Just as I entered class, I spotted Rose sitting in the middle. She wasn't in here to study. She was waiting for me. No good reason. She just gets lonely here. I walked over to her, catching her attention from her phone. She smiled at me, as I dropped my bag on the desk and sat down.
"Howdy," I frowned, turning to look at her.
"Howdy?" She smiled, nodding.
"Let's say I'm spicing things up," I chuckled, taking my math books out of my bag. "So, what are you doing today?" I took out my pencil case and set the bag on the floor.
"Studying." It was quite a generic response, but it was the best I could do.
"Don't tell me you've been masturbating to him," I shot her a disapproving look. She smiled, laughing. "Oh, come on! All you did last week was talk about how hot he was," I rolled my eyes.
"And too old," she chuckled, taking my notebook and flipping through it.
"Age is just a number," I watched as students walked into the classroom. There were five minutes left and the professor hadn't come in yet. It was strange since Mr Davis was always fifteen, if not a whole half an hour, early.
"How do you think I'll ever reach him?"
"Internet is powerful. Besides, what did you say his name was?" The memory of him was so goddamn vivid, that I wanted to rip my head off. Just when I think I can focus on my career, life throws me a surprise.
How convenient!
"Nathanial. Mathematician and teacher. No way he was serious. Although he knew some facts. But who am I kidding? Wikipedia can answer almost every question under the damn Sun."
"A math wiz who looked like that?" She questioned as she slid the notebook back to me.
"Literally, once in a lifetime occasion," I checked the time to see there was a minute left. "Don't you have class?" She nodded.
"I hate it. History and shit," I smiled.
"I thought you liked it," she made a disgusted face.
"Loathe it," I nodded.
"Ah, right. One of the basics of your degree," she shook her head.
"As much as I love you, Amelia, you're not very smart on my degree," I nodded, agreeing with her.
"I'd hate to steal the spotlight. You're going to be phenomenal," she shot me a smile before standing up from the chair.
"See you at your place," I nodded and watched her disappear through the door.
Math.
The most fun subject of all. I may be a weirdo on this, but it's who I am. I would be practically no one if it weren't for math. Thankfully, I was gifted with some understanding which led me to choose this path.
Just as the clock stroke nine, the door opened.
My jaw dropped.
My eyes widened.
The one and only.
Nathanial from the bar.
No.
No.
No.
He is not my teacher!
No fucking way.
I did not masturbate to my teacher!
Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions.
His eyes met mine. His eyes widened just a bit. His black dress shirt portrayed his biceps too damn well. He stopped in his tracks while his eyes fixated on me.
At least I looked half decent today. My hair was straightened, which was once in a lifetime view, considering the fact that it was nine in the morning. I wore a grey sweatshirt and light blue jeans. Tight ones to be exact. Okay, maybe it wasn't too decent, but at least I wasn't wearing practically PJs like I did most of the time.
I couldn't breathe. His eyes made it impossible to breathe. He took a deep breath in and looked away, making me catch my breath.
This situation was far from ideal.
Last week he practically hit on me. Not exactly, but I knew he had certain intentions. He placed his books and papers on the desk and sat down before his eyes found mine once again. I will not be able to work with him if the tension stays this unbearable.
"Good morning, everyone. I'm Nathanial Dalton. I'll be your professor for the rest of the year since Mr Davis retired."
Fuck.
My.
Life.
"I got a note leftover from him. He mentioned that there is one person in his class, that was taking this class to graduate early," shit. "Care to share who it is?" I felt how everyone's eyes went to me. "Miss..."
"Bartley. Amelia Bartley," he nodded.
"Miss Bartley, may I speak to you after class?" I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat before I nodded. "Perfect. Now, as far as your results, I can tell that only Miss Bartley passed the last test," as much as I liked academic validation, it was not hitting the way it usually did. "Why was that?" Silence. He wasn't happy about it. "If you think that you will all pass my class with such behaviour, you're very mistaken," his eyes stayed on me. "Miss Bartley, can you remind me what the test was about?"
"It was all about matrix transformations," he nodded. The stare he held on me was becoming intimidating.
"Alright," he stood up from his chair. "Ask me whatever you all want to know about this topic. Do you have any problems you can solve, Amelia?" I shook my head. Of course, I did. But I didn't have them with me. One big problem was, unfortunately, unsolvable at this moment in time.
How the hell is this going to work?
Nathanial looked through his papers and picked out a sheet. He grabbed a pencil, wrote something on the top, which I assume had something to do with the order of the questions and walked over to my desk, setting the page in front of me. I gave him a weak smile before looking at the paper.
I hoped he'd move. He didn't.
