𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ✓

ᴏɴᴇ » ᴀ ɴᴇᴡ ꜱᴇᴍᴇꜱᴛᴇʀ

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒆: 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓
━━━━━━━━━

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 brought a hint of nervousness with them, even for a young woman who had experienced a similar restart before. Twenty-two-year-old college student Grace Williams had come back to college two times before this fall, and still, the jittery feeling that raged in her guts was right where it had been the last time. Being in her fourth semester at NYU, she knew exactly where everything was, she knew most of the teachers and the plans for the canteen — and yet, the feeling of stepping foot on the huge compound that was the campus was just as overwhelming.

Her headphones, covering her ears with the little gold hoop earrings she always wore, blasted Sweater Weather at full volume just as Grace pushed the door open, letting her escape the cool and gloomy weather that September had brought with it.

The young blonde had her hair put up with a large clip, a few stray strands were blown into her delicate face by the reckless breeze, sticking to her lipgloss. The beginning of the semester always meant to dress up with an effort, making all freshmen believe that the older students had their lives together when in reality, they lived off of instant coffee and pasta. That specific day, Grace had decided on wearing black, straight-cut jeans with a tight, crimson turtleneck over which she had layered necklaces the same gold color of her iconic earrings. While her outfit got covered by a long, brown coat, her feet were showing off her new beige sneakers. She felt good, pretty, and ready to take on this new semester.

'America's history: Discovering the early twentieth century' was the first class for that day, a course that was taught by a new professor. Slightly nervous to meet this new lecturer teaching this rather boring class, Grace made her way up to the third floor, where the small lecture hall in which the course was taking place, was located. She passed multiple people she knew from past semesters but didn't stop to say hi. In her almost two years in college, she had found exactly one person who she liked, who she now considered her best friend. Unfortunately, this fellow student, peppy Linh Pham, wouldn't come back to New York until the following week due to a family incident, which left Grace all alone on campus for an entire week.

Her sneakers slightly squeaked on the smooth floor of the hallway as she rushed to the lecture hall, her eyes fixated on the wooden door that led to it. Not that she was particularly late, she just really preferred to be on time. Which usually led to her running almost everywhere just not to be late. It was a habit she would've loved to get rid of at some point. But there she was, one of the first three students to sit in the wooden seats with the hinged tables the size of a tiny notebook.

Her phone buzzed with a message from Linh, asking her to tell her everything about this new teacher. Having spent four semesters here, the two girls knew basically every professor that taught in their faculty. This new addition was a rare occasion, as it was not often that new lecturers were introduced to the students. As Grace got out her notebook, of course just the one that was too broad for the insanely tiny table, the wooden door opened again, the creaking echoing through the runty hall. Footsteps, heavy and determined, followed to fill the air, and after a few seconds, the young blonde realized that this person was the new professor, slamming his dark brown briefcase onto the teacher's desk upfront.

His back was facing her, he wore a black coat, and Grace could see part of his chestnut-brown hair. He was tall, she couldn't tell just how much from a distance, and eventually, she twisted her pencil in her hands while waiting for him to turn around.

More and more people entered the hall, finding seats, getting out laptops, tablets, and notepads, but the mysterious new teacher still had his back facing the auditorium, sorting through some paperwork. Grace grew more and more impatient by the minute. A minute after two, the man straightened his back, took off his coat, only to reveal an off-white button-up, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He threw the coat onto the chair behind the teacher's desk and finally turned to face the class.

His piercing blue eyes scanned the students, going up and down through the rows of stacked rows. Grace found the action of him leaning back against the desk, his seemingly large hands grasping onto the wooden edge of it, unusually attractive. He had broad shoulders, his stubble was the same color as his hair. His eyebrows were pinched together as he looked around, patiently waiting for everyone to become silent.

The blonde took a deep breath when his gaze landed on her. For some odd reason, his eyes rested on her a moment longer. His jaw clenched, and Grace forced a smile, just enough to make sure he saw it from down there.

He was attractive, to say the least. He was surely no older than thirty-five, his sleeves seemed too tight around his upper arms, his fingers decorated with several platinum-colored rings. Grace caught herself realizing that she found this man more than attractive.

He was hot.

Of course he was hot. The one class she hadn't been too stoked about going to was taught by a professor oozing confidence, one leg angled up against the closed desk as his eyes landed on her again. She gulped. Those steel-blue eyes met her green ones, and even from across a distance, the stare was so intense that she had to be the one to look away first. Her gaze thus fell down onto her pencil she had still been twisting in her hands.

The deep sound of him clearing his throat drowned out the last bit of whispering in the lecture hall. In utter silence, all students looked at this new professor, who had his paperwork stacked behind him on the wooden desktop. Grace knew that she wasn't the only one thinking about how good he looked. No one dared to breathe.

Then, finally, he broke the silence as he pushed himself off the comfortable position he'd been leaning in. His biceps flexed as he did, and for a moment, Grace feared the sleeves would burst from the impact. They didn't, and so, this new, mysterious teacher opened his mouth for the first time since he'd come into the room, his voice low and steady, buzzing against Grace's eardrums.

"Good afternoon, everyone. My name's James Barnes, and I will be teaching this class on American History this semester."

━━━━━━━━━━━
♡𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒗𝒐𝒕𝒆♡