Monday morning, the second day of September. As Ellis and I were trying not to fall asleep at our seats, we heard the sound of the door slamming shut behind us, startling about half the class out of our stupors.

A low, even voice rang out from the back of the room: "Good morning, class. Congratulations to those of you who managed to be awake and in class at this ungodly hour." Sarcasm was oozing out of his words. "The rest of your peers won't be so lucky; I don't allow students to enter my class tardy. Bear that in mind for the rest of this year."

Well, Morgan was going to be doomed. Ellis and I exchanged a look.

Now the voice was coming from the front of the room. I looked up.

"Very well. Now that I have your attention, I'm Mr. Michaelis. I'll be your professor for this course."

THAT was our professor?!

Okay, for one thing, Mr. Michaelis did not look old enough to be teaching. He couldn't be a day past twenty four or twenty five; he looked like he could still be in school himself. But while we're on the topic of his looks… usually I'm not one to be swayed by appearances, but even I was completely taken by him. With his shaggy dark hair, pale skin that looked like porcelain, and those hypnotizing eyes, he was the epitome of perfection. I didn't know why he was teaching us when he could easily have a career as a male model.

Why was this man teaching us?

Clearly I wasn't the only person completely distracted. Ellis, for instance, was literally drooling. I nudged him slightly and handed him a tissue while miming a wiping motion. Thankfully, he got the hint, and blushed.

"Now, if you're all done gawking and getting your saliva on these freshly cleaned floors, I will continue," Mr. Michaelis said.

That was embarrassing. Clearly, nothing got past this man.

"As I was saying, this course will have a prominent focus on Victorian literature." When had he said that? "Given that this school was named for Queen Victoria, it is only appropriate. Now, Victorian text is fairly dense, so I expect that you all will be annotating your reading as you go. For that, you'll each need your own copy of each book. We'll be starting with The Picture of Dorian Gray next class."

A hand shot up in the back of the classroom. It was Rupert Markham, who was notorious among the student body for his willingness to do anything to get out of his schoolwork. "Mr. Michaelis, sir, I don't know if I can get a copy of the book on such short notice. I, um, can't afford to get one right now."

Mr. Michaelis smirked. "Well, Mr. Markham, I recommend you try a more believable excuse next time. If I recall, Markham Publishing recently came out with an unabridged copy of Dorian Gray. I would presume your father would give you a copy for free, if need be. As for the rest of you, you can all purchase copies from Mr. Markham over there. I don't want to hear that excuse again, am I clear?"

But what if I actually couldn't afford to get a copy?

"I'm handing back copies of the syllabus for this course. Take one and pass it, please."

Mr. Michaelis spent the rest of the class going over the syllabus, which I took notes on as he spoke. When the bell rang, he cheerfully informed us that we'd have an essay on Dorian Gray due the Monday after next.

The class groaned in unison as we gathered our bags, starting for our second-period classes. I noticed that Morgan hadn't even bothered to come in. Oh well, I'd find a way get the notes to her before tomorrow.

"God, this course is going to be impossible," Ellis griped next to me as we stood up. "Mr. Michaelis is hot, but he's an asshole. Are you coming? We have calculus next, I think."

"You go ahead without me," I told him. "I have to ask Mr. Michaelis about something."

Ellis nodded. "I'll wait outside for you."

"I might be a while. Just go, okay?"

Ellis hesitated. "Okay, fine. I'll tell the professor where you are."

He left.

I made my way down the steps to the front of the lecture hall. Mr. Michaelis was still there, still smirking, talking with a blue-haired boy with an eyepatch that I didn't recognize. Mr. Michaelis said something to the boy, who nodded once, then sauntered off.

"Ms. Bloodworth? Anything I can help you with?" Mr. Michaelis turned his attention to me, gently pushing his glasses up his nose- he did it with his middle finger, I noticed, but I didn't think much of it.

I was kind of wondering how he knew my name already, but I knew better than to ask. "Um, I'm sorry to ask after you just said not to… but I actually can't afford to get a copy of Dorian Gray. I mean, I've read it before a couple of times, but I had to get it from the library and I didn't take any notes or anything…"

Dammit. Why is it that being around such an attractive person made me babble like an idiot?

The smirk dropped from his lips. "Oh, right. You're a scholarship student, aren't you, Ms. Bloodworth?"

Even the new teacher who's only been here for a day knows that? Am I really that notorious for being the poor girl at a rich kid's school?

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. His eyes… are they red, or just an auburn-ish brown? They're beautiful… wait, what's WRONG with me today?

"Ah. Yes, well, I can check with the school admin about getting you a copy. They really should have done that already, but I suppose that's beyond me. In the meantime, you can borrow my personal copy- I'd rather you not write in it, but I don't particularly care if you do. Is that all right?"

I nodded again, then dared myself to talk. "Yes, that sounds fine. Thank you, Mr. Michaelis. Have a nice day."

I started to walk off, but Mr. Michaelis called my name and I stopped in my tracks.

"Adrianne? I realize it's not easy to get a scholarship to this school; basically, the only way to get one is to be profoundly intelligent. That being said, I expect excellent work from you. I will hold you to a high standard."

"That's fine, Mr. Michaelis," I said, getting impatient. "I'd really best be off to my next course, though. I will talk to you in class tomorrow."

"Yes. I'll see you tomorrow, Ms. Bloodsworth. Don't disappoint me."

I walked out of the room and hurried to Calculus, but still found myself mentally fixated on Mr. Michaelis and his beautiful eyes.

I wasn't sure what color they were, but I knew one thing: when he'd told me not to disappoint him, his eyes had flashed red.

All right, you guys! Three chapters in one day… whew! The fourth will be coming in a day or two.

I'll say right now that Sebastian's a pretty hard character to write well. On the one hand, he's a polite guy who's devoted to his work and his master, but on the other, he's a sadist and a demon and basically just a manipulative bastard. (As much as Sebastian's fangirls- myself included- love to forget this, Sebastian isn't a good person by any stretch of the imagination.)

If anyone has any feedback for my portrayal of any of the characters, then leave it in the comments, 'kay?