Floor 68.

VII. - Red Lights.

Mystery Middleton separated from her friends, entering her AP English Literature and Composition class. Her teacher, Mr. Hayes was a handsome man, everybody said so. Well, everybody mostly meant girls; they we're drooling over him, he was the most talked topic for the two passed weeks. But Mystery had nothing to do with those girls.

Of course, she admitted the man was handsome, but when you're dating Thunder Danniel Matthews, there was no room for anyone else. Mystery was proud of her relationship with Thunder. When they started dating after he and Heidi broke up, she was scared; she thought he was only using her to get over Stonecrest Lake's sweetheart, but as time passed, she realized he didn't. And that filled her with pride. Heidi was her friend, but she had nothing on her, both were very beautiful and popular. Mystery was little bit sweeter while Heidi was known as the bitch of the group. Nobody could blame her; it was in her and it came so naturally.

Mystery had doubts when she first started dating Thunder, she feared he would cheat on her like he did to Heindi, but much to her joy, he didn't. He was always faithful and nobody ever spotted him doing something weird. Mystery was sure he was in love with her and she intended it would remain like that.

"Hello everybody", Mr. Hayes' voice said, retrieving the pretty brunette from her thoughts. Wow, she thought to herself at the sight of their teacher. Mr. Hayes was really a good looking man. Matter of fact, he was gorgeous with that perfect silky hair, those mesmerizing blue-green eyes. He was about 6'3" tall and he was always neat. Needless to say, Whitehill Chester's girls were drooling over him. Most of them already hit on him, of course, in such sophisitication and class. But the man wasn't interested in any of them. He just did his job, - perfectly, of course -, and left. There was nothing known about him, nobody even knew his first name. He always was adressed as Mr. Hayes and that is that.

"For this year, you are going to study three novels by different authors. First, you will have to read all of them, of course", he announced looking at his students who were surprisingly paying attention. "Second, and as I pointed before, you are required to write essays and assignments about a topic or a theme that you will run into during your reading. I will not tolerate any plagiarizing or copying attempts. I strongly and highly insist that the work must be yours", his voice continued to explain while he was still scanning the audience with his piercing blue-green eyes. "Writing is very pleasant and the first step towards a beautiful well-written essay is reading ", he explained crossing his arms. "Also, I warn you that you have less than a month until turning your assignments; if you haven't started writing them, may I say you are in deep trouble", he added with frowned eyebrows.

"As I explained during our first meeting, you are to read three novels. "Hamlet", by William Shakespeare, "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel García Márquez", and last but not least "Crimeand Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The selected novels are classics and they're very rich and appealing, I am sure you will be pleased reading them. Do you have any questions?", he finished standing at the exact middle of the classroom, eyeing the assembly. 

"Seriously, why can't we read something easy and simple? Like Fifty Shades of Grey?", a masculine voice said from the back of the class, alerting everyone to turn their heads back.

Mystery looked across her shoulder wondering whose voice was it. Duke James Hart, of course.

"Do you consider Fifty Shades of Grey a novel to be read during eleventh grade, mister..?", the teacher's raspy voice asked, while his eyes were directed at Duke, who was feeling uneasy.

"Hart. Duke Hart", he presented himself, doing his best to sound confident, but it was obvious his voice was tremulous. He just got himself into trouble.