PROLOGUE

P E A R L

I stared with sadness at the thirty five percent beside the course I had thought I would ace this semester. My test was fifteen percent and my exam score, twenty. The more I stared at the screen of my laptop, the more I tried to stop myself from tossing the laptop to the other side of my dorm room. The course has been a pain in my ass ever since I got into the second year of college. Last semester, I failed it and now, I did again. Whoever the professor was needed to know that his assistant did a shitty job at teaching us because I did not understand a fucking word.

I slammed my palm on the table, startling my roommate beside me on her bed.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, standing up.

“I can’t believe it. I failed one of my courses.”

“What course?” She asked and I sighed.

“Data Analytics. I don’t know what to do anymore. At this rate, I am not graduating from college, Amy.”

“Whoa, this is bad.” She was looking at the screen.

I angrily got up and started to pace around the room, trying to vent out the anger boiling in me. How was I going to tell my parents that I was not doing well in college? That I had someone bent on making my life miserable? How was I supposed to get out of college when I had to come back to write a stupid course!

“Have you gone to see the professor?”

I stopped pacing to stare at her. If only she knew how difficult this class was, down to the motherfucking professor.

“The thing is, no one knows who the professor is. He has two assistants who teach us, gives us tests and exams. So, if we have any complaints whatsoever, it goes to the assistants and not whoever the professor is and it is a fucking pain in my ass.”

I held my head with both hands and landed on my bed, then screamed into my pillow. I hate the life I had. Why didn’t I have the life influencers I see online? I should be making short videos of useless things on the hundredth vacation that I didn’t need to take. But here I was, in a small room, worried about my grades.

“What are you going to do then?” Amy asked and I stopped screaming to think.

I had to do something or I was doomed. There is no way I am repeating this class next year, no way. I had to think of what to do.

I sat up and stared at Amy, thinking of an idea. I got out of bed and went to the table where my laptop was. I quickly opened the school’s forum and began to type.

MissCaptainOfAll: I need help ASAP! This is a case that should be handled as an emergency. Does anyone know who the professor handling Data Analytics for year three is? He is somewhat anonymous but I really need to know who he is right now. If you have emails or some type of way to reach him, reply to this post!

I stared at the post, waiting for someone to reply. My account had a decent following on the forum so getting replies would be fast, also, it would reach other people’s timeline. So, I was waiting, fingers crossed and heart racing. A minute went by and I did not get any reply yet. I groaned and swiveled my seat away from the desk. I rubbed my face and kicked my legs from annoyance.

“Oh. You’ve got a bunch of replies.”

Immediately, I turned the seat around and shoved Amy out of the way. I clicked on my post and truly, I had a few comments. I leaned forward and began to read.

StudentNumber2347749: Oh man, Data Analytics has been a nightmare for me too! I feel your pain. I don't know who the professor is either, but those assistants are a joke. Can't believe they expect us to learn anything from them.

I rolled my eyes at the reply. This was not helping at all. I shook my head and went to the next.

DataWizard22: I'm in the same boat as you, MissCaptainOfAll. Failed the course last semester and was barely scraping by this time. The struggle is real. Wish there was a way to reach the professor directly. These assistants aren't cutting it.

“They aren’t even saying anything useful,” I said and focused on the next comment.

InsightSeeker: Ugh, Data Analytics is the bane of my existence too. I've been struggling to keep up, and it's frustrating not knowing who's ultimately responsible for this mess. Sending positive vibes your way, MissCaptainOfAll. You’ll figure this out together!

I slammed my hand on the desk once again and got up. My whole existence relied on finding who this professor was but my whole life is ruined with these replies I was getting. I didn’t even bother to check the others, the top comments and the likes on them proved no one had any idea who the professor was.

“What are you going to do now?”

I had nothing to say as a response. So, feeling dejected and hopeless, I went to my bed and laid on it. Maybe sleeping would help me feel better than the F I had imprinted on my life.

Tomorrow better have something exciting for me or I was going to go crazy and quit college.

+=+=+

Early the next day, I left for class, still dreading what had happened and how I was going to either take summer classes while my mate had fun or be at a failure. All through class, I was cursing whoever the professor was. Why was he hidden? Who did he think he was to make me suffer the way I was suffering?

“That will be all for today. Review what we had today.”

As soon as a hardworking professor, unlike the crap I was stuck with in Data Analytics, left, I packed up my things and got up.

“Pearl?!”

I stopped walking at the sound of my name before looking around for who it was. My gaze landed on my junior, Tony. He was standing at the entrance to the class, waving his hand in my direction. I raised an eyebrow before walking. I met him at the entrance and wondered what was making him grin so much. It was still early in the day to be happy.

“What is it?” I asked and he pushed his glasses that were resting on his nose up a little.

“I saw your post on the forum and found some information for it.”

I gasped and grabbed his arms, eyes wide and heart full of hope.

“Please, tell me you’re not joking!” I pulled him to the side and shook his arms. “Tell me, now!”

Tony chuckled. “Relax.”

“Relax? Bro, you’re telling me to relax? My life and certificate depends on this!”

“Ow, you’re loud,” he said while poking his fingers in his ears.

I kissed my teeth and eyed him. He needed to start speaking before I forced it out of him. He smiled and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Start talking.”

“Tch. Whatever. His name is Dr. Anthony Marison—”

“I already know his name,” I said in a dry tone of voice.

“Right. He is not always in school according to my sources. It says he has other jobs or so. Something way more important than being a professor. Anyway, he is like a virtual teacher but I hear he is in his office right now.”

I stood straight with hope. This was it. This was my chance to redeem myself. If I had to beg on my knees, I would, I just needed to see him.

“Where is his office?” I asked, my voice full of desperation.

“He occupies the dean’s office,” he replied in a bored tone.

“Which dean?”

“Our department's—”

I did not wait for him to finish his sentence and I was sprinting off to find him. I could not waste any second because who knew if he would be there by the time Tony was done talking. I owed him though.

A few minutes later, I was nearing the dean’s office. The sight of the door gave me hope and when I got to it, I leaned on it. This was it. This was my chance to go from F to any manageable grade.

I took a deep breath and grabbed the door’s handle then twisted and pushed the door. I stepped into the office, head bowed. I closed the door and exhaled hard then raised my head. The sight before me had my throat tightening and eyes wide.

There was a tall, handsome man… A tall, half naked man. A half naked god of a man standing with low dress pants and a very good looking confused expression on his face was the man who was between my legs last night and something told me he was professor Anthony Marison.

“Damn.” Was all I could say.