Page 11 of Kept

I answered as many of Rachelle’s frenetic questions as I could, but as soon as one word was out of my mouth, she was already asking another one. No, I wasn’t a vegetarian. Yes, I liked the outdoors. I was from Bentley, Pennsylvania, and I was more of a cat person than a dog person.

I got a break from Rachelle’s endless questions for my next two classes, and was immediately accosted by the blue beacon right after Classification of Materials class.

“I’ve got one!” she said in a gleeful whisper, pulling me through the Hall of Arts. I couldn’t help but look for Professor Spears, half-afraid I’d see his cold blue eyes focused on me. “What’s your deepest, darkest desire? I’ve always wanted to wrestle nude in Jell-O, but Mom says it’d be bad PR.”

For some reason, I wanted to say something that might shock Rachelle into temporary silence, much as I liked her. “I’ve always wanted the thrill of being naked in front of a bunch of people. I once thought about being a stripper to pay the bills, but it turns out I’m a really shitty dancer.”

Rachelle stopped in her tracks, halting me with her. She looked up at me with sparkling brown eyes ringed with enough kohl to send a raccoon into a paroxysm of jealousy. “I knew I’d like you.”

Then something brushed my hip as Professor Spears walked past me. He’d been right behind us the entire time.

“Good afternoon, ladies.” I prayed he hadn’t overheard me, even as Rachelle waxed eloquent on a conspiracy theory that Bourdillon put human growth hormones designed to make their faculty hot in the food.

Sean waited for us in the cafeteria. It looked more like an extravagant dining room, the tables covered in fine white linen with silverware laid out. A crystal lamp dangled overhead, sending rainbow lights dancing off the walls.

The prime rib was, in fact, the best I’d ever had.

I had one more class for today before my shift at the library started: English 510.

“Ooh, I’m in that one, too!” Rachelle said happily. Sean gave me a downcast look, picking at his food.

“I’m off to the lab,” he said, his gaze skittering over my face. “See you later?”

I barely had time to say bye before Rachelle waved him off and dragged me to the next class. This was the one I was really looking forward to. I plunked into a seat up front, patting the seat next to me, which Rachelle sank into gracefully.

“Up front? You’re such a nerd,” she said fondly. “Seriously, I can’t tell you how great it is to have another girl who doesn’t think the sun shines out of her asshole here. I was starting to think Sean and I were the only sane ones.”

She didn’t bother to lower her voice for the sake of the other students around us. A girl with bright red curls rolled her eyes, but I was starting to get the impression that Rachelle was more of a beloved black sheep than a genuine outcast, the kind you fed a sugar cube to every once in a while but mostly left to its own devices.

The fluttering hope had become a full bloom. Professor Thayer was conspicuously absent, and I hadn’t thought of Rhett once all day.

Well, mostly. The previous night was a specter hanging over me, but it was easier now to take a deep breath and imagine it hadn’t happened at all.

The prof still hadn’t arrived. I surreptitiously checked the schedule I’d slid into the back of my planner; a Professor Harrison was supposed to teach this course.

The heavy wooden door swung open and I looked up, expecting to see my new prof.

Instead, Rhett strolled in, carrying an armful of books. He shut the door, dropped the books on the desk, and turned to look at us.

His gaze landed directly on me. My stomach had turned into a mess of writhing snakes in the last fifteen seconds.

“Good morning, everyone. There’s been a disruption in the schedule; I’ll be replacing Professor Harrison for the rest of the semester.” He sat on the edge of the desk, a stance that might’ve looked awkward on anyone else, but he made it look so easy and casual. “I’m Professor Harlow.”

My dreams come true had warped into a nightmare. I closed my planner, wishing I’d brought a bottle of water. My throat was so dry it’d squeak if I tried to talk, just like the mouse I was.

Rhett smiled at me like no one else existed, but of course that couldn’t be true, because none of the other students seemed to notice.

“We’ll skip the introduction and get right to the meat of this course.” Rhett strolled to the board, picked up a marker, and began to cover it with the half-cursive scrawl that hadn’t changed much since he was seventeen.

Instead of giving it the same laser-like focus the rest of my classes had warranted, I ducked my head forward, glad I’d left my hair down today. It fell forward and covered my burning cheeks and ears.

I was the kind of girl who made bad decisions sometimes, but I wasn’t stupid.

He’d said he’d see me again, and he’d made it happen. There was no accident here. Being a professor, he’d have full access to the student’s schedules and classes, and he taught English, of course. The perfect in to torment me.

Rhett didn’t look at me again, but my handwriting was shaky anyways as I took my notes. Nobody seemed to notice my discomfort, not even Rachelle, who was gazing at him dreamily the one time I looked up from behind the curtain of my hair. Maybe I’d get away with this scot-free.

The other shoe dropped when class was over.

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