It was Courtney's first day at UCLA as a PHD student. She had her macbook, notebooks, and anything needed for her first day of class in her tote bag decorated with hand painted flowers. She walked along the rugged concrete floors of the campus, the old but modern architecture of the prestigious universities buildings flew past her. She admired the beauty of her new home for the next 4 years, more than ecstatic that she finally made her own dreams come true. She's finally getting a PHD in history. Courtney decided to go easy on her first day, so she wore comfortable grey sweater with a simple black top to match.
She entered the lecture hall which was to the left of her old sorority apartment. She smiled amongst herself remembering the crazy times she had with her sisters. The charity parties, the private chef who always made the best cuisines in the campus, and of course the place where she met her best friend Olivia.
To her surprise, her professor would be Dr. Rhett McLaughin again. Courtney and Olivia had him for Renaissance History, and loved having him as he always made his dreadful long lectures interactive. He added little gags throughout his presentation to make the material memorable and his grading policy wasn't the strictest. She entered the hall and took a seat near his desk, which was placed to the far right of the classroom. The room was decked out with other like-minded individuals. Courtney feared a little bit of the interaction that would be forced to take place, but tried to shake the thought off her head.
"Good morning to all, this will be a short meeting time. My office will be open after class today for any questions." Rhett went over to his desk and opened his computer. It flashed his presentation on the projector he planned for the day.
He panned the classroom for any questions before taking a remote like figure off his desk.
"We all know what we are here for. Congratulations for getting into our PHD Program here at UCLA!" He clapped for everyone as everyone soared in celebration.
Rhett looked around again and smiled.
"Be proud everyone, but it's time to get serious." He paused for a slight second, "today you'll be choosing your own research topic for the next four years."
He stood still for a second.
"Not every student here at UCLA will go as far as four years, but I am willing to help you along the way. I don't want anyone here alone in their journey. It's a waste of talent and I will do my best to preserve it," Rhett never failed at making anyone feel validated and calm in his lectures.
Courtney unpacked her tote bag and placed her notebook on top of her petite wooden desk. She rested her arm on the forearm of the chair. Her right arm began to scribble ideas down on her notebook. Wondering what her next steps are as a student.
She took the time to listen to every small detail that came out of her professor's mouth. Placing herself into every situation Rhett possibly talked about. She jotted down more ideas. Bulleted journaling everything about the era she wanted to research about. The industrial revolution, the romantic period, the renaissance era, or anything Courtney can think of at the top of her head. She wanted ideas poured out onto her notebook and wanted to give her best work into her research. Not that anything she did would change the course of history. Instead it would give a better understanding of the past to the general audience. Inspiring a new generation or making history clear for those who cared about what humans did in the past.
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Class was coming to a close, and Rhett began assigning the research topic for all his students. Everyone was free to decide what topic they wanted to report on. Rhett passed around a clipboard with small descriptions of what the topic was and people wrote their names next to the topic, officially giving them the will to research the topic chosen. Courtney had no idea what was about to be given to her, but whatever it was it would only further and strengthen her love of history. Anything dealing with the past, and the sophistication of humanity as a whole. What drove the actions of the ancestors to bring everyone in this advanced civilization. It was always a topic of fascination for Courtney, hours of hyperfixation on every detail possible.
Courtney was next in line for the clipboard. She anxiously waited for the board to be passed down to her as she skimmed over her messily written notes on her page. Every detail (even unnecessarily small) was engraved bold from her jet black gel pen. Her hands are sore from the note taking of today.
Finally someone softly slammed the clipboard right under her nose, she skimmed over the ideas people haven't taken and in small italic printing it read.
Andrew Hecox's son paintings. Ian Hecox
She read the small note next to the text.
Ian Hecox was the son of famous romantic period painter Andrew Hecox. His paintings are lost. Last known location was based in Russia. Need to know origins of paintings and little understanding about his life
Courtney couldn't help but notice the asterisk on the title, so somehow in the faith of her hands, she wrote her name on the blank spot reserved for assigning herself to the topic. She handed the clipboard to her blonde boy next to her.
He said his thanks and Courtney waited for the lecture to be over.
As class was about to come to a close, everyone said their thanks and goodbyes while heading out of the classroom. Courtney packed her notebooks and pens back into her tote bag and before she could head out Rhett paused her from doing so.
"Courtney, come meet me at my office please" Rhett directed her to his office.
Courtney's face puzzled with confusion, but walked her way into the office of Rhett's.
Rhett sat down on his comfortable beige brown office chair. Courtney couldn't help but notice the scattered papers all over his Victorian style desk. Red pen ink everywhere on each page, which has question marks or little annotations on the space between each paragraph. Highlighter yellow on some phrases of the documents.
"I am so glad you chose this topic and here's why," Rhett smiled as he turned around. He took out a sealed journal from his office cabinet and quickly placed it down right in front of Courtney.
"As you read Ian Hecox was the son of famous painter Andrew Hecox. One of my most absolute favorite painters from his magnificent period of Humanity. The Romantic Period." Rhett chucked for a bit "There's not much known about Ian himself, but oddly enough painted this handsome looking man."
Rhett took a pair of gloves under his desk, and opened the ziplock bag holding the journal. He opened the page to reveal a sketch portrait of the man he mentioned.
"Couldn't be Ian himself, the man was drawn to have curlier hair and dark brown hair. Ian wrote this description." Rhett passed the journal to Courtney.
Courtney placed her hands under her legs to remove the temptation to touch the pages presented towards her. Rhett flipped the pages all the way to the first written page of the journal. He pointed to the words that were read.
November 25th, 1815
YOU ARE READING
Curse of the Ninth - ian hecox & anthony padilla
Fanfiction**romantic era AU** Anthony Padilla is a well known composer who was invited by Ian's father to perform for his birthday.
