Wishing Well

University rules state "No professor may have sexual and/or romantic relations of any kind with an enrolled student. No exceptions. In the case of such relations the professor involved will be terminated and the student involved will be permanently expelled." But the moment I looked into those gorgeous, hazel eyes, I knew that all rules were meant to be broken.

Let's back up.

First day at University. I couldn't believe I'd made it this far. I was born into a somewhat poor to average family, and any higher education than high school had been out of the question. I'd gotten in on a full scholarship for fine arts. I was amazed! Staying in my own dorm with a roommate, being out on my own, taking care of myself, hell, the scholarship even included my rent with a monthly allowance for food and necessities. Things couldn't have been any better.

I had only 2 or 3 classes a day, depending on the day, but one in particular stood out to me. Mixed Media. The class was just as it sounded, a mix of different types of art varying from digital art to realism paintings to comic book art. There were so many possibilities for me, I couldn't wait to get started. I swear, having my class schedule in hand a week before the first day was torture. The excitement was overwhelming.

I met my roommate upon arrival. She was putting her things neatly away when I walked in. "Oh hi there." I smiled to her.

"Oh! You must be Ashley, right?" She asked, climbing down from the chair she stood on. "I'm Lana. I chose this room, I hope you don't mind." She pointed to the room on the left down the little hallway.

"That's fine." I said, not really caring much. The rooms were pretty much the same anyway. I was a little surprised to see how different it was from what they show on movies. Dorms on movies were literally just a bedroom with two beds. nowhere to cook or eat or shower really. But this was like a small, 2 bedroom apartment. It was perfect for just us two.

I put away all my things, though I wasn't a huge fan of being alone at the moment. I felt a little awkward, not knowing Lana, and still a little sad from the teary goodbye from my parents. I wouldn't see them again until Christmas and it seemed so far away.

When I was done unpacking, I went out to the living room to join Lana on the couch. Thankfully the place was fully furnished so it was already starting to feel like home. "So where are you from?" She asked, lightly making conversation.

"Virginia. I got a full ride here so I decided to make the move. You?" I asked, hoping to get to know her more. I was a little nervous we wouldn't get along.

"New York." She smiled proudly. "Not too far from Jersey here." We sat silent for a moment before she started asking more questions. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No. You?" I smiled, although saying "no" stung a little. I had to leave my boyfriend back in Virginia to come to this school. As much as I cared about him, I just felt like this was more important. Leaving Ben was one of the most difficult things I had to do, but I couldn't give up this once in a life time opportunity and he didn't want a long distance relationship. You can't always win.

As Lana went on about her boyfriend, I found myself not even listening to her, getting a little lost in my head. I was starting to miss Ben, but I had to shake it. This was my life now, and things didn't end so nicely with him anyway. By the time I started paying attention again she was asking questions and I didn't want to seem like I wasn't listening to her. "So would you mind?"

"Uh sure. No problem." I said, having no idea what I'd just agreed to.

"Great! I'll be sure to write down your his number for you. Frank is going to be so excited." She smiled and got up and grabbed a pen and paper. "Here. So I don't forget. Just text him and tell him you're my friend. He won't mind."

I looked down at the paper which had a phone number and the name "Ray" written below it. Who? Shit.
I assumed this Frank person was Lana's boyfriend and that I'd agreed to go on a date of some sort with this Ray guy. Why the hell did I agree to that? "Thanks." I muttered, putting the phone number in my purse. I felt weird about texting a random guy, so I put it off.

For the rest of the night Lana and I put things away and watched movies. I was glad she wasn't the type of girl that was stuck up or didn't want anything to do with a roommate. I needed a friend.

When the first day of classes came, I felt ready and confident. I was focused, and awfully determined to keep men off my mind this year. I made a vow to myself to not get any ideas about any guys, after that date with Ray anyway. But it all seemed to fly out the window when our professor entered the room.

"Good morning everyone." He said, seeming kind of tired. He was dressed properly, like a professor should, business casual, but his long, raven black hair seemed to not quite fit the professional look, although it did look good on him. I knew I was staring at his gorgeous hazel eyes and his near perfect jaw line, but I couldn't stop. It was like a demon came to Earth disguised as my perfect distraction to punish me for something.

"I'm Mr. Way and I'll be teaching Mixed Media. Generally, we're going to start out simple with figure drawing, composition, color pallets, and work our way into realism. From there we're going to shift into a different direction, my personal favorite, comics, cartoons, and digital art. After that we'll have to see how much time we have left and decide what to do from there." He paused, allowing everyone to write things down or take mental notes. He paced back and forth slowly as he talked, trying to make eye contact with everyone, I just so happened to look away every time he came to me. "So onto my expectations of you. I expect you to all be here on time. Now, I'm normally late so if you aren't here before me then we definitely have a problem." The class quietly laughed, probably a little relieved that he seemed to be laid back. "And I expect any and all assignments to be turned in on time. I absolutely hate late work, but if there's some real reason, like an emergency or like you died, there better be an email in my in my inbox." The class chuckled again, making him smile. "But really though, I don't ask a whole hell of a lot so no fucking around in here. Our first priority is to get shit done and build your portfolios. Clear?" He said, receiving nods and mild laughter.

