Chapter 2: Chinese History

My coffee is hot as I study the world history syllabus for a fifth time. Professor Oakley's cell phone number is toward the top of the page and so is his email. The temptation to text him by accident has crossed my mind, but I would be no different than the other girls considering flunking to get a tutoring session.

"Earth to Cora? Did you hear anything I just said?" Evelyn taps her nails against her notebook and walks across our dorm room. I almost wish my best friend wasn't my roommate. If Evelyn was someone new who didn't know all my quirks I might be able to get away with wallowing in my thoughts.

"No, sorry studying the syllabus," I reply as I continue to scan the pages. I'm hoping to learn more about Professor Oakley. I will say this, I'm rather impressed with how quickly he put the syllabus together the night before.

"You've been reading it for an hour. Unless...something happened in that class yesterday that you're not telling me."

My cheeks are flustered and my palms get sweaty. I'm not ready to be in Evelyn's interrogation room just yet. It's not fair how she knows absolutely everything about me.

She sits beside me and takes the syllabus out of my hands.

"Have you met a boy?" All I can do is nod my head. I guess I can tell her I met someone. That someone is my college professor but she doesn't need to know that.

"Well, I want details. Is he sexy?" Fuck it's Evelyn's interrogation.

"Evie, I am not in the mood for twenty questions. I will say he is hot as fuck but is totally out of my league."

She looks deeper into my eyes like they will give me away. My eyes can't talk back Evie Squire even if you want them to.

"Well if he is out of your league, it's time for a makeover. You really need to toss all your overalls away and start looking like a woman. I'm talking new hairstyle and loads of skin-tight dresses."

I surrender to Evie's proposition. It's not a horrible idea. It's just hard to maintain. The last time my friends tried to make me over for a guy was when I was a junior. The magical transformation ended up lasting three days and I reverted back to being me. I don't always wear overalls. My other outfits include jeans and hoodies.

Evie goes to her side of the dorm room and finds a box of hair dye. She decides to dye my hair dark brown. Something I wish she would have asked about before adding it to my blonde hair. There's no going back now.

The fumes of the hair dye fill the room for two hours. I take a shower and rinse out the extra dark color and watch it go down the drain.

Next Evie blow dries and straightens my hair. She encourages me to wear my contact lenses. Something I hate doing, but maybe I should because we are in college.

"Are you ready to see the new you, Cora?" My heart is pounding. What if I could look pretty? What if Spencer is wrong about me?

"Wow, you did a great job. I do look different."

"You look hot now, girly. Your blue eyes pop out against your dark hair! You should try on my red dress and wear it to your next world history class. That will make, whoever you are crushing on notice you."

Maybe she's right. I need to take my womanhood back and become a butterfly. If I break out of my cocoon and change how I look I can still be me. The nerdy artist who sketches landscapes and anime.

"Yeah, maybe he will notice. But it's still not a good idea. I don't want to get him in trouble."

Evie looks at me with her worrying eyes. She is my best friend and has gone out of her way to make me prettier. Maybe I should tell her the truth. Or do I keep my crush to myself?

"Why would you get him in trouble? A little flirting in class never hurt anyone. If you're worried about the professor saying something just meet the boy on a date out of class."

My heart is pounding and I hate myself for even crushing on a college professor. But that jawline and that damn deep voice have made the stories of history ever so interesting.

"Because...the guy I'm crushing on. Fuck never mind."

I can't tell Evie it's too soon. She looks back at my world history syllabus and is starting to connect the dots.

"It's Professor Oakley, isn't it? Is that who you're crushing on?"

I put my hand over her mouth. I'm a bit relieved she said it for me. Evie's a good egg and I know she won't tell a soul. Maybe it's good she's my roommate after all.

"Yes, I'm crushing on my world history professor. I don't know what to do. Every time he starts lecturing I am mesmerized by his voice and his jawline drives me insane. I know it's only been two weeks, but all these other women are making me so jealous."

"These other women? Are other girls into him too? He must be really fine then. Damn girl, I never thought you'd be into an older man."

"He's not that much older than us. He's like six years older. And I bumped into him the first time we met. I made all his papers fly out of his arms like an idiot. There's definitely nothing sexy about that."

Evie picks up my phone and starts texting Professor Oakley's number.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm doing you a favor. I'm asking him about the syllabus relax. It's just a test to see if he will respond to students like this."

I look at her message and it is surprisingly decent.

Professor Oakley,

I've been reading over the syllabus and was wondering if you could explain our first research paper. I don't understand what you are looking for.

Thanks,

Cora

I hit send. It might be a good test. Maybe he's cool enough to text students back. My phone dings.

Hello Cora,

Yes. I can explain it. Can you meet me an hour before class in my office? We can go over the assignment.

Thanks,

Blake

He's gone from Professor Oakley to Blake in a mere thirty seconds. My heart is on fire and I agree to meet him in his office.

"Wow, Cora look at you. And don't worry I won't tell anyone. You'll have to tell me how it goes. You might want to practice what sounding confused about the assignment looks like."

I take her advice and brush up on the questions I will ask. I study everything about Chinese history in hopes of getting to know Professor Blake Oakley.