Deadly Class
Class Four: It's Getting Worse
Emma had officially joined August's club, called the Regina Mills Obsession Club or RMOC. And no joke, it was an actual club. Not an official one as it would draw questions towards them and get them shut down, but there was about fifteen students in it. Three of them girls, one of which was Emma.
"I didn't know this was an actual thing," Emma said as she looked on at the group, all happily chatting among themselves and helping themselves to some food laid out on the table.
"Yea, there's also a Fuck Regina Mills club." At this Emma's cheeks colored and she turned to stare at him open mouthedly.
"Not that kind of fuck. Like, as in hate. They're our club rivals and you can bet they have more of them than we have of us. But on a serious note, this club helped me through my tough times. And they're all great friends and people to know." He leaned against the wall, eyeing them with respect and familiarity.
Emma gazed around them. "So what do you guys do in this club?"
"Talk about professor Mills, obviously. But not like stalking. Just like talking about how hot and awesome she is. And on spreading understanding for her."
"Uh huh," Emma nodded her head, not quite sure how to wrap her brain around this. And also not quite sure how happy she was with what they were doing. "Riveting."
He let out a laugh. "You don't need to be sarcastic. We don't do much, I know. But it's nice to just be here, to know you're not alone."
"What if she finds out about this club? Wouldn't she be creeped out?"
"Nah. She won't know. We hold this to our chest like a secret. And we combat the evil jerks in the other club. Did you know they wanted to key her car last week? Honestly, haven't they got better things to do?"
Emma gasped at this. Key a professor's car? "Don't they know how much trouble they can get in for that?"
He shrugged. "Well, we stopped them so it all turned out okay." They stood in silence before he couldn't hold himself back anymore. "So," he started with an excited grin. "How's working for Mills?"
Emma let out a groan and let the back of her head hit the wall. "I should have known there was an ulterior motive to you inviting me here."
He spread his hands out. "Hey, its in the name of the club, so you can't get mad."
"Honestly, it's...I don't know exactly how to describe it. It's so nerve wracking to be there with her and yet at the same time, I love it."
Emma faded into a memory. For the past week or so she had been spending most of her evenings in Regina's office. This meant while the professor sat at her desk, typing up some emails or finishing up some work, Emma was bent on the floor, organizing hundreds of monotonous boring papers. Flipping through them made her eyes dry and she got a paper cut once or twice each time. But she wanted to do well to impress the professor and so she tried her best to put everything in order.
When her work would be finished, she would show it to Regina, waiting with baited breath for her approval. The woman would merely slide her dark eyes over it and then order Emma to move onto the next.
Not quite the praise Emma wanted but oh well. Just being around the professor like this was more than other students could say, especially those in the club.
Once or twice Regina had asked Emma to get coffee for her and given her a crisp twenty, telling her to keep the change. On those occasions when the bill was being passed from one hand to the other, their fingers almost brushed and Emma had to do everything in her will to not squeal out loud.
She just hastily took the money and ran to get the coffee, wanting to get it as quickly as possible so Regina wouldn't be too long without her drink.
Their interactions were sparse during these sessions of up to one or two hours. The professor would speak up a handful of times and Emma would stammer through a sentence in response. And when Regina would turn back to her work, Emma would sneak glances in at her professor whenever she could. Her profile was just so charming and the way she sat with one leg crossed over the other, her skirt riding up a bit revealing a tanned thigh, was just so much. It made Emma feel a bit breathless with want.
Friday evening, things had been different though.
Regina hadn't been in the office when Emma came for her hours and so the blonde loitered outside, shuffling her feet and unsure if she should leave or not. She waited twenty minutes and then she heard the familiar clacking of heels down the hall.
She saw Regina walking down with a hint of frustration on her face. Something was wrong. Emma had studied those beautiful facial planes and mesmerizing physique enough times to be able to tell that Regina's twitching brow and her pent up shoulders and tight stride meant something bad had happened. But what?
"Hi," she breathed to her professor as the brunette came closer, the woman digging out her keys.
"Sorry I'm late. I didn't expect the meeting to go for so long," she said with a small sigh. Almost imperceptible.
