Office Hours |h.s|

sixty two

Harry

Three Years Earlier

"Lance, this is the last time I'm even entertaining this topic with you. I don't care who your father or your grandfather or even your great-grandfather is. You failed to show up to class when it was clearly stated on the syllabus that attendance is mandatory. You ignored my emails, warning you of your failure to attend. You missed exams and homework assignments, and the rare few papers that I did receive were completely plagiarized. So yes, Mr. Sterling, I failed you and I'm not going to change that because your family is well known on campus."

It's been a good three days of having Lance Sterling in my ear, telling me how if I don't change his grade he'll have his father go to the administrative board. As if they would do anything about it. I had every right to fail him, and there's more than enough evidence to prove why I scored him the way I did.

Though I'm relatively new to being a professor at the university, it's not lost on me how much pull the Sterling family has. All last year I heard the eager whispers of how the Lance Sterling's first son was going to attend the university come the fall. It definitely was intriguing, considering the Sterling family's stellar reputation in the law field, more specifically in the criminal field. To be quite honest I was excited to have a Sterling in my class, someone who would know what they're doing.

Unfortunately for me, Lance ruined the perfect image that family works so hard to maintain. Having him in my class just exposed how fake that entire family must be, and made me dread the next Sterling to enter my classroom.

Still unaccepting of my response, Lance's jaw sets. Clearly he's pissed, but he can be upset all he wants. His whining and crying over it won't change the fact that it's the grade he deserves. I don't care that it ruins his GPA, or that he'll have to retake the course since it's an important prerequisite. He should've just sucked it up and went to class like he was supposed to instead of complaining about it after the fact.

"None of my papers were plagiarized! And if you didn't see me in class that's your problem. Either way, I know more about criminal law than you probably ever will so go to the Dean and tell him you made a mistake with your grading or else I'm going to get my father involved! And once he gets involved you're gonna wish you just gave me a passing grade." He threatens, obviously fuming.

I sit back in my desk chair, looking at him with a stoic expression on my face. "Mr. Sterling, are you threatening me right now?"

"Unless you want to find out, change my grade." He crosses his arms over his chest and cocks his head to the side, not letting up.

Chewing on the inside of my cheek to stay calm, my eyes stay locked on him. "Mr. Sterling, please get out of my office. Your grade stands and I'll be going to administration about this conversation. Maybe next semester you'll take my course seriously and I'll be able to pass you. But until the first day of class, I do not want to so much as see your face. Understood?"

He opens his mouth to continue arguing but I stop him, holding my hand up before he could start whining again. God, I'm gonna need a shot or two after this. Hopefully Niall still has that tequila under his desk.

My hand motions toward the door and he rolls his eyes, storming out as he slams the door behind him. Rolling my eyes, I groan, leaning my head back and covering my eyes. I'm sure he will be going to his father about this and I'm positive I'll have a meeting with administration and the Sterlings booked by the end of the day. I just have to hope administration takes my side and doesn't fall right into what I'm assuming is the Sterling's giant wallet.

Lance wasn't the only student meeting scheduled for today, well his wasn't scheduled at all. Plenty of my other students found actual discrepancies with their final grades and scheduled meetings so we could go over my gradebook to see if there was anything I missed. Other than Lance, most of my students did pretty well, which only showcases the fact that Lance is the sole reason his grades are shit.