"Any questions?" He stood right next to my table. Nothing on the page registered. "Yes?"
"I didn't really understand why I need to use it," he went on, explaining the basics of the topic and yada yada. I read through the questions, but my mind was elsewhere. He stood right there. That shouldn't bother me. But it did. Oh, it did. His energy was too damn big to be ignored.
I took out my pencil, trying to read through the first question again. My eyes came across something written with a pencil.
This is the basics that you should've already covered. If not, try to do as much as you can. I can teach you after class.
Was this one of those moments where I should say, nope, not in a million years? Maybe I should transfer?
His close presence made it impossible to write anything. I slowly looked through the questions again.
I've done this. It's not that hard.
I took out my ruler and drew a graph. Added a third axis to represent a three-dimensional graph. I could feel his eyes on my paper, even though he was answering the questions that my fellow lecture mates had.
"Alright, open your books to page fifty-six then. We'll go through some common examples," he said. "And continue what you're doing, Amelia," he half-whispered to me. I nodded, keeping my eyes on my paper.
Numbers, variables and signs wrote themselves quite easily on the sheet. I was almost done graphing when I heard everyone pack their things. I checked my phone for the time. The class was over. I didn't even hear what they talked about. My mind was occupied by none other than math. The best escape from reality.
I looked up, meeting his eyes as everyone hurried out the door. I put my ruler away and took my bag from the floor. The board in front of me was filled with equations and matrixes. I admired his handwriting as I put my books away.
"How did it go?" His deep voice asked me.
"I just need to write the answer. The majority of the work is done," he nodded. I stood up from my chair and walked over to him with the paper in my hand. I handed it to him. He took it, looking carefully at my work. I tried to look calm when all I felt inside was chaos.
"This is terrific work, Amelia," why was him saying my name so attractive? His eyes glanced at me. "Good job," I gave him a small smile. "Where did you-"
"Long story. I don't have much stuff to do at home, so I studied math. I learned this a year ago," his facial expression stayed cold and emotionless.
"Interesting. You know, I could help you graduate even earlier," I frowned.
"But I'm-"
"Doing your masters in your third year. Got it. But if you want, I could work with you after school. Maybe even during free hours during school. You could write your theses earlier and be done with it all. I can tell that it would be a pleasure to work with you," the high school me would say yes. Even yesterday me would say yes. But present me? I don't know.
"It's an amazing offer, Mr Dalton," his jaw clenched as he inhaled deeply. "I'll think about it. I'm already the oddball out here, I don't want to be-"
"Let them be jealous. It's your life, Amelia," I nodded. "When an opportunity knocks, you take it."
"I'll let you know tomorrow," he nodded. "Maybe you could give me your number or something like that? To contact if anything happens?"
"You need my phone number for what?" I'll make a fool out of myself.
"Maybe I'll decide earlier than tomorrow. I'll text you," he looked me up and down. Didn't think that would make me blush. The corner of his lip lifted.
Was he smirking at me?
"Fine," he took out a piece of paper and wrote numbers on it. Did he actually think I'd ask for his number for something other than school? He handed the paper to me. I took it and folded it, putting it in the pocket of my jeans. His green eyes looked at me. Deep into me. "I'll be waiting for your decision," I nodded and slowly began walking towards the door. "And... Amelia," I looked back. "Forget what happened a week ago. As much as I enjoyed your company, I think it's for the best..." I nodded and put my hand on the door handle. Before I opened the door, I turned back to him, meeting his eyes,
"What happened a week ago... it happened. No need to forget. We didn't know that this would happen," he didn't react. I looked down and opened the door, walking out of the classroom.
Finally, after one hour, I was able to breathe. That classroom was suffocating. He was suffocating me.
Maybe I shouldn't have said what I did before leaving, but it was the truth. Unless he wasn't interested.
If I had met him under different circumstances again, I would one hundred per cent go out with him. He's hot, smart, loves math, we have common ground and fuck he's good looking. Sure he's a decade older than me, but who cares? No other guy has shown interest in me.
I walked out of the building, hoping to leave him behind. I took out my phone and dialled Luke. My absolute soulmate. But not in a romantic way. That'd be weird. He's my brother. My other half. He picked up almost instantly.
"Hey, sis," I smiled. I've always loved hearing his optimistic voice in times like today.
"Hi. Where are you?"
"Are you alright?"
"No. Not really."
"You can come over to my office. I have a meeting, but you can wait for me there," I began to walk forward. His office was a block away.
"Okay. I'll be there," he hung up and I put my phone into my pocket.
There was only one person I'd talk to about what happened to me minutes ago. Besides Roselyn. But she's not the person I'd want advice from regarding this situation.
Luke was the only one that could help me.
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