It Started With a Whisper

"I really hope we don't have a quiz today. I didn't do any of the reading," Amelia said as we walked into the building that held our psychology class. If I was being honest, a quiz was the last thing I was worried about. My conversation with Mr. Franco had been the only thing that went through my head since he walked away from me that day. Doing my over-thinking as usual, I noticed that he never ordered anything, and I didn't know why he was over there in the first place if he had classes so close together.

"Why?" I asked purely because Amelia was one of those girls that liked to talk about herself, and if you didn't ask her at least one question of what she was talking about, she had an attitude for the rest of day. You had to stroke her ego a lot of the time.

"I figured I would celebrate making it through my very first day at USC. Billie took me out for drinks." Billie was Amelia's on and off boyfriend. Why she was still with the bastard, I will never know. He's cheated on her multiple times and never showed any remorse. According to her, he was the only connection to alcohol she had, and Amelia loved to drink.

"Sounds amazing."

"It was." She began rambling, and I tuned her out, hoping that someone would come save me from the torture that was Amelia's rambling about her boyfriend.

"Hello ladies. You're early." Amelia instantly shut her mouth and grinned widely at our teacher.

"Of course, Mr. Franco. We promised that we wouldn't be late again." Amelia took a random seat, and I made my way to the back. I was never comfortable sitting up front. It always made me feel like it would give the teacher more incentive to pick on you, and I wasn't down for that.

"Well, I hope you both did your reading. There's a quiz today." I smirked as Amelia groaned and shook my head. She always had bad luck when it came to quizzes.

"Shut up, Aria. I can hear you snickering." I hadn't even realized that I was laughing, but I bit my lip to hide my giggles. I pulled my text book out of my bag, doing a little last minute studying. There was still another fifteen minutes before class actually started.

"I'll be back. I gotta take a leak." Amelia disappeared, and I shook my head.

"Well, she doesn't leave much to the imagination, does she?" I shook my head again before turning towards Mr. Franco. He had a small smile gracing his lips, and my breath hitched in my throat.

"Nope, but I've heard her say worse. You know she's not coming back, right?" Amelia was one of those people that would take a zero over failing. Why? I don't know. The grade would go down either way, but she should at least try.

"I figured. It's alright. Tell her she can make up the quiz on Friday."

"I doubt she's going to do the reading at all, but I'll let her know." The room was silent after that. I started doodling on a piece of paper to pass the time. As students slowly started filing in, I cleared off my desk and pulled out two pens. I wasn't surprised about having a quiz the second day of class. This was USC after all. I wouldn't have been surprised if we had a quiz on the first day.

"Clear your desks. Pop quiz." I heard a chorus of groans throughout the room and found myself snickering again. I understood that college was supposed to be a fun experience, but there was still work to be done, otherwise you'd find yourself flunking out, and that was no fun. I pat myself on the back for actually doing the reading because I breezed through the quiz without a problem. A couple people had already given up and walked out of the classroom. I went over my answers a couple times even though I didn't need to. I felt a pair of eyes on me and glanced around the room, trying to find the owner, but I didn't get my answer until I looked towards the front. My body stiffened, and my heart skipped once I noticed that Mr. Franco was staring directly at me. I couldn't decipher the look on his face, but it was making me slightly uncomfortable. I cleared my throat and stood up, grabbing my stuff on the way down to the front.

"All finished?" He asked, grabbing the paper out of my hands.

"Uhm...yeah."

"I actually wanted to talk to you about something." What was there to talk about? I finished the first quiz, and I was pretty sure that I passed it with flying colors.

"Okay." He stood up and walked towards a door on the other side of the room. I assumed it led to his office and followed him. I thought it looked a little weird to be walking into his office with a classroom full of people, but I walked inside anyway.

"What's up, Mr. Franco?"

"I have a friend that works in the hospital on campus. He's looking for volunteers in the Children's ward if you're interested." I wasn't sure how to feel. It was an amazing opportunity, and it might even help me decide what kind of doctor I wanted to be.

