First Semester (Elton Hall Chronicles Book 1)

by Sarah Fischer

  “So I just got word that it would appear the threat to you has been resolved. But I would still like to walk you to class. Just in case,” Finn stated as he walked me to my door.

  “Oh, okay. Uh, let me just get my bag and I’ll be ready to go.” I went back to my room, dropped my make-up bag off, grabbed my backpack and a granola bar, then met Finn at the door. We walked to the end of the hall in silence. I felt a little awkward and kind of like a kindergartner.

  “So, what class are we going to?” he asked as we headed to the stairs. I didn’t really like taking the elevator and it looked like Finn felt the same way.

  “I have my computer class.” I tried to walk quickly. I was really embarrassed that I needed an escort, but he took my embarrassment for nervousness.

  “Deep breath.” He chuckled under his breath. “You had a police officer outside your door last night because someone threatened you and you weren’t nervous. Now you’re nervous about a class?” He laughed a little harder.

  “I could have taken her,” I insisted, and tried to look tough. It apparently didn’t work because Finn started laughing again.

  “Whatever you say, Miss Carrington.” Finn tried to conceal the laughing.

  “Hey,” I said as I gave him a playful shove.

  “Watch out! You are assaulting a police officer. I could bring you in to the station for that.” Finn tried to give me a serious look but a smile was threatening to escape.

  “I’m pretty sure that you are off duty since I’m no longer in imminent danger,” I pointed out, laughing at him.

  “Okay, this time I will let you off with a warning!” He winked at me. We continued a little further in silence. I snuck a look at him and realized it was a bad idea. He was looking at me too, but in a different way. I wasn’t sure I could explain exactly why it made me feel uncomfortable, but I felt a drop in my stomach.

  Upon further inspection, Finn looked to be in his early twenties with big brown eyes. When our eyes connected, I noticed that his eyelashes were long and curly. It seemed a bit unfair for a guy to have eyelashes that amazing but there they were. He was a little over average height, maybe five-foot-nine or ten with massive biceps. It looked as though they were going to bust through his uniform. I liked muscles, but his seemed to be a little scary instead of sexy. He clearly worked out a lot.

  For some reason, I wasn’t interested. Probably because there were two other men currently occupying my thoughts. I was sure it was not the unease I had being in his presence.

  I looked up and met his stare. He was giving me a look that was clearly him attempting to smolder but it just looked like he had to go to the bathroom.

  Then my name was called and I breathed a sigh of relief. I turned around and saw Annabelle. When I turned back, Finn was still gazing at me. There was no way he was developing feelings for me. This was his job. At the same time, I had a hard time ignoring the warning in my head.

  “Is this your class?” Finn asked, pointing to the door where Annabelle was standing.

  I looked over and then back at him and nodded.

  “I guess this is where I leave you. Here is my card. Please don’t hesitate to call me if you ever need me. My office is on campus; our city police believe it’s the safest place for our headquarters.” He handed me his card and his fingers slid past mine and he tried to stroke them. I pulled away as fast as I could and turned to head down the hall. I could feel him watching me as I made my way to the classroom. I shook my head and hoped we would not meet again.

  Chapter 4

  “Um, hi. Why are you walking with a police officer?” Annabelle asked as we were standing outside my classroom.

  “You would not believe my night.” I proceeded to tell the story of how I met Finn and why he felt the need to be my police escort. I was going to get into exactly why I thought he really walked me to class but we had to go our separate ways.

  Both of our classes let us out early so we met in the hallway. Annabelle was begging to hear about Officer Finn. It was too early for lunch so we decided to sit out on the grass and continue to talk about my night.

  “So Lola is in the hospital now. Is she okay? Do you know what happened to her?” Annabelle asked as we got to an empty gazebo and sat down. Annabelle did not sit on grass apparently.

  “I have no idea. Officer Finn wouldn’t tell me exactly what happened, and Lola hasn’t texted me back yet.” I took my phone out again to see if she responded.

  “So if Lola was in trouble, then why was he walking you to class?”

  “He claimed that the new girlfriend threatened me so he thought I was in danger too. I think he just wanted some female attention,” I said, rolling my eyes, still frustrated by all of this.

  “Did you like him?”

  “No. I mean, he is good looking, but there was no connection. I kind of felt the whole thing was awkward. He just seemed to be trying so hard to impress me. I don’t know. He just gave me a bad vibe. I can’t really explain it.”

  “Fair enough!” She shrugged her shoulders and then changed the subject. “Well, what about Trent? Don’t you have your date tonight?”

  My heart dropped. “Oh my god!” I could not believe I had forgotten. I looked down at my outfit. It was just a plain t-shirt and shorts. I would not have time to change after my next class before the EET meeting. It was good that I had gotten out of class early. “I need to change.” I grabbed my bag and rushed back over to my dorm.

  “Did you seriously forget?” Annabelle asked as she caught up to me.

  “I had a busy night! My body was threatened and I had a police officer sit outside my door for hours on end. It’s been crazy,” I insisted, but I did feel a little guilty about forgetting the date. I ran into the room hoping that maybe Lola was there, but she wasn’t. I took out my phone and texted her again just to check in.

