Teaching Mia

Chapter 7 - Case of the Mondays

Monday morning. Why did Mondays always seem so cruel? Mia was back at her usual bus stop, waiting for the forsaken bus that took her to school. Memories of the weekend flashed before her eyes. The concert had been an incredible experience; she couldn't remember the last time she had just let herself go like that. But that fleeting moment had ended all too abruptly, and the rest of her weekend had been spent in group meetings cramming for all the papers and presentations due for the week.

Was it really necessary to have ten different classes at once? Half the time she felt like she was scrambling just to keep up. And this week was going to be hell. She had something due every day, not to mention two presentations she was already dreading.

Public speaking was definitely not her thing. Despite all the training she had received since she was little, and the classes she had forced herself to take through college, she always felt extremely nervous when she had to give a presentation and couldn't even sleep the night before. Guess some things never change.

For one of the first times ever, Mia arrived early to class. She had a good five minutes to kill, so decided to go fill her water bottle at the water fountain outside. She could use the extra hydration. She pressed the button and noticed the water pressure was extremely low. Great, this is going to take forever, she thought.

"Hey, beautiful."

Mia didn't need to turn around to know who it was. She would now recognize that sexy British accent anywhere.

"Hey, yourself." She glanced back at Leo and smiled.

"God, I'm so thirsty. Are you almost done there?"

His abrupt question caught Mia a bit off guard. How about, 'How are you? How was the rest of your weekend?' she thought.

"Rough night? This thing is taking forever for some reason." Mia noticed her bottle was about half full.

Leo sighed. "Something like that." He playfully pushed Mia's elbow forward and water splashed out from her bottle. "You done yet?" he teased.

"Hey! Stop that," Mia laughed.

Leo smirked and repeated the same motion from before. "How about now?" More water splashed before her.

"Seriously, you're not helping the situation Leo."

"What's the hold up? C'mon I'm dying over here."

"I hope you're really enjoying...oh my God." Leo had pushed her elbow again, but this time Mia had been already turning around and water splashed all over his face.

Mia instantly burst out in laughter. "Leo, I am so sorry. But that was totally your own fault."

He tried to brush the remaining drops of water from his face and opened his eyes. "Oh was it? I beg to differ." An evil grin spread across his face as he snatched the water bottle out of her hands.

"Um...what do you think you're doing?" But she already knew what was coming and began to back away.

"Getting even, of course."

She let out a soft shriek and dashed down the hallway. Leo chased after her and was just a few paces behind her. "Don't think you're getting out of this so easily, Mia."

She scrambled behind other students, trying to stay clear of his path. She caught the looks of several people and couldn't help but laugh at the situation. They must have thought she was losing her mind.

"Can't we just talk about this like adults?" Mia yelled before entering an empty study room.

"No way." They started to circle around the conference table. She tried to bluff her direction out of the room, but he was too quick. "Face it Mia, you're stuck with me."