The Marriage Project (1)
Omg I can’t believe it’s taken me THIS long to post this. I wrote this chapter probably in like April or May and it freaks me out to finally post but here it is!
My slow burn (American) High School AU with Tom Holland!
All the general info for this series is on the story masterlist, but I’ll list warnings and word counts on every chapter. Chapters will be much longer than my typical 2000 or less babies
Warnings: This will become a mature story in the future (no smut; more info on masterlist). Some profanity in this chapter
Word Count: 4140 (I told you!)
% approximately the 2nd week of August %
Ah, senior year. One last year of high school, one last year of seeing the people you’ve grown up with every day.
You’ve been told it’s easy. The best year ever. And yeah, maybe it will be. It’s not like you’re taking too many hard classes or overloading yourself with extracurriculars, aside from volleyball, soccer, the National Honors Society, and quiz bowl.
(Okay maybe it was a little much, but you loved it anyways)
The only real problem was the certified thorn in your side, Tom Holland.
He’d essentially been your mortal enemy since the sixth grade when he beat your mile time by only a few seconds.
Now, it’s not that he was a bully or anything, he was just so insufferable to be around. And yes, everyone always says boys pick on girls when they like them, but rest assured that wasn’t the case. You’d both always hated each other, nothing more.
You were always competing, and because of that ended up in the same place a lot.
He was in all your honors classes, in NHS, played boys soccer, and did quiz bowl. The only thing you had to yourself was volleyball except, oh wait, his younger brother’s girlfriend was on the team and Tom was his ride home every day.
All these thoughts raced through your head as you walked in on the first day, sitting down in AP calculus as soon as you finished up at your locker.
Everyone did the “how was your summer?” and “long time no see!” as students filed in. Eventually walked in Tom, and you shot each other a glare as he sat down right next to you.
“Holland.”
“Y/l/n.”
Everyone around you groaned. They all knew you two were forces to be reckoned with and probably dreaded spending another year listening to the two of you bicker everyday.
Though you were often in close proximity, you never really talked much, except to argue. Rarely did you agree unless it was on basic facts, and even then was it hard to admit sometimes.
Because of this, you typically resigned yourselves to only speaking when it came to grades so you could keep a mental tally of who was in the lead. You were both in the running for valedictorian at the end of the year, and you were not about to let Tom win.
%
The week was almost over and things had gone smoothly for the most part.
Sure, you and Tom had had a couple of spats, but nothing that wasn’t handled quickly.
He’d been to all of your volleyball games so far, even the summer ones, which meant he was forced to watch you dominate the court as both a setter and right side hitter.
It was a nice little satisfaction.
Especially because you’d watched him throw some horrendous passes in the preseason football game last week that led to a loss by one touchdown. (Okay, he’d had some good passes too, but they were lucky shots).
You settled into your seat in senior home economics Friday before lunch. The class was your school’s attempt at teaching some life skills for rising adults. For the most part however, it was a glorified cooking and sewing class. You didn’t mind per say, since you could cook up a pre-snack lunch sometimes.
Most of your friends were in there, including your best friend Alexis, whom you hadn’t seen all morning.
You, Alexis, and two other girls stood around a mixing bowl with the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies since it was a Friday, which Mrs. Flynn called “dessert day.”
“Oh! Before I forget,” your teacher, Mrs. Flynn, started getting everyone’s attention. “This year we’re doing something new for this class! Next week I’ll have you all split into pairs for a semester long marriage project! I will be drawing names out of a hat, so don’t get too comfortable yet. Anyways, be thinking on what kinds of careers you might want and things of that nature! Okay, now get back to your desserts!”
The whole room broke out into chatter the last part of the hour-and-a-half class, people speculating who might end up with who and what jobs they’ll get.
“Oh my God, wouldn’t it be funny if y/n got Tom?” Alexis stated as you stirred chocolate chips into the dough. The other girls laughed as you just snorted.
“Yeah, I’d rather lick the inside of the microwave than be paired up with him for a semester,” you replied, earning more laughter from your friends.
You assumed Tom’s friends were saying the same however, because when you looked over to see how bad their dough looked, he was rolling his eyes as his group pointed in your direction.
