Professor Knight

Chapter Eight

During over the weekend and my lectures before I had Creative Writing class, all I had done was thinking about Professor Knight and seeing him at the student social. Did my mind trick my mind in thinking it was him although I'm one hundred percent certain that it was him? I'm walking with Jake to the classroom as India and Amy are meeting us there. My pain levels have risen over the last day. I'm still waiting to hear back from my physiotherapist. I'm worried that I'm overdoing things now that I'm away from home and having to do much more walking etcetera than what I'm physically used to. He must hear me sighing quietly and guides me to a bench nearby where the classroom is. "What's going on? I've noticed that you struggle with walking too far and have to sit down a lot." Jake asks. "It's a long story but I had to re-learn how to walk a few years ago and being here at university is taking me a lot of adjustment, in many ways. I'm okay though. I'm only telling you because I feel like I trust you." He wraps his arm around my shoulder and gives it a squeeze before picking up his bag. "If you need anything, just let me know. Okay?" I smile and nod. "Thanks, Jake. Maybe one day I'll tell you everything but it's not an easy thing for me." He holds the door open and gestures for me to walk inside the empty classroom. I aim for our usual table in the corner.

"There's the other two rebels!" Jake jokes when we hear Amy and India talking as they're walking into the room. "We heard that. We're two saints!" Amy exclaims defending herself and India against Jake. I laugh at the banter between them. The door opens and in walks J, who heads straight to his desk. He's not looking this way but he's dressed smart as he always does when he's teaching. Suddenly, I realised I've tuned out of the conversation between my friends as my attention is focused on the man at the front of the room and he glances up at us when there's laughter surrounding me. It feels like it's just the two of us when we gaze at each other until he finally looks away. My phone unexpectedly rings so I reach for it in my bag. I look at the screen and it's someone who I need to answer to. I stand up and whisper to Amy that it's my physiotherapist so I'll be right back. "Hi there, yes, that's fine, I'll just excuse myself for a moment so I can talk to you properly..." as I walk past J, I say to him "I'll be right back, need to take this." And walk outside. I sit down on the bench where I sat earlier with Jake.