Chapter 10: If You Lose?

“I still don’t understand why you would make a deal with that devil witch.”

I flinched at the reprimand. Mal was clearly irritated. She was angrily stabbing pins into the large mannequin that stood in the middle of our dorm suite. She was currently working on one of the costumes that would be used during the theater club’s gala performance.

Yes, the club had decided to put on a small show during the gala and I was also asked to perform.

I tried not to look at the ruffles and ribbons on the costume. Mal did beautiful work, but the dress was a bit too cute and revealing for my taste.

I was across the room from her, practicing the dance for the show in front of our large mirror that spanned an entire wall.

When I was young, I used to dance and I loved it. In fact, if it wasn’t for my father losing his job due to health reasons, I probably would still be dancing and pursuing my dream of being a professional dancer.

However, I hadn’t had time to dance much in the past few years, because I had to work on keeping a good grade so that I would be eligible for a full scholarship.

“I know it was dumb, but I am so sick of her messing with me just because I’m not a snobby rich kid.” I paused and added, “No offense, you and Aiden are exceptions, of course.”

Mal just rolled her warm brown eyes, used to me ranting about spoiled rich kids. Her family was loaded as well, they were in the jewelry business, but she never acted like she was better than others.

“It wasn’t just dumb, Ellie,” Mal snapped, shoving another pin into the tiny dress. “It’s downright reckless! Penny is obviously just doing this to gain even more control over you. Is that really what you want?”

“Of course not!” I gritted my teeth. “Penny isn’t going to gain control over me because we’re not going to lose this competition.”

“Ellie,” Mal sighed, shaking her head. She set her tools down so she could put all her energy into giving me the most doubtful look. “I appreciate that you think my costume designs are good enough to carry the whole theater club, but I’d like to remind you that Penny Scranton is in the debate club. I wouldn’t put it past her to use her arguing powers to win this year, just like she did last year.”

Mal and I weren’t one hundred percent sure that Penny cheated last year, but the debate club’s booth that offered advice on winning any argument didn’t deserve first place in our opinion. Mal thought she noticed Penny attempting to sweet-talk the judges, but we never confirmed our suspicions.

I shook my head and winked at my best friend. “I have a plan,” I told her.

“A plan,” she repeated flatly. “What plan?”

“Well, a plan that is currently pending,” I amended with a light blush. “I gotta see if I can pull a few strings of my own. Penny isn’t the only one with connections.”

Mal just continued to stare at me in disbelief as I crossed the room and grabbed my bookbag off of my nightstand. “Where are you going?” she called behind me.

“Office hours. Be right back!” I slipped on my black flats and snatched my keys.

“With Professor Bennett?” she asked before I could open the door to leave. “Is the scary professor calming down a bit?”

I forced my face to fall so I could pass it off as passive. “He’s actually not as bad as everyone makes him out to be,” I said. “He really cares about Shakespeare and helping others care about it as well. He makes the class interesting by reciting different plays really well too.”

Mal’s confused expression morphed into one of pure shock. “What the hell, Ellie? You’ve got the hots for him, don’t you?”

I scoffed and looked away. “What? No! Of course not!” I looked down and muttered. “Well, he’s kind of cute, but whatever.”

Mal whistled low and giggled. “Man, girl. You’ve got it bad it sounds like.”

“I do not!” I snapped before glancing down at my watch. “Look, I better go.”

Mal just laughed openly. “Yeah, yeah, don’t wanna be late for lessons, don’t wanna be late for office hours, what else you don’t want to be late for?” she teased, waggling her thin eyebrows.

I opened the door. “Bye.”

“Hope he recites some love sonnets for you!” she yelled after me as I slammed the door shut.

I’d only just recovered from Mal’s relentless teasing when I arrived in front of Professor Bennett’s office door. I was just about to knock when the door opened and a different man appeared in front of me.

He was clearly a professor as well with his beige-colored suit. He looked to be the same age as Professor Bennett. His hair was a light brown and his eyes were large and matched his hair color. His facial features were rounder than Professor Bennett’s but he was still cute.

It took me a moment to realize that he was Professor Vincent Lewis. If memory serves, he was one of the professors at the School of Business in Edenbrook. He didn’t notice me since he was still chatting with Professor Bennett even as he stood in the doorway to leave.

“Thank you for your input,” the mild-mannered professor was saying. “You know how these kids are. They just don’t have the same level of drive as we did back when we were in college.”

“They can be persuaded,” I heard Professor Bennett say from deeper inside the room. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” he said, grimacing slightly. He turned his head and noticed me, his eyes rounding slightly. “Oh, excuse me.” He held the door open and stepped aside. “Are you here to see Professor Bennett?”

“Yes, sir.” I nodded with a shy grin.

Now that Professor Lewis moved out of the way, I could see into the office. Professor Bennett was seated at his large mahogany desk. He was a bit surprised when he saw me.

