"Ms. Pope… Ms. Pope, I asked you a question."
Olivia Pope sat in her political science college class looking down at her paper when someone nudged her. She looked up at the man next to her and saw him nodding his head in the direction of the professor.
"I'm sorry, Professor, what was the question?"
"What kind of issue would our situation be? National or international?" Professor Grant asked her.
Professor Fitzgerald Grant kept his eye contact with her. She seemed oddly familiar to him from the moment she walked into his classroom. He thought if he asked her a question she'd look at him and he'd remember her.
"Any idea Ms. Pope?"
As Professor Grant was talking, the man next to Olivia wrote a note and set it on her desk. Grant is a prick.
"I'm sorry, Professor Grant, I forgot the issue we were discussing."
"Perhaps you should come back into this universe and pay attention. I honestly don't think that's much to ask. Class is dismissed. Ms. Pope, my office."
Professor Grant left the classroom going down to his office answering his cell phone on the way.
"Sorry about Professor Grant," the man next to Olivia mentioned. "He's been off all day. I'm Jake Ballard."
"Olivia Pope. Any idea what might have gotten into him?"
"No clue. He's usually more professional than that. So is this just a filler class for you?"
"Actually, no; this is what I came here for. I'm studying to be a political fixer. Grant's my whole reason of coming here."
"Ouch, this may not be good. He doesn't seem to like you already."
"Well, hopefully he'll come around. I've got to go see him." She stuck the note in her pocket and headed down to Grant's office. The door was partially open but he seemed to be on the phone and very upset.
"That is probably the stupidest thing that you have ever said. Of course I care! She's my sister and she's dead," he shouted at the person on the other line. He stayed silent for a moment and shouted again. "The only person I don't care about is you! The rest of them all matter. You're the one that I can't stand!... I'll be on the next plane out. Just don't do a damn thing."
Olivia heard him slam the phone down on the desk and made her decision to leave. She pulled a paper out of her pocket and leaving him a note on the ground. Sorry for your loss. And walked away.