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"Ok, everyone in your seats!" Phil Coulson clapped his hands as the bell rang, signaling the start of period. He waited until the small class had taken their seats before continuing. "The assignment this week is going to duets-"

"Isn't REO Speedwagon kind of hard to duet to?" Lance Hunter cut him off with a snicker.

Coulson leveled a glare in his students direction.

"Oh hush Lance, duets are fun!" Jemma Simmons waggled her fingers in the direction of her best friend and fellow cheerleader Skye May who she frequently teamed up with for assignments.

"Don't get too excited just yet. As you know sectionals are coming up and since this is our first year together, I want to make sure we are really prepared. And that means stepping out of our comfort zones. And that means," Coulson raised his voice to be heard over the load groaning. "changing things up. I have assigned you a partner for the week. All assignments are final." he paused his speech and began to hand out slips of paper.

Skye let out a small whoop when she saw that Coulson had partnered her with Shield High's newest transfer, Antoine Triplett. He was tall, muscular and had joined the football team. AKA exactly her type. When Trip received his paper, he shot her a charming smile.

When Jemma got her paper and she read who she was to be partnered with, her stomach knotted in dread. Leo Fitz. Her arch nemesis. She wasn't sure why he hated her so much, but his signals were easy enough to pick up on and so she returned them full force. She wasn't mean about it or anything. And she was a cheerleader. She had seen plenty of her teammates in action enough times that she had the knowledge on how to be a full on bitch, but she kept it to subtle returned hard stares and silence. She was honestly surprised when she walked into the first Glee Club class and saw him slouched in a chair in the corner. Glee didn't seem like it would be his thing, but she had to (begrudgingly) admit when he stood up (albeit uncomfortably) in front of the class that day and opened his mouth, that clearly he could sing.

"Um, Mr. C?" Jemma raised her hand.

"All assignments are final Jemma." Coulson reiterated as he finished handing out assignments.

"But Steve and Peggy are partnered," she argued.

Coulson shrugged, "Why mess with perfection."

"Thanks Mr. C!" Steve Rogers, called out, slipping an arm around his girlfriends shoulder. Steve was the Eagle's star quarterback and his longtime girlfriend Peggy was the cheer captain.

"Alright, partner up guys. The song choice is up to you. Use the rest of the period to prepare, and have your song ready for class tomorrow. FitzSimmons will be up first."

Jemma cringed when she heard Coulson mash their names together, and judging by the look on Fitz's face, he wasn't too happy with it either. Well, may as well get it over with. Jemma sighed and made her way over to where Fitz was sitting. On her way she saw Steve and Peggy, heads tilted close together as they no doubt were planning which love ballad to sing. Skye had practically bounced over to Trip's side and she had pulled her eye batting out in full force. If his charming smile (that really should have its own TV commercial) was anything to go by, Skye's efforts were not wasted on him. Natasha Romanoff, the beautiful Russian redhead had been paired up with Bobbi Morse, and Jemma knew between both of their voices, they would be a force to be reckoned with. Finally Clint Barton had been paired up with the class clown, Lance.

Pulling a chair up next to Fitz, she primly lowered herself down, tucking her cheer skirt neatly beneath her, "Hi partner."

"You don't have to sound so glum about it," Fitz said and he scrolled through his phone.

"At least I looked at you when I said it. The same can't be said for you!" Jemma retorted.

Fitz sighed and lowered his phone, "I was trying to look up songs that we could do."

"Oh," Jemma had the decency to look ashamed. "Sorry."

"S'ok," he picked his phone back up and began to scroll. "Wild Night?" he suggested after a beat.

Jemma scrunched her nose, "How about No More Tears?"

"No," Fitz quickly shot her idea down. "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around?"

"Nah. Time Of My Life?" she paused and then shook her head, "No, never mind that one."

Jemma couldn't help but glance around the room and saw everyone working together and planning their choreography already. Then she noticed the clock on the wall and realized that the bell was about to ring and they had yet to accomplish anything.

"This is ridiculous," she sighed, ripping off a corner of her assignment paper and scribbling her address on it. "Why don't you come over around six or so and we will figure something out." She shoved the paper at him just as the bell rang and she made her exit.

Her next and final class of the day was a free period which she shared with Skye, Peggy, Bobbi and Natasha. The girls all relocated to their usual corner of the library and sprawled out across the couch and several bean bag chairs to gossip.

"You guys all have your songs picked out?" Jemma kicked her book bag off to the side.

"Steve and I know what we're doing," Peggy grinned mysteriously.

"And you aren't going to tell us?" Skye asked, looking at the upperclassman indignantly.

"Nope!" she teased.

"Well, then my lips are sealed on what Trip and I are planning," Skye playfully stuck out her tongue.

"Yeah, what's up with that? You two looked mighty cozy," Bobbi winked at her.

"Hey I can't help it if he's a tall glass of water and I'm parched in the desert," Skye flipped her pony tail over her shoulder.

"Better not let coach hear you say that, next thing you know she'll have him drilling shuttle runs all day," Bobbi reminded her.

"Oh come on, my mom isn't that bad. Right? I mean she helped you get on the team." Skye suddenly sounded nervous.

"What can you say about Coach May?" Bobbi mused.

