Alright. This is a MUCH longer chapter. I know I said I would post in a week but it's my birthday and I wanted to share the love. So here goes the first official chapter.I own nothing.
Elena Gilbert only hated two things in this world, having to teach a class and being late to anything. Right now Elena was having to deal with both.
Elena sighed as she glanced at her watch and tried to quicken her pace even more than the jog she was doing. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" She kept muttering under her breath like a mantra. She raced up the steps of Whitmore college and threw open the door to the History and Literature building.
Elena could not believe her bad luck. First, she tossed and turned most of the night because of a fight she had with her boyfriend, then she accidentally turned off her alarm instead of hitting the snooze button on her phone. The only reason she even got up before the first class was because her best friend Bonnie called her to see if she wanted a coffee from Sparebucks. She had been running ten minutes behind and only had time to throw on a random yellow spring dress with blue flowers since it wasn't too cold and brush her hair and teeth and throw her dark auburn hair in a quick messy bun. She grabbed the first shoes she could find, which happened to be a pair of white strappy sandals. Elena could at least relax with the fact she didn't look too unkempt.
She sighed in relief as she rounded the corner to where her classroom was. She also sighed in defeat as she saw the department head standing there with the students waiting. 'Great.'
Placing a fake grin on, Elena pushed through the students and opened the door. Once everyone was inside she was about to follow when the department head stopped her. "Meet me in my office during your break." She nodded and ducked her head down as she went into her classroom.
Seeing all the students had settled Elena walked to her desk and sat down her bags. Grabbing her laptop she walked to the podium. "Good morning class. My name is Doctor Gilbert and welcome to 'A History of the Italian Renaissance'"
As the last of Elena's students milled out of the classroom she released the breath she had been holding and sank into her desk chair. She leaned her head back and rubbed her temples. 'Two classes down and one more to go.'
Elena heard a chime from her phone and pulled it out of her bag. She looked at a text alert. The text was from her boyfriend, Stefan. 'My parents want to have dinner at their place tonight . Be ready by 6. I'll pick you up.'
She didn't even bother responding. "Same ole Stef. Even if I fight with him he will just continue on like nothing happened."
"What's the matter, Elena? Boy trouble? " Elena jumped at the sound of her friend's voice coming from the doorway.
"Cheese and crackers, you scared me."
Her dark skinned model of a friend, Bonnie, giggled and walked over to her friend. Her lab coat swishing around her as she approached. "Sorry. I would have knocked but you looked to be in deep conversation with yourself. I didn't want to interrupt."
Elena sat back in her desk chair and resumed her previous position. "It's okay. I'm just thinking."
Bonnie sat on the edge of Elena's desk and threw up her hands. "Well, that much was obvious. What are you thinking about? You sounded off on the phone this morning. Did something happen? "
Elena was about to answer when her phone chimed again. She glanced at it and noticed she had two emails from Dr. Croy, aka the Department Head. That's when she remembered what he said this morning.
Elena quickly jumped up and grabbed her bag. "Sorry, Bon. Another time. I gotta go. Can you lock up behind me? " She didn't even wait for a response before she bolted out the door and ran for the administrative building.
Whitmore College wasn't a big university. There were four buildings all surrounding a huge courtyard that had a garden/ green house and the area had a couple of gazebos scattered throughout the grounds. The garden area in the center was about 200 yards across and just as wide with the green house directly in the center.
Elena was unfortunate in this instance because the Admin building was directly across from the History and Literature building and the quickest route was to go through the garden rather than use the sidewalks and walkways that were on the outskirts. She was unfortunate because this was between classes so there were students milling around or studying and of course they would be doing that in the garden so they could enjoy the nice autumn weather.
Making sure all of her stuff was with her she started her trek across the grounds.
Elena sat across from her superior and tried to avoid eye contact as Dr. Alexander Croy glared her down, daring her to look at him. The middle aged balding man in a tweed jacket sat so still Elena began to wonder if he was breathing.
After a couple of minutes of this silent interaction he finally spoke. "You've got some nerve Dr. Gilbert. You've got some nerve showing up late."
Elena flinched at his tone. He wasn't yelling. Yelling would have been better because at least then she knew he was just frustrated and would get over things soon. No, this was worse. He was speaking calm and collectively, meaning he was pissed. And she had a good idea why.