"That's alright. I'm here to be punished, after all." Emma winced as soon as the words were out of her mouth
Regina chuckled as the key slid in and the door clicked open. "That you are," she responded with as she strode in and Emma gulped. Surely the professor hadn't meant it to sound filthy at all and yet it had.
Regina flicked the lights on, tossed her keys onto the desk. "I'm afraid I won't be staying long in my office today, Emma. So you won't have much work."
"That's fine. I've got homework to catch up on," Emma said nervously, rubbing her hands.
"And how have your other classes been going?" Regina asked unexpectedly. She leaned against the lip of her desk, crossing her arms over her chest. Her eyes were singularly focused on Emma and it was making the blonde self conscious and hot under the collar to be the direct focus of her professor. She would have been fidgeting more if she didn't tell herself to stop because she would look weird.
"Um, okay. I guess," she shrugged.
"Look Emma," she sighed. "I know we got off to a bit of a rough start but you must realize that I do have your best interests in heart. I want you to do well in my class."
"Well, its kind of late for that. I've messed up, so many times." Emma looked down at the carpet, ashamed.
"There's still time to fix your grade. And to be honest, you're doing better than a third of my students there."
Emma brightened up at those words. She would have never expected to hear such praise coming from her stringent professor's mouth.
"Additionally, I may have been a bit too harsh on you, given who your mother is. She and I, aren't on the best terms," Regina said delicately. "So I've decided to reevaluate your essays."
Emma's eyes went wide on this. "Seriously?" she breathed out, probably looking like a fish out of water right now with the expression she was making.
"Truly. Bring your essays next Monday and I'll see what I can do." She got up from her spot. "I hope we can both get a fresh start again." Regina was watching Emma carefully, eyes eagle like and not missing anything. Her demeanor was so different than from how she had been so rude and insistent Emma drop from her class.
"Thank you professor."
"Don't thank me just yet. Go, enjoy your Friday."
And Emma rushed out of the office, Regina tilting her head in thought over her student.
"And that's why we love her," August said once Emma had recounted her tale to him. "She's full of surprises."
"Yea. Surprises." Emma commented dryly, if that's what the hot and cold behavior could be called. "For sure. But I'm happy. My grades can go up!"
"And you get to be closer to her!" he gushed, because truly, wasn't that what they all dreamed of?
Emma shrugged. "One thing at a time. I still don't think she's ready to be open with me like that." Or ever, was Emma's added and private thoughts.
Monday arrived and with it Emma after all her classes, with a folder in her hands that contained her past essays. Her professor was already in the office, shirt like typical unbuttoned down far too low to be decent. Emma didn't comment anything about it, just swallowed in a throat gone dry. She sat in the desk in front, handing the sheaf's of paper over.
"You don't need to sit here while I grade these. You're free to do what you will."
"I don't have to clean up the office?"
"I didn't bring any delinquent papers for you to fix up, so no."
"Oh." Emma had been hoping to stay here. To get to spend time in her professor's proximity even if it was composed mainly of silence. "Okay. I'll go get dinner then."
She left without another word from her professor, feeling a bit let down. But she made way to the dining hall and swiped her card there, grabbing a plate and sitting down next to Ruby who was discreetly slipping in some alcohol into the cup of soda she got.
"Ruby, I think you might have a problem," Emma said with an arched brow as Ruby hid the flask back in her leather jacket.
"And so do you when it comes to Mills but you don't hear me complaining," she shot back defensively, jabbing into the cheap dining hall steak.
"Actually, you do. I just tolerate it because I'm not afraid of the truth. But you are. Stop drinking," she snatched the cup away just as Ruby was reaching for it.
"Then I'll just drink without chaser," she grumbled, reaching for her flask and drinking from it like she wasn't in any danger of getting caught.
"I am not taking your ass to the hospital again," Emma warned, giving up. There was only so much she could do if her friend didn't want help.
"You won't need to. I have it under control. This time," she stressed and Emma shook her head.
"Mind if I join you ladies?" Neal asked as he came up behind them, his black and white striped shirt covered in paint and some of it having dried on his hair. A cigarette was tucked behind his ear and he smelled of Turpin and smoke.
