A Professor Worth Falling For

Chapter 3: The Meeting At Midnight

Val~

I sigh as I check the students' grades on this program called the Rift. I check sixth period's students. "Ash is doing pretty good...A+, 99.7%," I mutter. I scoff at the seventh period because half of the students we're failing. I had some free time because it was the lunch period. But, I thought that I should go to the sports bar to have some drinks because it was a Friday. I'll save that for tonight...and maybe Ash would want to join me, I thought. The lunch bell rings. I chuckle softly, and I hear the screams of the students going down the hall to get their textbooks in their lockers. "Hi, sir." I hear Whitney's voice say. "Mmm." I hum. Looking up from my laptop screen, I saw Ash walk in. She's trying to cover her face with her textbooks. She glances at me slightly, and I gesture my hand to tell her to come to me. "Yes?" she asks me, sniffing. I place my hand on her right arm, and I glare at her, straight in the eye, and ask, "Are you okay?" Ash replies, "Y-Yeah, I'm fine..." I see her wiping away a few tears. "Listen, I want you to meet me in the teacher's parking lot at midnight. Come alone. We'll talk about what happened there," I whisper quietly. I see the rest of the students walk in. "Now, go. I gotta start teaching."

The ninth bell rings. The students sprint down the hallways like its the last day of school. I stand outside my door, making sure the students go to their dorm rooms safely. I wanted to do something. I wanted to get a tattoo on my back, I didn't know which one, but something that reminded me of God, my home, and Ash. After all the students cleared the halls but filled the campus, I go to my red Jaguar XL, and I start the engine. It roars like a tiger. I drive to the local tattoo parlor, which was a few miles away from the university. I walk in the store, which when I realized that it was a smoke shop too. Cigarettes everywhere, smoke filling the room. I put on my black bandana over my mouth and nose, so the smoke wouldn't enter my airways. I look at the tattoo selections. "Hm...a crucifixion cross...a snake around a pillar...and angel wings," I said under my breath. The angel wings were so divine and legendary...it was like the angel wings decal on Daryl Dixon's motorcycle vest in the Walking Dead. The feathers were in detail and the design itself was pitch black with a fading crimson red outline around the wings. The wings meant an angel from heaven, the angel wing decorations my family had back home, and it reminded me that Ash was an angel. The perfect person you would want to hang out with. She reminded me of innocence, arrogance, and elegance. I call over the tattoo artist, and I point out the angel wings. That was the tattoo I wanted. He gave me an offer, he said that he could add extra detail to the angel wings because he didn't finish it, but it would be more expensive, or keep it the same not costing a lot of money. "Why not? Extra detail means more coolness," I chuckled. He nodded. The tattoo artist starts to outline the design. The stinging needles hurt like a swarm of bees stinging me at the same time. But it was worth it.
He finishes the tattoo. The tattoo artist shows my back in the mirror. It was phenomenal. He did some tentacle-shaped marks pointing away from the tattoo, though the marks stretched all the way to my shoulders, and halfway up my neck. The marks were like the ones you see Slender Man have when you spot him in the game. The tattoo was 45 dollars. I pay the man, thank him, and walk to my car. Its 7:00 PM.

Its now 12:00 AM. I wait at the teacher's parking lot, looking for Ash. I spot her walking towards me, with an umbrella in hand, because it was pouring rain. She approaches me. Ash wasn't crying any longer. "Hey." she roughly says. I nod.

"So tell me, why were you crying earlier?"

"My parents...they were killed in a car accident this morning. My brother, Percy, texted me during class to tell me this."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do for y-" I stopped why I felt her arms wrap around my body. She was hugging me. I start to hear her sob.

"I've lost them, I've lost my grandparents, I don't want to lose my friends, I don't want to lose you." Ash wailed.

I hugged her tightly. I didn't want to let her go. I leaned my head on the top of hers, and I closed my eyes. "I don't want to lose you too." I whispered, and I softly kissed her head.

"Its going to be alright. I promise you."