Cole walked to the beat of the song pounding in his earbuds, a bit of swagger in his step. He tried to keep that nonchalant, though. Strutting to fourth hour wasn't something he wanted to be caught doing. Not only was that embarrassing, but he was going into a new classroom. He'd switched out of French III to something much easier for his senior year. It didn't make sense for him to try so hard with the foreign language if he was never going to France in the first place. So, after receiving his new schedule that morning, he carefully mapped out the way from his third hour environmental science class to fourth hour parenting class. Ms. Baxter was rumored to be one of the friendliest teachers in the school, and that made this transfer much less stressful.

The boy followed a collection of giggling girls into the unfamiliar room, glancing around with fleeting eyes. There were seven tables, each with four chairs on the longest sides, scattered across the room without much thought. Most of them were filling up as the seconds passed. Cole wandered over to the desk at the front with a gray-haired woman typing at her computer. She glanced up once and smiled. "Are you who I think you are?" she said with audible excitement. Cole's lips tugged up into a sheepish smile.

"I might be," he said shyly. She stood up and grabbed up a class roster from the desk. Her finger scanned over the list until she found a new name.

"Are you Cole?"

"Yes, ma'am," Cole said. She lit up with excitement and glanced around the classroom. There weren't very many tables in the classroom, and only one of them on the far right of the room had an available seat for him to take. Ms. Baxter pointed to that seat with her thin index finger.

"Right over there is where you can sit. Mr. Whitaker is usually late to class, but I think he'll love having a new partner. The girl who used to sit there before transferred out for athletics."

"Oh, okay. Thanks!" Cole walked to the lab table, shyly eyeing the other students. Most of them discussed things that came on TV, while others were quietly bobbing their heads as they listened to their iPods. He slid into the seat on the right, leaving the left one to his new partner. He glanced up at the clock on the wall then pulled out a notebook from his backpack. He had no clue what they even did in this kind of class. Were there notes to take? Or was this just a blow off course that guaranteed an easy A?

The bell chimed over the students, and Ms. Baxter made her way to the front of the room, standing in front of the SMART Board. Cole tapped his pencil absently while she talked about what exciting things happened to her and her husband over the weekend. In the middle of her story about the crazy dinner they had at Olive Garden, the door opened. Had Cole been paying attention, he would have turned towards the door like everyone else. Instead, he stared out the window, completely submerged in a daydream.

"You're in luck, mister. You've got yourself a new partner," he heard Ms. Baxter say.

"Cool," a male replied. A few seconds later, Cole could feel another person sit down next to him. The presence of someone else pulled him back from his daydream and he turned to offer a smile to his partner.

"Hey, I'm - " Cole started. He paused when he recognized the other guy.

"Well. I don't think we need any introductions." Noah's lip pulled up into a smirk. Cole felt his stomach drop. He had to get a different partner. There was no way they could work together. Not after what happened. "You look like you've seen a ghost, Cole," Noah replied.

"Not a ghost. Just an asshole," he almost-whispered back. His new partner's wolfish grin didn't shrink. If anything, his comment back had made this whole situation more fun to Noah. He ran his fingers through his dark hair and shot a look at Ms. Baxter.

"Cheer up, man. It's not like I have some dirt on you or anything. Oh, wait..."

"You don't know anything."

"I don't? Well, we'll see about that."

"What does that even mean? He moved away, so you have nobody to tell," Cole shot back through gritted teeth.

"Doesn't mean it still won't be a big deal when I tell everyone."

"You're not going to tell anyone," Cole said loudly. Ms. Baxter stopped speaking and looked at the two of them.

"Everything okay, guys?" she asked hesitantly, her eyes falling on Cole's hands. He did as well, realizing that they were clenched into fists. He put them under the table and looked out the window again.

"Cole's just a little nervous about what his friends will think when they find out he's in a parenting class," Noah said quickly, a convincing laugh following his lie. Ms. Baxter smiled sympathetically.

