I've been so busy it's been so hard to find time, but I managed to squeeze a few minutes to put something up. Enjoy!


Chapter 7

I grabbed one of my lip glosses and smeared it over my lips, deciding that my hair was not in condition to be left down. So I gathered it messily and just tied it to a high ponytail, but because I had baby hairs, a few strands of hair fell around my face. I sighed and left it. Whatever, I'll be late for class.

I had to get to my first class before Professor Masen's class on time. He had sent a mandatory gratitude email to the class for those who attended the lecture and then separately he sent me another email that asked me to go to his office for a revision of my paper. As I grabbed my bag, I got an incoming phone call from my mom.

"Hi mom." I greeted and I could hear the thundering storm in the background on her side of the phone.

"Hi honey!" She chirped happily. I swear, she always sounded like a bird ready to break out into a song. "How are you?"

"Good, I'm on my way to school now. How are you?" A blaring taxi horn screeched through the bumbling streets and I cringed at the shrilling sound.

"Oh crap." She muttered quietly. "Am I calling at a bad time?"

"No, no it's fine. I've been meaning to call you. I forgot yesterday." I came back home tired after studying at the school's library for over four hours. I barely managed a shower yesterday before I collapsed on my bed and knocked out.

"You move away and forget about your mother?" I could hear the sting in her voice.

"No." I breathed. "It's not that mom, I've been busy with studying and working on papers. Sometimes things slip my mind. I'll make time to call you at least three times a week."

"Okay." She brightened. It sounds wrong to admit, but pleasing Renee was quite easy, in fact, she usually cheered up with the most minimal effort which is why she was probably married to my dad for so long. The man is a complete smooth talker, so a Casanova and a hopeless romantic were a pretty easy match. She bought everything he said. "Your finals are next month, right?"

"Yeah, the term ends December 9th and then the following week is dedicated to our finals. So I'll be home for two weeks, to spend Christmas together." She squealed loudly into the phone, making me flinch and put the phone away from my ear. Renee was also like a child when she got excited.

"Really? I'm so glad! I was so convinced you'd go to your father's."

"No, I promised you from before I left Forks that I'd spend Christmas with you. Besides, I don't necessarily want to go spend long periods of time with dad at his house." I mumbled and she sighed.

"If he wasn't spending his time dawdling with his you—"

"Mom." I cut in sharply. "Breathe." She took in a deep breath and then released it, immediately calming her down. "It's not something for you to get worked up over."

"You win." She relented. "Hey so how are things with that boyfriend of yours?" It's as if her mood wasn't ready to kill five seconds ago. The reminder of Caius felt like an uncomfortable pressure in my chest.

"Um, we're not together anymore." I squirmed, walking down the street faster. The faster I walked, the faster I would get to the train station and the faster this conversation would end. I could hear the mechanics in her head turning with the million questions she was ready to throw at me.

"What? Not anymore? Why not?" Her voice was anxious again and her speech was quickening. "Was it him that left you? How dare he—"

"It wasn't like that." I interjected, making a quick left. "I broke up with him."

"But why, honey? You told me you liked him." Her voice was drowning in disappointment.

"I did like him, mom. I just wasn't in love with him and I'm not ready to settle down with someone I wasn't madly in love with. Love is hard as it is, if there isn't love then it's that much harder."

"I understand, but honey, I have a feeling you just purposely close yourself off from love because of—" I finally arrived at the station but I stood off to the side before going down, now peeved at her reasoning.

"It has nothing to do with that. I'm not purposely closing myself off, mom. I go out with guys and enjoy their company but I can't feign something that I don't naturally feel for someone." I reasoned, ticking my finger against the iron railing.

"But if you don't give your all you won't get the chance to fall in love." She argued.

