1

JULIA

I stared at my mobile phone with a blank expression as I waited for the site to load. My best friend Nina stood next to me, waiting anxiously and looking over my shoulder as she also waited.

"It's taking too much time" she grumbled over my shoulder and I looked up. The hallway was mostly empty now. The students who had packed the hallway just a few minutes ago had cleared out.

It was almost silent, except for the chattering from another group in the corner.

"Julia.." Nina groaned and I lifted my phone again. The screen brightened as I pressed the power button and then I saw it.

My grade stared back at me in mockery.

My fingers tightened around the edges of my phone in fury. I was fighting the urge to hail it across the room.

"Julia?" She whined.

"I failed again" I muttered and her face fell.

"Julia..."

"I can't fucking believe this. I spent all night writing that damned paper and now this.." The disbelief was wearing off and what replaced it was hot white rage.

Nina touched my arm lightly. "Maybe there was a mistake and.."

I yanked away from her touch. "No. Not a fucking mistake. It's that damned professor. He has a problem with me"

"I don't think..." I cut her off.

"He left a fucking comment" a two-word comment that tarnished my writing without a fucking explanation.

"What did he say?"

"Lacks depth" I said with more anger rising to the surface.

"As if he knows what fucking depth is" I yelled.

"Julia..."

"For all we know, he only knows what erotic literature is because of the fucking books he reads. He's probably never experienced it in his dreadful life to know what it actually is and..."

"Julia..." Nina called with panic, her expression almost frozen as she stared, but not at me.

My shoulders stiffened as I felt the presence behind me.

"Miss Walker" my eyes almost popped out of my head at the sound of his voice.

Low and clipped and way too close. I turned around slowly and my eyes met his stoic face. I swallowed harshly. He'd heard me and he wasn't pleased.

"P-Professor Bancroft" I muttered, my voice barely above a whisper. His cold eyes stared down at me.

"My office" he said icily and turned around, his expensive shoes clicking against the marble thighs.

"Fuck" I muttered, releasing the breath I'd been holding when he disappeared through the double doors.

"Shit Julia. He heard you. And he looked very pissed"

Don't I fucking know. Me and my fucking mouth.

There was no way I was going to pass his class after this.

"I'll be back" I muttered and scurried off in the direction he'd gone. The double doors opened up before me and I stepped into the faculty offices hallway.

Doors lined up on both sides of the wall, each shut tightly. I continued moving, my footsteps echoing in the silent hallway as I walked past the front offices and to the corner on the right. One door sat alone in the small hallway.

I knocked once, my fist trembling and so I twisted the knob cold under my palm. The door opened into the ice-cold office and I stepped into it for the first time. Goosebumps appeared on my skin and I unconsciously ran my fingers across my arm.

I took in the state of his office. I'd never been here before. I had no reason to be. Professor Bancroft's office was neat...almost empty. His desk wasn't crowded with papers like other professors'. There was no obscene image hanging on the walls. Only a tall shelf that houses small figurines.

The room gave off no feeling. Just like his personality.

Professor Bancroft sat behind the mahogany desk, his posture stiff and straight. One arm stayed under the desk while the other twirled a fountain pen between his slender fingers.

"Your mouth was a lot sharper out there" The insult cut through me. Our eyes met and I looked away with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry about that" I whispered softly, keeping my eyes on his table.

"You're not" he spat sharply and my eyes snapped up.

"You're only saying that because I overheard you"

I kept my expression neutral and fought the insane urge to shrug my shoulders. He wasn't wrong. But he was my professor and I needed to pass his class if I wanted to graduate.

And I wanted to graduate more than anything.

"No. It was improper to say about my professor and....I was only upset" I exhaled with a tired breath.

"You don't think you deserved your grading" I stayed silent.

"That I was wrong for thinking your piece lacked depth"

"I spent all month working on it" I gritted out through clenched teeth.

"Time doesn't equate quality Miss Walker" he drawled my name with a thick accent that made me shiver with heat and anger. My fist clenched repeatedly beside me.

"You could have spent a whole year on it and it would have turned out the same way. Emotionally hollow"

My teeth rattled in fury as he taunted me with his words.

"I beg your pardon, Professor Bancroft. But my writing is not emotionally hollow. It draws readers in" Many had testified on those novel apps I'd self-published on but I wasn't going to get into details with him.

"It didn't draw me in" he countered in a controlled voice.

"That's because..."

"I only know about sex because of books and I've never actually experienced it in my dreadful life?" I flushed in more embarrassment as he repeated my words to me.

"Do you honestly believe that Miss Walker?" There was a look in his eyes that made me shift with unease.

When I didn't respond, he rose to his feet. His steps were precise as he rounded the table and I took a step back but he didn't come close to me. He paused right in front of his table and leaned on it casually.

"I asked a question Miss Walker"

"N-No."

"But I maintain my stance that you are wrong about my paper"

Professor Bancroft hummed.

"Do you want to prove me wrong?" My brows pinched together as I stared at him in confusion.

"W-What do you mean?"

"I show you what your writing is missing" he said in a deep voice, without missing a beat.

"How?"

"I show you what it means to write from experience...and not imagination"

When he said experience.....my throat dried up.

He couldn't possibly mean... our eyes clashed and I confirmed it.

"And you are going to show me?" My voice shook but only slightly.

"Precisely"

I stared hard at the cold professor that everyone feared. There was something wrong about this offer but the look in his eyes expected me to decline, to sit back and take the fucking grade.

I saw the challenge in his eyes and something prickled underneath my skin.

"I accept. Show me."