I throw away my today's third coffee's plastic cup in a trashcan before walking into Professor Wright's classroom. 8 AM classes should be illegal, or at least there shouldn't be any classes afterwards, because even after consuming that much caffeine I still feel my brain is exhausted.

Unlike the entire semester, I settle on one of the front row seats. My heart hammers in my chest, today is the day I have to show him how serious I am. I check the time, 12:45, I still fifteen minutes left before the class starts, so I busy myself with taking out my notebook and pens. Then I place them neatly on the small desk.

Anushka walks in and her eyes widen when she spots me. "Hey," she smiles as she approaches me. Her navy-blue shirt reaches her midthigh while she holds a jacket in one hand and her bag in the other.

I wave at her.

"What's up with you? Is this place taken by the way?" she points to the seat next to me and I shake my head.

She sits down and moves her long braid over her shoulder. I watch her with a smile. I've always loved her raven black hair and how impossibly thick it is.

She turns to me, her brown eyes glint as she raises her eyebrows at me. "So?"

"I want to pass this class... I gotta be more active in class and thought sitting here might help me."

She laughs. "I think these first-row seats are enchanted, the moment you sit on one of them, you automatically become more active."

I giggle and agree.

A guy walks in and passes us, sitting a few rows behind us. Anushka leans into me, and I note the minimal makeup she has applied that matches perfectly with her brown skin. "What did Wright tell you that day when he told you to go to his office?"

"He said I'm failing," I whisper back.

Surprised she backs away, dips her chin, her eyes going round, as if asking, 'for real?'

I sigh and nod.

She looks ahead at the board. "Damn," she mumbles. "I think we're all failing though."

"Yeah, he said that too."

This time Anushka jumps as she turns to me. "Are you serious."

"Unfortunately."

"It's his fault! He keeps acting like his course is the only class we have this semester!" she exclaim, throwing her hands up and then crosses them in front of her chest.

"There's nothing we can do now, Professor Yang retired last semester." I rest my head on my hand.

"Oh God, I just hope we pass this class and not have to see Wright again."

I nod in agreement. An image of Professor Wright sitting behind his desk in his office pops up in my mind. There's so much more to this man. Anyone I know or talk to has only seen a small yet different version of him. I wonder who he truly is.

I straighten up and shake my head. What the hell! Why would I care who he really is and what he's like.

He's my professor, for crying out loud!

I bite my bottom lip and contemplate the matter. Technically, knowing him better will help me proceed faster with my plan. Narrowing my eyes I stare at the small crack under the board before us. And maybe my brain unconsciously knew that so it wondered of figuring him out as a whole.

That makes sense.

I don't get a chance to ponder over it for one more second, thanks to Ashely's screeching voice. "What is wrong with you two! We never do front row!"

I look at her and smile. "Hi to you too."

She glowers at me, shooting dagers with her blue eyes and crosses her arms in front of her chest.

"You wanna pass this class or not?" Anushka quirks an eyebrow at her with a pointed gaze.

Ashley groans and pushes her baby pink rimmed glasses up her nose. "I hate him," she grumbles as she plops down next to Anushka.

A few murmurs from back seats follow, agreeing with her.

"Why does a yummy guy like him have to be such an ass," she whispers so the other students in the class can't hear her.

I giggle and Anushka throws her a glare, smacking her arm. "He's our professor," she seethes.

"And imagine how would you boyfriend feel if he heard this?" I chime in.

She huffs, "That idiot thinks about nothing except fucking quantum mechanics bullshit."

Anushka snorts. I smirk, "What? Feeling jealous to a very intriguing branch of science?" and finish off with a wink. 

Anushka covers her mouth with her hands to stop herself from guffawing, as Ashley points her index finger at me, her cheeks turning red, nostrils flaring.

I smile as sweetly as I can in return.

She opens her mouth, fuming but before a word darts out, Meilin walks in, her fingers hooped around her backpack's straps. She looks between us, her smooth jet black hair sways with the movement. "I see you guys have updated to front row."

I grin at her, "My idea."

She gives me a thumbs-up before sitting next to Ashley.

"We have to talk after class," Ashely shoots to me.

"Can't, I'll be busy," I reply.

Three heads turn to me; being scrutinised by three set of eyes has never been easy.

"Why?" Anushka drawls.

Meilin and Ashley lean over, to get closer. Ahsley's golden curls tumble over her shoulder, waiting intently for my answer.