"Then if that's the case then I don't fall in love." I snapped. "That's not the only important thing in life. I'm trying to finish my career as well and if I find that person along the way, then I find them, but I'm not going to settle just for the sake of settling." I looked at the time and noticed that I was barely going to make it on time. "And now I would really not like to have this conversation again any time soon. I'm heading to the train, so I have to go."

"But wa—" She stuttered.

"Bye mom." I clipped and she sputtered her goodbye before I hung up and hung my head. She's always like this. I heard the rumbling of the train echoing through the station and I instantly ran down to catch it.

By the time I got to school, class had already begun and Dr. Carmine was in the middle of lecturing. He turned around with his white beard and pursed his lips.

"Bella." His voice sounded as if he were reprimanding me. "You're late and interrupting my class."

"I'm really sorry." I put my hands together and he sighed, putting his finger in the middle of his book and closing it to keep his place.

"Don't let this happen again or I'll kick you out." Dr. Carmine was especially strict on attendance and punctuality. In the syllabus, two lateness's amount to one full absence and three unexcused absences were allowed, anything beyond that meant a half a letter lower in the final grade. I should have checked ratemyprofessor before picking this guy. I nodded and skidded to my seat, avoiding the stares of everyone. Taking out my supplies, Dr. Carmine cleared his throat and opened up his book to continue where he left off from.

I was seconds away from running to Professor Masen's class since Dr. Carmine held back our class an extra ten minutes to finish his lecture. I walked in, catching my breath, and saw that nearly everyone—including the professor were here. In fact, the professor was in a deep conversation with a tall blonde woman, whose back was to me. She was moving her hands around as she spoke in a hushed whisper and he sighed, shaking his head, with his eyebrows turned downward. He was exhausted of hearing whatever was being said. Maybe his girlfriend? Sitting down, Alice leaned over and slurped her latte.

"I'm surprised class hasn't started." I whispered over to her and she nodded, swallowing her drink.

"He was going to start it, but the blonde woman showed up and he instantly stopped the lesson." She shrugged, stirring her straw against the ice. She frowned since there was almost no more liquid left and tried to sip the last remaining bits. "Maybe a girlfriend." She suggested and James leaned his head back, with his pen plucked between his teeth.

"If she's his girlfriend then I have to congratulate him." He mumbled around the pen. "She's stunning."

"You're so considerate when you have other women friends, James." Alice replied dryly and he sat up, flipping around to see us with a grin.

"I call it as it is, Allie-cakes." Craning my head over slightly, the woman tilted her face in my direction, granting me full access to her face. Since she had her back to me I couldn't tell if she was truly beautiful or not. Seeing her face, my eyes widened. Oh shit, isn't that the girl from that night at the bar? That was the woman that took Edward home.

"Oh my god, shut the hell up and burn in the pits of hell." His snickering echoed through the walls as she mumbled curses under her breath, angrily searching for something through her bag.

The blonde woman sighed, rubbing her upper arm and gave a solemn firm nod. Professor Masen's eyes softened and his fingers lifted and barely smoothed over her arm. It was the faintest touch and his lips whispered something that I couldn't make out before the woman waved and walked out of the class.

The professor's eyes lingered at the door but his face was unreadable. The buzzing of the class continued as if nothing happened until the professor ripped his eyes from the door and cleared his throat. Instantly the class quieted down. Well that's impressive.

"Excuse that." He apologized and gave a tight smile. "Now let's get down to it."

"I think I need a nap." Alice yawned, her eyes fluttering shut and I leaned my cheek into the palm of my hand. "Wake me up if something important happens, please."

"Did you not sleep at night?" I asked curiously. "Boyfriend troubles?" She snorted and shook her head, not the least bit fazed.

"I have no boyfriend." She answered. "But I went out last night to drink with a few of coworkers and got home late."

"I applaud you for even coming in." She groaned and dropped her head to the table.

"And I'm regretting every second of it." She grumbled, her words half muffled by her face smooshed against the table. Her breathing eventually evened out and there was no movement from her whatsoever, meaning she really did fall asleep. That was fast.

