Chapter 2- I Failed?

ALEENA'S POV

How did I get an F?

I stared at it, wide eyed, blinking repeatedly. But the letter didn't change. The huge red F stared at me, and I even had too look at the name twice to be sure it was mine.

“You got an A right?” Mira tapped my shoulder. “I got a B. Kinda good cause I didn't even try—I wrote it in a hurry, a night before the deadline. I was lucky I didn't fail because—” She nudged me by the elbow. “Why aren't you saying anything, Allie? Did you get a B too?” She said and snatched my paper from my hands.

“What the?!” She exclaimed as she looked at my paper wide eyed. “How did you get an F?” She went through the paper again. “Allie, you spent three weeks on this paper and you got an F?”

“Mira, I don't know how.” I shook my head. “I spent so much time on this paper. I triple checked every citation, I rewrote the introduction…” I sighed. “I can't afford to fail this class, because if I do, my scholarship gets revoked and everything I have worked for since freshman year will fall apart.”

“You're right Allie,” Mira dropped the paper on the desk. “Maybe there was a mix up somewhere, you can—”

“Professor,” I said sharply before Mira could finish her sentence, and Lorcan who was at the podium, arranging his notes, didn't even bother to look up.

"Yes, Miss Marsh."

"I think there's been a mistake with my grade."

The class went extremely quiet again, and everyone looked up. Mira even shifted in her seat.

Lorcan finally raised his head, and his cold grey eyes found mine instantly. "There hasn't been a mistake."

"I spent a lot of time preparing this paper.” I said, undeterred. “I made sure every thing was correct. I need this credit to graduate—if I fail, my scholarship gets revoked."

"Then you should have written a better paper." He said in a flat voice like he was in a hurry to leave the class.

I frowned and shook my head. "So can you tell me what was wrong with it?"

"It wasn't good enough."

I blinked. "That's not an answer."

"It's the only answer you're going to get, Miss Marsh." He looked back down at his notes. "Class dismissed."

Student started packing up, and I stood there frozen, with the failed paper still in my hand, and somewhere behind me, someone snickered.

I didn't turn around because I didn't need to. I already knew it was Xavier.

I folded the paper and slid it into my bag, picked it up, hung it over my shoulder and started walking out.

“Wait up!” Mira said from behind me, as she hurriedly stood up, the chair scraping against the floor and ran after me.

—

Outside the lecture hall, the corridor was crowded with student heading to their next classes.

Mira had already caught up to me, and she was talking fast. “That was insane, Allie. Why would you do that in front of everyone? Do you kno—”

Before she could finish, Xavier walked into our path.

His new girlfriend was draped in his arm—a pretty blonde he had been parading around since we broke up.

“You actually failed a paper, Marsh.” He said with a huge annoying smirk on his face. “Maybe you should have spent less time on your outfit and more time on your citations.”

His girlfriend laughed loudly, leaning into his chest, with her red lipstick, slightly touching his jacket, and he didn't complain.

I looked at him closely—the expensive jacket, the gold watch, the smug face, and I wondered what I ever saw in him.

“You shouldn't bother about my failure, Xavier,” I tilted my head, maintaining a blank expression through out. “You should rather hope the tutor your daddy pays to help with your grade doesn't slip up, so you can graduate.” I stepped closer. “instead of poking your nose into someone else's business, think of how you're going to maneuver the finals.”

Mira sucked in breath and held my arm, and all the color drained from Xavier's face. His smirk flickered, and his girlfriend looked at him—with confusion spread all over her face like she just found out that her boyfriend wasn't as smart as he claimed.

I didn't wait for him to say anything, I just walked past him, and Mira scrambled to keep up.

“Allie—”

“Not now.” I said without looking back, and I didn't stop walking either. I was heading to the faculty building.

—

I was standing at the corridor of Lorcan's office in the faculty building, and the hallway was empty and quiet.

My heart was pounding loudly in my chest as I was rehearsing what I was going to say to him when I walk into his office. I was jiggling two things at a time, but I needed an explanation for my grade before I think of my revenge plan again.

When I got to the front of his door, it was slightly ajar.

I heard a woman's moan from inside, and then a laugh afterwards.

The moan came again and I had to step back a little.

What the hell was going on in there?

The moan stopped for a while and I stepped forward and peeked through the crack.

Professor Sylvie Bell.

She straightening up her blouse, and her hair was slightly disheveled. Her face was flushed, and her body language was unmistakable—the movement of someone who just had a time of their life.

I should have known. I had seen the way Sylvie looked at Lorcan, always going to his office and always clinging to him like a lost puppy.

I had heard the rumours about Sylvie, and Lorcan's playboy nature but I had just witnessed it first hand. They had been doing—whatever—in his office! Where anyone could walk in at anytime?

I shook my head and raised my hand to knock. My grade was far more important than whatever they were doing in there.

Before my hand could land on the wood, the door swung open, and Sylvie stood at the threshold and her face flushed instantly.

"W-What are you doing here, Miss Marsh?" She said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"I'm here to see Professor Lorcan."

Sylvie's eyes narrowed. She looked at me, up and down, her gaze lingering at my short fitted skirt, and then travelled back up to the jacket I wore over my tank top. "Wait outside. I'll inform him you're here."

She closed the door, and half a second later, it opened again. "Why do you want to see him?"

I kept my expression flat. "It's private, ma'am."

Sylvie stared at me for a long moment then she closed the door and went in again.

I stood there waiting. I could hear the low murmurs through the door, then silence.

A minute later, Sylvie stepped out. “You can go in now.” She said, wrapping the scarf tightly around her neck, probably hiding marks she didn't want me to see, and I didn’t want to examine it further. She walked past me without a word with her heels clicking rhythmically against the floor.

I turned back to the door and pushed it open.

Lorcan was behind his large mahogany desk, his sleeves rolled up and the first two buttons of his shirt undone—making him look extraordinarily hot and he was scrolling on his phone.

I blinked and shook my head. That’s not why I'm here.

"Close the door, Miss Marsh." He said in a low and husky voice without looking up.