Chapter Six
Iris
Class was going to suck. That much I knew when I packed my backpack for freshman English before venturing out to the kitchen.
Bailey looked up from pouring herself a bowl of cereal. She was still dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt with her pretty brunette locks pulled up into a messy bun. Mascara was smudged beneath her eyes from sleeping in her make up.
A teasing grin tugged at her lips. “Morning,” she said. “Have to get to your freshman class this morning?”
The innocent query only worsened my mood. Naturally, Bailey took great amusement in my predicament. She found anything like this hilarious if it happened to me.
I dropped my backpack to the floor to grab an apple. The first crunchy and sweet bite dulled the slight headache pounding at my temples.
“Yes,” I said, sourly. “I missed syllabus day on Wednesday. I have no other choice but to go today.”
“You missed syllabus day?” Bailey poured the milk into her cereal before dropping a spoon in with a faint plop. She arched an eyebrow at me. “I hope you don’t get your shit called out in front of all those baby-faced freshman. You’re a senior. You know better than to miss syllabus day.”
The thought immediately washed away any hunger I had. I could fake an illness or something to give a valid excuse for not showing up. I couldn’t tell him, “I just didn’t want to show up to your pointless class because I failed it three years ago due to personal reasons.”
“I couldn’t tell him the truth of why I didn’t want to show up in the first place,” I said. “Plus, I’ve already looked over his syllabus anyway. I know what he’s going to teach, and I’ve already read all of the books he has assigned.”
She looked at me skeptically. “Do you honestly think that’s a valid excuse?”
“No. I know it’s not.”
“So, expect to get ripped and lectured,” she said. “He’ll make an example out of you for missing class.”
“Great,” I mumbled, grabbing a hold of my backpack. “I better go before I’m late.”
“Have a glorious Friday!” she called out cheerfully. “You’re already almost five minutes late.” She ducked gracefully with amused laughter when I chucked my half-eaten apple at her.
The campus was nearly empty by the time I arrived there in a rush. I dashed down to the coffee shop to fill my travel mug up before darting back across the campus to the English Department. I glanced down at my phone with an inward sigh of dread. First, I missed syllabus day, and now I would be late.
I pushed the door open slowly in hope that maybe I could sneak in without anyone noticing, but stopped short when silence filled the entire classroom. Several pairs of eyes landed on me as I slipped inside. My cheeks filled with heat under everyone’s stares.
I looked away to look for the professor sitting at the front of the classroom, and my mouth went immediately dry when I caught sight of him sitting casually on the desktop, strong legs crossed. Every inch of him seemed to bulge through his white button up shirt and navy blue blazer. His dark hair was styled messily, and I briefly wondered what it would feel like to run my fingers through it. His eyes, a light cerulean blue, sparkled in a mixture of amusement and something else that I couldn’t quite decipher.
Noah Webber had been the person that I bumped into yesterday at the coffee shop, I realized with a wildly beating heart. That musky cologne he wore had haunted me all day for some unknown reason. Or maybe it was the way he looked at me with such intensity that it gave the impression he could read minds.
Either way, I was screwed now that I had a gorgeous professor. Bailey would have a field day knowing how sinfully attractive he looked.
A smile tugged at Noah’s lips.
“Ah, we have a late bird for class today. What’s your name?”
I swallowed down the bulge in my throat. “Iris Paige.”
He glanced down at the clipboard in his lap. “You missed syllabus,” he commented, checking something off next to what I assumed was my name. “And, you’re now seven minutes late to class. Not a good example as graduating senior for all the freshman in here.”
The coy insult slithered underneath my skin deeper than I wanted it to. Fuck his model-like appearance and wonderful cologne. I didn’t want to deal with another jerk as a professor.
“I’m even later because of you giving me a hard time over missing one day,” I replied tightly.
Muffled snickers filled the classroom. His gaze pierced right through me, but I refused to back down from it. I needed this class to graduate, but I refused to be bullied and humiliated in front of a group of baby-faced freshman.
Something flashed in Noah’s eyes. “Sit down, Ms. Paige,” he said, coolly. “We run on my time in this classroom. Not on your time. Care to explain to the class why a senior missed an important first day?”
I gritted my teeth as I slowly walked across the creaking wooden floorboards. I took a seat in the second row next to a girl with a mess of curly black hair and pimples on her face. She gave me a nervous look and scooted away not so subtly. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the movement.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal for me as a senior,” I said, more boldly than I felt. My heart wanted to thump its way out of my ribcage. “I’ve been to several of them over the past four years. They all are the same.”
The smile on his face widened even more. He swept a gaze over the entire classroom then.
