Getting Schooled (The Wright Brothers #1)(8)
Holy shit.
The pages fluttered out of my hands. I didn’t need them to know what words would come next, because I’d read that paper so many times, for my own enjoyment, that I practically knew the words from memory.
The first page had landed face up on the desk, right in front of me. The program that I used to critique papers removed the title block, to help preserve student anonymity. All I ever (usually) knew was the student’s last name and first initial, and at a black college, come on. We had so many Johnsons and Browns and Washingtons and Jacksons that knowing someone’s surname and first initial really didn’t mean you knew shit.
But I did know something.
I knew now that the J. Wright I was scholastically crushing on was the same dude who’d had the nerve to be pissy with me after we bumped into each other. The same one who’d gotten an attitude when I answered his question, on my damn day off. I wasn’t even supposed to be here today – I was doing mama a personal favor since she was without her car.
“It’ll only take ten minutes Reesie, promise.”
Yeah.
And those ten minutes had cost me the blissful ignorance that the refined, progressive, possibly loc’d, Nubian intellectual I’d imagined was actually some discourteous mofo named Jason.
And… I wasn’t turned off by it.
No, no, the exact opposite.
Another, less insane girl might have considered this a waste of appeal. Handsome and smart were universally appealing, but being a jerk was usually a deal breaker.
Not your silly ass though, Reese.
Nope.
That little hint of savagery was like catnip to me. Our little exchange, paired with his gorgeous face, already had me hot and bothered, but now? Knowing that he read actual books – more than just for class. He had to, to have a worldview like that – and understood them well enough to make cogent literary and social criticisms about those books?
It brought the teensy, tiniest little tear to my eye. Because this man was the friggin’ holy trifecta. I mean, holy trinity. I mean… shit.
He had my head all messed up.
- & -
“Reesie, were you rude to one of my students?”
My eyes went wide, and stayed glued to the road in front of me as I pulled to a stop at a red light.
Goddamnit he snitched on me… excellent move.
“Mommy whhhaaa? Who would tell you such a thing?”
She sucked her teeth. “So you were then.”
I cringed a little, turning my head to stare out the driver side window as I waited for the light to change. My mother didn’t say anything else, but that silence weighed on me more than words, and she knew it. I peeked up at the light – still red, damn! – and then over at her, to see her phone in her hands.
Guess Jason had put those writing skills into an email, which I would pay good money to read. He didn’t even know Corey Jefferson and he’d gutted that man’s entire literary existence. Was it bad that I got a little bit aroused thinking about how he’d probably filleted me in the email to my mother?
“It really wasn’t anything that big, I promise.”
I glanced up at her, noting the censure in her eyes before I turned back to the road, just in time for the light to turn.
“That’s interesting, because based on this email…”
“What does it say?” I asked, trying not to sound too giddy.
“Well, Mr. Wright is rather wordy – part of the problem with his paper – so how about I just give you the highlights? “Earlier this afternoon, I had a startlingly negative interaction with the young woman working as your grad assistant. She was flippant, confrontational, and offensive, all in response to a humble, respectful request.””
I rolled my eyes. Startlingly negative? Flippant? Offensive? Humble, respectful request? He was laying it on as thick as unstirred natural peanut butter.
“When asking when I could get in contact with you, her response was unhelpful, and as we continued interfacing, progressed to openly vicious. She insulted my intellect when I mentioned wanting to speak with you about my grade, and I can’t remember the exact words, but I believe it was something along the lines of, “Why, dumbass? What are you even doing here? Your stupid ass failed, didn’t you?””
“Okay wait a minute,” I giggled, barely keeping myself from breaking into a howl of laughter. “I did not say that to him, oh my God!”
“I don’t know Reesie, sounds like you…”
“Mommy!”
“Hmm?”
“You really believe I said that to some random student?!”
“Well…”
“I would never—”
“Oh calm down little girl,” my mother laughed, and I glanced over at her again as I made a right turn. “I know you didn’t say those exact words… but I also know you. Mr. Wright is exaggerating, I’m sure, but I want you tell me why you’re arguing with the students.”
“He started it,” I mumbled under my breath, instantly feeling sixteen instead of twenty-six. “I was in there getting those email addresses and stuff for you when he came in, saying he was looking for you. I told him your office hours were printed on the door, and he got smart with me!”
“And what did you do?”