"I heard she got pulled over once and she glared at the officer and he just told her to have a nice day," Jemma offered.

"Tea apologizes for being too hot for Coach May," Peggy threw in.

"Once, Lance tripped while doing tire runs and split his lip open and he thanked Coach May," Bobbi struggled to keep a straight face.

"You guys!" Skye laughed.

"No, in all honesty, your mom is great. Her and Assistant Coach Hill really stood up for me and plead my case to Principal Fury to get me on the team. I just wouldn't want to be dating her daughter is all."

"Well, it's a good thing you aren't my type then," Skye cracked.

"But Trip clearly is," Natasha piped in.

Skye eyed redhead. To anyone who didn't know better, Natasha, with her lithe dancers body, was all elegance and grace, but her friends all knew better. Last year when Clint Barton had transferred in to Shield High, some of the kids found out that he wore a hearing aid and had begun to pick on him. Natasha spotted the commotion one day and had single handedly taken down the schools biggest bully. Clint had been unsure what to think of being defended by a girl at first, but he soon figured that Natasha was a good person to have on his team and the two became nearly inseparable. Most of their circle of friends were waiting for the day that the archer and the ballet dancer would finally put everyone out of their misery and begin dating.

"So my type!" she said with a shit eating grin.

"So Jemma, did you and Fitz get a song picked out?"

"Ugh, no," Jemma groaned and slumped back in her chair. "I'm real glad you are all happy with your assignments by the way."

"Oh come on Jemma, he can't be that bad," Bobbi tried to reason with her.

"Yeah, I've seen the guys hang out with him during study hall. Steve really seems to like him," Peggy handed Jemma a chocolate bar.

"Steve likes everyone," Jemma groused, taking a big bite of the candy.

Peggy shrugged and nodded.

"We got absolutely nothing accomplished. All we did was bicker over song choices. He shot down all my suggestions and I shot down all of his. It's hopeless!"

Natasha patted her knee sympathetically, "I'm sure you guys will work something out. You just have to compromise."

"Yeah, tell him that," Jemma said childishly.

Skye nudged her with her foot and raised her eyebrow.

Jemma sighed, "Alright, alright. Anyway, I told him to come over tonight so we can figure something out."

"There, that's a start," Peggy began to gather her books and edge towards the door. "I'll see you guys at practice, I want to see Steve before his practice starts. Nat, I'll see you in class tomorrow."

The girls all said their goodbyes as Peggy escaped out the door just as the bell rang.

XXXX

Cheer practice passed without incident, although Skye almost missed a lift due to paying a little too much attention to Trip's rear in his tight pants. Luckily Jemma and Peggy's quick thinking kept Wanda from breaking an ankle. Before Jemma knew it she was home and showered, waiting for Fitz to arrive, the TV running in the background to distract her. Shortly after six the doorbell rang and she got up to let him in.

"Hey," she held open the door for him.

"Hey," he said quietly, avoiding her eyes.

Great. Jemma thought to herself. We haven't even started yet and already he's in a mood.

"My parent's are working late, but they left money for pizza if you're hungry?" she offered.

"Yeah, that'd be great." Fitz agreed, following her into her home.

"Extra cheese ok?"

"Perfect," he smiled at her.

Wow, a real genuine smile. Maybe the night won't be so bad, Jemma thought to herself as she phoned in their order. "It will be about 40 minutes," she told him when she got off the phone. "We can start working now or wait til we eat…"

"We can wait I guess. I'm kind of grumpy when I'm hungry anyways."

Jemma raised her eyebrow at that information. She wanted to make a crack about how he must be hungry all the time, but she bit back the urge. Instead she said, "I was just about to watch this weeks Doctor Who if you're interested."

Fitz nodded, "Sure."

He trailed after her into the living room taking in the expensive decor as he went and took a seat at the far end of the couch while Jemma collected remotes. After she had everything set, she joined him on the opposite end of the couch and hit play.

They watched the show in companionable silence, occasionally exchanging trivia and just as the end credits began to roll the pizza delivery man was at the door. Jemma started the next show in line on the DVR for background noise and then headed to the door. Fitz hung back awkwardly in the living room as Jemma paid for and collected their pizza. She plopped the box down on the large coffee table in front of the couch and motioned to it, "Help yourself."

"In here?" Fitz asked, looking around nervously at all the white upholstery.

Jemma shrugged before taking a large bite, "Good a place as any." She watched him out of the corner of his eye as he gingerly took a slice and began to carefully eat it, being mindful to catch any grease drippings with a napkin. With a thoughtful eye she took the schools resident mathlete in closely. For the first time she noted how his clothing seemed almost a size too large for him and possibly a season or two out of style. She cringed to herself as she realized that maybe she never really had given Fitz a fair shake. Maybe there was a reason he was so guarded.

"So, about this duet thing?" she carefully broached the subject.

Fitz was gnawing on his crust as he turned to her, "Any ideas?" he asked after swallowing.

"Nope. You?"

"Nope."

Suddenly the TV show caught both of their attention.

"You don't think?"

"Should we?" they looked to each other in unison.

Jemma quickly grabbed the remote for the DVR and rewound the scene to watch it from the beginning. When they finished watching the scene again they turned to each other with wide eyes.

"It's perfect!"

And with that, they quickly got to work.