"HELLO ESSEX, HARVARD, YALE, AND STANFORD! Oh man we have the best schools in America battling for the end of the year Hack a thon competition ! Much shinier than your schools football trophies huh?!" The host said his hair slicked back in a bright purple suit, he pointed to the large calculus trophy on the podium, "teachers let's hope your children take home this one yeah?" He says smiling brightly. The school had paid for the bus and hotel for the school math competition meaning you guys had an over night trip.
Andrew sat beside you along with Leighton and three other students at the top of your class, "okay Andrew remember what I said right?" You ask the brown haired boy who looked at you and nodded "yup though it isn't much help." He says "repeat it." You say giving him a smile, he sighed "play for fun not to win, winning is just an award for playing." He says monotonously. You laugh ruffling his hair looking down at the small pamphlet, he laid his head on your shoulder sighing, you smiled softly, "hey um I have a question by the way." He says and you raised an eyebrow "hm?" He lifted his head, "so you know how you sort of have been taking care of me since I got here, keeping me on the straight and narrow since I don't really have parents?" You hummed, you didn't see it like that you were just nice to him he seemed sad and like he needed a shoulder, "will you attend my graduation?" He asked "as my legal guardian?" His graduation wasn't for another two years which was confusing you as to why he was asking so soon.
"What made you ask so soon?" You say curiously making him shrug, "cause you might be going to France you said you hadn't decided yet but if you did choose then would you?" He asked making you chuckle, "of course I'll accompany you to your graduation." You say ruffling the boys hair.
"alright can I have the team of each university come up to their podiums!" the announcer says, "alright guys break a leg!" You say to the team who smiled, you kept your word about not being cold towards Leighton, the two of you had been broken up for about two weeks and in truth it hurt seeing her every day and having to pretend you didn't love her the way you did. Though she seemed to be getting along just fine, rumors of her relationships with multiple women around campus tells you that she's doing a lot better than you are when it comes to the break up.
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Three days prior:
You were a lot quieter with Kim, it now felt awkward to tutor your ex girlfriend's roommate.
"Your French has gotten a lot better Kim, I don't think you need me anymore you'll do well with the class now and catch up with your grades in no time!" You say smiling at the shorter girl, she shrugged "I guess so, are you okay by the way?" She asks making you raise an eyebrow. "Of course why do you ask?" She shrugged "because we know you and Leighton broke up, Leighton's been exploring with other girls on campus and it's gotta suck for you." She explained, you didn't think Leighton would move on that fast, unless that was her intention to separate from you so she could have more sexual freedom at her age. You couldn't be angry atleast she broke up with you before she chose to do so.
You chuckled shaking your head "I'm fine Kim, we are both adults and are allowed to do that so." She nodded "so what about you and Canaan?" You ask wanting to change the subject.
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Present day:
"Psst, long time no see." The Harvard calculus teacher whispered as she slid into the seat behind you, you couldn't help but chuckle knowing he was there to gloat and boast about his team, "you really are a cocky man aren't you?" You ask keeping your eyes on the stage, you notice Andrew looking at you and you give him a thumbs up and smile.
"Cocky? Nah I'm confident, I've got the best team here I mean you guys may come second or third again this time but I guess we will see." He says and you turned to him "do you always flirt with your women like this?" You ask raising an eyebrow, he grinned "only the pretty ones." You hear someone sit beside him, "I'm sorry about him. Clarke are you still bragging about winning when my team beat you last year?" You had never seen the woman before, you see the Stanford jacket she had on her purple short hair and light blue eyes glancing at you, you took in her facial features her nose ring, her eyebrow piercing you wouldn't have thought she was a college professor from her appearance alone, "Essex huh? You guys are pretty good, now that you have all your members unlike you did when you went against Clark's team here a few months ago we can push Harvard into third place hm?" She smiled at you her pearly white teeth, in all her face had you in a trance, "hey? You okay?" She asked and you hummed "uh- right uh yeah." You say noticing the visible smirk.
