Page 12 of Classroom Confessions

“What?” She tossed napkins at me, laughing the whole time.

Cole marched in, shot a look at me that could drop planes from the sky with its laser focus, and clicked on the projector. “If you’ll all focus. We have a lot to cover today.”

Lily jabbed me again, then leaned her shoulder hard into mine. “Girl, you are in so much trouble.”

“I know,” I hissed back.

“Problem, Miss Roberts?” Cole’s lazy tone belied the tension in his shoulders. His gaze flicked from me to Lily, and when it came back to rest on me, there was a challenge there.

Heat raced into my cheeks. “No, Professor. I was simply helping Lily find the right page in her textbook.” I poked her leg beneath the table and shot a look at her closed laptop.

Smirking, she opened it and tapped a few keys. “Sorry, Professor.”

“As I was saying, we’ll be focusing on the data analysis and probability of success, with a breakdown in genre based on writing careers and the stability of the market.” Cole had turned away, but I felt each word like a stab straight to the heart.

I’d known this was part of the curriculum thanks to the syllabus he provided, but seeing the graph flash on the screen–with a wide margin of failure evident–curdled the coffee in my stomach. “Is this really necessary?” The words were out before I knew it, hurtling toward Cole and everyone else in the classroom.

He pivoted in slow motion, and my heart hammered so fast I thought I might pass out. “Excuse me?”

“Never mind.” Challenging Ethan about classic literature was one thing. I had some ground to stand on there. But not here. Here, I didn’t have any ground. Not even a grain of sand. I waved for him to continue and prayed for the floor to open up and swallow me. Or for a time machine so I could whisk myself back to five minutes ago and stop this from ever happening.

Lily watched the exchange with her mouth hanging open. I’d never been assertive. Something about these classes lit a fire in me and I said things I’d never, ever consider saying if I could control my mouth. They took that control away, and I had no idea why or how it happened.

“Please, continue.” Cole crossed his arms and leaned a hip against his desk. The pose was supposed to be relaxed, but it had the opposite effect. He reminded me of a tiger preparing to pounce. “I’m curious how you don’t see the benefit of this section in the curriculum. Since everyone in this room is a creative writing student, I would think this is especially critical.”

Well, damn if he didn’t just call me out. Fine, then. “I think the lesson is entirely necessary. Valuable, even. But do you have to start off making us all feel like shit failures before we’ve even started? That graph makes me want to puke. I get that we need to face reality, but we all already know that writing is fucking hard enough already without having the percentage of failures thrown in our face our first week.”

The entire class cheered, and damn if I didn’t smile at having their support.

Cole stood quiet and motionless until everyone calmed down. “See me after class, Miss Roberts.”

Lily winced while patting my shoulder. Her voice barely reached my ears. “You are on fire, girl.” She shot a look at Cole. “And he is fully prepared to stoke it.”

“Shut up,” I hissed back while burying my nose in my notes. The rest of the class passed in a blur of noise and motion that I could neither concentrate on nor write down. Was Cole going to throw me out of his class?

When he dismissed us, Lily squeezed my shoulder in support before slinging her bag over her shoulder. “I’ll see you in Professor Stanley’s class.” My dear, sweet, maniacal best friend made sure her voice carried to Cole.

A muscle feathered his jaw, the quick tick a sure sign that he’d heard her. Why did the comment bother him enough that he ran a hand over his jaw and across the back of his neck? I’d never seen him as anything but calm and collected. This sudden change turned my heart into a drum that banged on my ribs until nausea rose.

He waited until the room cleared before walking over to the table and planting his palms on either side of my laptop. “Do we have a problem, Miss Roberts?”

I shook my head, my tongue too thick in my mouth to speak.

“I need a verbal response.” His voice held a note of amusement. “I’m finding it contradictory that you can call me out in front of an entire class but not speak to me one on one. Why?”

Oh, he really didn’t want me to answer that.

“Follow me.” He pushed off the table and made his way into the small office I’d noticed earlier. Waiting for me at the door, he held out a hand. “Well?”

“Are you sure that we should be in there? Together. Alone.” I emphasized the last bit even as I stood and made my way toward him.

This time, his smirk held a hint of naughtiness. “I’ll do my best to restrain myself.”

“I could do it for you.” Me and my damned mouth. It was going to get me into trouble.

Cole’s bark of surprised laughter rolled through me with the rumbling power of thunder during a storm. “I knew you were trouble.” He followed me into the office and closed the door. “Tell me, Rebecca. What do you want from your degree?”

My lips parted, but all that came out was a whisper of air.

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