "They don�t want me to be an artist or a writer. They want me to be like Luffy. But� I have to be better than Luffy, so that they can see me."

"well that sucks" she just wanted to jump over and hug him, he'd push her away she knew that, she still wasn't sure of what to say, "have you tried to tell them about your writings or drawings you've done? maybe.." she stopped herself, she didn't even know what she was talking about. so she went to her one instinct left, she hugged him. when she felt him imediatly pull away she backed off and said "im sorry, i just..i don't know.." wow that didnt help at all great going payge she thought

"When I was a kid, I drew a picture of my family and gave it to my father for Father�s Day." he paused and took a deep breath. "He crumbled it up and threw it out... Told me to get my head out of the clouds, that art would never get me anywhere." He felt tears well up in his eyes. "Luffy told me to bother with what Dad wanted� He always told me my art was good�" His vision blurred in and out of focus. The tears were threatening to overflow. "Luffy said I could be what I wanted� But�" Ace trailed off. "He moved away from this area about a year ago to go and work in Asia. He helps people there for free, my parents are so proud� But they hated it at first, then he became famous, and they didn�t care... They loved all the interviews and the fame that he brought to our family. They want me to be like that..." Ace glared at a random person walking by, trying to relieve some of his anger.

"oh my god.." that was terrible but shud she jsut come out and say that? "thats..wow..i can't belive that..i mean i wish i could share how you felt but my family has always been behind me.." she felt rude for saying that, wow what todo? her hand found his and she sat there, like that, looking at him, into his eyes for a long time. then she said "im sorry about before, and i will try my hardest to get a hundren on this paper."

Ace sighed and pulled his hand away from hers. He noticed the hurt in her eyes when he did. "It�s not you." He said averting his eyes from hers. "If you haven�t noticed, I don�t have a lot of friends. Being like Luffy doesn�t give me anytime to have them." He frowned. "There�s a lot of things I want to do, but I spend most of my spare time studying, so I can�t. I don't get to do much of anything." He said quietly. "That�s just how my life is. Don�t even bother with trying to feel sorry for me. This is just how I live."

Payge didn't know what to say or how to feel. "well, im glad we got stuck together on this project, and im glad i got to know you.." she wanted to smile but wasn't sure if it was the moment so she just ut her hair down and all her neon pink hair fell into her baby blue eyes. "look..Ace..you don't have to live that way, dissapoint your parents, they'll live, you need time for your goals, your life, your future." she sighed is it possible that she liked this pathetic asshole? she had slight feelings for him, she realized when he pulled his hand away minutes ago. but it wasn't the kind of sexual flirting she does with the other guys. it was pain, torcher, pity all wrapped up in one caring package that was Ace. she didn't know what to think of herself so she kept her head down, avoiding eye contact with him.

Ace flinched at her words. "Payge, you don�t live my life� So please� Don�t tell me how to live mine�" He sighed and looked down. "Let just forget this whole thing and work on the project, okay?" He asked quietly.

"o-okay.." she loked down and began reading. haha and i thought i had feelings for him she giggled to herself..

::fin
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