And If I Say Yes? A Student/Teacher Relationship

9

Chapter 9

I haven't slept a wink since Nicholas called me. I was preparing the most perfect lesson plan that I could think of, even if it took me 10 hours to create. I just wanted to have the thrill of seeing the students faces after they had learned something new. By the time I finished, it was 4am, giving me at least 5 hours to sleep because I had to be at the school by 10:30, and I begin teaching at 1pm.
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Today is the day. After mentally preparing myself and going over my lines with Becca my sister on the ride over to the school, I finally felt like I was ready. To be honest, it wasn't as much of a big deal as I was making it out to be.

Once I got into the office I took out my lesson plan, plus all the copies of notes that I made. As soon as I got settled in, the same number from yesterday called. It must be Nicholas I assumed.
"Hello Nicholas, I am already in the office and my lesson plan is carefully thought out and-."

Before I could complete my sentence Nicholas spoke.
"Ms. McLarin, I am sorry to tell you this now but I just got news from the Dean that a TA is not allowed to review material that's on the syllabus without a professor present. I apologize, but you will have to use a different reading material for today's class, unless you would like me to cancel class."

Just like that all the excitement that I felt came crashing down. What was I going to do? I worked way to hard to have this opportunity taken from me.
"No Nicholas, don't worry about it, I'll have everything planned in you're absence."
And this time I was the one that hung up the phone first.
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A part of me found it strange that the Dean wouldn't allow me to teach without Nicholas being there. That has never happened to me while I was a student, and part of me figured that this was a test to see how I would manage a lesson plan in such short notice. Trying not to mentally freak out I went through everything I could think of, and that's when the perfect idea came to mind.
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About 100 sets of eyes stared back at me.
I mentally tried to calm myself down. Although it was hard I pushed through. Trying to sound as confident as possible, I stared back at the students and began.
"Hello everyone, Professor Donovan will be out for the next few days so I will be teaching for today, any questions before we begin?"
"Yeah, you single?" A well built red head asked.
Before answering a memory flashed back when I was in college. My ethics education professor made it a point to teach us that if we were single and if a student asked what your relationship status was, to always answer that you are in a relationship. So that's what I did. 
"Yes, I am in a happy relationship, any other questions?"
The classroom was silent. After taking an unnoticeable deep breath I began to speak.
"Can anyone tell me what they know about Professor Donovan?" I asked.
I looked around at the sea of students in the lecture hall but no one raised their hand. "Come on don't worry, anything you say I won't tell Professor Donovan."
As soon as I said that about twelve hands shot up. "You with the checkered shirt, what's you're name?" I asked
"My name is Frederick Romero."
"Okay Mr. Romero, what do you know about Professor Donovan?"
I asked. "I know that it's super hard to get into his classes because everyone wants in. Also I heard that you are guaranteed to to pass this class as long as you submit all your assignments. My brother never sat in class but he followed the syllabus and still got a B."
I chuckled, I never met a professor that was so lenient on attendance and class participation.
"Thank you Mr. Romero, anyone else?"
A pixie cut brunette girl raised her hand "Hi, my name is Debra Augustine and I know that Professor Donovan is like super hot and I bet he has a nice body underneath all that." She said while giggling.
I myself couldn't hold back a laugh. Yes although his attitude sucks, he did indeed have a nice body.
"Anyone else? I asked after collecting myself.
"He is very scary and intimidating." A student named Arnold said.
A sound of agreement flooded the lecture hall.
"Okay so everything you guys just listed was either something you heard from someone's else's experience, something you saw for yourself, or an emotion you felt by Professor Donovan. But none of you actually know what has made him the most sought out Professor in both Colombia University and in Ithaca College."

I walked back towards the podium and connected my tablet to the projector. On the projector screen displayed the cover of Wasted Love by Nicholas Donovan. As I turned off the lights in the lecture hall a white glare bounced off from the projector to the far back left side of the classroom, allowing me to only see the faces of students sitting in that section. And that's when I saw him, sitting at the edge of the room with a black hoodie over his head. Nicholas Donovan.
That bastard lied and said he was out of town so why is he here? Just as I assumed before, this was all a test to see how well I do on my own with last minute teaching material.
Nicholas, you're so gonna get it!