Page 22 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 1

I sighed and got out of bed. After cleaning my cuts with peroxide, Melissa and I made our way to the dining hall. I walked around aimlessly with an empty plate. Nothing seemed appetizing. I finally copied Melissa and got a salad.

"So tell me what happened," she said right when I sat down. "We came back to the booth and you were gone. I had assumed it meant you two had made up." She raised both eyebrows. "But now that I've seen you...not so much."

"He had me, you know. Like he always does. I went to the bathroom to try and talk myself out of going back to his place. And when I came back out, I saw him talking to these girls and I just snapped. I don't even know what came over me."

"So you had a fight?"

"I threw a glass of water in his face." I cringed.

"Seriously?! I can't believe I missed that. Great move, by the way. What did Austin do? Geez, I can picture his face." She laughed to herself.

"I ran out of the restaurant and he followed me."

"You know that you're basically describing a romantic comedy, right?"

"Yeah, except we had a huge fight. We both said some pretty horrible things."

"Hence the staying in bed all day?"

"No. It's weird but I'm actually okay with it. I just felt so tired afterward, you know? But I'm not sad or upset. I'm so over him."

"Well look at you. I'm proud of you, Penny. You finally stood up for yourself."

"Ha, yeah." I took a bite of my salad. I began to wonder if I should talk to her about Professor Hunter. She always had great advice. But I couldn't do it. There was something between me and Professor Hunter that seemed so private. I felt like I'd be betraying him if I told her. If I told her it almost seemed like it would be over.But it is over.

***

When I got back to my room I opened up my laptop. I had to finish my psychology paper for tomorrow. I pulled up the document and finished typing about the implications of Pavlov's experiments with his dogs. "You can potentially twist someone into something they are not. The implications are dangerous." It wasn't my best writing, but I hit the print button.

While my paper was printing, I opened up my email. There was an unread one from Professor Hunter titled "Comm 212 cancelled."Oh my God, I made him quit?I quickly clicked on it.

The first line read: "Comm 212 will be cancelled tomorrow."

I breathed a sigh of relief. My heart was racing. I read the rest of the email:

"Please read the attached article about the importance of improvising during a speech. You have to react to your audience, so it's important to be able to think on your toes. I know that originally speeches were supposed to start next Monday, but I've decided to throw a wrench in things. Speeches will start this Wednesday instead. The speeches are only supposed to be two to three minutes, so it shouldn't take more than two days of class.Everyone with last names beginning with A through M will be going Wednesday, and everyone else will go on Friday. So, you still have plenty of time to prepare, but I wanted to give you more of a sense of thinking on your toes. I'm looking forward to hearing about the influential people in your lives."

- Professor J. Hunter

He had kissed me like I had never been kissed before, and then told me to stop thinking about him. Was class cancelled because of me? I pulled out my phone and clicked on his name. "I hope that everything is alright, Professor Hunter." I knew I was being defiant, but I pressed the send button anyway. He was sending me mixed messages, and I preferred to believe that the kissing me part of last night was what he really wanted too.

I climbed onto my bed, pulled my computer to my lap, and opened up Facebook. I clicked on the search bar and slowly typed James Hunter into the box. A photography company from Maryland, some grunge band, and several guys that were certainly not Professor Hunter popped up. I pressed the backspace key until his name disappeared.

I was about to ex out of Facebook when a message came up at the bottom of the screen. I clicked on it.

Tyler: "Mixed feelings about tomorrow. Class cancelled = awesome. Not getting to see you = major suckage."

I wrote back to Tyler: "What really sucks is that we have to give our presentations on Friday."

Tyler: "That's not really what I'm worried about."

Me: "So what are you worried about then, Tyler?"

Tyler: "Well, I'm waiting for you to spill the beans about your date. Let me down easily."

Me: "Honestly, it was a complete disaster."

Tyler: "Sorry, that sucks."