Looking towards the front, I could see that the professor's lips were moving and his hands were making certain gestures to accompany his statements, but I couldn't actually hear anything. It was as if I was staring at a silent movie and at some point he must've asked a question because hands went up, but again, I didn't hear anything relating to that. The answers he got must've satisfied him because he paced around in the front of the classroom, nodding his head. My eyes started to focus out and the vision in front of me started to blur as my mind flitted off into my own secret world.

"Hey." James whispered under his breath, jolting me from my day dreaming. "You both okay?" His brow creased with genuine concern. I nodded. "And is she dead or something?" He peeked over at Alice who had started to lightly snore and I sighed.

"No, she went out partying and was falling asleep."

"She can't hang." He murmured. I giggled and he glimpsed to the front to see the professor busy talking to another student. He took the initiative and grabbed his pen, plucking the cap between his lips and leaning over to write on Alice's cheek. I reached out and blocked him, still giggling at his childish antics. "Why not?"

"She'll be murderous."

"Fine then how about her hand?" He suggested instead with a smarmy smile and I pursed my lips.

"Don't draw any penises or anything sexual. I'll help her beat you up." His eyes lit up with amusement and he nodded, instantly scribbling nonsense on her hand. I removed my eyes from the sight of them and looked back up front only to see the professor's eyes glued on me. I froze, waiting to hear the sharp reprimand of his voice, but it never came. Instead he looked away and continued speaking, as if nothing.

Class ended and everyone was leaving, so I nudged Alice on her arm, causing her to groan with irritation and smack my hand away. I tried again, shaking her gently and she mumbled something incoherently.

"Alice, class is over." I poked her and she frowned, nuzzling closer against her arm so she could fall into a deeper sleep.

"Looks like she's still the obvious pain to wake up." James sighed, his hands encased around his notebook. I turned up to him and kept trying to wake the little pain up.

"She did this before?"

"Yeah, especially our senior year of high school. She would sleep through just about every lesson, god knows how she actually passed." He mumbled, waving me over with his hand. I took a step back and he got closer, leaning one hand against the table. "Yo it's time to go home." Like a magical spell, Alice's eyes snapped open and she bounced up, looking fully refreshed and alive. Her eyes had their sparkle back and her skin looked rejuvenated. She looked around to the empty room and stretched her arms over her head.

"That was an amazing nap." She chirped happily and I raised an eyebrow, looking over at James who looked proud of himself.

"Impressive." I commented.

"I picked up a trick or two after all these years with seeing her face." He replied with a one-shoulder shrug. His maroon scarf brought out the flush of blood from underneath his pale skin and was wrapped loosely around his neck. If anything, James reminded me of those good-looking city hipster models that you saw in magazines or social media with the best photographs. His hair was nicely combed over and his light eyes were always flickering with some mischief, like a kid's, but when he turned into his professional mode—that was something that was amazing to experience every time. Alice's eyes widened when she saw the writing on her hand and instantly starting hitting him with her bag and sprouting insults in his direction all while he snickered.

"Bella," The professor's voice pulled me from the two fighting married couple in front of me. "I would like to review what I asked you to bring." His tone was even and he simply looked at me, no visible reaction whatsoever.

"You asshole." Alice muttered to James, who was still enjoying himself, before coming over to me.

"Okay." I replied and dug my hand in my bag to retrieve my paper. I had almost finished it, the only thing missing was my conclusion and my citation page. "I guess I'll see you guys."

"Hey," Alice brightened. "Why don't you come over to my place tomorrow? I have no class and I'll be bored."

"Thanks for the invite, Allie-cakes." James cooed and she shot daggers at him.

