Suspicious New Professor

Strange Classroom Incidents

5

The CGR classroom was alive with the hum of eager students, their eyes bright with the anticipation of new concepts in computer graphics. Jenissa, seated near the center of the room, adjusted her notebook, bracing herself for what had become the most unpredictable class on her schedule. Ever since Elias Noir had taken over as the Computer Graphics professor, each session seemed to bring a fresh set of baffling events, as if the classroom itself was a stage and Elias, the clumsy yet captivating actor.

As students filed in, Jenissa’s gaze instinctively flickered to the entrance, waiting for Elias to appear. She was determined to remain vigilant, aware of how his odd mannerisms had only grown stranger with each class. Her friend Emile, sitting beside her, nudged her gently.

“Relax, Jen. You’re looking at the door like it’s going to bite you,” Emile whispered, his tone laced with amusement. “It’s just Noir. Honestly, you’re reading too much into his clumsiness.”

Jenissa gave him a tight smile, though her mind was still tangled in a web of suspicion. “Maybe, but I can’t ignore how weird he acts. Doesn’t he seem...I don’t know, a bit off to you?”

Emile shrugged. “Everyone has their quirks. He’s just new, trying to make an impression. Not every strange professor is hiding something sinister.”

But before Jenissa could reply, the door swung open abruptly, and in walked Elias Noir. Dressed in his usual crisp attire, he exuded an air of authority that was strangely undercut by his awkward, hesitant steps. As he made his way to the podium, his hand brushed against a stack of textbooks on a nearby desk, sending them cascading onto the floor with a loud thud.

“Whoops!” Elias exclaimed, bending down to pick up the books, his cheeks turning a faint shade of pink as he apologized profusely to the students sitting nearby.

The class burst into a murmur of soft laughter, but Jenissa couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something oddly deliberate about his clumsiness. She leaned in toward Emile, whispering, “See what I mean? It’s as if he’s trying too hard to appear harmless.”

Emile rolled his eyes but kept silent, casting a skeptical glance in her direction.

Once Elias had reorganized the textbooks, he straightened, looking out at the class with a sheepish smile. “Alright, everyone, let’s dive into today’s lesson. We’ll be discussing transformations in computer graphics, specifically rotations and scaling. These are essential techniques, so make sure you pay close attention.”

As Elias began his lecture, Jenissa tried to focus on the material, her pen poised over her notebook. However, her mind kept wandering, dissecting every stutter, every seemingly unintentional slip that Elias made. His speech was peppered with awkward pauses and the occasional fumble with his laser pointer, which only seemed to add to his bumbling charm—or facade, as Jenissa suspected.

Halfway through the lecture, Elias moved to demonstrate a transformation example on the whiteboard. He picked up a marker and began drawing a basic grid, his hand shaking slightly as he did so. After a moment, he accidentally knocked over an open bottle of water he had placed too close to the edge of the table. The water spilled onto his notes and began seeping into a stack of assignment papers nearby.

“Oh no, oh dear!” Elias exclaimed, grabbing a handful of tissues from his desk and frantically dabbing at the mess.

The students chuckled again, some whispering to each other about how endearingly clumsy their professor was. Jenissa, however, felt a chill crawl down her spine. Each incident seemed small and insignificant on its own, but the frequency of Elias’s “accidents” was too high to be coincidence, she thought. His behavior was erratic, almost as if he were testing the students’ reactions.