Synopsis

Cora's pov

I hate Mr. Michael Brown. He's a pervert, a bully, and a straight-up sexual predator.

My first-trimester grades are incomplete. He said he didn't mark my examination, because I didn't submit any. That's a lie. How can I forget about an entire exam?

Considerable times, I have been to his office asking for his consideration. I did his CAT plus the damn exam, but he didn't give me marks.

I know for a fact that I did it, but how can I explain to a lecturer that it was the day I sat next to Becky, a girl he allowed to have a phone in the exam room and sent eggplants to.He won't remember it. She is one in the line of girls he slept with that semester.

He gave me some options. I could either register for the unit once more or apply for incomplete. There was a third option. He invited me to his house on a promise to offer me a clean A.

His reputation is no secret at the University. He sleeps with more college girls in a semester than a typical college playboy does in an entire school year. I only know of one, Becky. She was shameless enough to show me his texts and offer to share the leaked exam with me.

He's legit though, you can't score less than A- plain after he has defiled you.

So they say.

I am not naïve, he can never corner me. With a family like mine, I can wreck his brief life apart. I keep my profile under wraps to avoid any attention. I can handle missing marks while keeping my dignity.

Today, I am attending the damn class again. It's a shame that I have to study with freshmen. I hate the crowd. They are too ignorant, dumb, and childish… I can't occupy the same space with them. They are Mr. Brown's feeding grounds.

My plan will work.

I want Mr. Brown to see me attend. I'll ask him for the semester's notes to study by myself . I discarded the notes from the first semester.

He's a prick. He keeps the notes to force students to attend his classes _ where he picks one prey at a time.

I am applying for a retake this afternoon. I can't sit in for an entire semester while I have Calculus II and more challenging units this semester.

Curious, I scanned the Auditorium looking for a spot to sit. I prefer the last rows, they're far enough from the pervert lecturer but elevated for him to spot me.

Damn! This semester we have a lot of newcomers. I never knew they could fill the auditorium in one sitting kudos to the administration.

Sat next to a charismatic freshman. He tried making a conversation, failing terribly. "Hi", he said.

I wanted to ignore him. I hate everybody and everything on the campus; I don't even eat from the Cafeteria. But, that doesn't come close to the anguish I get from freshmen, I despise them.

"Hey"

I can't believe myself, I replied to that gingerly-lost-looking freshman. I felt like I had stopped a nuclear war from happening. Maybe I could avoid hell after all. Haven't I been kind?

"Hey", the brown-eyed lost kid replied nervously. He's worse than I imagined freshmen to be.

Mr. Brown jiggled his perverted legs in the lecture hall, saving the young boy from embarrassment. I wasn't going to say anything to him. That would be enough embarrassment to keep him in his place.

Mr. Brown kicked off his semester with a dry joke, which the naïve newbies couldn't get enough of. Looking at his treacherous face, I felt nothing but pity for the poor girls he was going to molest.

They are adults; I have to watch them make misguided decisions for themselves. Again, everybody knows about him. They don't do shit to help_ why should I?

Not my bunnies.

Learning started ten minutes before the end of his lecture. At the end of the hour, I was ashamed. It took his permission for the kids to get out. They were waiting for the bell or something. And I was mad that sicko wasted two hours of my life. I was never going to get back.

I should have gotten up, but being the center of attention isn't my thing. They'll learn to value their useless time, running out of the lecture hall to nowhere.

Noah's pov

My roommate has been here at the University for one semester. If not for his help, I would have been lost looking for my way to the Auditorium. He gave me directions. I arrived yesterday.

I can hardly navigate the University premises. If I had been here a few days earlier or visited before reporting, I would have known my way to the most common building on campus_ Administration Block.

Last night, I spent quality time trying to familiarize myself with the code numbers for this semester's units. I don't quite understand the need to give the unit codes, but maybe I'll find out.

I have four 101-labeled units this semester.

CS 101, code for Introduction to Computer Science, was the first unit on my to-do list

Scheduled at ten in the morning through noon.

Two hours is too long for a class, but again, I have double classes lasting four hours on my timetable. I'll get used to it.

I woke up late, hurried to get breakfast, and then ran back to the hostel to ask my roommate for directions to the auditorium. It was foolish to not know it was attached to the Administration Block to the left.

Now that I know, I found my peers occupying the best seats. Took a back seat. Before the start of the lecture, a girl sat next to me, the first to get that close to me.

She is okay.

Her dress code is far from what I was briefed on by my college pals back at home. They crowded my mind with the idea of tiny skirts, revealing tops, heels, long hair, and pretty, skinny jeans… as the ultimate expectations for college girls.

The mystery girl wasn't anything like that.

I wasn't scared to look. She was a freshman, just like me. Again, I wasn't sure she was sexually provocative to me, just another college girl weirdly wearing the most inviting cologne I had ever smelled.

Apart from her heavenly smell, she was a Plain Jane. Wore a buggy hoodie with her hair covered, large glasses covering almost a quarter of her face, had no makeup whatsoever and even her fingernails were trimmed nicely.

I got to give it to her. She has the most beautiful fingers I've come across. I explored more.

She wore baggy sweatpants and sports shoes. I never knew of a girl wearing such a strange combination, like a shy sports girl on the field.

She became a mystery to me.

I tried to make a conversation with the girl, but I lost my words midway. I'm not the best when it comes to flirting or anything close to that. So, I let go. Bet she didn't realize I was flirting, trying to anyway.

There's something about her that is keeping me interested. She has this elegance you can't find in small-town girls like my high school sweetheart.

I'm observant. Maybe it is the cool but low-key outfit she is wearing. Perhaps it is the confidence she commands in being unique or all of that.

I think the chill vibes she's emitting are the reason. She's not rash or impulsive. Her eyes, face, hands, and whole body seem to move strictly, obeying the authority she commands. She's in control.

I am curious when I have to be, sometimes it can turn a bit annoying. No one should admit to being pervert-ish. I don't know the name of the lecturer, he must have shared it.

How can I focus while Miss Confident here is daring me to stare? She stared at the uncovered part of her face. The rest, if not by the hoodie, were the transparent glasses.

Her attention was on the lecturer, while mine was on the flawless, mysterious face. How I got to explore her being started with the large dark eyes_ larger than mine. Bushy thick eyebrows were half covered by the glass and half showing.

Her face held no hint of concern for my stare. She once faced me. I saw nothing but a pure glow in those dark eyes behind the humongous glasses.

I'm freaked out by confident girls because there are none where I come from. I used to melt their pretty colored eyes at one glance. It should have been the same as this one. But, she is too confident to care.

Who are you?

Before I gingerly tore my eyes from her unreadable gaze, I heard the lecturer indicating the end of the lecture. She raised her flawless face and flipped her office pen, relieved that the lecture was finally over.

The class was over before I got to figure her out. I closed my book and then ran out of there before she got to question my perverted nature.

She remained mysterious, a puzzle so difficult to solve that I was willing to let go.