"Repeat that again and I swear to you I will rip out your tongue and stuff it up your ass." Her voice was its usual high-pitch but it the undercurrent of malice was mixed in so well that it was able to be detected. It was like adding lemon to a paper cut. "And besides, I'm not inviting you." James paid her threats no mind and continued to laugh along while I swallowed. At this point I didn't know who was scarier. "Anyways," Alice turned back to me. "What do you say?" Her eyes were shining and she was grinning from ear to ear. She really was outstandingly pretty, even if she was on the thin side. She could run in a beauty pageant or something. I couldn't ignore her excited face so I sighed and nodded.

"Okay. I'll go after class."

"Excellent!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together and humming. "I'll text you how to get to my place tomorrow. Now go ahead and see the Professor Asshole." She leaned in quick and glanced towards the front of the room—probably at him. "He's glaring holes at us. Patience isn't one of his virtues."

I snorted. "Tough luck for him. But I'll see you tomorrow. Bye James." I called out to him and he picked up his face from it being glued to his phone.

"Oh right, my bad, bye Bella." He waved and hid his face behind his scarf, stuffing his phone into the pocket of his pants. "I guess I'm leaving with you then." He threw at Alice who dropped her head back and looked up at the ceiling.

"I thought my horoscope said that today my day was filled with an abundance of luck." She groaned.

"It is." He agreed. "I'm leaving the school grounds with you that's a blessing." I turned away from the scene in front of me with a chuckle and walked over to the front, with my paper in hand.

Professor Masen gathered his bag and started to walk out of the classroom to what I assumed was his office. "Let's go." He voiced harshly and I sighed, begging the angels for some sort of patience of my own. I trailed behind him, closely observing how he skillfully avoided contact with every single student and professor that walked the same halls as him. He would move his shoulder or lean his body to the left whenever someone would come to close and he would do it all with a straight face and always looking ahead.

He wasted no time at all in smoothly opening the door and sitting in his seat. He proffered his hand out with his empty hand under his chin and an expectant look in his eyes. His demeanor was collected but aloof, it wasn't of the professor I usually spoke or bickered with. I handed him my paper and watched his eyes slide across every word typed up on my page. As he read, the seconds ticked on and the silence stretched. Occasionally he would mutter the words of my paper under his breath and a crease would appear on his brow. He got a red pen and pulled off the cap, circling something and nodding along. I waited, standing up, patiently and rubbing my hands together. It was like waiting to get your score back for a crucial test.

He tapped the end of his pen against his temple, scribbling one last thing and then capped the pen top. He snapped his eyes up but they still looked as if they weren't here.

"It's good, but you can end it better." His voice was sharp and stabbed me right in the heart, making me inwardly wince. Only good? I devoted my entire week to this conclusion for it to be only worth the word 'good'? "You have it in you to end this paper fantastically. Now if you don't feel like re-doing the work, you can retype it and then submit it. This could be a solid B paper." He sounded mechanical and I felt uneasy.

"No." I stopped him before he could continue. "I'll take it home and rewrite it so I could hand it in with a higher grade. I want an A and that's what I'm working for."

"Good." He nodded, pulling out a blank piece of paper and writing his name on it. "I left comments by the necessary areas, so read them and apply them to your paper."

"Is that all you called me in for, professor?" I couldn't help the bitterness that my voice exuberated. He was acting like someone I wanted to bash their face in for. He stopped and looked up at me.

"Yes, is there any other reason I needed?" He bit back with equal distaste.

"Why is it that I'm getting treated as if I did something wrong?" He placed his fingertips against the table.

"I have told you once and twice again that I dislike talking over you in class." He scolded with narrowed eyes. "You're always running your mouth." Are you fucking with me? That's what he's pissed about? Are we in the first grade where the teacher would sit patiently waiting with an irritated look on their face until the kids stopped talking?

"Excuse me?" I exasperated with wide eyes. "You have no reason to yell at me. You don't understand the meaning of respecting privacy."

"What are you sayin—"

"Casually bumping into me?" I drawled the word 'casually' as sarcastic as I could muster up at that moment and he frowned.

"I didn't know it was a crime."

