Room 206 - Luke Hemmings

twenty-three

A/N: SURPRISE I'm actually on time for once!

I didn't tell any of the girls about what happened between Hemmings and I on Tuesday after I buttoned up my shirt and quickly left his room and headed to the dorms. The girls were all preoccupied with gossiping and I was grateful for that.

It's not that I wanted to be hiding anything from the girls. I didn't want to lie to them in any way, especially not Eleanor. But I knew that if I told them what happened that they would all think I'd been lying this entire time and who knows what they'd think of me then.

So I played it cool, and I just kept my accomplishments to myself as I was hanging out with the girls. Blair was talking about how her and Karen were planning to see a movie soon and how she was hoping it would end in a makeout session instead of actually watching the movie.

I walked with Eleanor to English and into the room with her, her laughing at something witty I'd said. I locked eyes with Professor Hemmings as I walked in, his cheeks flushing and him quickly looking away. I sat down in my usual spot and Eleanor sat down next to me, pulling out her notebook while she chattered away. I listened half-heartedly as I looked at the table where we usually did our tutoring sessions, which had been organized since we'd made out on it the evening before.

Class had started before I realized it and Hemmings was going on and on about something boring that I already knew, and I sat and scribbled ugly flowers in the margins of my notebook as I took notes literally from my own knowledge like I did everyday.

"If you're looking for a more modern author to read from since someone in here complained that Mark Twain was not modern enough, I would highly recommend John Steinbeck," he said. Of course he's a Steinbeck kind of person, he certainly acts like one.

I sighed, resting my chin in my hand.

"Now he's about to go on about Of Mice and Men and probably mention Grapes of Wrath," I mumbled to Eleanor, who raised an eyebrow at me questioningly.

Hemmings stopped talking and glared at me, then sure enough continued his lecture.

"Steinbeck believed that literature should open your eyes to reality, not necessarily entertain," he said. "You've all probably read Of Mice and Men, as you were required last year. It is certainly an excellent novel..."

"Told you," I whispered.

"And Grapes of Wrath," he said. "Is there anyone who has read Grapes of Wrath?"

I raised my hand, practically rolling my eyes. No one else in the class did.

"As I expected," he sighed. "Very well. I would recommend all of you read it, and Miss Williams, I know you will probably read it again, as you've already read it countless times, I presume?"

"You know me so well."

He scowled at me again, but continued speaking. Normally he would have dropped the detention threat by now.

"Anyway, John Steinbeck is the author we'll be learning about next," he said. "Please open your books to page 468 and read the introduction about him."

I flipped my book open to the page and read through it, and it was all mostly things I'd already known. I tapped my fingers on my desk impatiently as the class continued to drag on.

I gave him so many opportunities to pick on me, yet he didn't. He just kept scowling at me all class and he didn't once threaten detention. I was annoyed at this point, and confused at what exactly was going on in his mind. By this point I'd made so many snide comments that I'd have an entire evening's worth of detention, yet I hadn't even received a warning.

"Class is dismissed," he said as the bell rang, and I hardly even realized what time it was because I was so focused on this weird shift.

"I'll catch up," I said to Eleanor. "There's something I need to ask him about Steinbeck."

"Okay, you nerd," she giggled, giving me a little shove and walking out the door.

"Professor Hemmings?" I said as I approached his desk. He tensed from where he was standing facing the whiteboard that he was erasing.

"Is there something you need, Miss Williams?" He asked. "We don't have tutoring sessions today."

"I know." I waited for the last couple people to file out of the classroom and he finally turned around and looked at me, standing where he was in front of the whiteboard.

"What are you here for, then?" He asked.

"I'm confused," I said.

"About what?" He asked. "You clearly knew all about Steinbeck in class--"

"I think we both know I'm not talking about Steinbeck." I looked at him directly in the eyes and he turned away.

"It was an inappropriate mistake," he said flatly. "It can not and will not happen again."

I stood in my tracks, stunned at the answer I'd received. I opened my mouth to speak, but I was cut off before I even had a chance to make a sound.

"Get out of my classroom."

-

I texted El and let her know that I was heading right to the library to work on my homework by myself. I sat in a corner and got right to work on it, channeling my emotions into just working through it all really quickly.

I sat "reading" for a while, but I was just holding the silly book in front of me and not reading a single word on the page. There's a requirement that you have to have something to do in the library and I wanted quiet time to think, so I sat and pretended to be reading this book.

Really, I was thinking about Hemmings. I was thinking about what had happened the evening before and how he was so cold and distant with me in class and how things seemed to quickly change from the moment he pulled himself off of me and stormed into his office without saying a word the day before.

Who does he think he is? Does he think he has a right to fuck with my feelings like that?

I sat and fumed over it for a while, feeling an odd sense of hurt and betrayal. The fucking prick had his hand in my panties and he thinks I'm going to act like nothing happened?

I know just how I'll get back at him. Soon he'll realize that he's not the one I need to watch out for. I'm the one he needs to watch out for.

He really has no idea what he's getting himself into.

-

A/N: I know Daisy acts like a spoiled brat but she is a little spoiled, she's a rich kid at a private school but you know what, she works hard to get good grades and be smart and she's good at it so cut her some slack

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