Page 2 of Professor

I did what I needed to do to get here, to this very moment, but now I needed to get serious.

Hiking my satchel across my chest, I made my way through the narrow halls of the Theta Nu Delta house. The old brick mansion was a maze of bedrooms and study spaces that I knew like the back of my hand.

“Ugh, Whitney, is that this season’s Chanel? That jacket is to die for!”

“You know it is. Her dad always gets her the best stuff. I bet that’s straight off the runway.”

“Thanks.” I grinned at two of my sorority sisters as I passed them on the stairs. “I’ll see you at the chapter meeting tonight. Big night, I think.” I winked at Melissa, a bleached blond beauty who happened to be in the running for sorority president this year.

In passing, I heard someone say, “Big shoes to fill, Lissa,” and then Melissa’s incoherent grumble before their voices faded and I stepped out into the drizzle and started walking down Greek Row and toward campus.

Gatlington was one of the oldest universities in the United States. While not Ivy League, the admissions were fiercely competitive, and the only sure way to get in was to have family as alumni.

I smiled and waved at various acquaintances. I directed groups of dazed-looking freshmen to the buildings where their first classes would be held. Then I walked into the commons building and set a trajectory for the coffee shop, where one of my dearest friends, and my “little” in our sorority, said she’d be waiting.

Nicole was already set up at a table near one of the ceiling height windows overlooking the courtyard when I arrived and hung my bag over the back of the chair.

“Earl Grey tea with honey and milk.” She beamed, sliding the cup toward me as I sat down.

Nicole tucked her dark blond hair behind her ears before sipping from the eight-dollar iced latte in front of her. Her deep brown eyes scanned the crowded café, tucked away in the corner of the commons, an ancient stone building three stories tall and likely inhabited by ghosts.

“Looking for someone?” I asked, smiling slyly as I brought my tea to my lips. Bergamot and vanilla cut through the heavy scent of wet stone, parchment, and freshly ground coffee.

“Fresh blood, I guess.” She sighed heavily and turned her attention back to me. “You’re so lucky, Whit. You found one of the only good ones and snatched him up before anyone else could. Dating at Gatlington is like trying to get an invitation to the Met Gala. Impossible.”

True. Everyone knew everyone at Gatlington. “Come on, Nicky! It’s your senior year. Shouldn’t you be focused on graduating?”

“Ring by spring? Ever heard of it?” She rolled her eyes and swirled her straw, making little scraping sounds that made me want to claw at my ears. She glanced down at my ringless left hand and arched a brow. “I guess I won’t be the first woman to graduate without a six-carat heirloom diamond ring weighing down my hand.”

“Getting married isn’t the point of going to college—”

“Then what is? How else am I going to meet the son of a wrinkly old billionaire?”

I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair, giving her a feline grin over the rim of my cup. Nicole exhaled deeply and tapped her fingernails on the table.

“Enough about me and my trials.” She yawned, looking more than defeated. “How are you and Christian? Didn’t he fly in, like, yesterday?”

“We’re fine, and yeah. I think so. I haven’t seen him yet.” Christian Brockford, the king of campus, president of his fraternity and star lacrosse player and I had been dating since my sophomore year. Christian was a year behind me, currently a senior. Blond hair, baby blue eyes, and a body built like a brick wall, he was the most popular guy around, and I’d been on his arm for three years, biding my time to make a run for it.

It sounds awful, I know, but I never envisioned myself settling down and planning frivolous garden parties while our nannies pushed our children in strollers around some affluent, gated community. At least, not yet. My plans for after college didn’t involve that, or him.

I’d tried to tell him that this summer when he proposed to me and I turned him down. He’d just given me that charming smile and patted me on the head like a dog, telling me he’d wait for me to come back to the real world after years spent burying my nose in useless textbooks about art and sociology, two things he knew absolutely nothing about.

Unless it had something to do with sports, beer, or fast cars, Christian was uninterested.

Having him around kept my parents off my ass, though.

“Melissa is going to be voted in as president of the sorority tonight. I’ll be at the meeting as an advisor.” I changed the subject and glanced down at my watch before quickly starting to gather my things. “You’re a shoe-in for recruitment chair, you know, after your performance during bid week.”

“Oh, crap. I don’t even want to think about it,” Nicole replied, then slurped loudly from her iced coffee. “The last thing I need is to sit on the board this year. Plus, I hate that you’re still living in the house but not in control of it anymore. Melissa only wants to be president because her mom promised her new tits if she got the role!”

I nearly choked on my tea. “You’ll be fine, all of you. It’s not like I moved off campus. I’m just not...I’m not an undergrad anymore. It’s time to pass the torch. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Fine. Have fun in your fancy graduate classes!” Nicole crossed her arms under her breasts and pouted.

I walked away, tossing my empty paper cup into a recycling bin and balancing my heavy textbooks in my arms while I walked through the commons and back outside. The courtyard was full of students, especially freshman, all of them giddy with excitement while gathering in small, nervous groups. Some groups stopped their chattering as I passed them by and stared as if in awe.

I was fully aware of my reputation. They didn’t call me the queen for nothing.

---