Y/N POV-
As the old school bell rings I drag myself to class. I like having the school bell as a reminder to be on time for class even if I do resent the tinny ring.
Two in the afternoon, my last lecture of the day, my last lecture of every day Monday through Friday. Mr Barnes, Russian language, a difficult class but one I only take for the sake of it.
Mr Barnes is a private man with an old soul, old fashioned in his ways but nonetheless an incredible teacher. He has his flaws, he's always giving excess homework, difficult exams and he's not always the nicest but he's never late, never normally late.
I screw my eyes shut tight before opening them again in a strange attempt to wake myself up, now starting to regret staying up till the early hours the night before. I watch the minute hand tick as the time slowly drags by, still no sign of Mr Barnes.
I slightly nudge the girl next to me, I've not spoken to her much but when we do speak she's nice. She lifts her eyes from her phone screen. "Umhum," she hums.
"Is Mr Barnes in today?" I ask.
"Wouldn't know I haven't seen him if he is in. It's not like him to be late he's probably just busy... meeting or something?" She shrugs.
"Probably... so we should probably just wait for him to get here... right?" I question.
She nods her head "may as well, I'm staying here. I've got nothing else to do so I'll stick around for the next half hour if he shows up great and if not I'll leave. We can grab coffee together or something if you'd like? Unless you have something you'd rather do," she smiles.
"No that sounds nice, we'll wait and if he doesn't show up we'll grab a coffee."
She furrows her brows "I don't think I know your name, we've spoken a couple of times but if I'm right we never introduced ourselves."
"Oh, yeah I guess we never did," I shrug "I'm Y/N I'm 19, this is my first year."
She smiles sweetly as she tucks her blond hair behind her ear. "Cute name," she nods "I'm Tessa, it's not short for anything it's just Tessa I'm 18 this is also my first year," she laughs quietly.
"So, how come you took Russian?" I ask.
"I've got some Russian heritage somewhere so I figured I'd take the class, I didn't know what else to do. I thought the Russian heritage would give me an advantage, it doesn't," she answers.
I laugh quietly "yeah the language isn't exactly easy."
"Easy! The letters look like a science equation gone wrong. Anyway, it's not too bad, Mr Barnes isn't half bad to look at," she shrugs.
"I'd never thought of it that way, I guess he's just not my type," I admit.
"To be honest I'm pretty sure his looks are the reason 90% of this class are here and I don't blame them."
I shrug "he's cute I guess but still not really my type."
"Your type is?" She questions curiously.
I look over the room unsure of how to answer her question until I see the doors swing open. Red hair, green eyes, white shirt, black slacks, straight face plain of emotion, terrifying authority in her stare, completely and utterly breathtaking. I gulp as her eyes lock with mine, somehow noticing my staring more than the rest of the curious students.
"Her," I whisper.
Tessa giggles quietly, trying to suppress the urge to burst out laughing "pick your jaw up Y/N," she teases.
"Huh?" I question as I force my eyes off the woman who'd just stared me down like a judgmental mother.
"You like her?" Tessa questions.
"I don't know her, but you asked what my type is so... it's her," I shrug.
She nods he head "she's pretty," Tessa complements.
"Okay everyone, phones away, eyes up and silence," the woman calls out.
The previous light chatter of the student fades to nothing as she waits patiently for us to follow her instructions.
"Mr Barnes is on temporary leave for personal reasons if you need him you can still contact him via his email, which you should all have," the woman tells us.
As Tessa starts pulling out her notebook like the rest of the class I just sit back in my seat looking the woman up and down in awe of her beauty.
Her eyes lock with mine once more, I feel my heart racing and yet I still find it virtually impossible to draw my attention away from her.
"I'm professor Romanoff," she smiles. Though she's talking to the class her concentrated gaze on me makes it feel like her words are more so directed to myself the rest of the room, they're not.
She clears her throat as she looks away from me. Only now am I realising just how hot it is in here, between my blood surging through my vines to the surface of my skin and the central heating I feel myself start to sweat.
"I plan to pick up where Mr Barnes left off you'll treat this class the exact same as normal. Normal homework, mandatory study sessions on Wednesday mornings and optional Friday evenings and exams as per usual," she explains.
"For one last remainder I'm professor Romanoff and I'll be your teacher for the next 60 days," she purses her lips as she clasps her hands, rubbing them together slightly before starting her lecture.
During the lecture, I pay pretty close attention, to her, my new professor not the lecture itself. Curious as to who she is exactly aside from 'professor Romanoff' like where is she from? What is she like? Why does she keep staring at me?
As she concludes her lecture everyone is quick to rush out especially since the lecture ran late. "Do you still want to get coffee?" Tessa asks.
"Yeah sure," I say as I gather my things.
Just as I'm walking past my professor, Tessa by my side, I feel a tap on my shoulder forcing me to turn around.
"Sorry I don't know your name but I need to talk to you," Professor Romanoff tells me.
I suck in a shaky breath "okay?"
"I'll wait outside," Tessa says quietly as she politely dismisses herself from the lecture hall leaving me alone with Professor Romanoff.
"I'm sorry my class wasn't very informative for you today," she states.
"What?" I question. I'm almost certain her lecture was just as informative as Mr Barnes' lecture so I hardly understand her need to apologise.
"You didn't seem to need to take notes so I assumed you already knew the content I covered," she says as steps closer to me, only now do hear the sarcasm in her tone.
"Oh, right," I clear my throat as I step away from her already feeling the suffocation of her authority "sorry I was meaning to take notes but I forgot my pen," I lie lamely.
"You forgot a pen, you're how old?" She questions mockingly.
"Nineteen," I say slightly embarrassedly.
She rolls her eyes at me "you have time to make yourself look pretty for class but you can't remember to bring a pen... I guess I know what your priorities are."
"In future, I'll remember to bring a pen, I'm sorry," I shrug.
She grabs her bag and begins routing through it until she pulls out a pen "here take this, now you don't have an excuse to not take notes and please for the love of god get your priorities in order."
Mr Barnes may not have been the nicest but at least he wasn't patronising.
"Right," I mutter.
"Before you go, what's your name?"
"Y/N Y/L/N."
She nods her head "Thanks... oh and Y/N be more discreet when you stare," she teases as she rolls her eyes once more.
Of course, I'd been staring at her because everything about her is intriguing her beauty, her mannerisms, the whole package but she'd only been looking at me because I'm the rude student too distracted by her teachers slightly low cut blouse to take notes, I guess I understand her behaviour now.