The next morning, William entered his first class and was surprised to find Eliza there. It was her first class too. She was sitting on the front desk, directly facing him. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she leaned on the chair, one leg over the other, as she watched him with a doubtful look in her eyes. He felt like a microscopic specimen under her gaze just like how he always felt when Harvey looked at him.
He wanted to avoid her. He already let his tongue get in the way yesterday and almost ended up making a huge mistake. But today, he planned to just avoid her. After all, that's what Harvey Scott asked him to do.
Avoid Eliza.
He had let Harvey know that Eliza was in his class and the man was upset and appeared deeply troubled by the news. William was clever enough to understand that Harvey didn't want William anywhere near his daughter. He had tried to reason with Harvey, told him how difficult avoiding his wife would be, but Harvey just got more furious with him and William dropped the topic when Eliza entered the room.
William put his book on the desk and he finally read the title, 'Frankenstein' and that relieved him a little. Frankenstein was his favourite book; it was the book that inspired everything. He knew it thoroughly. He could feel a flicker of interest spark within him at the prospect of discussing Mary Shelley again.
"So class," he began with new enthusiasm, trying to avoid Eliza's glare. "I assume you have completed the assignment that I tasked you with yesterday?"
The class groaned when the words escaped him.
"Please, submit them," he commanded.
Most of them came forward, one by one and submitted their sheets. He observed and then saw that the only people who didn't submit anything were - Eliza, the boy in black, the girl who almost flirted with him yesterday, a redhead guy and the guy at the last desk, a blond one.
"You people." He pointed to them one by one, scanning his eyes around the room. "You didn't do it?"
The boy from the previous day smiled at him. "Oh..we have done it, Mr Ray or at least we wanted to get it done but then a lot of things came up and it just escaped our minds."
William was upset by that but he calmed himself down. "So you didn't do your homework?"
"Duh!" the girl exclaimed. "Are you going to punish us, Mr Ray?" she said, batting her eyes at him. "Because if that is the case, then I will be the first to go, but only if you are ready to give 'individual' punishments."
She winked at him and from the corner of his eye, he saw Eliza throwing the girl a dirty look at her shameless flirting.
He smiled a little and then said, "This is my second and last warning to you Ms Whatever your name is. You say things like that again, and you will find yourself in detention."
He didn't wait for her reaction as he opened the book and asked them to do the same.
After about thirty minutes when he was done explaining a few premises and backstory of the book, he checked his watch, another gift from Lorna, and saw that it was almost time to go. He closed the book and looked at his bunch of students. For a moment, he wondered if he knew any of them from his time. Surely, they were his age. He felt creepy when he thought about how weird this all was, how he was practically teaching students his age. He was somewhere at this time too. The nineteen-year-old him was probably attending his classes at Oxford.
He brushed the thoughts away from his head and cleared his throat. He was about to speak when he saw Eliza raise her hand. He looked at her raised hand as she spoke, "I have a question."
"Yes, Eliza?"
"Are you Scottish?" she pouted her lips innocently as she asked.
He stared at her but instead of answering her question, the hint of satan in her pretty eyes gave him the conclusion that she was about to cause a scene, so he chose to ignore her.
"How do you know her name?" the boy from the last bench said.
"What?" he looked at the boy, confused.
"How do you know her?" The boy pointed towards Eliza and Eliza smirked.
These bunch of hooligans and Eliza Scott would be the death of him.
Finding it best to avoid interaction with them, he ignored the question. "For your next assignment, I want you to read the first fifty pages of the book and then write a thesis on it," he said to the class. He spotted Eliza looking at him in disbelief. "All except the five of you who didn't submit your homework."
He saw the boy, James, he could now recall the name. He had heard a few people call him on the corridors the previous day. The boy stood up, his backpack on his shoulders, ready to get out.
"You five will read 150 pages." He pointed towards James and the others. "That's your punishment for not submitting your homework."
The students stared at him, agape, including Eliza.
"That's unfair," Eliza protested but again, William ignored her as he picked his phone from his table and tucked it in his pocket.
"Mrs Blanchard never punished us." He heard the blonde complain.
"Well Ms, I am not Mrs Blanchard. You don't do my work and you get to pay. That's how it works here," he stated and then got out of the room as a murmur of protests followed, smirking to himself.
The day had started well.
***
Eliza stood in front of the mirror in her room and watched her pale reflection staring back at her. She was losing a lot of weight since the past few months and she could see it. Her skin was pale and her cheeks appeared hollow. There were dark circles underneath her eyes and her arms and legs looked very thin. She put her hands on her hips and measured her waist. Once again - thin.
She knew why her body was appearing strange. It was the drugs. But she couldn't stop taking them. James and the others took them too. If she tried hard, she would escape her father's notice. He wouldn't see the difference in her, she wouldn't let him.
She was wearing her mother's white dress, the one that reached her knees, the one she liked the most. She loved wearing dresses, just like her mother had but ever since James came into her life, she was afraid of doing something that would make her lose his attention. James didn't like dresses, he said that they looked beautiful on Arabella, not Eliza. He said that she looked better in the jeans and leathers she adorned.
'Better' not 'beautiful.'
