Mr. Morley's "random" method had created some interesting pairs.

    Alan Gray and Cokie Mason. (Now Alan would have a chance to interview those emus.) Claudia and Jeremy. (Hmm .. .) Logan and Rachel. (It still seemed weird to hear Logan's name paired with any besides Mary Anne's.) Me and - Oh, no! I stared down at the paper in shock. In front of me, I heard Cary groan.

    Was this some kind of sick joke on Mr. Morley's part? Or just a cosmic blunder? Whatever it was, it was a massive mistake. I couldn't possibly work closely with - Cary.

    The one person I had no interest in learning about. In fact, I had negative interest in finding out anything about Cary Retlin's life. Nor did I want him learning anything about mine.

    Cary turned to look at me, and for once he wasn't smirking. He looked as shocked as I felt. "This can't be," he said.

    I shook my head. "No, it can't." I thought of the last time Cary and I had worked together, during a disastrous student-teaching episode. We'd cotaught a gym class, and we'd come very close to creating mayhem on a scale that would have gone down in SMS history.

    Just then, the bell rang. Everybody grabbed their stuff and headed out - everybody but Cary and me, that is. We approached Ted's desk. He was busily straightening up a pile of papers, preparing for his next class.

    Cary cleared his throat. "Uh, Ted?" he began.

    Ted looked up. "Yes?" I jumped in. "There is no way - " Cary glared at me, "Absolutely no way - " "In a million years," I went on, "that the two of us - " "We can't possibly - " "There must be some mistake," I finished lamely.

    "There isn't," Ted said firmly. "No mistake at all. You will be writing each other's biographies. Any other questions?" Cary and I gaped at each other.