Page 29 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 1

"Should I be?" My jittery nerves were taking a quick turn into panic mode.

"No, Penny, it was a great speech. You seemed a little nervous presenting, but so did everyone else. Besides, you did exactlywhat he wanted, you thought outside the box. I wouldn't be surprised if you got an A."

A moment later, Professor Hunter walked into the classroom. I turned to face him. He was wearing his usual sweater and dress shirt combo with a pair of dark jeans. He seemed to get sexier every time I saw him. His hair was sleek and sticking up a little at the top today. He was clean shaven again.

"So I have the grades here," he said and lifted a stack of papers out of his satchel. "You'll get them at the end of class. The main problem that I saw with the first speeches was the amount of eye contact."

He grabbed the podium from the corner and placed it in the middle of the room. "Okay, I'm going to give you two examples, and I want you to tell me which speech is better." He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and began reading it word for word without looking up:

"My older sister always inspired me growing up. She did everything first, fearlessly. And I admired her for that. Her insane courage was something that I lacked, but reveled in. She always pushed the boundaries and knew what she wanted. And she was determined enough to go after all her dreams. I just wished she had rubbed off on me a little more. Don't get me wrong, I love being your teacher. But I like to follow the rules. I like to play it safe. Because of her, though, sometimes I feel compelled to take those risky chances. Sometimes I make huge, stupid mistakes and don't look back. She inspired me to be strong."

Am I one of those huge, stupid mistakes? He wants to move forward with me!

"Okay, let me try that again. And let's see if you can see a difference." This time he gave the same speech, but only looked down once. For most of it, he gazed around the room. He made gestures with his hands. He delivered his joke a little louder and smiled to himself afterwards. He paused as the class laughed, clearly reacting to them. And he added another joke in since the class seemed to enjoy the first.

"So, which speech was better?"

A hand shot up in the front of the room.

"Yes, Miss Lang?"

"The second one. In the first one, you didn't make any eye contact. And you were pretty monotone throughout."

"Right. Was there anything else about the second one that was better?"

Another hand shot up.

"Mr. Potter?"

"You emphasized different parts of the speech and also had more personality during it. You used hand gestures and stuff."

"Right. So how many of you preferred the first speech over the second one?"

No one raised their hands.

"So why did half of you give me a speech like that first one, if you can so easily tell that the second one is better?"

Again, no one raised their hands. He turned around and wrote "fear" in all caps on the chalkboard. "Not everyone was lucky enough to have a sister like mine growing up, to help teach you how to be fearless. It's completely normal to get up here andstutter and have your knees shake. But what's there to be scared of? Me? Certainly not. Like I told you before, I'm a fairly easy grader."

I had forgotten that he had said he was an easy grader. Maybe Tyler was right. Maybe I would get an A.

"So are you scared of your peers? You shouldn't be. You'll never see the majority of them ever again after you graduate. And chances are, they aren't even listening. They're probably daydreaming about their next class or that guy or girl they have a crush on. Not that I'm encouraging this behavior. We should all be listening to each other's speeches so you can get ideas on how to improve your own. But I'm getting sidetracked. My advice for you all for your next speech is simple. Stop worrying so much. Take a walk on the wild side and be fearless."

He walked away from his podium and lifted up the stack of papers on his desk. "As soon as you get your grade, you can leave. If you have any questions about it, feel free to email me or stop by my office hours. I went easy on everyone this time, but make sure to take the advice I give to heart and try to improve for the next project. And most importantly, don't forget to make eye contact."

He began to wind around the classroom handing out the papers. When Tyler got his he said, "Score!"

"What, did your weird speech about me earn you an A?"

"Well, an A-. I guess I've found my muse." He winked at me. "See you Wednesday, Penny."

I continued to watch Professor Hunter walk around the room. Every now and then he'd call out a name that he wasn't sure of.Finally he walked to the back of the room and placed my paper face down on my desk.

I turned it over and my eyes skimmed for the grade. At the bottom of the page, in bold letters, a C- was scrawled.

What the fuck?!I quickly read through the whole sheet:

Student: Penny Taylor