"I don't see a wedding band!" One girl called out, maybe a little too loud.

"What's that?" He asked, looking a little irritated. He received no answer, just giggles from a small group of girls. "What's your name?" He asked, probably ready to target her for the rest of the semester.

"Regina." She said, quietly now.

"Okay Regina." He said, pacing the room again. "Since you've pointed out that I do not, in fact, wear a wedding band, let's talk about why that's an inappropriate comment." He seemed to have dealt with things like this before as he already had somewhat of a speech. "University rules state 'No professor may have sexual and/or romantic relations of any kind with an enrolled student. No exceptions. In the case of such relations the professor involved will be terminated and the student involved will be permanently expelled.' Now, Regina, making comments about my personal romantic life could cost you your education, and, had I been ignorant enough to pursue, my job." He turned to the middle of the room, making sure this went out to everyone. "I have had 3 female students end up getting expelled because of their behavior in my class room and I do not want a 4th. So, ladies, and possibly interested men," He paused, gaining another laugh from the class. "I will not tolerate sexual, romantic, or otherwise suggestive comments. I will make you leave."

I could tell he didn't actually even want to give that speech, he seemed a little irritated with it, but maybe it was something he had to do to keep his job with all the expulsions. I felt a little sad, even though I already knew about the rules. It was good that those rules were in pace though. It kept my mind on my work, but maybe a distraction or two every once in a while wouldn't be awful.

"Awesome. Now let's get on with real class time." He said as he started writing on the board. I took notes as carefully as I could but I did getting a little side tracked once in a while. I had already decided that this class would be my favorite, especially after going to my last two.

In my sculpture class, I had Ms. Langly. She was a strict and awful woman. I was stressed out just by hearing her god awful shrill voice. I couldn't wait to leave. Until I got into Art History. It was boring. Absolutely terrible. Just sitting in class listening to Mr. Bigg's horrible, monotone voice drone on and on about expectations and class made me want to take a nap. I knew it would be a long and stressful semester, but I was more than willing to take it head on. At least it was free.

When I got back to the dorm, Lana was already there, tapping her foot at me. "What?" I asked, feeling awkward.

"Why didn't you text Ray?" She asked. Oh.

"I forgot, I was busy today. I'll message him." I smiled, pulling out my phone. Honestly I had no idea what to say to the guy. Luckily when I looked at my phone there was already a message waiting for me.

"I gave him your number." She smiled, probably thinking she was helping me.

"Thanks." I smiled back and responded "Hello" to his "Hi I'm ray. lana said 2 txt u."

I went in my room, frustrated about getting pushed into a date with this guy. I didn't even know him. I wasn't even over Ben yet.. But stupid me had to agree to it instead of admit I wasn't listening to her. Damn it.

My conversation with Ray was pretty awkward and short lived, but I had agreed to go on a double date with him, Lana, and Frank. I just prayed it wouldn't be weird. My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door that Lana jumped up to answer.

I came out of my room to see who it was to find her hugging a man about as tall as she was. "This is Frank." She said, introducing me to her boyfriend.

"I Frank. I'm Ashley." I waved. He kindly waved back, seemingly a little shy.

We all sat down in the living room to watch movies. I changed into my pajamas, figuring I didn't have anyone to impress anyway. We all talked and got a long really well, Frank was a nice guy and Lana was lucky to have him. I had to admit, the way he talked and how sweet he was slightly reminded me of Ben, but what didn't these days?

I fast and loud knock came from the door and I looked at Lana, wondering if she was expecting anyone and she looked just as confused as me. I got up to answer the door and, to my surprise, Mr. Way stood before me, seeming somewhat frantic. "Mr. Way?" I said, totally embarrassed of my attire.

"Oh, hi. Sorry to barge in on you. I need Frank he said he was here." He talked fast like something urgent was happening. I called Frank to the door and stood back. "Frank holy shit get in my car right now." He said, beyond excited.

"What the hell? What is going on?" Frank laughed as Mr. Way pulled on his arm. I found it incredibly strange and wildly inappropriate for a teacher to do to someone who I assumed was a student. In all honestly I didn't know at that point that Frank actually wasn't a student at all. He just came to visit Lana quite often.

I heard them stumble down the stairs of the dorm and Lana and I went to the window, equally confused. We heard Mr. Way say "Dude holy shit they're playing it!" As he slung Frank into his running car.

"What the fuck!? That's awesome!" I heard Frank yell, as he hadn't closed the car door.

"Why is my professor man handling your boyfriend?" I laughed a little.

"What? Gerard is your professor?" She laughed. She must have known him personally.

"Uh, yeah. Mixed Media." I said, although confused.

"He's Frank's best friend. Has been since they were in high school. I knew Gee was a professor here but I didn't think me or you would be taking his classes! Weird!" She thought the whole thing was hilarious, but it all just made me nervous. Was I really going to have to deal with my professor sitting around, hanging out on my couch with his friends?

Things were about to get so much weirder around here.