just flipped my notebook open and uncapped my pen when he looked straight at me and said, “Glad you could find time in your busy day to join us, Ms. Miller.”
I gave him a weak smile. As much as I would have liked to explain my life to him, it would have sounded like one excuse after another, and he wouldn’t understand. Add to it, I’d stayed at Noreen’s too long. I just found it frustrating that he took it so goddamned personally that I was all of thirty seconds late, according to the clock in his room.
Besides, why did it matter, considering he’d spend the entire class period droning on and on? He loved to hear himself talk, and a lot of the students would ask him stupid fucking questions, making me wonder if they’d ever read a story before. If they’d actually bothered to read the assignments, they’d know the answers. At least I’d do well on the upcoming exam. Frequently, I had to remind myself that this was just a stepping stone. Spending time in the classroom now would lead to a better job and a better life in the future.
At the end of class, I gathered up my junk, shoving it all in my backpack so I could head to my next class. Fortunately, it was in the same building on the first floor. As I started to leave, though, the professor stopped me, calling my name, so I turned around. “Ms. Miller, is there something going on right now that is stopping you from fully participating?”
“What do you mean?”
“You missed class Tuesday night and didn’t call to say why. That’s an unexcused absence. Then you were late to class today. And while in class, although I did see that you took notes, you didn’t participate in class discussion. You were here in body but not in mind.”
I was, frankly, a little surprised. I hadn’t expected this man to actually come out and ask what was happening with me—and would he even care? “I’m having some problems with my daughter right now. It won’t interfere with my school work.”
“I certainly hope not. Will you be ready for the test on Tuesday?”
“Absolutely.”
“Very good.” I adjusted my backpack, hoping I didn’t look as impatient as I felt, even though I wanted to run outside and have a cigarette before my next class started—and the clock was ticking. “You show a lot of promise, Ms. Miller. I’d hate to see anything happen at this point.”
Jesus. The man sounded like a mobster—and if I hadn’t been on the verge of laughing, I probably would have felt really uncomfortable. “It won’t. Thanks for asking.” As I started moving toward the door, I said, “See you next week.” Then I hurried out of the room, stopping downstairs in my other class long enough to drop off my backpack before retrieving a cigarette and lighter. Mindful of time, I rushed out the rear door near the classroom toward the designated smoking area. I was surrounded by a few other people smoking, chattering away, but I kept to myself, trying to get my mind ready for history.
After this semester, I’d be close to having all my basic requirements out of the way, meaning I’d have to settle on a major course of study soon. I’d toyed with the idea of computers, nursing, and English, but none of them seemed to be a good fit for me. I was gravitating toward psychology, so maybe I’d take a basic psych class next semester and see if anything clicked—and if the class didn’t resonate, I’d probably just get a degree in business, because I could always find work with it. Whatever the case, I could always go to a university after graduating WCC and get an advanced degree if I wanted or needed to, no matter what my major. But I had to get this one under my belt first.
Once I’d sucked down that cigarette, I headed to my next class and made it on time—and, half an hour later, I was leaving the building for the evening, breathing in the fresh, cool night air. I was relieved my history instructor hadn’t asked why I’d missed class on Tuesday like my literature professor had. In fact, I was pretty sure the history prof never noticed when students were there or not; as long as there were warm bodies in her classroom, she didn’t seem to care how many there actually were, and she’d stressed that we, as