Page 14 of Cruel Legacy

“Sit down.” The professor says, as he comes into the classroom. “It’s only been fourteen minutes and seven-seconds.”

The professor is short, wearing a brown tweed jacket, and huge square framed glasses. He looks just like Rick Moranis. I’m staring at him. Hard. I might even be drooling a little. I swipe my mouth just in case.

I want to take a picture of him so badly, and send it to Sasha, but I can’t do it without someone seeing. We had a huge crush on Rick after we saw Honey I Shrunk the Kids, back when we were going through a science phase.

Sasha outgrew it. Me, not so much. Call me weird, but I like ‘em rugged and reckless and I like them smart with a vocabulary that includes more than monosyllabic words.

I suppose that’s why it’s never bothered me that I haven’t had a long-term relationship. I need a whole lot of different types of guys to make up the perfect boyfriend.

I settle in to listen to the guy who looks like my childhood crush talk about the importance of organizing, analyzing, and evaluating data. Maybe this school won’t be so bad after all.

“Brutal, wasn’t it?”

Class just ended. The guy in the chinos is hovering over my desk. He’s too close and I have to remind myself about my no hitting rule. I stand before gathering my things. I don’t think he’s intentionally trying to intimidate me, but I don’t know him and I’m not about to start our acquaintance off, with him in a position of power over me. I’m a big dog in a woman’s body. Plus, letting him stand over me will make it harder to fight back if he tries something.

In answer to his question, I say, “It was a lot of information thrown at us for it to be my first day of classes.”

His head bobs up and down. “And the syllabus is crazy. I don’t know how he expects us to keep up with all the reading on top of the homework and projects.”

“Mmm.” I say, heading toward the door. This guy’s worried it’s too much work, and here I was thinking I might need to ask for extra work so I don’t get bored. My academic advisor wouldn’t let me take two maths this semester.Fucker. Chinos follows me out of the building. I move ahead of him on the path, thinking we’re done, but he jogs behind me to catch up, and says, “Damn you move fast.”

“Don’t wanna be late for my next class.”

“You have time.”

I stop walking and turn to face him. I don’t have time. But I’m not about to let him follow me around all morning. I look past his preppy attire. He’s cute, in a boat loving, polo playing kind of way. Sun kissed tan, golden locks and blue eyes. He’s a walking Ken doll.

I notice the girls eyeing him as they walk by, and the giggly, “hellos”. To his credit, he responds, but not in an overly flirtatious way. He wants something. It’s better if he gets to the point, sooner rather than later. “Who are you, and what do you want?”

He laughs as if he’s not put off by my bluntness. “My name’s Austin. Austin Kincaid, and I don’t want anything. I figured since we’re in class together, I’d say hello.”

That shit’s a lie. Everyone wantssomething, but I don’t have time to explain id, ego, or superego to him. Instead, I pull some manners out of my ass and say, “Hello, Austin, nice to meet you. I’m Thea, and I’m about to be late for class.” I turn back the way I was heading, tossing over my shoulder. “Good luck with your homework.”

I weave in and out of the bodies, on the sidewalk, making note of the groups and cliques that I’ll definitely be avoiding. I make it to my next class and slip into a seat in the seat closest to the door, since the chairs in the back are already occupied.

This is why I wanted to get here early. To pick out a good seat. Talking to Austin, cost me valuable time. I won’t let him hold me up again. I’m pulling my laptop out as the teacher comes in and announces. “Hope you read the study material I mentioned last week. Time for a pop quiz.”

The students groan and I stifle a chuckle. Pop quiz on the first day in my history class. This should be fun.

Chapter7

Pax

Canyon Falls University is a private university, but we have one of the biggest campuses in the state, with a lot of undeveloped space. The buildings are grouped together by type.

All athletic and extra-curricular buildings are on the South side of campus. Arts and Humanities to the North. The Science and Math buildings are West, and the Administration Building and Business Center are smack dab in the middle of campus, with the dorms dispersed along the perimeter.

The East edge of campus houses the faculty apartments and their entertainment center, which is basically a small movie theater and bowling alley. The school built the entertainment center to give the faculty a place to unwind where they won’t run into students. I’m not sure how many people use it. Everyone knows the best places to hang out are in town.

The Academic and Administration buildings have a designated traffic pattern students are supposed to follow to prevent bottlenecks in the hallways or stairs. It’s supposed to help you get where you’re going faster, but it doesn’t.

Having to walk all the way to the end of a hallway to reach the stairs you have to use to travel up or down is a nightmare, and so is the requirement to only use the pedestrian walkways to get around campus. That means no cutting across the grass or darting between buildings.

It’s a stupid rule, but we follow it.Correction, the other students follow it. Me, I have my own way of getting from place to place. Like the staff elevators, and the underground tunnels around campus that connect the buildings together. Those tunnels also have golf carts that the administration uses to get around. I have access to the keys to the restricted hallways, which house the elevators and stairs leading to the tunnels.

I’m heading to one such hallway now. My head down as I read the latest message on my phone. I’m following the bullshit traffic pattern and don’t bother looking up to see if anyone is in front of me. I don’t have to. The students know to get out of the way when they see me coming, so I’m confident the path in front of me is clear.

“Oomf.”

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