"I thought you didn't have any meal swipes."
"I can't afford them, but my girlfriend can," he said with a wink. Neal had found himself some freshman girl to date, which allowed him to get into the dining hall more frequently because apparently upperclassman meal plans weren't unlimited. But very limited, given the way he lamented the fact constantly.
"Neal," Emma said in exasperation. "Are you only dating her for the food?"
He shrugged innocently as he shoveled in his food. "Neal," she reprimanded.
"Hey, don't give me that when you have a crush on your professor the size of the moon."
She gasped out. "How do you know that?"
"Dude, when I was with you last week and you saw her walking on campus you almost snapped your neck to look at her. I'd be surprised if anyone doesn't know about it yet."
She flushed, mortified. "Oh god, is it really that obvious?" She had thought she had toned it down. She wanted to hide behind her hands. But she didn't.
Geeze, did even the professor know?
If Regina did, than Emma was a hundred percent certain she would drop out of college.
"You will have a project to complete as part of midterm week, along with your midterm exam," Regina announced, watching the crowd of students to make sure no one would groan in despair. No one dared to, but they were all thinking it. They already had too much work to do. "You will all be responsible for picking a mental disorder to write about and then present on it a form of therapy you would take to quell it. More details are on Blackboard and if anyone has any questions or needs help do not hesitate to come visit me for help."
Emma's mind suddenly perked up. Oh, an excuse to see the professor more. Regina had handed Emma's essays back, graded half a point higher. Which wasn't much but coming from Regina, it meant a lot. It meant the professor was softening up towards Emma, though the blonde had no idea why. All of a sudden the professor's behavior had done a 180.
It made Emma curious but she didn't dare speculate on it. Maybe the professor had simply decided it would be vapid to continue beefing with a student over a grudge that had been caused by the student's mother. Emma wondered what had occurred between the two women but she didn't know of a way to ask about it without getting the truth omitted.
Still, she knew sooner or later she would cave and ask. Right now, she had no time for that. She had to finish up the huge workload she had and think of bullshit questions to make up so she could come to her professor's office.
Eventually when she felt she had a viable amount of them, she packed them up into her bag and left to speak with her. She caught another student leaving the office, a grim expression on his face and wondered what the hell had happened.
Tentatively, for Regina might be in a foul mood, Emma rapped on the door, peeking in. She caught Regina pinching the bridge of her nose. "Come in, Emma," she smiled when she saw the blonde mop of hair and Emma's insides melted at the usage of her first name and smile on her professor's lips.
God, she had it bad.
She went in before her legs could turn to jelly and sat down. She held the papers with her questions and research topics on it. She truly found psychology interesting and she was so overwhelmed by it all that she didn't know which disorder to make a project on.
Before Emma could open her mouth, Regina got a phone call. "Excuse me a moment." She rose up out of her chair and took it in one of the side rooms, Emma drumming her fingers on the wooden desk. She could make out sharp murmured words; surely not a pleasant conversation. And when her professor came back, she looked a bit drained.
"I'm sorry for that. A professor's work is never done. Would you mind terribly if we continued this later?"
Emma furrowed up her brows. But today was Friday and the project was due Tuesday. She would have no time to ask her professor information on it before having to do it. Just as she opened her mouth to say this, Regina tacked on. "We can come to my house. I don't mind, I just simply need to be there because my project is there and I need to send it in tonight."
"Oh." Emma felt the roar of blood in her ears. Going to a professor's house? The professor she had a sordid crush on? She didn't know how to feel about it.
Regina must have taken it as a sign of disappointment.
"I insist on you coming over to my house. Please. I'll make dinner and you can ask me your questions there. Think of it as an apology for rushing to being too judgmental to you based on who your mother and father are."
When the professor put it like that, how could Emma say no? "I don't mind," she choked out over her excitement. "Send me the address and I'll take a taxi-"
Regina waved her off. "We'll take my car."
And Emma didn't think her day could get any better than this. She was about to be proven wrong.