%
The next week came and went, and it was once again Friday. Or, as Mrs. Flynn was calling it, Wedding Day.
Every time she’d pull a couple’s name, she was going to make you both come to the front of the class and exchange plastic wedding rings and sign a fake marriage license.
Yay.
Everyone chattered excitedly as she tore up the strips with your names and mixed them around. Finally the time came for her to start the drawing.
“Okay, friends. First up we have...” she drew the first name. “Katherine and... drumroll please?”
The class drummed their hands over their thighs.
“Chris! Come on down folks, let’s get this marriage on!”
She “married” the first couple, and then continued to draw. You had to admit that you were a little nervous, but still eager to see who you’d get.
Two couples later, she pulled Tom’s name.
You shot him an eyebrow raise to which he returned a discreet middle finger. You rolled your eyes as you prepared a drumroll for Mrs. Flynn.
“And his lucky partner is... y/n!”
“What!” you both exclaimed simultaneously.
Almost the entire class burst into laughter.
“Mrs. Flynn, this has to be a mistake,” you said.
“Yeah, can’t we have a redraw?” Tom asked.
You hated that he was agreeing with you.
“Nope! You get who you get and you don’t throw a fit! And if it doesn’t work out in a few weeks we can discuss divorce plans.”
“How about annulments,” you stated dryly, earning a chuckle from her.
“That… kinda depends on if you have kids,” she trailed awkwardly before perking back up. “Now come on down! They always say your first marriage is the most memorable!”
“Who has ever said that?” Tom asked.
“You know. They. Now just get up here and do the ring thing!” she commanded.
You both sulked up to the front of the room.
“Okay, now stand here facing each other and hold hands.”
“Do we have to?” Tom whined.
“Yes, now do it and it’ll be over with faster.”
He groaned, rolled his eyes, and grabbed your hands, holding them loosely.
“May I have the rings please!” Mrs. Flynn asked Caroline, the girl whose desk was closest that she’d asked to be designated ring bearer. She handed over the basket to let you both choose from the mix.
You took a silver colored ring with a faux white diamond in the shape of a star. Tom chose one with an oval “ruby.” You couldn’t help but notice how every single person was on edge watching the two of you.
“Okay now Tom, repeat after me. I, Tom Holland, take thee, y/n y/l/n, to be my wedded wife to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”
He mumbled through the vow, avoiding eye contact, and slipped your star ring onto your finger. You were surprised at how gentle he was, carefully caressing your hand and making sure the ring faced straight up once it was on your finger.
You, too, said the lines and placed the ring onto his left hand.
“Alright. It is with the power vested in me by this very school that I am proud to now pronounce you husband and wife! You may now air kiss!”
You took a deep sigh and pretended to kiss each other's cheeks.
“Class, I’d like to introduce you all to Mr. and Mrs. Holland!”
They began to cheer and clap and laugh when you interjected.
“Uh, no. It’s Mr. and Mrs. y/l/n.”
Tom began to argue with you when Mrs. Flynn stopped you both.
“Alright fine, we’ll do a combined name. How’s the y/l/n-Holland family sound?” she asked, writing your names on the fake marriage certificate.
With reluctance, Tom agreed to having your name first and you both signed the paper.
Finally you were able to sit back down where your friends were waiting.
“So what was that about licking the microwave?” Alexis asked.
“Oh shut up.”
%
After your volleyball game (another win!), you and Alexis conversed over cheese fries at your favorite diner.
“Still not ready to talk about today?” she asked. You shook your head.
Alexis had been paired up with Caroline. They were both straight, but you had both been friends with her since freshman year and they got along well.
Today had just been the marriages, and next week you’d be learning more about your family dynamics.
“I’m just so pissed at him. This afternoon in senior art he told all the guys in there that he was going to make it as hard as possible for me. I mean jokes on him, he’s going to want to get an A too, but he was just so smug about it. He also strung his stupid ring on that necklace he’s always wearing. What’s that all about?”
“I mean you’re still wearing your ring. But yeah, that is a little weird.”
“I’m wearing mine because compared to some of the others, the star is actually cute.”
