"Teach me how to please you, Professor Baker."
Talia Baker is a professor at Jerton Community College. Her job was the only thing she had, seeing as she'd left all her friends in Jamaica and her husband preferred the bed of his secretary. She took p...
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Talia found it harder to resist an eye roll when it came to Malakai.
Ever since he stepped into her first class, a month ago, she discovered that he had a 'bold personality'. The young man was not afraid to speak his mind about what he thought of her lessons. He didn't shame her in any way, but he did like to pick on which authors and books she was lecturing the students on. She didn't find these views annoying. In fact, she found them refreshing. The only issue was that he had a knack for disrupting class when she was trying to teach. Even now, some of her other students had cheeky grins on their faces-wondering how she would defend Mark Twain from the impressionable young adult. And his grin was the widest, as he eagerly waited for her rebuttal.
"American history idolizes this man as one of the greatest writers of all time. He is the creator of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the adventures of Huckleberry Fin. Two very important books in literature. Seeing as one represents the idea of friendship, truth, and falsehood. And another involves industrialized racism, prejudice, and themes of freedom. So, tell me, Mr. McCartney, why is he a twat to you?"
Her face showed genuine curiosity. After all, she was well versed in most aspects of Literature, and personally, she didn't have any personal problems with Mark Twain or his work. So, she narrowed her gaze as Malakai smirked. He took half a minute to eye her scrunched-up face and her crossed arms before shaking his head.
"Would you be upset if I just wanted to get a rise out of you, Professor?"
Talia took a deep breath and allowed her eyes to roll this time-which happened to be what he wanted. She could see that this action amused him. But she could not help herself. The feeling of butterflies in her stomach, and the warming of her cheeks distracted her.
"It'd say to do a better job, Mr. McCartney. You've done better."
The young man had the nerve to laugh. "Noted. But I must say that I am tired of learning about the boring male writers."
She slightly agreed with him on that. She wanted to stretch to different aspects of the subject-but the school's expectations for this class were absolute. Memories of what happened the last time she branched out gave her a slight pause. Even so, her curiosity overruled her.
"Which author would you like to learn about?"
His blue eyes twinkled with genuine excitement as he spoke. "Top of my head, Louise Bennett."
Talia was genuinely shocked. It was surprising that this lit major knew of classic Jamaican authors. It brought a genuine smile to her face, which caused his own to soften.
"I like that reaction too, teach."
She quickly shook her head and turned around. "Focus on the lesson, Mr. McCartney. Oh, I need talk to you after class."
She turned around to continue the lesson, writing a few notes on the board. And she took her time turning around for the rest of the class. Whenever she did, Malakai's amused grin would make her nervous every single time. Which is something that has never happened to her in her profession.
~
Talia watched as her students giddily walk out of her class, bags in hand. She watched as they picked up their assignments from her desk as they left, making sure to tell them it was due next week. She froze once the crowd dispersed. Only Malakai remained, and she was nervous about that.
'What the fuck, Talia?!'
She asked him to stay back for a good reason, but her heart was pounding like crazy. Her legs felt like jelly, even as she sat in her seat. Maybe it was because his gaze was so sharp. Or maybe it was because when he stood up and walked over to her, she noticed that he was tall. She never focused on that before, that he could easily hover over her 5'8 frame. Maybe it was both. A mixture of both thoughts that suddenly her student, fairly intimidating and in an odd way she's ever experienced.
"What can I do for you, Professor?"
She swallowed the spit that threatened to drool from her lips and quickly stood up, banishing the thought.
"I went over the essay I assigned the class last night, and it is very lackluster. That's unlike you, Malakai. You may be a troublemaker but you're a straight-A student. There were so many grammatical mistakes and your points were obviously plagiarized. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
She was stunned when she realized this the night before. It was as if he didn't even try and that rubbed her the wrong way. Unlike many other of her fellow co-workers, she rarely gave out practice work. She taught Advanced Literature. The most she would do is give in-class assignments for certain topics. This was her first graded assignment and it was worth twenty percent of his final grade. Malakai shrugged his shoulders, but she could see it in his face, that something was bothering him.
'Malakai isn't the lazy type. At least, I never got that impression before. Maybe there's something bothering him in his personal life.'
"Look, I will allow you to redo it. But I will not take mediocre work again. You have to take this seriously or you'll fall behind. And I don't want any of my students to fail. Do you understand me?"
He nodded and took a look at the paper. Malakai looked conflicted as he eyed his paper. Almost looked angry but she couldn't place the source. It was strange seeing him like this. She wanted to ask what was bothering him but refrained from doing so.
'It's none of your business, T.'
"When should I bring this back?"
"School ends at 6. I'll still be here by that time."
"Ok... thank you, Professor Baker."
The woman looked up at her student and noticed that he'd offered her a gentle and thankful smile. His eyes seemed to darken a bit as he eyed her face. And for the life of her, she could not understand why she grew warm over it. As if his gaze could melt her skin right now. It took a lot to look away from him, and she didn't look back until she heard the chatter of the main hallway, as he opened and walked through her classroom door. And once he was gone, Talia finally felt herself breathe properly.
And that is the end of Chapter 2. Intensity is promised for the next chapter, don't you worry darling. But until then, let me know what you think in the comments section below, and do vote if you enjoyed it. See you next time, my lovelies🤷🏾♀️🥵👩🏫
