Amy stormed into her dorm room and threw her books on her desk.
"Damnit, I'm freaking failing this class!"
Her roommate Carey looked up at her, wide eyed, from her computer.
"What class is it?" she asked, eyeing her rather angry friend.
"Stupid Computer Science! I fucking hate it, but I need the stupid credit!" Amy snarled, her voice sharp. "The professor sits up there, all high and mighty, and thinks that we can 'magically' understand all of his geek speak. I mean, come on, we're not all geniuses."
She flopped onto her bed in exasperation, her red hair fanning out over the pillow. She didn't want to mention to Carey that she'd secretly been lusting over the guy who was teaching the class while she was supposed to have been taking notes. And that for all the time she'd wasted dreaming about a night with him instead of paying attention, he didn't seem to notice her at all.
Carey frowned along with her friend and asked, "Isn't that Professor Moore's class? He's a newer prof, ain't he?"
"Yeah, he's new," Amy sighed, " and he's tough. Really tough! Have you ever seen him?"
"Why? Is he cute?" giggled Carey.
Amy rolled over onto her belly, her pillow hugged to her chest.
"Well, maybe he is," She grinned. "Why don't you judge for yourself? Come to class with me tomorrow and see!"
Carey giggled harder. Amy rolled back over, holding her pillow tighter still.
"What the hell! Why not?" Carey said.
Amy looked at her upside down from the bed. She hadn't expected that answer, and now didn't quite know if a tag-along critic was what she really wanted. Especially one who knew her well enough to realize that there was no way she should be in this much trouble in what should have been a simple class for her. Oh well!! It was out there. No graceful way to back out now.
"Sure, why not?" Amy repeated, trying to be enthusiastic. "I could use the moral support."
The next day, the two girls found themselves walking across the quad towards the Computer Sciences building. Neither said very much. Carey seemed uncharacteristically lost in thought. Amy was trying to come up with any sort of a good excuse to go this one alone.
"Maybe you should talk to him," Carey finally offered. " I'll bet he'd be willing to help."
Amy just shrugged and held her books tighter to her chest. Her glasses slipped a bit, and she pushed them back up with a practiced motion. Finally, she made the decision to come clean.
"Ok, ok, so maybe he would help. I haven't talked to him because...well...I have a bit of a crush on him, and I'm a bit tongue tied around him, ok?"
She rushed through the last few words, hoping maybe they'd just slip by.
Carey looked at her with both approval and amazement.
"Ah-ha! I knew it had to be something like that!! He must be cute!" Carey giggled tauntingly.
"Terrific," thought Amy. "Just what I need!!"
She hadn't wanted to mention her crush to Carey because Carey had no problem attracting guys and being able to talk to them. With her long straight light brown hair, her ready smile and knockout curves, she had them eating out of the palm of her hand in minutes. Even though she wasn't a wallflower by any stretch, Amy had always felt a bit dowdy around Carey. She was shorter but curvy, and her long red hair and fair skin were enviable. Today she had her hair back in a ponytail and was wearing an oversized mans dress shirt, tied up to show just the right amount of skin over her tight, hip-hugging jeans. Still, she had herself convinced that all the sideways glances from they guys they passed as they walked must've been aimed at Carey, not her. Finally they reached their building, and as they entered the classroom, Carey's giggles echoed in her mind, haunting her.
Class was torture, with Carey whispering dirty or suggestive remarks in her ear all the time. From the moment the professor entered the room, she couldn't concentrate at all...as per usual. She watched his mouth as he lectured, his lean frame as he walked in front of the whiteboard, and became more and more nervous as the class drew to a close. When the bell rang, Carey pushed Amy towards the desk as the rest of the students filed out. With a nervous look over her shoulder, she approached the professor and cleared her throat.
"Um, Professor Moore? Can I...um...talk to you for a minute?"
He looked up from gathering his notes into his attachΓ© case to see who had approached him.
"Um.....Amy? Right?" He said, waving at the final few students as they filtered out of the lecture hall.
