"I can't believe this!" I exclaimed loudly.

"You're telling me! He gave me a zero," Olive said.

"This is so not awesome!" I said even louder.

"If you have any questions," Arthur said loudly in an irritated voice. We may or may not have interrupted his lecture with our outbursts. He was standing arms crossed in the front of the class. Dr. Caliber was gone again today, so Arthur was teaching us again. "About your grades, feel free to ask me..."

I shot my hand up in the air.

"AFTER class," Arthur finished a little bit more irritated.

I crossed my arms as I sat in my desk. I tapped my foot as the clock ticked away at the class time. I barely heard his words when he dismissed the class. I turned toward Olive as I tried to make my way to the aisle.

I almost ran the other way. Olive hadn't moved an inch. She had her elbows resting on the tiny foldable desk. Her chin was resting on her intertwined fingers. She was scowling and glaring at Arthur at the front of the class.

"Uh...Olive? Are you okay?" I asked.

"A zero? He gave me a zero?! What the hell kind of mother fuc-" she said.

"Whoa there, how much sleep did you get last night, Olive?" I interrupted and asked her. She was kind of starting to scare me.

She sighed and moved her hands over her eyes. "None. My essay was probably crap. I was so tired and kept on getting distracted. I can't even remember what I wrote, but I know I don't deserve a zero."

"Alright honey." I patted her on the back. "Let me take care of this." I fished through my bag and got out a Snickers bar I had been saving for later. I threw it at her hands on her face, and it landed in her lap. She removed her hands and looked at the treat. "I'll talk to Arthur. You just try to relax. Have a Snickers. You've practically got a massacre on your hands."

"Mmm!" she said once she had the candy in her mouth. She starting to look a little more normal.

"Better?" I asked.

"Better! I'll meet up with you later, Jules." She waved as she got out of the class.

I stood by my seat until everybody else had left. A few people went to the front to ask Arthur questions, but they all went away eventually. I just had to wait them out. I put on my best creepiest grin and stared down Arthur.

"Oh Artie~" I sang down to him.

He was trying his best to avoid me, but he let out a groan. We were all alone now. There was no avoiding me now.

"You've made a couple of enemies today, Artie," I continued as I skipped to the front of the class. "That's not very smart. It's a shame. We were just starting to get to know each other."

"One: don't call me Artie. Two: you're the one who shouldn't be enemies with me. I am the one who determines your grade," he said.

"Huh? I'm pretty sure the professor gets the final say. Maybe I should talk to him about how his TA thinks he's incompetent." I might have been stretching it, but I do enjoy pushing buttons.

He rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Julia?"

"Jules, and I want an A because my essay was awesome. Plain and simple," I said.

He gave one short laugh. "Your essay? However entertaining, I only wanted around 400 words at max. Three pages was superfluous, and I don't take too kindly to liars. Am I really supposed to believe that you stalk hundreds of people everyday like you so described in your paper?"

I raised my eyebrow at him. "Have you ever heard of Facebook? And what exactly did Olive do wrong? She did the assignment. What made you think you could give her a zero?"

"Olive's essay was just confusing. There was one sentence that just said tomatoes prevent cancer. There was nothing whatsoever that addressed her life. She went further off the prompt than you did. Where you went overboard, she was lacking. Despite your interpretation of Facebook, your view on your own life has a unprecedented amount of fantasy and grandeur."

I raised my arms in defense. "And your point is? It's my life, not yours. That's the way I perceive it. You're the one who wanted to know what I thought of myself."

He shook his head. "That wasn't an appropriate answer to the prompt."

"Oh come on! You're being ridiculous!" I said.

"Jules! There you are!" The doors to the classroom opened. Chessie's skirt flounced up as she skipped down the stairs. "Olive told me I'd find you here."

"Chessie?" I asked. I was almost as confused as Artie who had never laid eyes on this strange, beautiful woman.

"I thought you might need some 'moral' support." She winked at me. She looked Arthur up and down. "Is he really a professor?"

"TA," Arthur explained. He crossed his arms. "Professor Caliber had an important meeting today. Can I help you?"