She had often tried her best to make herself look 'better' for him. She put on too much makeup, sometimes even her face felt heavy with it. She wore those rings that James brought for her, he said it would make her look hotter.
'Hotter' not 'beautiful.'
She obliged. Then she wore those bracelets and black high heeled boots that completed the look. She missed the flawless soft curls of her hair; she didn't like it straight but James did. He said that she looked sexy in it.
'Sexy' not 'beautiful.'
Her mind drifted from James to William, the guy who said that she reminded him of his wife, also the man who ignored her today.
She wondered what his wife was like. She didn't see any wedding ring on his finger. Was he a widow? Did she leave him?
How cruel she was for having stormed out of his house last night, she should have asked him about his wife. Was he divorced? Or did they just separate or did she leave him?
She wondered how his wife looked and what she liked to wear. She imagined William staring at her if she wore dresses. She wondered if he would find her pretty.
She put away her thoughts. She didn't like William Ray, then why was he occupying her mind? He was weird, rude and potentially evil. James would be very upset if he knew that Eliza was thinking of what their new professor would like, instead of thinking about what he liked.
She looked at the clock. It was 8 pm. James would be picking her up soon. She opened her cupboard and scanned through her clothes.
All black. No colours.
She picked up a short black dress with a side slit that reached down to her knees from her hips, it was her most revealing dress and she liked it but she just thought if it were in some different colours, like blue or yellow perhaps.
She changed into the dress and picked up her phone to let James know.
I'm ready.
She texted him and dropped the phone on her unmade bed and went to her table to put on her usual makeup. Red lipstick, thick eyeliner, no blush - those were James's rules, and although he didn't officially state them, she knew when he disapproved of something. It was visible in his eyes.
When she was done, she took her purse and put on her boots, they were knee-length and then, putting on her leather jacket, she got out of the room.
As she climbed down the stairs, she saw her father pacing the corridor. She stopped and he turned to look at her. She saw a hint of worry in his eyes.
Please scold me, Papa. I don't want to go to a stupid party — she pleaded silently but he didn't scold her. Instead, he gave her a small smile.
"Have fun, sweetheart."
Eliza wanted to cry when she heard those words. How could such sweet words be so sorrowful to someone? She wanted her father to be like other fathers. She wanted him to stop her from making stupid mistakes but he didn't seem to care.
He loved her. She knew that. She was sure of that. He had always been her guardian, her caretaker, her only family but somewhere amidst all that, he forgot to be her father. She didn't want to let him know that. He was happy and he thought she was happy. That was enough for her.
Their little moment was broken by the sound of the doorbell ringing.
"You expecting James?" her Papa asked her.
"Yeah. It must be James," she said, her voice throaty.
Her father nodded and went to open the door. When he opened it, she went to stand behind him to peek at James. She wanted to impress him by her look and dress but it wasn't James.
It was William Ray.
He was standing there, his hands shoved into the pockets of his grey blazer as he bit his bottom lip. He wore a black shirt underneath it with a pair of black jeans. He looked...delicious.
"What are you doing here?" Harvey asked.
"My stove isn't working," said William. "I was wondering if I could get some food. I'm hungry."
At that moment, all of Eliza's anger for William vanished for a moment. She suddenly felt sorry for him. She wanted to know what happened to him? What happened to his wife? Why was he so miserable and lonely?
William noticed her staring at him and she tore away her glance and went back to checking her watch to see the time.
8:15 pm.
Where was James?
"Get in," her father told their guest and William stepped inside the house and her eyes met his. He studied her from top to bottom and she saw his countenance tense.
There was something in the way he looked at her. It was like his gaze was enough to burn her, except, it felt more like he would burn with her.
"You look beautiful. Where are you going?" he asked her then stood still for a moment when he realized the choice of his words and Eliza's heart leapt with emotion.
She wished her father had asked her that question.
"To a party," she answered.
She saw her father watch them from the corner of her eye.
"You're going alone?" William asked, looking at his watch.
"No," Eliza said and she didn't even know why she wanted to be truthful to William. Maybe she just wanted her father to notice. "I'm going with my friends."
William looked worried but then he spotted Harvey staring at them and bit his bottom lip as if stuck in deep thought.
"Well..." he said. "Be careful. It's late. Don't come home alone."
She saw him blush as he said that. He was feeling embarrassed saying these things to her. Things which her father should have said.
He then turned around to stare at a painting on the wall behind Eliza. She gave him a small smile, one which didn't go unnoticed by William but he didn't return it. She stepped away from him when she heard the sound of an engine stop outside.
"James," she said, turning to her Papa. "He's here. I should go."
It felt strange to say that. She didn't want to go. Her heart told her to stay but she denied the thought and passed her father to open the door. "Bye Papa."
"Wait!" she heard her father speak when she opened the door. She turned to look at him.
"Be home before twelve," he warned her, in a grave voice.
She smiled, feeling glad. "I'll be home."
She stepped out and closed the door behind her. She saw James waiting for her to get on the bike and for the first time, Eliza didn't think about what his thoughts were.
She was happy and it surprised her that William Ray was the reason.
He had called her 'beautiful.'