Carey saw her friend's face flush when she realized that he actually knew her by name from the sea of anonymous CompSci students.
"And you?" he said, turning to Carey, "I'm afraid I don't recognize you. What happened? Did Amy drag you along to try to keep her awake during class? I see she didn't nod off, so you must've been keeping her stimulated."
Carey snickered, thinking about what the teacher would think if he really knew what she'd been doing to keep Amy's attention.
"Nice to meet you. My name's Carey. And yeah...I'm just passing through today."
"Well Carey, I'm hoping you'll be a positive influence on your friend here. For reasons I can't explain, she's just hanging on by a thread in this class. I've seen her transcripts and have no idea why this is such a struggle for her." He turned his attention over to Amy. "But I'm afraid the bottom line is that if you don't do something to turn yourself around soon, you'll be right back here taking this class again next semester."
Amy felt a bit ill hearing those words spoken out loud.
"So ladies, what can I do for you?"
"Um...look, Professor, I really need to pass this class, and I'm wondering if there is a way to get some tutoring, or make up work, or..."
Amy faltered, her courage deserting her in the face of his stern look. She licked her lips, and tried to summon up her arguments again. Carey kicked her ankle, and she stumbled forward, spilling her book and notes onto his desk. Red faced, Amy mumbled an apology, and the professor stopped her with an upraised hand.
"Really Amy, you're almost too far behind as it stands. I don't think that makeup work is going to cut it. Tutoring might help, but the semester is almost over, and I really don't see what we can do."
Amy's eyes watered, and she nodded mutely as she gathered up her books and notes she had spilled. The professor helped gather a few of her papers nearest him, and after glancing at them he paused and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She blushed fiercely when she realized that the notes he held were from the day before, and they weren't computer science jargon. She had been daydreaming about kissing him and writing about it during the class.
He cleared his throat.
"So...I'm beginning to get an idea of what the problem is," he said, his face becoming even more stoic than before. The whole situation was calling up memories of how she used to feel as a kid when her father would scold her for something she had done, and she had to genuinely fight the urge to just turn and run away. Even Carey felt a bit awkward standing there, watching the scene unfold.
"Look," he continued, "If there's one thing that burns me, it's a talented student throwing away a promising situation because her mind isn't where it should be in class. I know what you're capable of. I know this should be a snap for you."
She squirmed uncomfortably in place. He sighed, and thought for a moment.
"I'll tell you what. You're not going to get an A in this class, but you're not guaranteed an F either. If you really ace the final, you've got a chance of squeaking out of here with a D. Why don't you swing by my office tomorrow evening and I'll give you a one-night, crash tutoring session. You're bright. You should soak this up in a snap! Maybe it'll be enough to just put you over the top."
Her face brightened.
"But..." he continued, "You'd better come prepared to study! A semester's worth of review in a night isn't gonna be a piece of cake!"
"Oh don't worry!!" Amy said, suddenly hopeful, "I'll make you proud of me!"
"So go on then! Get out of here, and I'll see you tomorrow...my office, 7:30."
"Don't worry, Mr. M!" Carey replied. "I'll make sure she's ready!"
Amy could barely make it through the next day. Luckily she didn't have his class that day so she was able to block it out and focus on her other work. But then as the evening rolled around, she was starting to get the nervous jitters. Carey noticed, and just had to razz her a bit about it.
"Oh come on, lighten up you dweeb! You're finally going to get a chance to see him all by yourself, and all you can do is fret about it." She started rooting through Amy's closet, pulling out top after top. "Damn, woman, don't you own a single piece of clothing that shows of any kind of skin?!"
"I'm going there to study, Carey, not get laid!"
Amy looked at her friend with exasperation.
"Yes, I think he's hot, but he's not going to want anything like that from me."
Carey looked at her from over her shoulder and smiled.
"Amy, take a chance. He's young, cute, and he's the one who made this late study session. It's the perrfect opportunity!"
She grabbed out a black button down shirt, and tossed it aside.