The hallway was empty. I replayed what I wanted to say in my mind and knocked on the door. It was a warm day but I felt chilly. After a moment that felt like months, I heard her voice, "Come in." This was it. I held the door handle and pushed it down, the door cracked open.
There I saw her behind her mahogany desk, a pencil in her hand, with a white blouse that was buttoned up, her blonde hair tied up to a ponytail, her dark blue eyes looking sternly at me from over her reading glasses. "Hello Professor," I said with an apologetic voice, "May I talk to you for a few minutes?"
She observed me for a second. Then she responded, "Make it quick."
I started the elevator speech I had been practicing, "Prof. Lakelyn, I know I have missed two homework and have done poorly in the final but I am really interested in your Molecular Chemistry class and am eager to do whatever is necessary. Please allow me to turn over the homework that I have missed. I promise you I will do a great job. Getting under B would mean losing my scholarship. This is a big deal for me. Please, I beg you, I am ready to do whatever necessary." Then I stopped and looked at her with penitent eyes.
She had listened to my speech without a single movement. I had no way of telling if I did great or terrible, until she leaned back, gave a sigh, looked to the side, and threw her pencil on the desk in disgust. I felt the muscles around my stomach contracting. I had messed up.
After a pause she took off her glasses and turned to me with piercing eyes. "So you come here, after weeks have passed over your missing homework with no attempt to correct your mistake earlier and ask me to give you another chance with this lame speech. Where do you think you are?!", she literally screamed.
I froze staring at her. Her eyes were grilling me. We stayed that way for a few seconds. If I were not desperate I would have apologized and left but I had to try. "I...", I started.
"Shut up!!!", she screamed again, this time more furious. Her teeth clenching she took off her reading glasses and slowly set them on the desk. "You have no right to speak without permission!", she yelled again.
I was full of terror. Now I not only feared losing the scholarship but even being ejected from the school. Prof. Lakelyn was a distinguished academician who had earned a reputation at young age. If she wanted she could get me out of there.
"Do you know how many more deserving students want that scholarship?", she started in a lower voice that still fumed. "And this is all you do for it? Come here to beg me 'Please accept muy humewurks'", she said mocking my voice. "Do you see yourself worthy of this scholarship?" she asked loudly.
I knew this was also a rhetorical question but that I should find a good answer to it. All I could come up with was, with a meek voice, "I am ready to do whatever is necessary to be worthy, Ma'am."
She looked at me disgustedly for a minute, then she ordered, "Get down on your knees!"
I was perplexed, not sure how to respond, so I hesitated, but she then yelled "Now!"
I got down on my knees looking at her with imploring eyes. She then pushed her big office chair back. "Now crawl under my desk," she said.
Without thinking, I walked on my knees to next to her desk, got on all four, and crawled under her desk. It was a big desk, about 4 feet deep. The only thing I could imagine was that I was supposed to fix the internet cable or something but all that was not visible.
As I was turning around under the desk to face her, I saw her untying her ponytail and letting her very wavy and wet-looking beautiful hair loose. She ran her hands over her hair and looked at me.
"So, you are ready to do whatever?" she asked in a now seemingly calm voice. She then extended her legs in black trousers and her feet in black heels, stepped on the carpeted floor, and pulled herself in the chair towards the desk. I could now only see her white top but not her face.
She opened a side drawer and took out some things, then she bent to see me deep inside the desk. "Here," she said and tossed a nail cleaner, a pack of disinfectant wipes, and tube of lotion at me.