"This University, no this department hired you because you had some of the most extensive knowledge of Italian Renaissance culture and we needed you for excavations. The only thing we asked in your contract? That you graciously teach at least five classes per semester on various histories of your choosing. You agreed and everything was going good last year. Then came time for the excavation. We have a good season, you even get a paper published about a finding at a site that's a sixteenth century village. And we renew your contract with a small change. You demand to drop from five classes to three a semester and you want your office hours to be only 9-3. Okay. We begrudgingly agree. Your students loved you and everything had gone great so we, no I, wanted to keep you." At this point his voice raised a little. "So tell me why, after all the concessions we granted you that we probably wouldn't for another archeologist in this department, were you almost half an hour late to your first class on our first week of school!"
Elena chose to stay quiet. She knew there must be more coming, and she was right. "It couldn't be a long weekend. No. Since your classes are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. And I know it's not early hours since your first class is at 9 and we have teachers who come in at 7:30. So please elaborate. And I hope, pray even, that somewhere in your apology is either a death notice or a horrible accident that kept you."
Elena shook her head and finally spoke. "I'm sorry Dr. Croy. I overslept. It wont happen again."
Dr. Croy sighed. "Look, I don't have the patience or the energy for this right now. The University is cutting funding to certain departments and programs. I'm trying to keep them at bay but they are really trying to take our funding for the yearly excavation we take in the spring. I need all of us to be on our best behavior, because if you cause trouble or a student complains or you keep being late and don't have a legitimate reason, not only are you off the dig, but you're contract will be over after the semester. Understand? " She nodded. "Okay. You can go. Get ready for your afternoon class." With that he waved his hand and dismissed her.
Elena quickly grabbed her stuff and left, making sure to apologize again at the doorway.
Elena sat in the only one of the three gazebos that was in the garden that was empty and tried to eat her sandwich. 'Tried' being the operative word. No matter how much her stomach voiced it's need for food she just couldn't bring herself to eat. She was too busy being lost in her thoughts over the morning events.
"I can't believe he got so upset over me being late on my first day back. That was totally uncalled for. I know I messed up but did I deserve that verbal onslaught? " She finally held the sandwich up to her mouth and took a big bite. With her mouth full she continued talking. "No. And they are lucky I even stayed. I mean he claims this last season on the dig was good but he wasn't there for most if it. Between rain and supply shortages it really felt like we were experiencing village life. Not to mention the poor planning and total break down of communication at some points. I mean, who doesn't use an itinerary for a big project like that. Half the time the students or assistants were just wandering the area and disturbing dig sites. Jeez. He thinks he can threaten me with a pink slip? He'll be lucky if I even want to stay to do the dig." She took a sip of her soda and went for another bite.
"Man, you must really hate your boss, huh."
Elena stopped mid bite and looked towards the entrance of the gazebo.
There stood a man with black hair and a rather young looking handsome face leaning against the pillar at the entrance with his arms crossed at his chest. His short hair was mussed up and there were streaks of dirt in his hair and face. He wore a dirty t-shirt with a matching pair of muddy jeans and boots. She could also just barely see a dirty red rag hanging out of the back pocket of his pants. After assessing his attire she glanced back at his face and noticed his striking blue eyes and his lazy smile.
After a moment the handsome stranger spoke again. "You know you'll start catching flies soon."
Elena was confused for a moment before she realized that she still had her sandwich in her mouth and her mouth was wide open. Hurriedly setting down her food she cleared her throat.
Giving him a look she finally spoke. "It's rude to barge in on a person's private moment."
He held up his hands defensively. "Sorry. I didn't know it was private, since you spoke somewhat loudly out in public about your frustrations."
She blushed. "What, you never talked to yourself before? "
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure. But never so loudly a stranger could stumble upon me. It's usually an internal conversation or under my breath. " The stranger gave another lazy grin.
Elena had had enough. "Well excuse me for talking so loudly that I disturbed you." She jumped up and started to gather her stuff, determined to find another spot away from this strange man.
His grin fell as he saw her gathering her stuff. "I'm sorry. I was only teasing." He walked towards her and held out his hand. "I'm Damon."
Elena grabbed her bags and eyed him wearily. Finally she held out her hand and shook his hand. "Dr. Gilbert. Now if you excuse me. I'll let you get back to your groundskeeping duties." With that she quickly left the wooden structure and headed straight for the Historical building.
Once she got to her office she collapsed into her desk chair and rubbed her eyes. "Man, today is a shitty day." Looking at her watch she gave a dejected sigh as she realized she had her final class of the day in 30 minutes.
Welp, there it is. The first of hopefully at least a handful chapters. Please leave a review and let me know.