  “Okay! You were busy. What are you going to wear?” Annabelle asked.

  I opened the closet and flipped through all the clothes. After three outfit changes we settled on a white top that pushed my breasts up to practically my chin and a denim jean skirt that gave the illusion I had a voluptuous butt. I finished the look with white platform sandals. These were pretty high but I could still walk in them comfortably for a few hours.

  We then headed to the bathroom and updated my make-up and hair. Once we finished, I looked in the mirror and determined that I looked good, and more importantly, I felt good. It was going to be a great time.

  ***

  We both had a class at two so, luckily, we still had time for lunch. I was on my way to Statistics for Psychology and Annabelle was going to her freshmen seminar. My class didn’t involve a textbook but math was a serious issue for me. I had problems with it in high school. My ex-boyfriend was amazing at geometry, and if it were not for him, I would probably still be in high school.

  Both of our classes took up the allotted time, much to our dismay, and we met up in the hall outside of the EET office.

  “Are you ready for your first meeting, Madam Secretary?” I asked Annabelle as we stopped to go our separate ways. The computer lab was in the same wing as the EET office and the classroom where they held their meetings.

  “I’m as ready as I will ever be. See you at the meeting after.” She wished me good luck and waved goodbye.

  I watched Annabelle head into the office and I went into the computer lab. I had a little bit of statistics homework so I thought I would look up some tutorials. After about ten minutes, I realized that this turned into a hopeless case and decided to just surf the internet randomly.

  After another fifteen minutes, I headed out of the room to check on the meeting. I saw Annabelle talking with Nat and I waited off to the side. Then Hercules walked out of the office and met my eyes. He stared, like he usually did, a little too long. Then he beckoned me over. When I did not immediately head over, he called my name and beckoned me again.

  So I walked over to see him. But before I reached him, I saw Trent. I watched him look m
e up and down and then wink at me. It gave me a tingling feeling in my stomach and I gave him a knowing smile. Then I turned to look at Hercules, who clearly did not miss the exchange.

  “May I have a word with you in the office, please?” Hercules requested as I stood in front of him.

  “Ah, sure. Is everything okay?” I followed him to the office and he opened the door to let me in first. It gave me a bit of a jump when he closed the door behind him. But I would not let him intimidate me. At least that was the plan.

  “So, I saw you walking around with a police officer and I was concerned. Is everything all right?” He sat in one of the office chairs and motioned for me to join him. I didn’t see him watching me earlier. I was a little preoccupied, but usually I was pretty aware of whenever Hercules was near. Right now, his green eyes were staring at me with a genuine look of concern. It was so endearing and comforting. I really could stare into those eyes forever, but I decided I should probably focus and answer his question before I made myself seem any more helpless.

  “Yeah, there was a problem with my roommate between her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend. Apparently, there were couple of threats and a fight. Um, my roommate was sent to the hospital because of this new girlfriend and she may have threatened me too. So they sent a cop to watch me and make sure that I was okay.”

  “Wait, you were threatened?” His voice escalated with what appeared to be rage.

  “Yeah, but it was not a big deal. I had it handled!” I was beginning to get irritated that everyone had such little faith in me. It really was not that big of a deal.

  “How did you have it handled? What did you do to have it handled?” His voice was still rising. At first I thought it was endearing that he was all concerned, but now I was getting annoyed.

  “The new girlfriend was just looking for my roommate and I refused to let her check in our dorm room. She said she’d kick my ass if I didn’t let her in but I wouldn’t let it happen. They left. There was no harm done,” I insisted as my own voice rose.

  “Well, what happened later? They would not send a police officer there if it was no big deal. They are real police officers. Not rent-a-cops,” he informed me, showing a bit more concern than frustration. His voice had dropped a little bit and he stared directly into my eyes, pleading for me to see his point of view.

  “Okay, there may have been a little harm done. This new girlfriend put my roommate in the hospital. They were concerned that she may come after me next but she didn’t,” I admitted rather reluctantly. Apparently, Hercules did not take it so well.

  “She is in the hospital and you think that it was no big deal?” he asked quite forcefully as he stood up.

  “No, it was a big deal for her! She was in the hospital, not me! I’m fine. The police protection was unnecessary because the new girlfriend never came back.” I stood up too. This may have been the wrong move because he leaned forward.

  “Oh yeah? Can you tell the future? Did you know that she wasn’t going to come after you too? You could really have been in danger! Don’t you care?” He was now inches away from my face and radiating with intensity.

  “Why do you even care? You just met me a couple days ago!” I moved in closer and added my own passion to the situation. I was so close that I could feel his breath on my face.

  “I’m always concerned about my students,” he whispered. I could just barely hear him over the sound of our breathing.

  “But why me?” I whispered back. It took all of my self-control to keep looking into his green eyes. He wasn’t looking away either, and as long as he kept his eyes on me, then there was no way I was going to break away.