“Confidence is key to doing good in anything,” Noah said. “As Ms. Paige demonstrated so nicely for us, it can be too much at times. Balance between following the rules and confidence is huge when it comes to the college experience.”
I bit my lower lip when his gaze returned to me and made a show of pulling out the assigned textbooks. Tears burned in the back of my eyes, but I refused to let them go. Bailey had warned me that he would make an example of me for missing class on Wednesday, but he didn’t have to be such a dick over it.
I was a good student. The only class I ever failed had been this class, and none of it had honestly been my fault at the time. I waited with my pen poised on a notepad while I felt his gaze burn into me before he finally started to talk. I took in the syllabus while he talked about our first assignment to write a response to the first couple chapters of William Faulkner’s Light in August.
The next hour ticked by slowly. A headache was pounding in my head by the time Noah acknowledged that time was over and let us go. I shoved my book and notepad back into my bag. Ten steps away from the door, I heard Noah call my name out before I could escape the stifling classroom that smelled of wet carpet.
“Ms. Paige,” he said. “Please stay behind for a minute so we can talk about what you missed on Wednesday.”
I approached him with heavy steps and a pounding heart. Even if Noah called me out rather cruelly in front of the classroom, my heart still raced once the classroom door clicked shut behind the last student. That musky scent of cologne filled my nose again.
He slid down from where he had been perched on the desk in front of the dry erase board. He ran a quick gaze over me, but it wasn’t like the previous times. This one was a scolding look.
“I know you won’t appreciate the lecture, but please set an example for the freshman in my class,” he said. “You’re a graduating senior. You know what responsibility is on this campus.”
“I am responsible,” I said, stiffly.
He arched an eyebrow. “Really? You missed an important day in class because you’ve been to it before? That’s a responsible explanation for missing my class?”
I had no idea what he was searching for, so I gave him the one thing that I could think of, even though it pained me to do it.
“Look, I’m sorry. I have bad days and graduation jitters. It won’t happen again. I’m a good student. Ask the other professors here.”
“I will ask around,” he replied, and my jaw fell open at that. “I will also ask why a senior who claims to be as talented as yourself is sitting in a freshman class. Care to explain that to me?”
He stared at me expectantly for an explanation. What was I supposed to say besides the last professor was a complete and cold-hearted jerk about my situation? Sourness filled me, and I looked away from Noah.
“I don’t owe you an explanation for why I failed it,” I said. “Is there anything else you want to talk to me about? Or do you plan on continuing to give me a hard time?”
“I’d like to give you a really hard time,” Noah said.
A shiver went up my spine at the husky timbre in his voice. I snapped myself out of it, aghast for responding to such a simple statement like that.
“Except, I’m running late for my planning period,” he continued. “Be on time for class. Set an example. You’re free to go.”
I wanted to point out how he had no room to talk. I had done my research on Noah Webber’s professional career as a rugby athlete. He was on top of his game. Won several championships. Had women flocking to his bed. And yet he was standing in front of me in a position teaching Freshman English. He had no room to tell me what an example was.
I bit the tip of my tongue to keep quiet and stalked out of the classroom with an irritated sigh. Why did this have to happen to me?
Shitty luck. That was the only plausible explanation for it. I only needed to get through the next couple of months before graduation. I could keep a fake smile plastered on my face until then, even if Noah Webber wanted to set an example of me in front of everyone else.
Exhaustion settled on my shoulders when I stepped out into the snowy morning in the direction of the dining hall. The last thing I wanted to do was go back to my apartment to be pestered by Bailey about how class went.
“It could’ve gone better,” I whispered to myself, tucking my hands into the front pocket of my sweater to keep them warm. “I can do this. I can show up on time. I can resist how sexy he looks…”
I trailed off when warmth flooded through me. Despite his rather dick behavior, it was hard to resist those eyes and fit body that begged for attention.
Noah would gather a lot of attention from the female students. There was no doubt about that, and I actually felt a stab of sympathy for him. Sleeping with students was strictly forbidden. We had been warned freshman year that expulsion was imminent after a student and visiting teacher had slept with one another.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I glanced down at the caller ID with a groan when I realize it was Bailey calling me, no doubt wanting to know how the class went.
“It went like shit,” I said to myself, hitting the button to silence the call. “He’s sexy, but he’s a dick, and it’s going to suck all semester even if I’m wondering what it’s like to be wrapped up in those arms.”
The thought of being tangled up in Noah’s arms filled me with a rush of heat. I forced that feeling away quickly and focused on the rest of my afternoon. This semester was going to be tough, but I could do it.
I could resist the fantasy of Noah. I wasn’t like the other female students before me who had given into such a temptation. I could – I would stay clear of him.