The worst thing about group projects was the social loafers who thrived in it—the people who would not carry their weight in the project in the hopes someone else will. Pallavi was a team player, yes, but she’d rather be evaluated on an individual basis and get credit that equalled her effort.

She studied the group she’d been put in with disdain–Santhosh, Sharon, Chanthana and the devil himself. It was cursed fate that Atharva and Pallavi were both odd roll numbers in the first half of the class. It increased their probability of being put in the same team.