"I'm meeting Brian," I mumble, twirling one of my pens between my fingers, suddenly feeling shy and self-conscious.

"Oh my gosh!" Ashley squeals while Anushka smirks at me giving me the look.

"When did this happen?" Meilin asks, literally jumping out of her seat.

"Friday, sort of." I shrug, and catch their reaction from a quick side glance.

"He's so into you." Meilin nods to herself.

"You two are going to look so cute," Anushka gushes.

"I want all the details tonight." Ashley announces.

"We're meeting for studying only," I point out, making sure to give each of them a stern look.

"Boring." Ashley mutters and falls into her seat.

"Well it's gotta start from somewhere." Anushka says earning a glare form me.

"Nothing's going to happen between us. I don't want to date right now."

"Is it still because of that douche?" Anushka asks with a frown.

"No." I shake my head. "I've got a lot on my plate right now."

"He can be your friend," Meilin leans over only to smirk and wink at me.

I roll my eyes.

"He's a hottie, hard to resist, see her next week crushing all over him," Ashley claims.

I don't get the chance to call her out on how stupid it sounds as Brian, dressed in a red and black plaid shirt along with dark blue jeans walks into the classroom. His eyes instantly find me and a smile breaks through his face.

Oh God, I really don't want drama. Hormones and emotions, please behave.

I weakly return his smile as he approaches me. Hardly, I resist the urge to check my wristwatch to see how much longer I have to endure the girls and now Brian.

It's not like I dislike him, in fact, he's really sweet. I can picture us being a great couple together. He's smart, handsome and we're both majoring in mathematics. We'll always have something to talk about. But after everything that has happened, I can't bring myself to trust someone new or let someone else into my life. I need to focus on myself and my current problems.

"Hey," he stops near me and glances at the empty seat on my left.

"Hi," I wave at him and his honey-colored eyes glint with amusement.

He inclines to the seat. "Is it taken?"

Unfortunately, "It's not." I run my finger over the circular rim of my watch while Brian settles next to me.

My oh-so-supportive friends make silent oohs and aahs face as they smirk and wink at me.

The last thing I need is boy drama, and here we are.

"Still on for studying later?" his deep voice startles me.

I spin to Brian and nod. "Definitely."

"We'll be going right after class, right?"

I shrug. "I might have to talk to Professor, not sure though, but if so, then afterward definitely."

He nods but before he opens his mouth, Professor Wright walks into the classroom, with his usual stony face. My heart rate picks up instantly and I grip my pen tighter.

It's today. In these few hours, I have to prove to him I'm serious about studying. I have to impress him during this period.

He scans the class, and for a brief moment, our eyes lock. Subconsciously, I hold my breath. The moment ends; he scans the rest of the room and I quietly let go of the breath I was holding.

"Good afternoon class, so the last subject I taught last week was," he pauses and flips through his notebook. He nods to himself and turns to the board, writing the new subject.

Without wasting another second, he starts writing equations, drawing functions and we hurriedly jot down everything while struggling to keep up with him.

Each time he pauses to ask a question, I shoot my hand up, surprising my friends and Brian. If Wright is surprised, he does a great job at hiding it.

By the end of the class, my left hand aches, my right upper arm hurts too, for constantly keeping it up for answering questions during the class. On top of that, it's like I've shoved my hands into a jar of ink. After fifteen years of studying and using pens while writing it's unbelievable I still use them like a three old, marking up my palm and fingers.

Professor Wright finishes stating the problems we have to work on for this week's assignment and surveys the classroom. "Any questions?"

Some say 'no', others say 'have a nice day, professor,' while I shove my notebook into my backpack.

He strides out of the class and I hurry after him, slinging my bag on a shoulder. "Professor," I call out as I reach the hallway. He halts and turns to me. "I need a few minutes of your time." I rush to him.

A corner of his mouth lifts up the slightest before it vanishes completely. He nods and pushes his glasses up his nose. "Sure."

∞ ∞ ∞

OMG you guys! I've been active on WP for over a year now and written multiple stories, but NONE of them gained over 100 reads in one night! My goodness! Thank you so much for reading this story! You cannot imagine how much this means to me! 

I really hope you are enjoying it ^.^

Tell me what you think about this chapter! [Ooh and don't forget to vote ;)]

Next update will be up tomorrow (and do I need to say, most of the chapter will be Gracie and Wright)

Stay safe, lots of love, happy reading <3