"So this TA is the grumpy butt who wouldn't lay off you even for the first assignment?" Chessie asked. She placed her elbow on my shoulder, leaned, and popped her hip out to the side. "What gives him the right?"

"You know what?" Arthur was growing flustered. "It's really none of your business, miss."

"Miss?" Chessie raised her eyebrows. "And it certainly is my business. These two girls just happen to be my friends, and I can't have all that negative energy around me. So change their grades, mister," she insisted with a slight edge of teasing.

Arthur looked angry but didn't really seem like he could say anything. Chessie just had that sort of impression on people, I guess. Arthur still held his ground.

"I'm not an unreasonable woman," Chessie said. "Tell you what. Change their grades, and I'll let you take me out on a date."

"Are you out of your bloody mind?! Th-that's completely inappropriate and unprofessional and-" Arthur spluttered.

"Calm down big boy." Chessie stopped leaning on me. "Olive or Jules will you give you my number when you're ready." She winked at him, chasséing and swinging her hips as she exited the classroom without another word.

Arthur sat down at the professor's table and rested his head on the wood.

"Why aren't you gone? What do you want from me?" he whined.

"An A," I said. "And another chance for Olive. You gave her a zero, for pity's sake. What kind of jerk wad does that?"

"Fine. Olive can have another chance. I'll count it as a late assignment if she redoes it and submits it by tonight. She'll get ten percent off. That's policy."

I nodded. That was probably the best I was going to get out of him for now.

"Can't do the same for you. You actually managed to pass the assignment, however poorly you perceive your grade. A 75 isn't that bad once you're in college."

"Doesn't matter," I insisted. "That was A material. I deserve nothing less than that."

He rubbed his hands over his eyes. "You seriously need an outlet," he grumbled. He whipped his head up then. "That's it!"

I gave him a weird look. "Talk to yourself much? And you think I need an outlet..."

"I'll give you an 90 on the assignment if you write a blog," he said quickly.

I gave him an even weirder look. "A blog? Are you telling me one of my assignments is to spend time on the Internet?"

He nodded.

I shrugged. "Okay. Works for me." I started to make my way up the stairs.

"Not so fast, Jules." I turned around to face him at the mention of my name. "You're still here for the exploratory program, right?"

"Yeah," I said tentatively. I don't think I liked the direction this was going.

"Your first post on the blog should be a well informed persuasive argument to improve an aspect of our school," he said a bit too proud of his idea.

"Uh uh. No way. No blog of mine is going to turn into one of those gung ho school spirit college propaganda. What does that have to do with the English department anyway?" I said.

"It's only for your first post. After that, you can make it what ever you want. You don't even have to mention our university."

I squinted at him. "What's in it for you?"

"Insight," he answered defensively but honestly. "It's part of my graduate project."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I'll email you the URL once I've got something," I said. "Is that all?"

"Yes. You are dismissed," he said.

I rolled my eyes and climbed up the stairs.


Chessie was waiting for me outside. "Did it work?" she asked.

"Yeah. Olive's going to have another chance to do the assignment," I said.

"Great! Did you give him my number?" she asked again with more enthusiasm.

"No..." I said warily.

She shrugged and sighed. "It was worth the try..."

"Are you being serious? Him? Why him?" I asked with disbelief.

"It was just a shot in the dark," she dismissed. "I kind of have a thing for older men. And suits are like lingerie, you know. Granted, what he was wearing would be considered a ratty pair of underwear, but a little time with me and he'd be in tip top gorgeous shape in no time," Chessie said. "Either way, he's pretty cute. Did you see those eyebrows?" She giggled.

I rolled my eyes. "You're being strangely humanitarian today. Well, I'm done with classes. Want to go get some coffee and pancakes with me?" I offered.

She shook her head. "I've actually got a class in about ten minutes. I'll meet up with you later, darling, and you and Olive can tell me all about your TA."

She winked and headed off to her class across campus. I adjusted the strap on my laptop bag and headed off to Chicks in the opposite direction.