Groups Projects Bore Me {Addie}

[RJ TEACH]

RJ sat with his laptop open on his lap, staring grimly at the blank powerpoint slide before him. Well, if this wasn't just the most wonderfully stupid project he'd ever heard of. How the hell was he supposed to make a presentation on the religious movements of Queen Elizabeth's reign? Honestly, it was so fucked up. Even WITH an additional person helping with the research, he was SURE that they were going to sound like absolute idiots once they got up in front of the class and showed some stupid looking powerpoint filled with google image finds of shit from the time period.

Still, if he HAD to work with a partner on this dumb thing, he was glad it was Addie. Freddie would have ruined EVERYTHING and deliberately sabotaged the project. At least RJ knew that Addie would pull her own weight and keep them on topic.

RJ sighed loudly, sinking a bit further into the plush chair at the back of the library, far away from all the loud, noisy groups who simply hung out in the library because there was nowhere else to go. He wondered when Addie would show up so they could get the show on the road.

RJ didn't have much to do while he waited for his partner. The secluded corner of the library made sure that he was all alone, with no hovering librarian making sure he wasn't ruining the books and no other students to joke with or talk to. He simply had to wait until Addie showed up with her half of the research. In the meantime, rather than try and actually do something productive, RJ became unnaturally interested in a small string hanging off the arm of the chair, obviously pulled up by some sharp pointy thing and now just hanging there, limp. RJ pulled and tugged on it, ripping it out further and further and tearing a bit of the design out of the chair as the string came up. The loud ripping noise was less than subtle.

Guiltily, RJ tried to stow the incriminating foot of string in his pocket, looking around to make sure no one had seen. Shit. It was probably not good that this was what he was reduced to when no one was around to supervise: a common vandal. Good God he hoped Addie showed up soon, otherwise he might positively die of boredom, sinking like a corpse into that damned plush chair.

[ADDISON ROWE]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Addison was always picky when it came to group projects. Either her partner(s) did absolutely nothing and were completely useless or they took on the entire thing insisting they could finish it on their own. Most people would’ve preferred the latter but not Addison. She liked working on group projects more often than not. They weren't completely terrible. How could something be terrible when you were working together to finish an assignment? You were getting the work done faster than you would have on your own (usually).

This project was on Queen Elizabeth and Addison was paired with RJ Teach. Honestly, she could have done worse. RJ was one of the few students in class who actually paid at least some attention. She could’ve been stuck with Julia and that would’ve been complete and utter (excuse her language) hell. There was no way Addison ever planned on working with that girl ever again. Addison was to meet RJ in the library and she was quite happy to do so. What better place to work on a project about Queen Elizabeth than the nice quiet library, full of books about the woman? Precisely.

Unfortunately, she was running late. Go figure. It was just that she couldn’t find any of her papers about the project; the requirements, the suggestions, the ideas she’d already had. Gone. Completely disappeared. Just her luck. Addison had meant to send RJ a text to let him know but she’d forgotten before she could get to her phone and then she’d spotted what looked like the pages only to find that it was some nonsense story idea she’d written the other day. Fantastic.

FINALLY, though, she located the papers (shoved underneath her bed which just annoyed her because it was the first place one should look and of course she’d made it the last) and was out the door in seconds after. This time, she did text RJ, letting him know she was on her way and apologizing for running late. Addison was annoyed and surprised to find the library louder than she’d thought it would be. She would never understand why students insisted on hanging out in the building for no reason.

It took a few minutes of searching as she wasn’t sure where she’d find RJ. Eventually, she spotted him in a quiet little corner and she breathed a sigh of relief. Okay, they could finally get to work. She collapsed into the chair across from him and allowed herself a moment’s rest. “You look like you’re about to become one with that chair,

” she commented idly, finding it unexpectedly amusing.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

notes;
outfit; here
[/blockquote][/color][/size]

[RJ TEACH]

A rather sudden and unexpected buzzing from RJ's pants made him immediately perk up. Wonderful. A text! He could only hope that it was Addie, explaining to him in a few hundred characters exactly what wandering vagabond or freak natural disaster was keeping her from being on time. Unfortunately, from the looks of the short and sweet "On my way" message, RJ would not be getting any such story any time soon. Rather sullenly and just as bored as ever, he sunk back into the chair, his face resting in his palm lazily.

"You look like you’re about to become one with that chair.”

RJ instantly perked up the minute his partner got there, finally ready to get some work done and get over this interminable spell of boredom. "A few more minutes alone and I swear I would have started putting down roots," he said jocularly, not particularly annoyed that Addie had taken so long showing up. To be honest, even if she hadn't shown up at all he probably would have had a hard time getting completely angry with her. There was something about her that was just so sweet and darling that he couldn't be bothered by her. It was a good quality to have, and quite refreshing after RJ was forced to spend nearly every waking moment with Freddie who was completely the opposite.

