One's Promised

Chapter One

I walked slowly towards the end of the hallway, the bell ringing loudly around me, signaling five minutes before the beginning of class. I clutch my book tightly. "Chin up, Phoebe. You can do this," I encouraged myself as I saw the last door on the hallway. I can see students going in, and I walked quickly to join them enter the room. I sat at the last row and observed as the classroom slowly filled up with students, some knew each other from another class, some, like me, were sitting quietly, waiting.

The bell rang again.

"It's show time," I muttered. I stood up, walked at the middle of the aisle, placed my book on the table and stood at the podium, facing the class. "Good afternoon!" I said, " and welcome to History 201: Asian History. I am Ms. Phoebe Rivers and I am going to be your guide this semester as we go through time and learn our history." I smiled.

My students were silent. Someone near the back of the room raised his hand. "Yes?" I asked.

"If you don't mind me asking, Ms. Rivers, but may I know how old are you?" The students turned towards me. I blushed.

"I am old enough to know not to answer that question, dear sir, and old enough to teach you this course," I said. The class laughed, loosening them up.

The class ended an hour and a half later and I was going back to my office when my phone vibrated, signaling a text message. It was from the dean's secretary and my good friend Molly Stevens.

PLEASE VISIT THE LOUNGE AND CHECK THE ANNOUNCEMENTS RE: EVENING COURSES. PLEASE CONFIRM YOUR SCHEDULE WITH THE ME ASAP.

THANKS.

I was confused. I heard that the college is opening some evening courses for students who are working day jobs but are willing to go back to college to earn a degree. There were no final announcements yet, so I did not understand the message. I contemplated on texting her back, but decided on going to her office directly to clear things up. I went downstairs to the dean's office and knocked. "Molly?" I asked. "Phoebs, is that you? Come in!" She shouted. I'm guessing Dr. Johnson is out today, given Molly's bossy behavior. I smiled as I entered, and, true enough, he wasn't there. Molly was busy filing papers and double checking names against the computer but she stopped when I sat down on the sofa across her table. "So," she said, "what came into you that you registered yourself to be an instructor for the evening classes? Is social life too boring for you? Next thing I know, you'd be fifty with twenty cats at home to cheer you up!" She scoffed.

"Hey, I didn't volunteer myself!" I defended myself. She may sometimes be too loud and condescending, but I love her honesty. Which brings me back to my train of thinking. "I didn't know the college pushed through with the proposal, and even if I did, I wouldn't volunteer myself there. You know I'm taking evening lessons too, " I reminded her. She rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said, " anyway, someone might have suggested your name on the list. Unfortunately, I cannot change the list, so if you're here to ask me to pull out your name, sorry."

I sighed. "Thanks Molly, I was just here to clarify things up. Friday still on?"

"Yep!" She said as she started filing papers again, dismissing me. I left the office and went straight to the lounge to check the list and try to guess who put my name there.

Entering the lounge I saw Mark Peters and Gil Sherman, both Physics professors, talking to each other quietly near the bulletin board. I smiled a greeting as I approached the board and they both glanced up. "I heard you were drafted, young lady," Mr. Sherman said, nodding at the list, " there were fifteen students who asked for your course."

I was stunned. Fifteen? Boy, that was plenty. "Thanks Gil! I was just informed about this today. I was surprised that the special evening courses pushed through. Were you informed?" I asked. "No," he said, looking at Mark, "we're just as surprised as you are. As last meeting, we were assuming it won't push through given that only few students expressed their interest." "What was surprising was the number of students who became interested in such a short span of time." Mr. Peters chimed in.

I looked at the lists on the board. Out of 12 teachers in our department, only two were signed up, my name and Lily Header's. I noticed that both our names were signed by Lily herself. Now, I never really liked Lily and I know that the feeling is mutual. What I do not understand was why she placed my name on the list, when, clearly, the slots were meant for volunteers. I turned to Gil. "You said a while ago I was drafted? How about Lily?" I asked. He shook his head. "No, Lily volunteered a while ago, but when she saw the list of courses, she volunteered you because you handled most of them. Dr. Johnson was hesitant at first, but she told him she texted you and you said yes."

I stood there quietly, reining my irritation. I better talk to Lily as soon as I see her. "Thanks Gil, Mark! See you tomorrow." I said as I left the lounge. I went to the department and checked with Martha, our secretary, if Lily is still in. "Sorry Phoebe, but Lily left an hour ago," she said, "but if you need some notes, her office is open."

"What notes?" I asked, my heart sinking as I realized my fate. She smiled apologetically. "The notes for tonight's first lecture are in her office. First day of evening classes is tonight, Phoebe. Here is your schedule." she said as she handed me a piece of paper with my schedule printed on it. "Thanks, Martha. I'm just surprised to be given this information just now. Were you informed that this will push through?"

She paused and cocked her head to one side. "Dr. Johnson just confirmed it early today. He was talking to Lily about it a while ago. I was informed that you agreed to take the first shift, that's why I printed out your schedule." Argh. Lily again.

I thanked Martha and went directly to my office, fuming. Lily and I never really got along, but we were civil to each other. We never minded each other's businesses. Until now. I sighed. I called Anton to tell him I need to cancel for later and started reviewing notes for the session.