“True. I got unlucky with the selection,” Alexis admitted, digging hers out of her purse to show you a big square blue gem.
“I just wish there was a way to get back at him after all these years. I mean, we’ve been at each other’s throats for almost six years but nothing has ever seemed to really hit hard. This is the last year I’ve got to really make it count.”
Alexis gave you a look, one you knew to be quite mischievous.
“You know what’s the best way to get revenge on a guy?” Alexis asked.
“Uh, no, but by the look you’re giving me it seems to fall under Carrie Underwood ’before he cheats’ directive.”
“No, dumbass. You make his family fall in love with you.”
It took a second to process what she said before you could give a decent reply.
“You’re kidding right? His family already knows who I am because of all the stuff we’re in together. They probably also know about our rivalry. I mean, he’s told his brothers to never become friends with me.”
“And you know that, how?”
“The libero is Sam’s girlfriend. She’s been spilling tea for me for the past year.”
There was a break in the conversation as the waiter brought your meals out. Once he was gone, you spoke up again.
“Look, do you really think that would work? I mean sure I’d get under his skin, but it doesn’t really constitute revenge, does it?”
“Look at it this way,” Alexis put down her burger so she could splay her hands out in front of her. “If you can get on everyone else's good side, they’ll all talk about how much they love you and he’ll be forced to listen. If he really hates you, it’ll drive him crazy.”
You thought on it for a minute as you chomped on a chicken tender.
“Alright, I’m in. If it doesn’t end up working, I still have all of next semester to mess with him anyways. Now if I can just figure out how to really get to know his family…”
%
By the time Monday rolled around, you and Alexis had done some more scheming, but your plan wouldn’t even begin to be put in action until your volleyball games Wednesday and Friday, when you’d try to talk to Sam.
You sat down in home ec, where today you’d be picking careers. The catch, however, was that your family unit would have a set income, so each couple had to decide how it would be split up.
“Y/l/n-Holland family, you’ll be making $200k a year,” Mrs. Flynn announced, handing you the slip of paper. “Get together and decide who’s getting what jobs.”
“At least we’ll be rich,” you thought as Tom plopped into the seat next to you unhappily.
“So I’ll be the doctor and you’ll be the trophy wife, right?” he asked immediately.
“Hah, good one. I think we all know that I’m the smarter one here and wayyyy more likely to get into med school than you. And don’t call me trophy wife. I mean, what, you think I’m hot now? Can’t wait to tell everyone that little number.”
His ears turned beet red and he balled a fist.
“I don’t think you’re hot, except maybe hot shit. It’s a figure of speech.” he spat.
“Oh get over yourself. I know I’m hot anyways. Let’s just both pick jobs that earn $100k so we can be equal. How’s that sound?”
“Fine.”
He played with the plastic ring on his necklace as you looked up jobs on the computer. After a half hour of searching, Tom and you decided that to be fully equal, you’d both take the same job as physician’s assistants.
“Just so you know, I’ll never actually be anyone’s assistant,” he said.
“Oh yeah? Ten years time if you’re lucky I’ll hire you as mine.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Hey everyone, since class is almost over, we’re gonna wait to draw how many kids you’ll have and other financial things Wednesday. See you then!” Mrs. Flynn called out as students packed their things.
“We have to have kids, too?” Tom asked incredulously.
“Good thing it’s fake. I’d hate to see you as a parent,” you shot smugly, earning another middle finger from him that left you laughing.
%
Wednesday came kids, and thankfully all you got were twin girls, age 9. The project didn’t make you carry around flour babies or anything like that, you just had to account for them in your weekly budgets.
There goes the annulment plan, though.
Each week, Mrs. Flynn would be drawing something new for you all that would either be good or bad for your budgets, and it was up to you to figure out what to with the funding, or lack thereof. You also had to come up with a story each week that explained why money was put somewhere or what your “family” did that week.
She would also be doing progress checks, so you couldn’t wait until the end of the semester to do all the work. By the end, each couple would have to give a presentation over what they did and learned.
“Okay, so we each get to name one. That’s pretty equal,” you stated, thinking up baby names.
