Professor Rice

Chapter 2

Veronica's POV

I fell on the sofa, face down, and groaned. What a long day!

"Hey peach! How was your day?" Jo asked while going to the kitchen to make me a cup of tea.

"I'm in love!" I yelled.

"Pardon?"

I lifted my head to see Jo scrunching her nose at me. She thought I was crazy. She wasn't wrong.

"I'm in love with one of my professors. I can't go to his class. He looked at me for two seconds and I almost fainted. How am I supposed to see him three times a week and actually concentrate on the things he says?"

Jo kept on staring at me. "I'm sorry but who are you talking about? Which class does he teach?"

"Science."

"What? You are in love with Mr. Richards? He could be your grandad. That's sick, Veronica."

"Professor Richards retired. We got a new professor who is like, I don't know, a Greek God or something" I said, sighing again thinking about Professor Rice. How can he be so handsome? It's not fair.

"Ok, describe this Greek God to me" Jo said while laughing.

"Well, he's tall, he has a great body, his dark hair looks very fluffy and his blue eyes are so dreamy." Am I drooling while describing him? I might be. "And then his voice is so perfect. I mean, he sneezed and even that sounded like the most beautiful sound I've ever heard."

I sat up on the sofa to grab the cup of tea Jo had made for me and I saw her trying not to laugh.

"I swear to you, Jo. It's not just me overreacting. Ask Maddison."

Jo put her mug down and looked at me. "Ok then, I'll be picking you up from your next science class to see this sexy professor. Now I'm actually intrigued. I haven't seen you talk like that about a guy since... Jamie?".

"Yeah, probably." Then I realised. "Oh my God, Josephine. I was a mess when Jamie was my crush. I can't do that again".

"Peach, you're four years older now. You'll be fine" Jo said while holding my hand.

"I can only hope" I sighed. "I mean, he probably has a girlfriend so who cares about a stupid crush?"

I then moved to my room to do some homework. Jo had been great, again, so I wanted it to be done quickly so I could cook some dinner for her.

Once we ate, we decided to watch some Netflix to unwind a little before I showered and went to bed. Unsurprisingly, I struggled to fall asleep.

Why do I see his face every time I close my eyes?

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The days passed and I started to feel a bit better. Last night Jo, Maddie and I went to a party and ended up leaving after only an hour. We call that growth.

I was now even more thankful we did that, because our final class of the week was our Science class. We were supposed to get our test results and I was terrified about it.

Professor Rice was looking as hot as always, but at least he had the decency of not wearing a suit anymore.

I mean, who am I kidding? He still looks ridiculously hot wearing a simple shirt and jeans.

"Ok class" he said to get our attention. "I'm going to tell you who is in the study groups, and I want you to sit together so I can then talk to you personally about your tests and what I want from each group, ok?"

Great, let's see who I'm stuck with in this bloody group.

"Maddison, Francesca, Veronica, George and William for group seven."

"Yes!" Maddison whispered while she high fived me.

"Thank God. I was dreading being in a group with people I don't even know" I said with relief.

"Our group would be perfect if it wasn't for Will. But just ignore him."

Will and I used to be good friends before we became more than friends. For me, it was just some fun with a nice guy, but he wanted more, and I had to break his heart. He pretended to be cool about it, but I could tell it was hard for him to be around me. Everyone else felt like he was too needy and annoying, but I honestly felt bad I couldn't share his feelings. He's a decent guy. A decent guy who couldn't even look at me now that we were sitting together with the rest of our study group.

Professor Rice was done with the group next to ours and moved to where we were sitting.

"So, guys. Here are your tests" he said while passing our graded tests. Of course, my grade was the worst. "I don't want you to be discouraged by a bad grade on the second week of classes. But I do want to make groups that have people who seem to be doing well so far and people who might struggle. We might make changes throughout the course, but I would prefer if that doesn't happen."

He kept on going about all the things he expected from us and what we'll be working on today, which gave me an excuse to literally stare at his face. Oh my lord, that face! And his eyes are even more beautiful up close.

"Veronica, you should probably come to my office so we can talk about your test." I kept on staring at him until Maddie kicked my foot.

"What? Me? Ah...sure."

I could see him struggling to hold a smile. "It's not a bad thing. I can tell by your major plan that this is a class you have to take but probably don't want to. It's fine. We can see how best to approach the course so you don't fall behind on other classes that are more important to you."

Wow, that was so considerate of him. Why couldn't he be a jerk? It'd make getting rid of my crush easier.

"Thanks, I appreciate it" I genuinely said with a smile. Maybe this class won't be so bad after all.

"Great, come talk to me at the end of class."

After that, we concentrated on finishing our assignments before it was time to talk to Professor Rice. In a very cool and calm way. Kidding, my hands were shaking.

"Professor?" I said and he lifted his head from his iPad. He also smiled at me. Great.

Don't faint, Veronica. Don't faint.

"Are you free today at five? If not, we have to wait until Monday. I'm quite busy and I don't think you want to see me at the weekend."

I want to see you every day... "Yeah" I giggled. "Right. Five is fine. Meet you at your office? Should I bring anything?"

"Yes, my office is fine. You should bring your textbook and a notebook to write things down. Unless you have a mastermind and can just keep it all there."

"Well" I sighed. "You saw my test. No mastermind."

"Veronica, don't say that. It's just a test, ok? We'll talk about it later."

For a moment I felt like he was about to touch my arm, but he seemed to stop himself. I said goodbye to him and went back to my flat.

And no, those are not butterflies in my stomach. I'm just hungry, ok?