Perched on the edge of his seat, RJ didn't know where to begin. Honestly, he should have at least STARTED a bit of the organization side of things before she'd shown up but he'd been so bored and it had seemed like so much work and he could hardly be faulted for taking a little time now just to make sure he had all his things.

Handing his laptop to Addie while he rifled through his backpack, he started stalking about what he'd done so far and attempting to make up a game plan for the little group effort. "Alright, so like, I STARTED the powerpoint and everything, but then I totally hit a brick wall because I couldn't figure out what to make the background or what font to use, because they all have their merits and frankly I'm kind of a Times New Roman kinda guy, but I know there's a bunch of Arial people as well and who knows! Maybe you're a calibri girl yourself, but I just couldn't decide because there were so many choices and-" He trailed off as he triumphantly ripped a half-crumpled piece of paper out of his bag with a few half-finished ideas about the project written down on it.

"So uh... yeah." RJ had lost his train of thought, still not entirely sure that he had ever really been on a logical topic to begin with. Huh. All of a sudden he seemed really unprepared.

notes;;Behold, the infectious powers of templates

[ADDISON ROWE]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Addison laughed and shook her head. At least he had a sense of humor. Some kids would just grumble nonsensically and scowl at her. “I made it just in time, then.

” Not really, though. She was actually late, even if by a couple of minutes. Still, he’d probably understand what she meant. He sat up and handed his laptop over to her. Addison grabbed it carefully, setting it on her lap. The last thing she wanted was to drop his computer.

That was reassuring. RJ knew how to use power point! Thank God. Worse than that, though, was when her partner did know how to use power point but went with garish backgrounds, colors, and fonts (like Comic Sans. What are you, INSANE?). She’d always ended up fixing it all last minute. That never went over well with them. You ruined all of my hard work! they would snap after the presentation. Honestly, Addison was just looking out for the rest of the class. No way was she going to let them sit through ten slides of Comic Sans.

Addison skipped through what he had put together so far. He seemed to be looking for something in his backpack and that reminded her that she should pull her papers out soon, too. She had spent forever looking for them and she intended on using them one way or another. “Tahoma,[/color]” she corrected the moment she could get a word in edgewise. Times New Roman was a nice font. Familiar. “I don’t think it matters, really. As long as it’s readable.[/color]” Addison looked up from the computer screen at him.

He’d found whatever he was looking for. “Like Curlz would be unacceptable.[/color]” Addison tugged her binder out of her backpack and pulled her own ideas out of that. Addison handed him her paper and took his paper. There were a few suggestions that she hadn’t thought of but, much like hers, they were sort of half-finished and didn’t seem to be going in any direction. Addison rolled her shoulders and opened up a Word document. “First, I think we should put down what we already know.[/color]” Addison smiled reassuringly at him.

Group projects could be quite simple as long as you knew what you were doing. They’d collaborate on what they knew now. Then, they could go find some books on Queen Elizabeth or something like that; maybe she’d find some websites. “We’ll finish this in no time.[/color]” Addison was determined to at least get half of the power point done today. If they couldn’t get that far… well, as long as they had all of their research done.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

notes; yeah man templates rock.
outfit; here
[/blockquote][/color][/size]

[RJ TEACH]

RJ nodded at her suggestion, quickly changing the font on every slide of the presentation. Not that there was much to change, of course. He'd only just begun, but it made him feel better having someone there to make decisions for him. He sucked at being decisive. It always helped to have someone there to either give him some needed affirmations on his decisions or to give him some suggestions for improvement. It was always the creative shit that got to him. math he could do. Chemistry he could do. This hippy dippy powerpoint making shit on the other hand? It had NEVER worked for him. He would always get wound up and turned around by all the different options for backgrounds and font types and font colors. It was a nightmare.

"Alright, soooo. Background information on Queen Elizabeth? Let's see. Umm..." R sat back in his chair, trying to think of everything he'd learned in history in years passed. Shit, this sucked. RJ hated world history. It just didn't even seem to matter anymore. What did he care about the politics of 17th century England? It would never, EVER, relate to him. RJ was living in the modern day. The events of some British queen's rule was irrelevant to everything he would ever do.

Drumming his fingers on the arms of the plush chair, RJ looked up at the ceiling, trying to dredge up the lessons he'd been taught. Nothing familiar was coming up about Queen Elizabeth. In a fit of desperation, RJ turned to his bag, rifling through his folders to find some notes about on the subject. he was sure that he'd written about the old broad at SOME point. He distinctly remembered being mind meltingly bored the day his teacher had gone rambling on and on about how Queen Elizabeth had steered the 'middle course,' whatever the hell that meant.