"How about this, if your team comes on either first or second I'll take you out to dinner? As a thank you for putting Harvard in their place." The woman says and you nod, "I'm fine with that, be prepared for that date." You grin. You didn't notice the blonde on stage glaring at your interaction with the Stanford professor.
"Ya know Makenna you really just came and stole my date." The man who you came to learn was named Clarke said, the blue haired woman shrugged "you weren't getting far. Now watch your team get demolished." She shrugged making her way back over to where her school sat.
The competition had been going for about two hours, Andrew and Leighton had been tanking the questions with ease with the help of the other three members of course. They were up by two points over Harvard and you could see Clarke nearly pulling the hair out of his skull because ahead of Essex by one was Stanford Yale being hot on Harvards tail in points as well.
"Alright! Harvard, Yale it's now time for the bonus round this sadly is only between Essex and Stanford, you guys put up a good fight and if the competition was any longer Yale you could have put Harvard in last place but sadly it's now time to see who in the top two schools tonight will win and those top two aren't you guys." The host said his smile never wavering, The heads hung low as the Yale and Harvard students went back to their seats, you looked up to see Leighton look at you, you gave her a bright smile and a thumbs up mouthing a quiet 'you got this!' Her face inching into a smile as she nodded returning the thumbs up.
"Alright contestants!, what is the limit of X if Lin (1-X)- sin X over 1- cos2 X"
The host says you could see Andrew and the others becoming confused by the question, "you have five minutes to solve it teams." Andrew looked at you and you gave him a reassuring smile the question was simple though you would have to jump through hoops to answer it.
Leighton raised her hand making the host point at her, "do you have the answer?" He asked "Um, the limit doesn't exist?" You notice a few Harvard students laughing believing she had gotten the answer wrong, "that...." He paused, "IS CORRECT TONIGHTS WINNERS ARE ESSEX UNIVERSITY!" You felt a wave of tension release from your body as you began to clap! Andrew hugged Leighton and the other members as they relished in their win.
You notice the purple haired woman walk towards you smiling "looks like I owe you a dinner hm?" She says sitting beside you, "does your team wanna get pizza with mine?" She asked "that doesn't count as your dinner by the way I do want to take you out personally this is just me paying for the winner teams pizza."
"Um-" you look over at the stage before back at her, "yea I think they'd like that." You say smiling softly at her. She smiled "give me your phone." She say holding out her hand and for some reason you complied after opening it. She put her number in your phone before smiling, "well? I'll meet you at the pizza place yeah?" She asked and you nodded biting your lip softly. She had her grip on you pretty easily.
She stood up going to join her team just as your team approached you, you stood up squealing happily as you hugged them, "I'm so freaking proud of all of you!" You say to each of them, "I know I gave you all a bullshit pep talk about playing for fun but I'm so happy you guys won." You say honestly, "And because you guys won Stanford is paying for your pizza tonight." You say smiling brightly, four out of three of the team members were actually happy about that, except Leighton, "what's in it for her?" She asked frowning, "what do you mean?" You frowned confused, she shook her head "nothing." You shrugged her off turning back to the other team members "alright! Everyone to the bus if you guys want to eat after being so smart today!" You gently punched Andrew's cheek who playfully rolled his eyes.
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"I wanna make a toast to the Essex team and the Stanford team! This is my treat for you all beating Harvard." Makenna says standing up holding her cup of soda up choosing not to drink around the students. You smiled "and to Essex for having a beautiful, intelligent professor." The table of Essex and Stanford students oo'd as you put your hands over your face shyly. Leighton sipped her drink staring daggers into you yet you ignored them, did you find Makenna attractive? Yes but it was an opportunity, one for you to show Leighton how it feels to have the short end of the stick and you were going to take it.
YOU ARE READING
The Hook Up
RomanceY/n A 35 year old college professor at Essex University finds herself in an uneasy predicament after having a one night stand with a woman she would come to learn is her Student Leighton Murray.
