Unfaithful... {A Patley Fanfiction}

Chapter One: Wednesday.

I walked quietly down the sleek, clean hallway of the university; students and peers waving their hello's, to which I responded. Tilting my hat down and holding my head low when I had grown tired of the awkward flirty gestures the women who passed by me made.--

Turning into my classroom, my eyes landed on the first thing they always did, the white board. Today, written out  in black, nearly unidentifiable script were the words ‘Professor StumpLeg’ directly in the middle of it. I swear, sometimes it felt like I was teaching a bunch of middle school versions of myself, rather than a group of young-adults.

“Well,” I started calmly, the chatter that had welcomed me now falling instantaneously into dead silence.  “This is a new one, StumpLeg.” Coming to stand at the empty spot between my desk and the podium. I scanned the room. Up the stairs from the front, to the back, my attention fell on Ren, chuckling slyly behind his fist at the very back of the room.

“Is this your handy work, Mr. Corinth?” He stared back at me, unafraid.

“Yeah, Pretty funny right.”

“Quite the opposite, actually. Very misleading in fact,” I went on, pacing briefly in my spot as I spoke before stopping and lifting both my pants legs for a brief moment,  long enough to prove my coming point.

“For as you can see, I do not have a stump leg. Nor is my last name StumpLeg-- Mr. Corinth’s first name is however Ren, short for Reginald.” The younger bodies around me exploded with laughter and I, quite amused with myself, watched Ren sink down into his seat. Enjoying my shallow victory I let my train of thought slip and among the sounds of laughter, heard something I had never heard before; A raspy but soothing sound, a fit of dancing giggles laced with a feminine texture and a squeaky mouse-like undertone. Letting my eyes follow where ear lead, I spotted the culprit-- a tiny turquoise haired female. She sat in what had been an empty desk just yesterday, directly in front of me. How could I have missed her? This was the desk no student dare take on, unless of course, they had to and  she hadn’t had to. This was a large classroom, plenty of free desks scattered around.

“Settle down, settle down,” I insisted, moving my hands in a downward position where everyone could see.

“Um, excuse me miss…” Extending a hand in her direction as the noise ceased.

“Me?” She chirped and I felt my chest clench.

“Yes you, dear. What’s your name?”

“Hayley.”

“Williams?” I finished for her, as I had stepped over to my desk and found my agenda, locating an updated attendance sheet in the midst of our short exchange.

“Yeah.”

“And you’re new to this campus, yes?”

“Mhm.” Of course she was, I had never seen her face before. If I had, well, as unprofessional as it may sound, I surely would have taken notice.

“Well, Ms. Willi-”

“Call me, Hayley. Uh… please?”

“Well, Hayley… I’m Professor Patrick, which sounds just as ridiculous as StumpLeg. Welcome to Literature 102.” She nodded and I popped open my briefcase,

“Alright class, enough of the nonsense. Let’s jump right in where we left off yesterday with our discussion on Henry Blake Fuller’s, ‘The Cliff-Dwellers’. Skyscrapers, blue glass and bustling streets guys, they weren’t always here.” I tilted my hat back slightly,

“Funny to think that this place in which we dwell was once just a speck on the map. Something small and unnoticeable. Like us. We are small and insignificant.” That statement earned me a few strange faces, people could be so sensitive. I knew, I was one of those people and it broke me to say those words.