Table of Contents

+ Add to Library

Previous Next

Chapter 3

  • When Hayleigh returned to Room 304 six hours later, she was surprised to find nothing but empty chairs.
  • For a moment she wondered if she’d gotten the room or time wrong, until Professor Henderson glanced up from his reading at her arrival. He had his legs up on the teacher’s desk with his sleeves rolled up, looking completely laidback. That adjective was something she never would’ve associated with the likes of him, but that pleasant surprise was cut short at the fact that she was the only student in the room.
  • “Where’s everyone else?” she asked, stock-still by the doorway.
  • “Apparently not having as much difficulty as you are.” He closed his book and removed his legs from the table. “Shall we begin?”
  • “Oh.” She slowly walked to the front row and dropped her bag to the floor. “Great.”
  • That was a complete and total lie. Everyone she knew was practically drowning in his class. Perhaps she was the only one crazy enough to put herself through extra classes with the infamous Professor Hell-derson. Thrice a week during broad daylight was bad enough.
  • “So.” He snapped her back into attention. “Since you’re the only one here tonight, I’ll adjust my lesson plan. What are you having problems with?”
  • He began wiping his thick-rimmed glasses with the front of his black cardigan. Hayleigh suddenly had the strongest desire to shrink and disappear from the room.
  • “Um.” She fumbled restlessly with her pen. “Everything?”
  • He didn’t seem surprised at her answer as he slipped his glasses on and began flipping through his textbook. “Where would you like to start?”
  • “From the very beginning...?”
  • He paused in turning to the next page. She expected to be skewered by those piercing grey eyes, but there was oddly no ice in his gaze tonight. Briefly, he massaged the back of his neck and promptly closed his textbook.
  • “Very well.” He sighed, grabbing a chalk. “Let’s begin.”
  • Over the next two hours, they reviewed four weeks’ worth of lessons. She’d been worried they’d cover everything too fast, but tonight he dropped all the jargon and gave more applicable examples, and she surprised even herself at how quickly she was able to catch on. He repeated himself less and she didn’t need to ask as many questions. In fact, at the short test at the end of the session, she was stunned to get a B minus, though it took her ten minutes longer than the allotted time to finish.
  • “Impressive. You’ve made a complete turnover in just one lesson.”
  • She held her test paper like it was made of gold. “I can’t believe it. And here I was thinking I’d be hopeless.”
  • “With this test alone, you’d technically already be in the upper 25% of the class.”
  • “Too bad it’s not a real test then.” She laughed. “I’m surprised no one else is here. Everyone I know has been having difficulty too.”
  • “Probably because nobody else knows about tonight.”
  • Hayleigh paused from slipping her paper inside her bag. “What do you mean?”
  • Professor Henderson turned around and began erasing the blackboard. “I never meant to hold a make-up class tonight.”
  • She eyed his back. “Then why did you?”
  • “You looked like you needed it. Besides, nobody else seems to care if they’re failing in my class or not.”
  • He dusted the chalk off his hands and faced her again. For some reason, she couldn’t look straight at him.
  • “That’s... very considerate of you,“ she muttered. “But you didn’t have to hold one tonight just for me.”
  • “It’s not like you can take it back,“ he said, packing up his things. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
  • Hayleigh slumped back to her chair, completely dumbfounded. Who would’ve thought the famed asshole actually had a nice side?
  • “I feel terrible.” She slowly shook her head. “I’ve completely wasted your time.”
  • “Don’t be. It’s the least I could do after calling on you in class so much.”
  • She couldn’t help but smile a little. “Does that make things even now?”
  • A faint smirk formed on his lips in response. It was a minuscule gesture, and yet it lit up his face in a completely different way.
  • “If I rallied enough people, would you consider holding a refresher class once a week?” she asked.
  • “What if I said no and offered to teach you over coffee instead?”
  • Coffee? Had she heard him right?
  • Was Professor Henderson asking her out?
  • “I’m sorry. That was forward of me.” He dropped his gaze in her stunned silence as he stacked his books and notebooks. “But the offers stands, if you want to.”
  • Hayleigh could barely keep her jaw from hanging. Only one big why? echoed in her mind, and yet surely it would be rude to ask that out loud…
  • Her face began to feel like it was in front of an oven. Oh God, she was probably beet red by now…
  • “You know what, forget I ever asked,” he quickly said. “It was inappropriate.”
  • “Coffee’s fine.”
  • The words left her mouth of their own accord. It surprised even herself the moment she heard herself say it.
  • The smile—now a little wider—returned to Professor Henderson’s lips, and for a second it was almost worth it.
  • “Great. I look forward to it then.”
  • Hayleigh quickly slung her bag over her shoulder and forced a smile back. “See you around.”
  • She dashed out of the classroom without another word.
  • Rowen waited until Hayleigh left the room. When the door closed after her, he took out the phone from his pocket and sent a message.
  • Submit Hayleigh Sullivan Year 3
  • Within seconds, a reply arrived.
  • Pythagoras - submitted PT H.S.3 10/3 NEW!
  • His phone vibrated again. Another message, this time from K.M..
  • Finally! A junior, eh? This is gonna be interesting!
  • Without replying, Rowen slipped his phone back in his pocket and left the room.