Temptation (The Hunted, #1)(23)

Again, no one raised their hands. He turned around and wrote "fear" in all caps on the chalkboard. "Not everyone was lucky enough to have a sister like mine growing up, to help teach you how to be fearless. It's completely normal to get up here and stutter and have your knees shake. But what's there to be scared of? Me? Certainly not. Like I told you before, I'm a fairly easy grader."

I had forgotten that he had said he was an easy grader. Maybe Tyler was right. Maybe I would get an A.

"So are you scared of your peers? You shouldn't be. You'll never see the majority of them ever again after you graduate. And chances are, they aren't even listening. They're probably daydreaming about their next class or that guy or girl they have a crush on. Not that I'm encouraging this behavior. We should all be listening to each other's speeches so you can get ideas on how to improve your own. But I'm getting sidetracked. My advice for you all for your next speech is simple. Stop worrying so much. Take a walk on the wild side and be fearless."

He walked away from his podium and lifted up the stack of papers on his desk. "As soon as you get your grade, you can leave. If you have any questions about it, feel free to email me or stop by my office hours. I went easy on everyone this time, but make sure to take the advice I give to heart and try to improve for the next project. And most importantly, don't forget to make eye contact."

He began to wind around the classroom handing out the papers. When Tyler got his he said, "Score!"

"What, did your weird speech about me earn you an A?"

"Well, an A-. I guess I've found my muse." He winked at me. "See you Wednesday, Penny."

I continued to watch Professor Hunter walk around the room. Every now and then he'd call out a name that he wasn't sure of. Finally he walked to the back of the room and placed my paper face down on my desk.

I turned it over and my eyes skimmed for the grade. At the bottom of the page, in bold letters, a C-was scrawled.

What the fuck?! I quickly read through the whole sheet:



Student: Penny Taylor

Topic: Yourself/Acquaintances

Miss Taylor,

It didn't seem like you were properly prepared for this presentation, despite being one of the last students that had to present. You stumbled over your words. You failed to make sufficient eye contact with the audience. You failed to harness your audience's attention. And the general lack of confidence you portrayed left your audience wanting.

You only loosely followed the topic of the presentation, and the topic that you did choose did not seem constant. Your examples were scattered and unrelated. The presentation as a whole was unfocused. You failed to nail your point home, Miss Taylor, mainly because it was unclear what that point even was.

Grade: C-



Bullshit! I rubbed my fingers across the words and felt the raised texture of the whiteout beneath them. The original words and grade had clearly been changed. I could still see traces of the A underneath the C-. What had he originally written? I read his comments again. I could feel my anger rising. I looked up, but Professor Hunter was gone.





Chapter 20


Monday

After my second class of the day, I stormed over to Professor Hunter's office. I knew that like me, he had a class after Comm 212. But maybe he didn't have another one after that. I needed to talk to him now. It couldn't wait until Tuesday's office hours.

When I arrived, his office door was closed. I looked down at my phone to check the time. I had basically run over here. He could still show up. I started to pace outside of Professor Hunter's office, fuming. After several minutes passed, I went back up to his door. Just because it was closed didn't necessarily mean that he wasn't inside. I banged on the door with the fist that was holding my grade.

No answer. I knocked once more, but had the same result.

I sighed and looked down at my phone once again. It had been nearly a half hour since my last class had gotten out. He wasn't coming. I sighed and put my phone back in my bag. This was stupid. I needed a day to calm down. Then I'd come to his office hours tomorrow like a normal person, instead of whatever crazy, angry person had temporarily taken over my body.

I was just about to leave when I heard footsteps approaching. I looked behind me and saw Professor Hunter strolling toward me with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Can I help you, Miss Taylor?"

I stayed by his door. When he reached me, I held up the paper with my grade on it. "Yeah, what the hell is this?"

He gave me a sharp look. "My office, now." He pulled out his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. I stormed inside and he calmly followed me. He closed the door behind us and casually strolled over to his desk. He took a slow sip of his coffee and placed it on top of the desk.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

I was still standing near the door. My hands were on my hips. "You said you were tired of hearing everyone talking about the same people in their lives. You said to think outside the box. That's what I did. This," I held the paper up again, "is bullshit, Professor Hunter."

"Please take a seat," he replied calmly.

I ignored him and walked behind his desk so that I was right next to him. I picked up the paper and quoted him: "You failed to harness your audiences' attention. I was one of the last people to go, and I still made them laugh!"