Page 104 of Ward Willing
After drinking my double espresso, I’d gone into the dining room to grab the poems I’d graded, only to notice the new sign. Pulling my phone out, I open our message chain.
Bold choice.
Three dots almost immediately appear.Studying, my ass.
Zoe
I thought it was funny
Hm. It appears you’re still trying to get my attention, baby girl.
The Dominant tone and nickname are new for me, but with her, it’s easy to push back. It comes naturally, and it seems to make her happy when I do it. After the class when I found out my kink score, I’d gone on a deep dive of resources for Dominants. Truthfully, it didn’t surprise me as much as I thought it would. Unlike Chase, I’m not about the technicalities and contracts. I know what Zoe’s limits are, but because I focus on pleasure, I can read her like a book—especially because I went way too fucking far the other night in the car.
As long as we communicate, I’ll be happy to explore this with her.
She texts back a minute later as I’m climbing into my Jeep.
Zoe
and?
Chuckling, I decide to text her when I get to campus.
Once I park and walk onto campus, I stop by my office to drop my things off before heading to class a few minutes early. When I get there, a few people are loitering near the back, and they stop talking once they see me. Taking a seat at my desk, I pull my phone out and shoot a quick text to Orion, asking him for ideas on how to… manage Zoe.
He responds a minute later as a few more people trickle in.
Orion
The best way to drive a brat crazy is to ignore her.
I stare at the phone for a beat. Not a terrible idea, and I know it’ll drive her to the brink of insanity. Besides, I like the idea of making her squirm while I teach the class.
I’ll give it a try. She’s exhausting.
Orion
No, she’s making you work for it. There’s a difference.
Swallowing, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and in my peripheral, I see someone enter the class—a woman, dark hair, black clothes. Despite not looking directly at her, I can tell it’s Zoe, because I swear I can smell her violet-scented shampoo from here. Busying myself with the papers, I keep my eyes down as I sort them alphabetically.
I can still feel her eyes on me.
I’m not going to cave that easily, little rebel.
At exactly 10:15, I stand up and walk to the whiteboard, writingCRAFTin all caps. When I turn around, I let my eyes skim over Zoe for half a second. She’s sitting in the front row, wearing a long, black silk skirt, white converse, and?—
One of my old Jimmy Eat Worldshirts.
Fuck.
She really wants to push my buttons today, doesn’t she?
I don’t make eye contact, instead focusing my attention on the back wall as I lecture.
“Now that we’re more than halfway through the semester,” I say slowly, crossing my arms and keeping my eyes focused on the other side of the room. “It’s time to delve into our writing craft. While we do study the famous poets in this class and try to pull apart their relationship with nature, for your final exam, there will also be a focus on crafting a poem. So for the first part of class, I want you to find one of the poems that resonated with you the most during this course.”
“Once you find it, I want you to analyze the techniques these poets used to evoke emotions, weave narratives, and portray the environment. Analyze their use of language, rhythm, and metaphor. How do they create a symphony of words that resonates with the spirit of nature? In about forty minutes, you’re going to let this inspire the crafting of your own poem. Not just any poem, though. I’d like for you to really concentrate on making your peers feel something. We’ll share during a peer review session first thing on Thursday, so don’t worry if you don’t finish today. Any questions?”
