Professor Rice

Chapter 4

Veronica's POV

"I hate you."

Well, that wasn't the first thing I hoped to hear when I got back home.

"May I ask why?" I said to Jo.

"Why do you get the hot professor when I was stuck with grumpy Mr. Richards for two whole years? You don't even like science."

I couldn't help but laugh at her outburst. "Well, it's just five months. Who cares how hot he is?"

"You do."

"No, I don't. He's my professor. This can be a cute little crush but nothing else can happen. Besides, he's so out of my league. Not only is he perfect, but he is also best friends with famous people. Please tell Mike I met Mason Mount. And take a picture of his face." I could already imagine Mike's face. Hilarious.

Now Josephine was even more confused. "Your hot professor is friends with a Chelsea player? Well, now you really need to bang him. Mike and I get free tickets and you... well, you get to bang him. Pretty fair in my opinion."

"I'm not going to bang my teacher" I said, trying to sound offended.

"Then date him. Semantics!"

"I'm not going to date my teacher!" Is Jo going crazy?

"You're so boring. I'm going to shower. Order some pizzas for our Netflix night."

Two pizzas and three episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine later, Jo paused the tv and turned to me.

"You ok, V? You haven't been yourself since you came back this evening." I could see the worry on her face. Jo could read me like an open book.

"Yeah, just tired. It's been a long week and it's only the first of many. It'd be good to just go out tomorrow and stop thinking for a second, you know?"

"Right." I could tell I wasn't fooling her. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

"Of course I do, Jo" I said while cuddling with her.

The truth is that I couldn't stop thinking about Declan. I was overanalyzing every look he gave me, every time he smiled at me. And it was stupid because he was just being nice to me like any other teacher who actually cares about their students would.

I really need to go out tomorrow. Maybe meet someone...

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Jo and I decided to have some fun getting ready. We did each other's hair and make-up. I knew she was going to do something out of my comfort zone, but that I'd be comfortable wearing. How she managed to do that, I didn't know.

She went for an olive green smokey eye that looked stunning paired with my red hair. The crop top I wore was also green and I paired it with some basic jeans. Comfy but cute.

Jo was wearing a summer dress with a floral pattern and very minimal but cool make-up. I mean, she didn't really need make-up to look prettier than most. But she liked to have fun with it, so she used one of her glitter eyeliners to line her green eyes.

Once we were ready, we headed to Maddison's dorm to pick her up. Some of her friends were supposed to also meet us there so we could all go to the party together.

"How drunk are we getting today?" Jo said while swinging the arm that was linked to mine.

"Oh God... don't let me drink a lot. I'm getting too old for hangovers."

"That's what you say before every single party, peach."

Once we got to the party, I finally started to enjoy myself. After a couple of drinks, we were all in a great mood and moved to the area where people were dancing. From the corner of my eye, I could see Will looking at me. I knew what he wanted. And I knew I didn't want that to happen again. I was done playing that game, so I turned my back to him.

And I guess I didn't want to play that game with anyone else, since I rejected every single guy that came to flirt with me. I could see Jo looking at me, so I sat with her on the sofa and had another drink.

"Cheers" I said.

"What's the toast for? Dedicated to all those guys you've turned down?" she laughed. "You make it sound worse than it is. I just didn't care for them."

"Do you want to go home?" Jo asked. "I'm tired and bored and you don't seem to be having the greatest time either, so..."

"Yeah, let's say goodbye to the girls and then we can head home."

When we got home, Jo went straight to bed while I decided to take a quick shower. Then I made myself a cup of tea and picked up the book I was reading at the moment.

Even though I tried to concentrate on the story, my mind kept wandering.

I really need to stop thinking about him.