Page 19 of Divine Obsession

“Everyone, please meet Miss Natalia Moretti. Our latest transfer student from NYU.”Only transfer. Ever.“Natalia was ranked as the top-scoring and highest-achieving student in NYUcoding history. And she is now officially, the youngest person to qualify for this course.”Colombia’s most advanced coding class.

Natalia turned to face the class, but her eyes immediately landed on me, and her smile set like the sun.

My favorite class had now become my least.

A strange, unfamiliar feeling seeped through my veins as we stared at each other. I was no longer the youngest person taking this course. Natalia was. Despite everything, I had more self-respect than to allow my skin to turn green with envy, so I forced the feeling down and tensed my jaw instead. I was simply frustrated.

Natalia looked away, focusing back on Professor Davis as she went on and on about Natalia’s achievements.

“Natalia, you will sit next to Mr Trevor Su.”

The only thing that grounded me in that moment was seeing the suppressed, horrified expression on Natalia’s face and knowing this was causing her just as much annoyance as me.

Without complaint, she did so.

My eyes unwillingly traveled up her thighs as she got closer, before pulling the chair and gracefully sitting down next to me –like the perfect student.

Since I never shared my desk – and since I was 6’2 – I was used to taking up space. I was laid back in my chair, legs relaxed out.

So, when she sat next to me – just because I was an asshole – I didn’t move to give her more space.

Her thigh brushed my knee.

My skin ignited, and as if she felt the same burn, we jumped away from each other at the same time. Then both readjusted our positions and pretended like nothing happened.

Since Professor Davis was introducing today’s topic, no one had noticed. But Natalia and I were both painfully aware that ithadhappened.

The worst part? Whatever that was didn’t go away. I could still feel the ghost of her touch and I was hot. Natalia didn’t look like she was doing much better by the pink flush growing on her cheeks.

Damn. She even blushed pink.

“Trevor,” The professor caught my attention, bringing me out of my thoughts. “You scored 100 on the admission exam. A perfect score.”

I gave a respectful nod of my head.

“And Natalia, you scored 95. Extremely impressive.”

She smiled that sickly-sweet smile of hers. “Thank you.”

Davis returned it. “You two will work together for the rest of the year.”

“What?” Natalia and I asked at the same time.

“You two are the highest-scoring students in the class.”

The only remaining empty seat in the room had been next to me, so I couldn’t exactly argue against her sitting next to me. However, working together – meaning mandatory talking and discussing of topics during class was off the table.

“I work alone,” I argued before the professor turned to leave.

Davis smiled. “Not anymore.”

As she walked away, I turned back to Natalia, only to find her already staring at me with a condescending smile.

“So you’re always a dick. Not just with me. Good to know.”

“And you’re just perfect, aren’t you?”

I expected some snarky comeback in regards to my comment – I hadn’t necessarily meant anything by it, just that she faked being nice, then went and called me a dick when the professor wasn’t listening.

---