english group dilemma, who to choose? Options

[--x who0ps]

kkk im not sure if this problem has already arised
or if this is under the wrong group
sorry if it has, or if it is. ><

so for english, we have to be in a group right. and there's these two people who want to be in my group. let's call them James and Kelly. James likes me but i relaly really really dont like him. he always makes fun of me and puts me down. Kelly's my friend, and we sit together at lunch, and i love her and everything, but i dont want to be in her group. so basically, i dont want to be in either of their gruops. picking groups is a big deal in my english class cause if you dont 'click' with your group, that's really bad, the whole project is screwed. im sure you know. anyway, part of the reason i dont want to group with Kelly is because one of my friends told me that she was a bad groupmate. i didnt even ask her, she just straight out told m e not to group with her. and my friend is also Kelly's friend so im sure that she wouldnt say bad things about Kelly if they werent true. plus, i have worked with Kelly before and she's a HUGE procrastinator. she pulled an all-nighter on her last project when it wasnt even necessary. we had a whole month to finish it and her gorup started three days before it was due. bad sign. Also, Kelly and James used to be in the same group before, and they HATE each other. they will not stand to be in the same group again. i guess i can stand having one of them in my group but if i chooose Kelly, then James will get really offended, and viceversa.
does this make sense so far?
i dont want to tell them that i dont want to be in their groups cause i really dont want to hurt their feelings. ive already avoided being in James group three times, and all three times he started bitching at me right after. i know i should be straightforward and speak my mind, but i really dont want them to get hurt.
am i making sense?

if you've read all that, thanks so much :)
please, help ><

[--x who0ps]

well, i want to stay in the group that i was with last time
but im not sure if they still want to stay in a group.
So currently, no, i dont ahve another group
that's why i dont want to say that i'm already in another group cause if i end up with no group and are forced to group with them (the leftovers)(also, no one else probably wants to group with them cause they really really really screwed up their last project) then there will be a lot of tension and.. yeah. they'll know that i lied.
im not so bothered by their performance abilities or anything
im more bothered about their attitudes as a groupmember.