Encounter with the jerk

"That was close, what were all that questions about anyway. Bold choices? What choices? And what the heck is Night Jazz?" These thoughts took up Nora's time in the self study session, but still in the end she was much more confused. "I'll make her spit out everything." She murmured.

"Nora and Joseph, meet me in the faculty room in ten minutes." Mr. James said.

Anthony James, the head of the computer science department and the most approachable professor. Everyone admired him, not only because of his achievements but also because of the person he was.

"Mr. James, what's the matter?" Joseph spoke before Nora could react.

"Nothing to worry about, I'll tell you guys when we meet." He turned to leave the class. "And do not be late."

"Hey Nora, don't be late." Joseph shouted. He was one of the top rankers in the class, skilled and talented, the only drawback, he was quite conceited. "Remember I don't want to make Mr. James wait." He added.

"Yeah, I'll be on time." Nora said waving her hand.

She still had ten minutes, it was enough to go and confront Tina. She picked her phone and called her. "Hey Tina, where you at? "

"In the library, don't tell me you saw something." She said anxiously.

"Oh no, everything's fine, I just wanted to meet you. I'll come over." She hung up.

She gathered her stuff and left immediately. Going to the library from the computer science department was one hell of a work out. Arriving there, it was quite easy to spot Tina, she was still on her phone.

"Hey there." Nora greeted her with a slap oh her back and a smile.

"Nora..." Tina suppressed herself from shouting. "What do you want?"

"Answers, about what happened in the morning." Nora said with her arms crossed.

"Oh that, it was a lie to cover you up, about sending them out to look for a restaurant." Tina said.

"I know that but what exactly is Night Jazz?"

"Not something you should know." Tina patted Nora's head. "Now I have to go, the class is about to start. And yes, I'll not be having dinner with you tonight."

"Why?"

"I'm going out with Nick."

"A date?" Nora asked.

"No, not exactly, I'll give you the updates."

"Fine. Best of luck for tonight." Nora said waving at Tina. The clock on the wall caught her eye. "Shit." She muttered and dashed out of the library.

When she reached the faculty room, Joseph was already there seated in front of Mr. James who was going through some papers. Beside Joseph sat a girl, probably not a freshman. Nora knocked and entered, Mr. James looked up from his papers and smiled, "Just on time, we were waiting for you Nora, come have a seat." He pointed to the chair beside Joseph.

"I'm sorry professor for being late, did I miss anything?" She said seated on the chair.

"Oh no, you missed nothing." He said getting back to his work.

Nora glanced at the empty chair beside her. "Are we expecting someone?" She asked. Mr. James looked up, finally putting away all the paperwork. "Yes, I sent him to run an errand. Anyway Nora meet Rachel." He pointed to the girl. "She is your senior."

"Hello." Nora said, but the girl didn't pay any heed to her. Nora looked at Mr. James quizzically, who just sighed and shook his head.

"Sorry professor, I'm late. Here you go, the things you asked for." The voice seemed familiar. Nora looked up and to her shock, it was the person she least expected, Luke.

"So, this is the one, we were waiting for." Mr. James said smiling. "This is Luke." He said proudly.

Luke sat down on the empty chair and Nora sighed. "What now?" She muttered. Luke looked at her and raised an eyebrow, she smiled awkwardly, then turned her attention to Mr. James who was busy opening the envelope Luke handed him.

"So you might be aware why I called you?" Mr. James said looking at Luke and the girl. "As for you both." He looked at Nora and Joseph. "Congratulations, you both will represent our college in National Tech Fare this time." He said smiling.

"Thank you Mr. James, thank you so much, I'll not disappoint." Joseph was on his feet, and his chair on the floor.

"Yes." Mr. James nodded, surprised at the sudden commotion. "But there's this thing, the seniors sitting beside you will play an important role in this." He continued. "There's a change this time." He pushed a book towards them, he had taken out from the envelope. But then again, Joseph snatched it away, before Nora could get her hands on it.

"I want to look at it too. You don't even know where to look at." She said annoyed.

Before she could say anything, Mr. James handed her another book. "Thank you." She took the book.

"You all go through them. I'll be back in ten." And he was out of the room.