Author's Note- Edited.

Enjoy!

Forbidden

Proposition

There was a bustle of noise as the bell sounded, everyone immediately leaping from their seats and shuffling through their book-bags before they exited Professor Souza's classroom.

I, however, remained rooted to my desk, my heart beating so fast I was afraid of it leaping from my chest and departing with the rest of the student body.

Honestly, what did I have to be so nervous about? If anything, I should have been wary of the, You better improve your scores or you can kiss my class and your scholarship goodbye, Ms. Saunders speech I was about to get reamed with. Instead I was worried about making myself look even more imprudent in front of Professor Souza.

But, it really shouldn't matter what he thought of me. He was just my teacher.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and bounced back from my inner anxiety attack to meet Nate's perplexed gaze.

"Class is over, Spacey. Come on. We have lunch at Michael's Diner, remember?"

I gave Nate an apologetic look- part of me sincerely disappointed about missing out on my favorite lunch stop- and said, "Can't." I lifted up my failure of a midterm to remind him. "Professor Souza said he wanted to talk to me about this after class."

Nate frowned. I noticed briefly that his eyes flickered up to the front of the classroom, giving Professor Souza's back a hard look as he erased logarithms from the chalkboard. As quick as it came on, the look was gone, and Nate's attention was mine again.

"Should I stay-"

"No!" I blurted, realizing belatedly that it would come across as suspicious. I coughed unnecessarily and tried again, calmer.

"No, that's okay. I'm a big girl, Nate. I can handle myself."

It took a minute and a reassuring smile on my part, but, finally, Nate nodded and smiled back.

"Are we rehearsing in my dorm later, then?" He asked.

"Sounds about right."

"Alright. I'll see you in a bit, Chloe." With that and one more quick glance in the Professor's direction, Nate turned away and filed out behind the last of the students.

A shuddered breath and a few fumbling attempts to pack up my belongings later, I was hesitantly making my way up to Professor Souza's desk, mind racing through all the possibilities of what I would say, though, I doubted there would be much of a conversation.

"Have a seat, Chloe. This is going to take a bit of time," Professor Souza said, his back still turned to me while he shuffled through his file cabinet. I swallowed loudly and grabbed a chair from the closest desk, seating myself in it as I tried desperately to calm my racing heart.

There was this thing about Professor Souza that wasn't simply being good to look at. And that happened to be one of the main reasons why I was so tentative about the idea of talking to him. He was smart. Really smart. I was honestly surprised to discover this upon listening to one of his first lectures to the class because, really, he was only a calculus teacher. His vast vocabulary and way of dumbing down the most complicated of concepts left me intimidated. Compared to him, how was I supposed to come back from stating a color as the answer to a mathematical question?

After a few more seconds of him rummaging through his files, Professor Souza closed the drawer and turned in my direction. I noted that, as he took his seat, he sighed heavily and ran his fingers exhaustedly through his hair. There were many quirks like this about this man that I was too abashed to admit to knowing just by watching him during class.

For instance, whenever he lectured, Professor Souza's hands would be in his pockets and he would have a slight hunch in his figure. A fairly guarded position. There were also times I had caught the more colorful of his vocabulary when something didn't quite seem to be going his way while we had independent study in class. Most of the students would be chatting at this point and he seemed free to live in his own world at the time, able to easily express his frustrations- such as forgetting his phone or misplacing his lesson plans- without the fear of anyone hearing.

Aside from me, of course.

I seemed to notice just about everything. Like the fact that he was always eating an apple before class started as his students filed in. Or that he had a brother- or friend- by the name of Simon that he constantly talked to on his phone- again before class started- and appeared to regularly get annoyed or impatient with him.

And how could I forget that he was easily made impatient? Maybe that should have been something to worry about as well, as Professor Souza leaned slowly over his desk, elbows resting idly against the old wood and hands clasped together firmly as he finally met my eyes. With his particular kind of lenience, I should have feared the worst.

Oh God, he's going to kick me out of the class.

"I'm going to get straight to it. This score is pretty serious, Chloe-" He began to speak- his sweetly, rough voice threatening to deter my brain from functioning properly- but I was in such a panic of losing the credit, my scholarship and, least of importance but stupidly still of great significance to me, his respect, to allow him to continue without fighting in my own favor first.

"I know. And I feel so-" I struggled for the right word, not sure of how to best express my distress of being dropped from the class. Stupid? Pissed, maybe? Or just downright terrified? Pushing on, I allowed it to drop and stated, "I really have no excuse, but I hate that I allowed my distractions to drop me this far. I can admit that math isn't my strongest subject, but I've never been this bad. I swear, I'm not an idiot."

I was fervently looking all about as I wildly blurted this, so, when I found Professor Souza's gaze again, I was surprised to find him leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest as his lips quirked minutely at the corner of his mouth. He raised an eyebrow at me and I nearly had a stroke when I depicted the hint of amusement in his eyes.

"I wasn't going to say that you're an idiot, Chloe. In fact-" He shrugged and the action brought my attention to his fingers drumming against his right bicep subconsciously. Distracted, again, I found with odd pleasure that his left hand was ring-less.

