Chapter 11

I moved through the crowd towards the small seminar rooms at the back of the department. I had a feeling that not many people would bother turning up for today's seminar. Generally after any campus festivities that involved the consumption of lots alcohol there was a drop in university attendance.

When I got to the seminar classroom I noticed a white piece of paper stuck up on the door from the school's administration.

'Dear students,

Your normal seminar tutor has called in sick. However a replacement tutor has been called in to take your session today. He will be five minutes late because he has to get to college from out of town.

-admin'

See, even the lecturers skipped out on school.

I opened the classroom door and walked in. The classroom was empty which meant I had first pick of the desks. Strategically I walked to the side of the room and picked a desk next to the heater. Sitting down I began to unpack my books when several other students walked in.

"Did you see that guy in reception?" One of girls gasped.

"Oh God, I hope he is the stand in tutor." Another girl replied.

The door swung open again and guy I had never seen before walked in. The girls stopped chatting and their eyes widen, "Who is he? He is gorgeous," I heard someone whisper. The guy was handsome. He had dark chocolate eyes and brown sandy hair that swept scruffily across his face. His dress was simply and classic, dark denim jeans and white t-shirt. To my surprise he walked across the classroom and sat down at the desk next to me.

"Hey, is this post war policy?" He asked me.

"Yes," I replied, wondering who this guy was.

"Great, I'm a new transfer student. My name is Owen." He said offering a hand.

"I'm Kala," I smiled politely taking his hand.

Owen flipped my hand and suddenly brought it to his mouth and brushed his lips over my knuckles in a gentle kiss.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Kala," Owen replied returning my hand.

I took my hand and shoved it under the desk not knowing what to do or to say. The whole classroom had turned silent and I could feel the jealous stares of half a dozen girls tearing into me.

"We should have lunch together," Owen announced loudly drumming his fingers against the desk.

"Yeah sure," I said weakly.

"Hey," he said suddenly rolling up his t-shirt sleeve, "What do you think of my tattoo?"

Owen leaned towards me and showed me his incredibly toned arm covered in a sleeve of black tattoos. The other girls continued to watch, virtually drooling out the corners of their mouths. Nervously sitting in my chair I wished I could just shrink away from it all.

"The tattoo is very nice. Did it hurt?" I asked randomly trying to be friendly.

Owen coolly raked his fingers through his hair and said, "No pain, no gain."

"I don't think I could ever get a tattoo. I'm scared of needles," I said.

"Well, if you ever wanted a tattoo I could always come and hold your hand," Owen said softly.

At that moment the door of the classroom burst opened and the whole class jumped. Next to me I heard Owen make an irritable sigh then mutter, "He's such a baby."

The substitute tutor walked in and the breath stilled in my lungs.

It was him.

It was the Prince of Darkness, he was here in my classroom and he was staring straight at me and Owen.

The Prince of Darkness was dressed in a designer suit and black tie. He strode to the front of the class room and shrugged off his tailored jacket and began to write on the board. I watched him in surreal disbelief unable to comprehend that he was actually really here, in front of me. He then moved out the way of the board revealing his name.

‘Jac Perez’

“My name is Jac- pronounced Jack, not Jank, or Jerk, but Jac. I am standing in for your seminar tutor until he returns, which I am hoping will be soon. Today we are going to go over the reading you were assigned to do. Please raise your hands if you have not done the reading,” He said.

A few hands reluctantly lifted into the air.

“If you have raised your hand please leave the seminar, and for future reference please stop wasting your parent’s money and do the damn reading,” He said curtly.

Jac waited a few moments as the students who had not done the reading gathered their belongings and left the classroom in disgrace. The rest of us stayed glued to our seats suddenly feeling like we were back in high school under the thumb of a tyrannical teacher.

Jac prowled up and down the classroom before suddenly stopping and pointing his finger at a student. The student sat up in his chair nervously as Jac proceeded to grill him.

“Tell me which scholar had an influential part in the shaping of the policy mentioned in paragraph five ,” Jac said.

The student froze then began fumbling through the pages of his article. Jac rolled his eyes and moved onto the next student.

“What post war changes are described by the scholar on page 10?”

The second student flailed and Jac moved onto the next student.

Numbly I remained at my desk watching the academic massacre. Jac was killing these students with his nasty questions. It was a complete contrast to the gentle voice I had heard in my head last night and this morning. Part of me was shocked that Jac could be so cruel.

“It looks like we really pissed him off,” Owen muttered to me in a low whisper.

“Excuse me?” I said.