“Well I like Elizabeth,” he almost immediately replied, writing it down on one of the “birth certificates” you’d been handed by Mrs. Flynn.
“That’s… surprisingly good. I’ll go with Francesca. What about middle names? I like Rose.”
“Hm. How about Opal? Then they’ll have the same number of letters in their names.”
You were surprised at how much though he put into this, but let it go as you wrote your child’s name down.
“By the way, we need to plan time to get together and write a budget and find a house this weekend. I have a volleyball game Friday so how about Saturday?”
“I have football practice Saturday.”
“Well yeah but only until like 10 right? We could just meet at like 1. We’re doing construction at my house right now so could we do it at yours?”
You spoke sweetly in an attempt to receive a yes and put your plan into motion. Tom sighed and thought about it.
“I mean I guess. But you’re only going to be there to work on the project and then leave right?”
“Uh, duh. The less time with you the better.”
“Likewise.”
%
Tom and Sam weren’t at the volleyball game Wednesday, so you had to wait until Friday’s.
Friday was muffin day in home ec, so you thankfully didn’t have to talk to Tom. Instead, you and Alexis discussed the plan of getting Tom’s family on your side as you mixed up batter.
Later that afternoon, you watched from afar as Sam and his girlfriend, Julia, sat on the bleachers speaking. It was still an hour until game time and coach had asked you to round up the girls for stretching.
“Hey, Jules!” you called, jogging over to where she was. “Oh, hey Sam!” He looked at you like you were crazy before responding.
“Uh, hey y/n.” He gave a slight head nod.
“Anyways, coach wants us to start warming up. Wanna be my partner today?”
“Um yeah. Sure. See ya later babe,” she said, giving Sam a quick peck on the cheek before standing up to follow you.
After another win, you were helping take down the net and noticed Julia once again talking to Sam while Tom stood a few feet away looking bored.
“Hey, could you wrap up the net? I need to do something real quick,” you said to another teammate as you headed over.
“Hey, Jules! Solid digs today! You were making my job way too easy,” you joked.
You could see from the corner of your eye Tom look up at you in annoyance.
“Ahaha thanks girl. But I can’t take all the credit. You were on fire tonight. What was that like 15 aces? And your hits? Incredible,” she replied.
“Yeah, you were amazing tonight,” Sam added.
“Ohhhkay we can stop the compliment parade on y/n now. We need to go anyways, Sam, mom wants us home,” Tom interjected, putting an arm out in front of his brother, who was rolling his eyes.
“Alright fine. We still on for dinner tomorrow?” Sam asked his girlfriend. She nodded and they exchanged a quick hug and kiss.
“I’ll see you tomorrow too, Tom,” you said. “I’ll bring my laptop.”
Sam looked at him in confusion.
“Yeah whatever,” was all Tom could say to you as you strutted off to the locker room.
%
You stood nervously on the front porch of Tom’s suburban home. You had texted him when you parked but now dreaded actually going inside.
After shifting back and forth for a minute, you finally rang the doorbell.
It was only a few seconds later that the door opened, revealing Sam’s twin Harry. He looked confused.
“Y/n? What are you doing here?”
“Hey Harry. Tom and I are supposed to be working on a school project today and he said to come over at this time so...” You awkwardly shifted your backpack straps and looked down.
“Tom! Someone’s here to see you!” he yelled out, making you snort.
He appeared shirtless in the doorway and looked at you blankly.
“Oh. It’s just you.”
“Just me? What did you just forget that we have to work on our project today,” you replied, holding up your left hand to point to the plastic ring on it.
“You’re still wearing that? Why?”
“Firstly, the little star is cute. And secondly, you don’t have a lot of room to speak, Tom. Yours is still on your necklace,” you pointed to the chain around his neck, to which he instinctively reached up and grabbed the ring, twisting it between his fingers.
“Touche. Now come on, let’s just get this over with.” He opened the door wider and let you in, locking it behind you.
As he led you down a hall covered in photos towards the stairs, his mom stepped out, almost running into her son.
“Oh, sorry.” she looked at you, “Y/n? What are you doing here? It’s nice to see you.”