Regina naturally drove a sophisticated vehicle. A Black Mercedes that purred when it was turned on. The inside was all sleek leather and it smelled overpoweringly of Regina's perfume. Emma felt like sitting in the car with her cheap clothes was to sully it. She knew it was a ridiculous idea but she couldn't help it.
As soon as Emma was buckled in, Regina pulled out of the parking lot. "And don't worry about getting back. I'll drive you to your dorm."
"Thank you," Emma said because she was overcome with girlish excitement and couldn't think of anything else to say. August would practically foam at the mouth when he heard of this. No doubt Emma was the only one to get this privilege.
Emma suddenly realized she had no idea what to talk about with her professor. She didn't want to come off as boring. She wanted to impress her, however impossible the idea was. But naturally, she wasn't a gifted talker, even in stress-free social situations.
"You uh, see the new superman movie?"
That was a dumb question. Regina was too smart to spend time watching mass market movies. She probably watched indie films.
"I actually did," Regina says, surprisingly. "But I don't like how they ended it. We all know there's going to be a sequel. No need for cliff hangers."
Emma relaxed as Regina took the reins of the conversation. "I feel the same way. I actually don't like superhero movies but my friend dragged me out to see it."
Regina steered the conversation smoothly, just like she maneuvered the car, and soon they were in front of her house. Though mansion would be more descriptive.
"Wow," Emma barely resisted the urge to squish her face against the glass to get a better look. The house was three stories tall and sprawling wide. All white columns and marble. The garden was neatly taken care of out front and the giant iron gates swung open as Regina pulled the car in.
"You can afford this?" Emma gasped out, forgetting how personal of a question this was.
"I inherited it," Regina said simply. "It used to be my father's." She parked the car and they got out. The inside was even more marvelous than the outside and Emma tried to contain her excitement. They got to the living room, Regina inviting Emma to sit in it. She dropped her keys into a bowl. "There's refreshments in the fridge. Help yourself to some. I'll be back in a moment, I merely need to send something."
"No problem," Emma said and went to the fridge, her throat dry from a combination of nerves and joy. She found a pitcher inside with a dark red liquid and some fruit slices, mainly oranges. She poured herself a healthy dose of it. She took a sip. Hm. This tasted good.
She chugged the whole glass in one go and then refilled it again, drinking half of it and nursing the other half as she snooped around her professor's downstairs as Regina was upstairs.
The whole house was white, with touches of gray and black. It was sterile, same as her office. Almost like Regina didn't bother to add any personal affects.
There were tomes upon tomes on the book shelves and pictures of a younger Regina with who must be her mother and father. She looked adorable and happy in the pictures. There was one of her wearing pigtails and with a gap tooth smile. One of her riding on a horse. Another of her at a cookout when she was a teen.
In frames on the walls there were many awards and certificates hung up. It seemed Regina was very accomplished and Emma wasn't shocked. She carried herself like a woman who did many things.
By the time Regina came down, Emma had finished the second glass and she was feeling a weird edge under her skin. She didn't know what it was.
"Alright, I'm all done. How about we get your questions out of the way and I make some dinner afterwards," Regina suggested when she came down. Her shirt was unbuttoned characteristically low and Emma felt a buzzing in her ears that she had never felt before.
"Okay," was all she could think to say as she sat down and began to shift through her folder for the papers. Regina sat down next to her, only a few inches away and Emma swore she could feel the heat of her even from this far away. All of a sudden a certain flush fell over her. She felt woozy. Tired. Sleepy almost.
Was she getting sick? She handed the papers over to her professor, finding that the edges of her vision were going a bit blurred.
Okay, this was really weird. What the hell?
"What did you need help with, Emma?" Regina asked.
"Um, like, just picking an idea," Emma mumbled out, eyes laser focused on Regina's lips. They looked so soft and so kissable as she talked. Emma unconsciously leaned in, following an insane desire to just plant one on her professor.
"Emma, are you okay?" Regina asked in concern, noticing the other girl's flushed expression and glazed over eyes.
"Mm," was all Emma could say as the drowsiness got too much for her and she face planted into Regina's shoulder.
A/N: To be clear, it was alcohol Emma drank. And because she doesn't have a tolerance, this happened. But now, it seems Emma might have to stay over...