"Cole? Don't worry about it. I have a lot of boys who're enrolled in this class. You are, however, the first set of males to work together this year. This will be interesting for our next project, which coincidentally, brings me to my next point. This Friday, we will be getting babies!" The moment the words left her mouth, the noise level in the room increased. Murmurs of robot babies and their wails sounded at each table. Cole could feel his stomach turn once more. He was going to be sick. Not only did he have to sit next to Noah, but he'd also be working with him to take care of a baby.

"Well, I guess that means you and I are working together," Noah said lowly, his eyes steady on Cole, who remained statuesque and kept his focus on the window.

"I don't want to work with you."

"Look around. Do you see anyone else who you can work with?" Cole reluctantly turned to search the room for someone else - anyone else - that he could partner up with. Unfortunately for him, everyone else was already taken. Noah was his only option.

"I guess I'm just not going to do this assignment then," he said with a shrug. Noah glared at the boy for a long moment before he raised his hand.

"Yes, Noah?"

"I was just wondering. Say you don't do this assignment. How many points off is it?"

"Excellent question. The entire assignment is worth twenty percent of your grade." Someone in the back of the classroom whistled in surprise. That was quite a lot for a class that was as easy as this one. There wasn't a lot of work involved, and screwing this assignment up would mean getting less than a C for the entire class.

"So. Unless you want to ruin your GPA, I say we work together and get this out of the way."

"Whatever," Cole grumbled, picking at his fingernails. He could practically feel Noah's gaze burning holes in him. Noah rolled his eyes and turned back to listen to Ms. Baxter speak.

"Right now I'm going to be handing you out the babies and you'll have a chance to hold them. Get a good feel for them, because you're going to be holding them a lot more than you think. Tomorrow we'll begin the tutorial videos on how to take care of them!" Clearly, Ms. Baxter loved this assignment, for some strange reason. This was practically torture. Cole would have to find some way to deal with the baby as little as possible. He had tennis practice every other day after school, and he worked on the weekends.

"Pick one from the bin," Ms. Baxter said cheerfully as she made her way towards Noah and Cole's table.

"This looks so wrong. A ton of babies thrown in a bin," Noah chuckled. Ms. Baxter laughed as well. The only person who didn't find it all that funny was Cole. "Which one do you want, honey," he said to Cole.

"I'm fine with whatever, really," the other replied, trying not to seem like a downer. As much as he wanted to punch Noah straight in the balls, he had to contain himself. What if Noah took revenge on him and destroyed both their grades in this class? No, Cole would have to play it cool, and play it smart.

"I think we'll get... a little girl," he said, pulling out a small, Asian-looking baby. Ms. Baxter smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"That's a good pick. All her other parents hated to see her go." She continued on her way, passing out babies to the rest of the groups in the room. Cole glanced at the fake doll on the table. He hated to admit it, but the little thing was almost cute. Almost.

"What are we gonna name her?" Noah asked Cole, turning his dark eyes towards him. Cole stared at him for a minute, then looked down at the baby laying still on the black table.

"Robert De Niro."

"What?" Noah looked at him as if he'd misunderstood him.

"Robert De Niro. You got to pick the baby, I get to name her. And I want her to be named Princess Robert De Niro." Noah glared at the other boy for a while. Cole simply smiled and picked up the doll, coddling her in his arms. "Who's a cute little Robert De Niro? You are! You are! She's got your eyes," he said without warmth in his voice. Instead, there was snarky satisfaction. His eyes gleamed viciously.

"Fine. Robert De Niro it is. I love that name, actually." Noah leaned forward and kissed the doll on the head and then immediately kissed Cole on the forehead. "I have to go to the bathroom. Can you watch him, honey?" Noah stood up and made his way to the coat rack that held the bathroom passes. He lifted one in the air, made eye contact with Ms. Baxter, and after receiving her nod of approval, he headed out the door. Cole sat there, bouncing the baby on his hip angrily, seething. God damn you, Noah Whitaker.