"You were checking up on me." I retorted with a snap of my teeth. "If I told your over-the-top secret." I waved my hands dismissively. "So please don't complain about how I supposedly disrupt the class with my talking when you don't respect my privacy—"

"You know something of mine."

"Yet this is my body!" I felt the blood boil but leave the ends of my fingertips. "You can't go and inspect me whenever you feel like it!" Something was crawling up my throat and wanted to be screamed with the frustration I felt. "You know what? Good bye professor." I pivoted on my heel and pulled the door open, the bright lights hurting my eyes. The screeching sound against the floor echoed in the room and I was suddenly snapped back with a loud 'oof'.

"Don't." The professor's deep voice whispered into my ear and I shivered. "Wait. I'm sorry. Don't go." His frame was against mine and I felt something solid tugging at my wrist. I glanced over, seeing the solemn look on his face and his tight grip clasped around my wrist. The crease on the corners of his eyes became more pronounced and his jaw became taut. He immediately released my wrist and took a deep breath, closing his eyes and facing the floor. I leaned over and folded my hands in front of me, careful not to make any skin to skin contact with him. What'd he see? My body involuntarily stiffened.

"Are you alright?" I asked and he nodded, releasing another breath to adjust himself. He lifted his eyes and they met mine, no longer completely impassive. "Good day, professor."

"Bella." He drawled in a warning tone and I stopped, glaring at him over my shoulder. "I said to wait."

"And I said I have to leave. I don't feel like conversing about this."

"But you sure were conversing a lot with James during my lecture." He interjected roughly, his voice sounding like a whip. I felt something start to snap from within me.

"Professor." I ground out. "If you have an issue with me, please, address me rather than only giving me a nasty attitude." He rose an eyebrow and crossed his arms across his chest.

"And clearly you have an issue with what happened the other day, so why don't you address that with me."

"Of course I have an issue with that." I snapped. "I will sign a contract that binds my mouth from blabbing your issue." His eyebrow just rose a little bit higher. "But I am neither your child nor your wife, professor, so don't treat me as you please and grab me simply to assure yourself that I haven't spoken." I finished off sucking in a huge lungful of air after that long rant and he stayed quiet for a moment.

"You are quite the complicated person to be either." He suddenly spoke and I blinked, ignoring the prickling sensation along my arms. "But the case seems to be you don't enjoy me grabbing you without your consent."

"You're educated in the law professor. That can be classified as harassment." The corner of his lip twitched.

"And you are quite the brilliant student, Bella." He nodded once. "Then I will alert you whenever I check on you."

"I just said—"

"No contract is necessary. I'll believe your word." He leaned in, bending his head so he was closer to me and I analyzed how close we now were. He straightened suddenly and whipped around. "Now that that's cleared, the air does seem to be less angry around you."

Really, because that's not how I'm feeling. His lips stretched into a wide smile and he walked back over to me.

"I look forward to reading your finishing product, Bella. Please email me that." I opened my mouth and he suddenly chuckled. "And please stop your flirting with James during my classroom time." My mouth hung and he laughed, throwing his head back and filling the room with the lightness it didn't have earlier.

"Professor, with all due respect—"

"Oh Bella, I'd so prefer it if you were more you when we're in my office, whether that includes respect or not. I enjoy your little spiteful bites you throw at me."

"With all due respect professor, fuck you." He threw his head even further back and laughed, his whole body shaking with pure delight. I frowned, glaring at him at the same time that I admired him. He seemed to be fully enjoying himself and I should be slamming my face against a table for the curses I threw at my professor. The man who dictates my grade. But he looks good like this… Laughing and picking fights with me. "What the hell am I saying?" I muttered to myself, shaking my head. I have to leave. "Now that that's over with, I'm leaving. Thanks for looking over my paper, Professor Masen." I didn't wait for a single word from him to walk out, my face feeling a little warmer than usual. Damn it.