Professor Rice

Chapter 11

Veronica's POV

Three weeks later, things had died down a little. Most people had moved on to this week's gossip, though I still got asked questions about Mason every day. He had actually been asked about me in an interview and, sadly, his "just a friend" response didn't please the gossip-hungry media.

Mike told me that a lot of Chelsea fan pages he followed mentioned me a couple of times since they really wanted to know more about the girl that was supposedly dating their starboy, but they also got bored of posting the same picture with the same information after a couple of days.

So here I was, waiting until everyone got so bored of the lack of details that they just forgot about me.

Maddison, however, was a whole different story. My reaction to her saying she knew who I really was dating made her realize there was something going on that I wasn't telling her.

I debated for a while about what I could do. I even told Declan about it and, of course, he was not fond of the idea of me telling our secret to anyone else. After everything that happened with the Daily Mail article, Jo and I decided to tell Mike the truth. Too many people knew already.

After class, I decided to go to Declan's office so I could study there. We got into a routine of doing that quite easily. He would work on his desk, while I lay on the sofa doing my homework.

The routine worked really well until one of us got bored and started to try to get the other's attention. And, of course, it was during one of those moments that a student had to come to talk to Declan.

"What am I supposed to do?" I whispered. "There's no place to hide here."

"I... uh... I'll get rid of them. Just hide behind the door."

When he opened the door, I could hear Maddison's voice clearly.

"Hi, professor. Can I come in?"

"No" Declan said.

"Why? Are you alright? You look a little flustered."

"Actually, no, Madisson. I don't feel too well. I think I'm coming down with something, so you better leave just in case it's contagious."

"Ok" Maddison answered. But she didn't sound convinced by this Oscar-worthy performance. "Should I send you an email with my questions? It's quite urgent."

"Yes, do that. Sorry, I'll be heading home soon. I really don't feel well."

The long pause made me fear the worst, but Maddison only told Declan to take care and to please answer her email as soon as possible.

After saying goodbye, Declan closed the door and leaned against it with his eyes closed.

"No more office dates, then" I said to break the silence.

"No" he laughed. "Unless you want me to have a heart attack."

I didn't, so I pecked him on the lips and left to go home. I hadn't really done much progress with my homework...

"So, that was the secret!"

It's me who is going to have a heart attack.

"Maddison, I... " What am I supposed to tell her?

"Nica, Nica, Nica... I didn't expect that" she said laughing. Why was she laughing?

"Maddie, please. Don't tell anyone. This can get us in so much trouble and..."

"Tell anyone?" she frowned. "Is that why you didn't tell me? You thought I was going to tell everybody and get a good friend in trouble. Well... thanks. I appreciate that."

"No, I..." How did I manage to offend her so much? "I'm just scared, Maddie. Only Jo knows and I already feel bad about getting her involved. I didn't want this to affect more people than it was necessary. Once it was possible to do so, you were going to be the first person I told."

Maddison grabbed my hand and led me to the door. "Let's talk about this somewhere private."

So I told her the whole story and once I was done, she just hugged me and laughed. "I can't believe I spent a week truly believing you were dating a footballer."

"I can't believe anyone believed that" I groaned.

"So, what's the plan? Are you going to wait until graduation to go public or just until our course is over?"

That's a really good question. "We haven't really talked about it. I guess graduation makes more sense. I won't be a student at all so... makes everything easier."

"Easier... there's nothing easy about this" she giggled, and I couldn't help but join in.

Having someone else I could talk about this with was a huge relief. Now I only had to wait for the uni year to be over. And, well, I guess I had to actually graduate, so that was my main focus for the next few months.

The first half of the year ended with the relief of passing all my exams. And yes, Declan graded my science test fairly.

That left us with another four months of studying, struggling and hiding. Once office dates were a no go, Declan's apartment became my second home. We even went on a holiday together to Spain during Easter break. Maddison's mum gave us a guide of places to visit and we had the best time.

We also didn't stop going to Chelsea matches, which made Mason very happy. The solution to my "people think I date a footballer" problem was actually easier than I thought. Instead of going to the private area reserved for the player's guests, we got tickets for different seats every time.

Mason even scored a goal on my birthday and dedicated it to me. When he was asked in his post-match interview about the celebration, he just said that it was for his best friend's girlfriend. I really wished I could thank him publicly for it but...

... just two more weeks, Veronica.