“Nice to see you too, Mrs. Holland. Tom and I have to work on our home ec project and we couldn’t do it at my house.”
“Oh dear just call me Nikki. And I do remember him mentioning something about a project. Are you the one he’s married to? I never thought I’d see the day.”
Tom tensed up and clenched his jaw while you gave a light chuckle, holding up your left hand again.
“I hate to say it, but yeah. You’ll probably be seeing a lot more of me throughout the semester.”
“Well you kids have fun. And Tom, honey, would it kill you to put on a shirt?”
He went red again and you had to stifle your laughter.
“I was just on my way to do that, mom. Come on y/n,” he mumbled, grabbing your wrist and dragging you up the stairs.
You turned and waved at Nikki one last time as she called up behind him,
“And make sure to keep the door open!”
He was totally embarrassed by that, and made it a point to shut the door behind him once you made it to his room. Finally you could let out a hearty laugh at his expense as he dug through his drawers and pulled out a simple black t-shirt.
“Finally. I was getting tired of looking at your man boobs,” you quipped, looking around the room.
“Ha ha. Good one,” he shot back dryly.
You were surprised at what his room looked like, though you didn’t know what you’d expected. It was very neat with sleek grey walls. His blue and grey bedding was made up with decorative pillows laid out. On his desk were a few random school papers and a computer, and one shelf held some Spider-Man paraphernalia while another contained medals and ribbons and trophies.
You dropped your backpack to the ground and pointed up at one figurine.
“Hey, that’s pretty cool,” you said sincerely.
“Yeah, I’m sure you think so,” he replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
“Uh, no. I’m serious. It’s actually really dope.”
He looked taken aback at your compliment, and even to you it felt weird to be saying that out loud about Tom of all people.
“Oh. Well uh. Thanks. Spider-Man was my favorite growing up. But let’s just get to work.”
After an hour of sitting on his carpet searching for a house and arguing over general money allocations,
“Yes Tom, tampons actually cost like $7 for 30 of them and most girls need at least one box a month. And that’s just one factor of personal hygiene. Do you even condition your hair?”
“I’ll have you know my hair is well moisturized. I just don’t ever have to pay for it.”
You finally came to an agreement on the week’s budget.
Packing up your things, you looked up at Tom who was now sitting on the side of his bed scrolling through social media.
“So next week. Your first game of the season, yeah?” you said, remembering that September was already almost here.
“Oh yeah. You coming? I’d hate for you to see just how incredible I am.”
“Psh whatever. I saw your throws at preseason. But yeah, I’ll probably just rinse off after my volleyball game and head to the field. Gotta see what cuties they’ve got on the other team.”
“Ugh gross. You know you’ll regret saying that when half the school is swooning over me in the stands.”
“The only thing you’d ever see me swoon from is dehydration. And that’s a pretty weak excuse already.”
You stood and Tom got up to lead you back out.
“Oh, I think I know the way. You don’t have to take me.”
“Yeah I do. Gotta keep my eyes on those grubby little fingers of yours. Who knows what you’d do unsupervised.”
Before you reached the door, Nikki spotted you from the living room.
“Done so soon? Wow, good job guys. Come back any time y/n!”
“Thanks, Nikki,” you called back to her, then turned to Tom. “So same time next week? We can do it at my place if you want.”
“Nah let’s just do it here. I’m always exhausted the day after a game and I don’t really want to get up.”
Okay then
“Well, see ya Monday then. Bye.”
You were halfway down the sidewalk when Tom called out, “Be safe,” before shutting the door. You stopped in your tracks in shock, but eventually got into your car.
What really mattered, though, was that you were already on Nikki’s good side.
1 down, 4 to go.
%
Yay! It’s finished! I really hope you guys enjoy this new series because I’m so excited to share it with you all! Once again, future chapters will have some mature content (s*xual harassment and mentions of assault; underaged alcohol consumption) but those chapters will be explicitly labeled with warnings.
Anyways, thanks for reading and please send an ask or message if you’d like to join my story or permanent tag list!
Tag List: @jackiehollanderr, @one-big-fangirl,
110 notes
·
View notes