"-I think you're one of my brightest students."

"Y-you what?" I blanched, breaking away from my wrongly satisfied discovery that Professor Souza wasn't wed, to meet him with a surprised and questioning look. His expression was sincere and serious yet his eyes remained alight, calm and content. Honestly, I had always thought that Professor Souza had a very brooding and stern personality. It played him off as mysterious which made him all the more attractive. However, catching these little details- for instance, instead of going for a prudent and heavy conversation as before, where he looked tired and wary, we were now discussing in a lighter environment than that of complete professionalism- only had me falling deeper into my little crush. I surprisingly found myself relaxing, the anxiety over being face to face with the man that constantly occupied my inappropriate thoughts dwindled significantly and I couldn't help but feel welcome by this approachable trait of Professor Souza's I never knew him to have.

Professor Souza nodded as he continued to speak, his mouth just shy of something more than its emotionless straight line.

"I can agree that you're not good at math." My shoulders slacked dejectedly and I felt a sheepish and ashamed grin tug at my lips.

"But, I've seen your records and I'm aware of your potential and ambition. Unfortunately, though, Chloe," He sighed, reaching for my midterm and I obliged to hand it to him. He leafed through it, shaking his head, that disappointed aura from the beginning of class returning. "No matter how lacking your mathematical knowledge may be, your skills are far superior to this score and your scholarship is hanging on a thread because of this."

I wringed my hands together repentantly as he said this. Despite how comfortable Professor Souza had allowed me to feel, I could sense my nerves doubling back at a crippling force. This was it. He was going to drop my credit and tell me I couldn't come to his class anymore.

"Though I admit that I was previously concerned on your performance for this test, I can, at least, commend your efforts, for your answer to the first question wasn't green."

My brows knit together, perplexed by his statement. Of which, of course, was the exact opposite of what I was prepared for him to say. I caught on quickly, though, seeing as how he snorted humorously before he actually spoke.

He was teasing me.

My heart lurched uneasily and my breath caught. Professor Souza was teasing me. Joking. His green eyes bright with mirth and laughter as his lips stretched into an uneven smirk. This realization- and yet another contradicting discovery to all that I had pegged Professor Souza to be- brought color and heat to my cheeks as I rubbed self-consciously at my forearms.

"M-my head was somewhere else that day."

"Regardless," Professor Souza continued, expression sobering quickly as his serious aura returned. "You're not only going to have to get an exceptional score on following tests, but makeup quite a bit of extra credit to pick up your overall grade and keep your hold on your scholarship."

"But," I started, something about this meeting nagging at me as, honestly, it was truly unusual for this particular teacher to show concern for whether one of his students passed his course or not. "Professor Souza, you told us at the beginning of the term that our performance in class was our own business. Whether we passed or failed was on us. So, why are you discussing this with me?"

"You're right, I don't normally do this. However, I can see that you're working hard and I think that merits for some help on my part. My job isn't to fail you."

"So, what do you suggest?"

"I'll give you the same deal I've given a select few of other students." Professor Souza suggested as he reached for a pen and a memorandum I had noticed him pluck from the filing cabinet he was shifting through before the meeting. He scrawled a messy signature at the bottom in his small, muddled script before passing it over to me. I took it and skimmed through its announcement as he resumed speaking.

"I'm here every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at four. Until your grades pick up, I'm allowing you the time for a self-paced study hall which will both give you more time for one-on-one with myself to aid you in whatever areas you find particularly troublesome, as well as supply you enough extra credit to keep this course on your record."

"Are there any more students attending right now?" I questioned after confirming that what he said was reiterated on the memorandum.

"I haven't had to request for any other student the extra study hall this term, no. You'll be here on your own if you choose, which is helpful and free of outside distractions."

I don't know about that, I thought as the idea of being alone with Professor Souza for the next couple of weeks filtered through my thoughts. But, I could feel myself begin to form this theory that, instead of being rendered paralyzed and unable to absorb any information while attending these study halls with him, that maybe spending more time with Professor Souza would ease a bit of the mystery and I wouldn't be so focused on trying to figure him out while I paid more attention to my work.

"I appreciate your interest in my performance, Professor. I'm so grateful for this chance," I spoke, tone heavy with hardly contained eagerness. I stood and, though I hated the formality of it, I reached out my own hand to shake his. Professor Souza gave me a curt nod, stood and grasped my hand in his firmly. I tried desperately to steady the uneven thrum of my heart as his skin made contact with mine.

"I-I won't l-let you down, Professor Souza."

"I know you won't, Chloe. I wouldn't offer you this opportunity if I believed otherwise." Professor Souza's lips quirked once again, a ghost of a smile forming to match the glow in his enchanting eyes. I beamed, giddy and anxious of what was to come and reluctantly released his hand. As I turned away, my smile remained and I bid him a, See you Monday, and fled the classroom before I could start bouncing up and down with pure excitement for, not only being able to keep Professor Souza's class, but also the intriguing prospect of seeing Professor Souza outside the classroom and more often than three measly times a week.

Not a lesson anyone should be taking to heart, but I guess it paid sometimes to really suck at math.