Someone Will Remember Us - Swanqueen

Chapter 2

That evening, Emma opened her laptop with a sigh that threatened to blow the papers off her desk. It was only the second week of the semester and she already had a 2,000-word essay to write for her medieval lit class. The thought of settling down to deal with it was making her temples throb.

The entire day had gone from bad to worse, and coming back to a dorm that was swarming with shrieking freshmen hadn't helped in the slightest.

She'd fought for countless scholarships in order to attend that college, and at the time she hadn't cared about the small print that required her to live on campus for the full four years. Now, though, as she fought to ignore the chatterings of her cheery roommate Mary Margaret, she briefly considered moving into the cardboard box that had been sitting outside the arts department since the previous semester.

Then she caught sight of her computer screen and nearly screamed. Because right there, right at the top of her inbox, was an email impatiently flashing with the subject line Today's absence. Emma didn't need to look at the sender's name, because there was only one person it could be from.

She briefly considered deleting it and pretending that she'd never seen it, but curiosity and a weird, aching need to have just the slightest bit of contact with her professor had already burrowed its way deep inside her. She held her breath and clicked on the message.

Miss Swan,

Can I enquire as to the reason why you were absent from my seminar today?

In the future, I would appreciate it if you could let me know ahead of time if you won't be able to attend.

Professor Regina Mills

Emma slumped down in her chair and dragged her fingers through her hair. Great. So, not only did this woman think she was socially incompetent and maybe borderline brain-dead, but now she thought she was a rude little bitch too. Perfect. Her genius plan could not have gone better.

Emma placed her tingling hands over the keyboard and typed out a reply.

Hi Professor Mills,

I'm sorry for missing your class – I was sick. I'll be sure to let you know in future.

Emma

It was the weakest possible response, but it was the best she could do. Besides, who could be mad at her if she was sick?

Professors Mills could, apparently. A new email appeared in Emma's inbox two minutes later.

You looked perfectly well when I saw you in the cafeteria 30 minutes before class.

Come and see me tomorrow to collect the work you missed. My office hours are below.

Oh, shit shit shit. Emma snapped her laptop shut hard enough that she had to immediately prise it open again to check the screen hadn't cracked. When she was certain that tiny shards of smashed glass weren't about to come spilling out, she slid down in her chair and let out a groan.

This could not have backfired more.

She barely got any sleep for the second night in a row, and when her alarm went off the next morning, she had to all but drag herself out of bed. Professor Mills' office hours were between 10 and 12, which at the very least meant she would get this task out of the way quickly.

She'd really rather go back to bed and ignore it completely, though.

But she didn't, because she was a goddamn adult and she could handle a five-minute conversation with a woman who was smart and intimidating and prettier than Angelina Jolie. She got dressed and headed to her 9am class, and she tried desperately to ignore the clock. Then, before she knew it, it was 10am, her lecture was over, and she had to go back to room 108 for the first time since she'd ploughed through the door like a bulldozer without a driver.