Say When - Micalea Smeltzer Page 0,32

fact that the deodorant I put on this morning has long since worn off.

Hayden comes to a stop at the front of the room, clasping his hands together.

“Hello everybody, I’m Hayden Moore, your History of Film professor for the year. I’m assuming you chose this class for one of two reasons. Either because you thought it would be an easy grade or you have an interest in film.” The auburn-haired girl leans over and whispers in her friend’s ear, both of them giggling in response to whatever she said. Hayden eyes them briefly but ignores the exchange. “Regardless, I think this will be a class you’ll enjoy. At least I want it to be enjoyable for all of us.” His eyes drift around the room but skip over me. “College is about learning, in the literal sense, but it’s also about discovering who you are as an individual. I think History of Film can aid you in that. We’ll explore many films during this course that you’ll be expected to watch outside of the classroom and write papers on and then we’ll have active discussions here. You will all also be working on your own scripts for the entire year, but we’ll go over that more during the next month as we go over the process of screenwriting and what will be expected of you.” Clearing his throat, he asks, “Any questions?”

The auburn-haired girl’s hand shoots into the air and he nods for her to speak. “This script—we can write whatever we want?”

He smiles at her, his teeth shiny white and perfect like a porcelain vase. That vase—that smile—is going to fracture when he realizes I’m in his classroom. I didn’t even know he was a professor. He never said anything about teaching and when he spoke about being a screenwriter, I never gave it a second thought.

“Like I said, we’ll go over the fundamentals of screenwriting over the next month and what’s expected of the projects, but yes, I guess for the most part the ideas are limitless. I want to allow you all to explore your creativity with this. Yes, it’s a grade but I want it to be fun.”

He rolls the white sleeves of his button-down shirt up his muscular forearms. The gray slacks he wears hugs his thighs and butt. He looks like absolute sin and I’m not the only female in the room noticing. Even Molly has perked up.

“All right, any more questions before I do roll call?” When no one raises their hand this time he picks up his roster. “If you’d like to be addressed by anything different than your given name, please let me know and I’ll make a note.”

And then he starts listing the names.

It’s a small class. Only twenty-two of us.

That means it takes him hardly any time at all to get to my name.

I reluctantly raise my hand and his eyes fall on me. Horror fills his eyes for a millisecond of time, his jaw falling slack, but he quickly regroups, hiding his surprise.

“Emmie,” I say softly. “I go by Emmie.”

I’ve never forced Hayden to call me Emmie. If I’m being honest, I’ve grown to love the way he says my name and there’s something womanlier about Emilia. Emmie sounds childish to my ears now, but I have to separate the two. There’s the Emilia Hayden has come to know, and now there’s Emmie. The girl who’s his student.

Hayden continues down the list, calling out the names of the last few students.

He passes out the syllabus, the scent of his cologne lingering in the air when he walks by me, and then like all the other professors I’ve had today he dismisses us. I don’t have a chance to catch his eye before he ducks his head and disappears through the side door. The auburn-haired girl—who answered to the name Amber when he called roll—looks crestfallen by his hasty exit.

I know there’s no chance of cornering Hayden now, to ask him what the hell this means, what we should dp, so I sift through my bag for my car keys instead.

Standing, I settle my backpack onto my shoulders and motion for Molly to get moving. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Ten

I knocked on Hayden’s door before I left to go to work, but he either wasn’t home or didn’t want to let me in. But with my day over I’m not going to leave so easily if he chooses to ignore me. I can’t be alone in this. I need to talk