“Come in and have a seat, Miss Collins.”

The simple order had me shivering as Professor Lewis shut the door behind him, leaving the two of us alone.

I had been confident about coming in today and still was, but now that I saw him, I didn’t know if I had made the right choice.

“How can I help you?” He started the conversation.

Today he was wearing a pair of glasses and that only made him look more striking. A stack of paper was in front of him. I saw a mess of red ink on the sheet on top and realized that he was grading.

“Professor, would you mind looking over the rough draft of my Othello paper? I’m having some issues with my thesis statement.” I offered him my essay, and my heart rate was increasing slowly.

Professor Bennett accepted the pages, immediately scanning the lines, his green eyes shifting back and forth as he read.

I couldn’t help but bite my lower lip as I watched him. He looked so scholarly at that moment, his strong hand gripping the papers. I swallowed thickly when I imagined the way his hands would feel as they ran up and down my body. I pressed my thighs together tightly, thankful that they were hidden by his desk.

I was busy trying to suppress my dirty thoughts when he looked up at me with dark green eyes. “You’re a strong writer, Miss. Collins. Your word usage is powerful and vibrant.”

I could feel my eyes growing rounder as my cheeks burned at the praise.

He nodded, a tiny smile on the corner of his lips before his expression morphed completely, turning stern. It caused my legs to press together even further.

“That said, you’re right that your thesis could use some work, and I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that the thesis is the most vital portion.”

Then why was he telling me that if he didn’t think he needed to?

I nodded. “Yes, sir. I’m well aware.”

“Very good,” he said with a nod. He snapped the cap of his red pen off and started to mark areas of my paper. “This could use some tweaking. I was unsure of your point here. Perhaps you could add another quote to strengthen this section.”

I watched in awe as he effortlessly found the faults in my paper and even more quickly thought of seamless solutions. I was trying to listen to him as he edited but was extremely distracted by the way his smooth lips moved. I was so close to him that I could clearly see the thick eyelashes that framed his expressive eyes. I found myself envious, wishing mine were that long and thick.

He really was perfect from his strong, square jaw to his sure hands.

“Here you go. If you make the changes indicated, you should expect a good mark on it.”

I barely managed to thank him when he handed my paper back to me.

Seeing me still not intent to leave, he raised an eyebrow. “Anything else?”

I swallowed nervously but then straightened, tilting my chin up confidently. “Yes, as a matter of fact, there is. I, um, made a deal with Penny Scranton.”

“You what?” He put down his pen, and folded his hands under his chin.

Not daring to meet his gaze, I lowered my head and told him about the deal as fast as I could. However, I wasn’t prepared for the way his features darkened.

“I’m not just doing this to get her off my back,” I explained, thankful that I had thought all this through before coming to my stern professor. “In fact, it would benefit our club greatly since the prize is thousands of dollars of club funding. My friend pays for the costume supplies out of her own pocket, and even though I know she can afford to do it, it would be much better for our club if we were able to fund all of our own stuff.”

He didn’t speak for a long moment, his face seeming to darken even further as he stared at me. “Why would you make such a deal?” His voice wasn’t loud but cold, but it caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. “Didn’t I warn you to make yourself scarce?”

I swallowed. “Yes, but she is the one who sought me out and besides, by trying to actually win the gala competition, we’ll be able to recruit more talented students as well. This could be great publicity for the club!”

He didn’t seem to be faltering even in the slightest so I quickly pulled out a stack of papers from inside of my bookbag and plopped it on top of his desk.

“I have a plan that I believe is foolproof,” I said, making my voice firm with confidence. “Please take a look.”

Professor Bennett gazed at me for a long moment before relenting and picking up the stacks of papers. I almost let out a huge breath of relief when his eyes slowly lit up as he went through the pages.

“Impressive.” He let out a long sigh, but his strict expression didn’t change. “While I’m pleased that you’re not going into this completely blind, you know that I am not one of the judges for the competition. Even if I was, I still wouldn’t be able to give you any preferential treatment.”

I felt my cheeks heat up with annoyance, offended that he would think that. “I understand that perfectly. If you were one of the judges, I most certainly wouldn’t be coming to you to begin with.”

He looked at me with a bit of confusion on his face. “Then I don’t understand…”

“Professor, I know you have connections to people who could help with what I list in the plan, do you mind introducing me to them?”

His thick eyebrows furrowed. “No, I don’t mind. However, even if you were to cut down the cost by only using limited professional services, I fail to see how you plan to pay for these required equipment and devices. They won’t be cheap.”

I had thought of this as well. I tilted my chin up a bit further. “Once we win, we’ll have the funding and we’ll pay for it that way.”

Professor Bennett chuckled, clearly amused, but his eyes were filled with interest. “And if you lose?”

I straightened in my seat and smirked. “I won’t.”