"But I'm not supposed to start working in a hospital for another three years," I said, tugging nervously at the ends of my hair.

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to. I just thought you might like it." The fact that he thought about me at all was surprising, but I would be a fool to pass this chance up.

"No, I want to. This is great. Thanks, Mr. Franco." I smiled at him, thinking of all the opportunities this could provide me with. Maybe I would end up working in the hospital on campus after I graduated.

"A little secret between you and me...outside of class, you can call me Dave." Dave. It was a nice name. It suited him well. My smile widened a little, and I made my way back towards the door.

"Okay. Just let me know when I need to go to the hospital and who I need to ask for." I had to find something to wear now. I wanted to make a good impression on whatever doctor I would be shadowing during my time spend there.

"Just meet me here Friday at 3 and I'll take you." I nodded once before bidding him goodbye and walking out of the room. I saw a few people eyeing me curiously, but I didn't care. I was getting the chance to volunteer at USC's medical center, and that was before I completed my under-graduate degree.

"What are you grinning about?" I didn't even see Amelia waiting outside the door, so I jumped when I heard her voice.

"Mr. Franco might have possibly gotten me a position volunteering at the medical center on campus." She smirked, and I raised an eyebrow at her.

"What are you smirking about?"

"I think Mr. Franco has a little crush on you." I couldn't help myself. I started laughing. Like tears leaking out of my eyes laughing.

"You should really stop smoking marijuana."

"Number one? That's never going to happen. Mary Jane is my best friend. Two? I'm not crazy. I know what I saw, and that first day of class, Mr. Franco couldn't keep his eyes off of you." I wouldn't allow her to pump my head up with things that were never going to happen.

"You must be hallucinating."

"Well what made him want to get you a volunteer position at the hospital? How does he even know that you want to be a doctor?"

"Because he asked." She stopped walking completely and stared at me like I had two heads, "What?"

"When did you guys even have that conversation? The last time we saw him was in class on Monday." And then it dawned on me that I hadn't filled her in on anything that happened. She didn't know that Mr. Franco showed up after she left. She didn't know that we talked for at least fifteen minutes before he had to leave for his next class.

"Oh. After you left for your other class on Monday, I saw him and we talked for a little bit." She glared at me, and I bit my lip.

"Aria Monique Jameson, how dare you not tell me!" She yelled, causing the people around us to stare. I hated being the center of attention, and my cheeks turned red.

"I didn't think it was that important," I muttered, hoping she would lower her voice.

"How was that not important? Where did you see him?"

"In Starbucks. Why are you asking so many questions? That was not the point of this conversation," I said, running my fingers through my hair. I hated when she got all nosy for no reason. She tended to see things that weren't there.

"Well what did he order? Maybe I can bring it to class, and he'll give me extra credit or something." I sighed loudly.

"He didn't order anything." She stopped walking again, and I threw my hands up in exasperation. I didn't have anywhere to be for a while, but she had class again. I was on my way to the library to knock out the rest of my Calculus homework.

"What do you mean he didn't order anything?"

"I mean exactly what I said. He didn't order anything. I spazzed out when he got there and knocked my muffin on the floor. He offered to buy me another one, but that was it. We talked and then he left because he had another class to teach. I really don't see what the big deal is, Amelia."

"The big deal is that I'm right! Mr. Franco has the hots for you!" I rolled my eyes. I just couldn't win with her.

"No, he doesn't, Amelia. And I would appreciate it if you stopped saying that. People are staring at us." If Amelia was one thing, it for sure wasn't quiet. I didn't want any people walking past us to hear something and get the wrong idea. It was only the third day of school, and I had no plans of getting kicked out because my best friend couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"You're lucky I have class. We're going to talk about this later." She pointed at me and disappeared, leaving me in the quad. I didn't want to have the conversation later, but knowing Amelia, I didn't have a choice. Joy.