Chapter 16

Before they knew it, it was Friday. Liz sat nervously at her desk, watching the door. Lucky hadn’t arrived yet, and the bell was about to ring. Finally, he hurried in and took his seat. He turned and smiled at the relieved expression on her face.

“What, did you think I got cold feet?” he asked.

“Ha, ha. Actually, yeah, I had this bad feeling that you weren’t going to show up, and we were going to fail this thing.”

He shook his head. “Nah, I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“Yes, you would!” she said, looking at him pointedly.

He chuckled. “Okay, maybe, but I wouldn’t do it to me, and if I didn’t show, I’d fail too!”

“Good point. Did you bring your part?”

He nodded, and took a folder out of his bag. “Here you go,” he said, handing it to her. She leafed through the pages to make sure everything was there. She couldn’t help feeling proud of their work. They had done as realistic a job as they could, and she hoped the teacher would be impressed with it.

“Did you finish that sketch?” he asked, looking at the pile of papers in front of her.

“Yeah, why?”

He shrugged. “I just wanted to see the finished product, that’s all.”

“Oh, um, sure.” She took it out of it’s folder, not sure if she wanted to show him. True, he had seen the rough version the other day, but she hadn’t meant for him to, and she wasn’t used to showing her work to other people. She handed it to him reluctantly and stared at the front of the classroom as he opened the folder.

“Wow! Elizabeth, this is beautiful. I thought that sketch was good, but this is truly amazing. Do you realize how talented you are?” he asked,

She blushed, not used to such a high compliment, especially from him. “Not really. Like I said before, it’s just a hobby. It’s not like it’s the Mona Lisa or anything!”

“Well, frankly, I never really saw what was so special about the Mona Lisa, but this is definitely good. I don’t need an art degree to know that. You captured that church better than any photograph could. I almost feel like I’m there, like if I closed my eyes, I could smell the flowers.” He was slightly embarrassed that he had gushed so much over the painting, but he couldn’t help it. He had never seen anything so beautiful.

Getting uncomfortable with all of the praise, she snatched the picture back and stuffed it in the folder with the rest of the project. “Um, thanks, but it’s really no big deal, okay?”

“Hey, sorry. I didn’t know that you couldn’t take a compliment!” He was hurt that she brushed him off like that, as though his opinion didn’t matter.

She glared at him. “I can too take a compliment. You just went a little too far with it. I’m not comfortable with people looking at my paintings.”

Before he can respond, the bell rings.

“Okay, class, today’s the big day!” The teacher announces, clapping her hands to get everyone’s attention. “We’re going in order of group number, so I need Group One up here right away.”

Lucky turns to Elizabeth. “Great, we’re last. Wake me when it’s our turn.”

She smacks him lightly. “Very funny. Hey, maybe we’ll run out of time before she gets to us.”

“It doesn’t matter, she’s going to ‘marry’ us no matter what. There’s only 15 groups in here, it won’t take that long.”

Ms. Kraft had gone all out for the weddings. She had a veil for the girls and a black jacket for the guys. She even had a set of colored rings for each couple. There were 15 different colors, so every group had their own. She told them that they must wear their rings in class at all times. Once class was over, they could take them off, but if they ever lost them, their group would lose points off of their final grade.

“Is she crazy?” Liz whispered to Lucky as Ms. Kraft began the first ceremony. He just shrugged and turned his attention to the teacher.

She went through the entire ceremony, changing the vows to fit the project situation. She skipped the “Does anyone here object...” part, knowing from past experience that the class clowns always had something sarcastic to say.

She finally got to the end of the first ‘wedding’, and said “You may kiss the bride.” The pair looked at her like she was crazy.

“What?” the boy asked.

Ms. Kraft just nodded and smiled. “Come on, think of it as an icebreaker. I’m not saying you have to shove your tongues down each other’s throats, just a quick kiss.” She acted like it was the most natural thing in the world to ask them to do in the middle of the classroom!

The boy looked back at his partner, then at the teacher. “But, her boyfriend will kill me!” he exclaimed, horrified. "He's on the football team!" The rest of the class laughed nervously, thinking about how they were going to have to do the same thing.

Liz looked at Lucky. “She can’t make us do that, can she?”

He shrugged again. “She’s the teacher. As long as it’s not anything immoral, she can do whatever she wants, I guess.” He looked back at the couple, who quickly kissed, then rushed back to their seats looking totally disgusted.

They spent the rest of the class period looking at each other out of the corners of their eyes, trying to figure out what it was going to be like to have to kiss the other. Finally, it was their turn. They walked to the front of the room and Liz handed the first part of their project to Ms. Kraft. She gave Liz the veil to wear, and handed Lucky the jacket. They quickly put them on and took their positions in front of her desk.

“Okay, since we’re running low on time, I’m just going to go straight to the vows,” Ms. Kraft announced. “Do you, Lucky Spencer, take Elizabeth Webber as your classroom wife, to share the work equally, to respect her opinions, to put forth your best efforts, and to do the best job possible, until the semester ends?”

He tried not to roll his eyes as he said, “I do.”

“Okay, now, do you, Elizabeth Webber, take Lucky Spencer as your classroom husband, to share the work equally, to respect his opinions, to put forth your best efforts, and to do the best job possible, until the semester ends?”

She swallowed hard and said, “I do.”

Ms. Kraft handed each of them a yellow, adjustable ring. “Repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed.”

Lucky slid the cheesy ring on Elizabeth’s finger. “With this ring, I thee wed.”

She sighed. This was really stupid. “With this ring, I thee wed,” she said, adjusting the ring and sliding it on his finger, trying to ignore how soft his hand felt.

They looked nervously at each other, knowing what was coming next. Liz wondered what he was going to do. Some of the guys had thought it would be funny to grab their ‘wives’ and pretend to kiss them passionately. She prayed that he wouldn’t do something so stupid and childish.

“Then by the power vested in me, by Port Charles High School, I now pronounce you project husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Lucky swallowed and quickly licked his lips. He took Elizabeth’s face in his hands and kissed her quickly, but tenderly, just as the bell rang. The other students immediately fled the room as Ms. Kraft shouted after them to have a good weekend, and to not lose their rings.

Lucky pulled his head back from hers and looked into her eyes. He was still holding her face, reeling from the shock that had just passed through them. “Did you hear...” he started to ask, when she interrupted him.

“...the bell rang,” she whispered, unable to move.

Suddenly remembering where they were, he let go of her quickly. “Right, the bell. We better get to our next classes, then,” he said, rushing back to his desk for his bookbag.

“Yeah, class. Um...I guess I’ll see you later or something,” she muttered, grabbing her bag. They both rushed out of the room, still shaken by the kiss.

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