Professor Rogers had his head down, beginning on grading the pop quizzes, while the students left the classroom. In fact, it was so quiet in the room, he could’ve sworn that no students had stayed behind for the extra credit assignment. His head shot up from his work when he heard Evelyn speak, brows raising slightly in surprise before a smile curled his features. “I don’t want to discourage you, by any means, Evelyn. It’s apparent you have a passion for history. I do, however, do want you to pass up fully experiencing this part of your life,” he told her sagely.
He set the unfinished quizzes to the side for a moment and looked up at her, leaning on his forearms as his eyes darted in between hers. “The assignment is getting to be a TA for me in my other classes. This means that you’ll help me grade papers, be available for tutoring focused in those classes, but also earn continuous extra credit throughout the course of the semester,” he said before a bright grin curled his features, cerulean eyes lighting up. “To be honest, I was kind of hoping you’d be the student standing at my desk at this moment. The paper in your hand is an outline of what your responsibilities would be. Look over it and bring it back to me signed, should you wish to become my TA.” The chime from his phone stole his attention away and he briefly glanced at the message. “On second thought, it looks like your expertise may be needed sooner rather than later. You’re still available for tutoring, correct?”
“I know I can, Professor. It’ll all seem like water under the bridge this time next year,” Violet said, pushing her hair back from her face as she heaved a sigh. “It’s just really hard to keep my mind looking toward the future when the present is this stressful.” When Professor Barnes stood, she kept her eyes on him, frowning a bit to herself before dropping her gaze down to her lap. She felt a bit pathetic, asking for help like this, but she knew it’d help keep her stress down to a minimum. “Thanks, Professor Barnes. I really appreciate it,” she said, offering him a small smile.
Her gaze followed him as he rounded his desk to sit in front of her once more. She nodded as he spoke, immediately noticing the warmth of his hand atop hers. Her eyes widened sharply, heart leaping in her chest as she froze. The feel of his skin on hers had her stomach in knots, though she knew he couldn’t have meant anything by it. Violet finally breathed out a sigh when his hand left hers. “It’s fine,” she told him. “No harm done,” she added with a shaky grin as she fought to get her pulse to an acceptable rate once more.
September 25th, 2018 at 01:42am