“No, thank you.”
“A movie? Dinner?”
“No, uhh…” Her eyebrows drew together. “What’s your name again?”
His pretty-boy face fell. “Doug. I’ve sat next to you for four months and you don’t remember my name?”
Well, lots of guys sat next to her. She couldn’t be expected to remember their names when she had zero interest in them.
“Sorry. Doug. I can’t talk right now. I need to speak to Dr. Ellington about something important.”
“I’ll wait for you.”
“Not interested.”
“Of course not. You’re never interested in anyone. You only date ass**les, am I right?”
Her ex-fiancé’s image flittered through her mind’s eye. Sedric Lionheart definitely qualified as an ass**le. But they’d split two years ago, so she no longer dated ass**les. Or anyone, for that matter. “What kind of question is that?”
“Nice, smart, and beautiful.” He ticked his words off on three fingers. “The recipe for a woman who only dates ass**les.”
Jessica’s eyes narrowed. “Then why do I keep turning you down?”
Doug winced and covered his heart with one hand. “Ouch. The beauty has claws.” He chuckled. “I’ll meet you outside.”
“Seriously, Doug, don’t bother.”
“I’ll wait.”
She shook his hand off her arm and continued to the podium. When Jessica stopped in front of Dr. Ellington, the woman smiled like a snake in bronze lipstick.
“Do you have a moment, professor? I’d like to talk to you about my grade.”
“Nothing to talk about, Chase.”
“I don’t understand how you could have…” Jessica swallowed and forced the next word out. “…failed me. My paper is good.” She straightened her spine, grasping for self-confidence she didn’t feel. “Excellent.”
Ellington shrugged. “Maybe, but as I clearly indicated, you didn’t follow directions.”
That wasn’t true. Exactly. “I dissected the assigned case. Reviewed all the court documents. The associated literature. Tackled the defense’s position and the plaintiff’s. Evaluated the verdict and the effects the case had on future cases.”
“You also determined that the defense took the wrong position and proceeded to rebuild the case in some egotistical attempt to prove you could win.”
Egotistical? Jessica opened her mouth. Closed it again. Took a gasping breath. “But the defense lost because they approached the case from the wrong standpoint. If they’d have followed my strategy—”
“Ms. Chase, you are a second year law student. Do you really think you can win a case that professional lawyers couldn’t?”
“Yes, actually, I do. If you’d take another look—”
Dr. Ellington lifted a hand to silence her. “The grade stands, Chase. You need a serious attitude adjustment.” She smiled coldly. “Have a nice summer.”
Jessica caught her arm. “Wait. I’ll rewrite it. Take out every reference to my alternate strategy.”
“You should have done it right the first time.” Ellington brushed her hand aside. “Your pack of male admirers is waiting for you.” She nodded toward the door. “Maybe they can help you with your little problem.”
Jessica glanced over her shoulder at the six or seven guys watching her from the doorway. What did they have to do with anything? She covered her forehead with one hand, fighting tears.
“Oh, don’t cry, pretty little Jessica.” Ellington gave her a pitying pout. “You wouldn’t want to make my day now, would you?” She scraped her briefcase off the podium and turned. She stopped abruptly so she didn’t careen into the Dean of Students, Dr. Taylor, who had just entered the door behind her.
Taylor kind of looked like Perry Mason, except, well, old. “Can I see you in my office for a few minutes?”
Ellington stiffened, lowered her head, and nodded.
Taylor then turned his attention to Jessica. “You look upset, Jessica. Everything okay?”
No, everything was decidedly not okay. She glanced at Dr. Ellington, somehow feeling it was wrong to complain about the woman’s grading practices to her boss. Maybe Jessica had deserved to fail. She hadn’t followed the assignment’s directions. Instead, she’d tried to impress her professor with her brilliant strategy. She’d obviously failed at that.
“Everything’s fine,” Jessica croaked.
“If you’d like to discuss something with me in private, my door is always open.”
Kind of him to offer, she thought. She glanced up at him to find him staring at her chest. He licked his lips as his eyes drifted up her throat and then back to her br**sts. “Yes, my door is always open for you, Jessica Chase.”
Ellington grabbed his arm. “Let’s go have that meeting now.”
Dr. Taylor grinned. “Oh yes, our meeting.” He touched Jessica’s cheek. “Have a nice summer.”
Before Jessica could flinch away from his touch, he turned and strode toward the door with Ellington on his heels.
Jessica shuffled out of the building, the chattering of her following classmates background noise. She’d probably have to retake Ellington’s class next year. As a third-year student. The ultimate humiliation for the head of the class. Or she had been at the top of the class. Now? She was probably at the bottom.
As she stepped out of the building, she gazed up at Southern California’s hazy blue sky. The sun shone in complete contrast to the storm clouding her perspective.
“Jess!” Her roommate, Beth, also a law student, grabbed her in an enthusiastic hug. “Last day of classes. Ready to go celebrate?”
Jessica’s one female friend. The only person she had ever allowed herself to depend on. If it hadn’t been for Beth’s support, she’d probably still be crying herself to sleep over Sed every night. Jessica clung to Beth, fighting tears. Beth tugged her away and looked down at her, cupping her cheek gently.
“Oh no, something’s wrong. We need chocolate ice cream. Stat!”
Later, with a carton of chocolate ice cream between them on Jessica’s bed, Beth responded to the situation with appropriate best friend angst. “I read that paper. That was an A paper. An A plus paper. Ellington has it out for you or something. You should go to Dr. Taylor. Tell him what happened. Maybe he can help.”