After a few moments of paper shuffling and at least one apologetic glance towards Addie for being so generally useless and not exactly the best partner for this project, he had finally found the notes that he was looking for. To his horror, yet not particularly surprise, he found that they were illegible.

Across each and every page was a particularly inappropriate and crude phallic drawing in black sharpie, accompanied by a message on the last page stating simply 'Sucks to suck.'

"Jesus fucking Christ," was RJ's only response to the sight of his notes. He could only make out a few words here and there across the four pages of notes he'd taken. Other than that it was completely useless. "Ugh. I'm sorry. I just, it's my roommate." RJ knew he HAD to at least explain why his notes were adorned with various and sundry penises. Most guys his age didn't walk around with such homoerotic history pages.

"You know Freddie, right? He... tends to do this. Sorry, I... I don't really have any other excuse." RJ collapsed backwards into his seat, utterly at a loss about the whole thing.
notes;;Behold, the infectious powers of templates

[ADDISON ROWE]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Addison went right to work via Google, searching for sites that would give them basic information on Queen Elizabeth. That was, after all, always the easiest slide to put together and even finishing the easiest slide was usually big accomplishment to her. You had to appreciate the small things. Addison glanced up at RJ occasionally, waiting for him to say something. At first, he seemed to be sitting there, just… thinking. The next time she’d checked, he was going through his backpack. She assumed he was searching for notes they’d taken on Queen Elizabeth. Reminded of her own notes, the ones she had made her late, Addison flipped through her binder to pull those out as well. She was careful not to drop the laptop as she did so. God, how awful would that be?

She shrugged at his quick apologetic look and set her notes aside for later, worrying now about the various tabs she had to sift through. This was why she didn’t like using the internet. She got distracted by all the different things to read, all the pictures of pretty places to look at. By the time RJ had seemed to successfully find his notes, Addison had started up a document with the simplest tidbits on Queen Elizabeth. Addison wanted their PowerPoint to say as much as possible without being cluttered. It was always something she struggled with, though, especially since her partner didn’t seem to understand what she meant. Hardly expecting RJ to start swearing, Addison looked up at him, alarmed. What in the world could have happened that he’d—oh.

“I’ve had the uh… pleasure of meeting him, yes.

” She said, laughing a bit awkwardly. She averted her eyes, glancing back down to the laptop. Addison had had no idea that RJ and Freddie were roommates. Addison imagined it must be downright awful for RJ. He seemed perfectly alright, and to be living with someone like Freddie… well, she didn’t even want to think about it. Still doing her best to avoid looking at the pages (and feeling downright stupid about it), Addison held out her own notes for RJ. “Here, you can go over mine.[/color]” Once her hands were free again, she started with the PowerPoint. “You should probably talk to him about that. Or since I’m sure he won’t listen—[/color]” She paused. Perhaps she shouldn't be assuming such things... "Maybe just hide your stuff.[/color]"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[/blockquote][/color][/size]

[RJ TEACH]

From his reclined position, RJ could only nod in sympathy at Addie's having met the tornado that called itself his roommate. At least she knew the likes of which he was dealing with. The number of times RJ had had to awkwardly explain the great hot mess that Freddie had gotten him into while anxiously scooting himself out of a room was uncanny.

"You know, it's the darnedest thing, it's like he's a fucking truffle pig. I can hide it in the most secure place and he'll still manage to sniff it out and draw dicks all over it. No matter what it is. It's like he's magic," RJ explained, with a grim laugh. Addie at least seemed to be understanding of the problem. RJ didn't even want to try and imagine what kind of great horror show Freddie had performed on the poor girl. He had a feeling it had something to do with underwear or an embarassing classroom tale of impropriety. He couldn't be sure but he had begun to develop a really keen sense of what nonsense Freddie would pull. The fact that it meant he was starting to think like him was only mildly disconcerting.

RJ still couldn't quite figure out what was supposed to be so funny about sabotaging his homework. He knew Freddie held the fact that RJ was at least mildly concerned with getting acceptable grades against him, but the destruction of notes and homework assignments was honestly getting a bit old. Just once, JUST ONCE, RJ would like to be able to get something turned in for a class without the teacher absolutely SHOWERING him with judgement. If he ever saw another pair of condescendingly raised eyebrows in his life he swore he would vomit on the spot.

"Until then, are you fine with just using, like, Wikipedia or something? Like, I'm sure that won't be too much of a dealbraker. Elizabeth couldn't have gotten up to too much, could she?"

notes;;Becket is a bad Becket.