I'm posting the prologue of something new I've been working on here, because there's so much of it banked right now.
This does not mean I've given up on Fairytales. Quite the opposite. I have a lot banked for that story - I'm just not happy with the current chapter flow. But it's been growing and growing every day. So, while that has been torturing me (and Patience is fully written) this is what I've been doing to keep myself busy, and the writing flowing.
Special thanks on this one go to Kates89, resident-of-storybrooke andxninafun for their help, advice and cheerleading during this process.
I'd love to know what you think, and if you'd like to see more of it.
"Come on, Emma. I wanna get a good seat."
Emma sighed as she picked up the pace a little, to follow after Ruby. She had to confess, she was a little excited to finally get her chance to meet the legendary professor on campus, but not excited enough to run at the speed her friend was travelling.
There was nothing in the world that would make Emma that excited.
They weren't the first to make it to their lecture hall, but she had expected that. The room was already full of most of their female peers, all packing the front few rows, in anticipation of the class ahead of them.
Emma was willing to bet the entire female population of the law school had heard about the legendary professor they were finally getting the chance to meet. She'd heard about him during her first week on campus, so she assumed the others had too. There were whispers of a young protégé from Ireland, who often picked up classes when their professors were busy with other projects. The rumors had described him as not only a genius in law, but also the sexiest man in academia.
Emma hadn't believed them when she'd first heard them.
She certainly didn't believe them in her second year, after never having so much as heard of the guy teaching on campus, during her entire time at the school.
Until last week.
She'd been sat with Ruby, in their usual seats, taking notes on defenses for a charge of homicide, when their professor had drawn the lecture to an early end. "Next week, I will be at a conference in Chicago," he'd began, and the whispers had soon followed, as the class made their plans for what they assumed would be an early end to their day. "However," he continued loudly, to grab their attention once more, "However… that doesn't mean that this class will be neglected. I am well aware that you all have exams coming up, so I wouldn't want you to sacrifice precious hours of study, just because I'm away. I've asked a friend of mine to come and deliver a lecture for you. I trust you'll show Dr. Jones the same levels of respect that you've shown myself."
The name 'Dr. Jones,' had the entire class whispering amongst themselves once more.
It couldn't possibly be that Dr. Jones, could it?
The one they'd all been told about.
The one they'd heard stories about, throughout their time at school.
The one ninety-percent of the class were sure was just a myth.
While Professor Midas hadn't given them any more details, that hadn't stopped the excitement and anticipation from growing, amongst the student body.
"Hey, isn't that Lilly?" Ruby whispered, as she took a seat right in the center of the room. It was three rows away from where they usually sat, at the very end of the row. But it gave them a perfect view of the front of the hall.
"Since when did Lilly start studying law?" Emma asked, as she pulled out her laptop, ready to take notes.
"She doesn't," Ruby scoffed. "She's probably just here to check out the hot professor."
"He's a doctor," Emma sighed. "And for all we know, that rumor is just that – a rumor. If he's friends with Midas he's probably a fifty-year old guy who's balding, with bad breath. He could even be a she," she added, as an afterthought.
Ruby shot her friend a look that showed her pain at the idea of the legendary professor not being what he was described to be, and Emma chuckled behind her screen.
It wasn't that she was against the idea of a hot professor. She'd seen those porn movies before. The idea was somewhat appealing to her. She just didn't really care either way what their guest lecturer looked like. All she cared about was acing those exams, so that when she graduated, she could get an associate's position at a decent law firm.
"I'm sure he's not," Emma soothed, "I'm just saying that you should prepare yourself for the worst. That way, you're not gonna be disappointed."
"I'm already disappointed," Ruby huffed, as she started pulling out her own laptop, to take notes with.
The rest of the room began to slowly fill, as the clock on the wall ticked ever closer to the hour, and the start of their lecture. Emma wasn't surprised to find that it was predominantly her male peers that were the last ones to fill the remaining seats. They clearly weren't as excited by the idea of a legendary hot professor, as their female classmates were.
"Lilly looks like she's gonna start drooling any minute now," Ruby chuckled, as she nudged her friend gently. Emma's eyes flicked over to the other woman, and away again quickly.
There had been a time, a few years back, when Emma would have classed Lilly as one of her closest friends. But, that bridge had been burned long ago, and now, all she felt was a mild indifference towards her former-friend.
"I'm sure she'll find the lecture riveting," she mumbled, as she used her free time to read through the notes she'd made the week before. The lecture should pick up where Midas had left off, and Emma had been too busy working on a Human Rights paper, due that morning, to have reviewed them between the two classes, as she usually did.
"Oh, come on, Ems," Ruby chided. "Even if this guy does turn out to be an old, balding, boring dude, at least we can say we met the legend that was Dr. Jones. How many other people in this department can say that?"
"I guess," she agreed reluctantly. "Oh God… you're gonna want a selfie to document this occasion, aren't you?"
Ruby was already pulling out her phone to take the picture, before Emma had finished speaking.
It was only when her friend moved to push her phone back into her pocket, and Emma turned her attention back to her screen, that she realized the entire room had gone eerily silent.
She pulled the display towards her a little, to get a better look at the cause of the silence, and when she did, her jaw dropped in amazement.
The man now stood behind the small desk, in the front corner of the room, could only be their guest lecturer. He was busy fiddling with his own laptop, plugging everything in, in order to deliver his address that afternoon. But even with only the top of his head, and the flat of his back, visible, Emma could tell that the rumors about Dr. Jones hadn't done him justice at all.
Thanks for reading.