The Babysitter - Frank Iero X O.C.

1: The Professor

It was a beautiful morning in Jersey. One of those mornings where you wake up to the sunlight filling every corner of your bedroom.
I opened my eyes to the sound of birds chirping at my window.
'Am I in a Disney movie?' I thought to myself, smiling.
All was lovely for about fifteen more seconds, when I heard an odd sort of grunt from the other side of my bed.
I turned over (or rather, jumped out of my skin).
I chuckled when I saw him.
'Oh, of course,' I thought, 'My English professor is sleeping beside me.'
HOLD THE PHONE.
This feels like an odd place to begin the story.
Let's go back to the beginning of the first week of the new semester in college.
Fresh Autumn air was brushing gently against my face as I walked through the campus gates and towards the building in which my classroom was in.
I was wearing some light blue, really faded blue jeans and a t-shirt I got at a Pixies concert.
As I was walking down the corridor, I was stopped by my roommate, Rachel.
She practically cornered me.
"ANDY! ANDY I HAVE THE BIGGEST NEWS!"
I swear to god I thought she was going to tell me the president was here on a visit.
Rachel grabbed my shoulders, looked me dead in the eye and said, as though it were a huge world-bending secret,"We have a new English professor."
I gave her a confused look, and muttered,"Alright."
"Andrea. He is HOT," Rachel explained, grinning, "My GOD he's hot."
I nodded. A teacher? Hot? Yeah, ok, Rachel. "Thanks for the heads up, Rach."
Rachel was at a little bit of a boy-crazy phase, you see. Now that she was finally broken up with this asshole guy she's dated for way too long, every male human being she laid eyes on was THE HOTTEST GUY SHE'D EVER SEEN.
With this in mind, I was very much not expecting Mr Iero to be half as attractive as he was.
I was the first person to walk into the classroom that morning. Ten minutes early, as usual. I like the extra time.
I saw a hunched figure at the professors desk, face down in a load of paperwork and sipping coffee.
I had the lovely task of having a seat directly in front of the professors desk, so I awkwardly placed myself down and decided to use the few minutes I had to proof read an essay for another class.
"Morning," the hunched figure said, straightening up.
I looked up from my essay. I could see him now.
Dark, long, messy hair with dark brown eyes. Tattoos curled around his fingers.
He was wearing a button up white shirt and beige slacks. The top button was undone but he had a green tie on.
"Morning," I responded with a light smile.
"You always this early?" he asked.
"I like having the extra ten minutes," I shrugged, looking back down at my essay.
He nodded, "Fair enough. I'm Mr Iero. Well, technically I'm 'Professor Iero'."
He said that last bit in a terrible British accent.
I looked back up from my essay, realising he was trying to have a conversation. I have the social skills of a fucking goldfish.
"Nice to meet you, Professor Iero," I said in the same accent, "I'm Andrea."
"Oh, Andrea King," Mr Iero nodded, "Top of the alphabetical list of names."
I chuckled, "That would be me."
More people started clamouring into the classroom.
"Well, Miss King, I believe it's time to start this shindig," Mr Iero smiled at me and stood up.
I allowed my gaze to follow him as he stood up.
He began the lecture, glancing over at me as he spoke every now and again.
Every time someone asked a stupid question (which was surprisingly often) he'd give me the slightest disappointed look before answering. I had to stifle giggles all through the class.
I was almost annoyed when the bell rang at the end.
Mr Iero sat back down at his desk and I started to put my stuff away into my bag.
"First day, did I do a good job?" he asked me, smirking.
"Oh wonderful," I said, "I especially liked the part when you almost strangled that kid for not knowing Pride and Prejudice."
"How can you come into an English Major class and not know Jane Austen?!" Mr Iero exclaimed.
I giggled, then stood up, "Well, Professor Iero, it's been a blast."
"A true honour, Miss King," he giggled.