  “I don’t know. There’s just something about you.” He looked away, but that was only so that he could glance at my lips. My heart was pounding so hard that I was sure he could hear it. He reached up and touched my face ever so gently. It was happening. He was going to kiss me.

  I tilted my head up and he returned his gaze to my eyes. They had want and a desperate need almost pouring out of them. I wanted this. I shouldn’t want this, but that made me all the more motivated. Then it happened. Someone was knocking at the office door. We broke apart and Hercules turned to open the door. It was Trent.

  “Hey, Professor. We are starting the meeting in a couple of minutes. Just wanted to let you know,” Trent said, and then turned to go. He was on his phone so he didn’t notice me. That was probably for the best. I wasn’t sure how I would explain this to him in the first place.

  “Cheers, I’m on my way now. Just give me a minute,” he replied, and shut the door again. “Um, Miss Carrington. That was, I mean, it was out of line. I apologize.” He was avoiding my eyes now but I was not going to let him get out of this situation that easily.

  “Don’t apologize unless you actually regret it. Sometimes it is fun to cross the line.” I walked past him out the door and never looked back. I was a few feet away from the office when I heard the door close. I knew he was behind me but I kept looking straight. The room holding the meeting was about twenty feet away but it may as well have been twenty miles.

  Every step I took, I could feel his gaze drilling into me. It was thrilling, a little scary, but still thrilling. I made sure to give my walk a little shake so he could have something fun to look at.

  As I walked into the meeting room, I saw Annabelle sitting in the corner with a couple more people I didn’t recognize. There was an empty seat next to her which I assumed was for me. I slid into the seat just as Nat was starting the meeting. I noticed Hercules stood just inside the door. He was avoiding looking at me. I smiled to myself. It seemed I had a little bit of an impact on him.

  ***

  “What did Berneli want?” Annabelle whispered to me.

  “He saw me with the cop and he was just concerned. No big deal.”

  “Oh, okay. That was nice of him,” she said, giving me a knowing look. I rolled my eyes and shoved her shoulder lightly.

  I looked toward the front of the class and Trent was standing next to Clarissa and Nat. He caught me staring and smirked. I guessed he was ready for our date. I smiled at him and then returned my attention back to Clarissa, who was giving everyone updates on the comedienne situation.

  I tried to focus on what she was saying but it was near impossible. Hercules and I had a moment. A real moment. And now I was about to go on a date with Trent. My heart started to race. I wasn’t sure how this happened. To my knowledge, I had never had two guys interested in me like this. It was a little intimidating but I kind of liked it.

  After about ten minutes we split into groups to start organizing different parts of the comedy event. Trent motioned for me to join his group and Annabelle started a group with the people sitting beside her. I grabbed my bag and walked over to Trent. I allowed myself a glance at Hercules and, just like I thought, he was watching me. Our eyes met for a second and then I looked away. I was going to make him work for it.

  “Hey, beautiful,” Trent greeted me, and I blushed, trying not to roll my eyes. I wasn’t that used to being called beautiful and I wasn’t sure how to react to it. “Ready for our date later?” he asked as I sat down at a desk next to him.

  “Yes. Should be fun.”

  His blue eyes were glistening with trouble. One thing was for sure, it was going to be a fun night. Some other people joined our group and we started discussing marketing techniques for the event. We needed to advertise the show so that students would buy tickets.

  After about fifteen minutes we had some ideas, some of them were even good, and the meeting was coming to a close. I started to get nervous. If the meeting was ending, then that meant my date was starting. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that he was just a guy and he seemed to really like me. There was no reason to be nervous. When that didn’t work, I took another deep breath and hoped that would do the trick. As everyone started leaving, I walked over to Annabelle.

  “Are you ready for your date?” she asked under her breath while putting her note
book away.

  “Yeah. It should be a good time, right?” I asked, and took another deep breath. And then another, but I was still not calming down.

  “Why would it not be fun?” Annabelle looked confused.

  “I’m just nervous, that’s all.” I slid my bag onto my shoulder and steadied my hand.

  “You’ll be fine,” she assured me as she watched one of the guys from her group walk out the door. I followed her glance and saw him too. He waved at Annabelle before he walked out of the classroom.

  “Um, hi! Who is that?” I asked when Annabelle waved back.

  “Oh, that’s Jason. He’s a freshman too,” she said as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and started walking out the door.

  “And?”

  “And nothing. He is a nice guy.” She pulled her phone out and checked her messages.

  “Nice guy or nice guy?” I asked, finally returning her knowing look.

  “No, it isn’t like that. I think it’s more of a friend relationship. He has a girlfriend,” she said with an exasperated sigh.

  “Okay, I was just wondering.” I suppressed a laugh. Annabelle rolled her eyes at me.

  “Have fun on your date. Come see me when it’s done.” She waved and walked toward the door.

  “But what if you’re with Jason?” I asked under my breath but loud enough for her to hear me.

  “Bye,” she yelled, and headed to the cafeteria.

  I went over to where Trent was standing just outside the classroom. He was talking with a couple of guys. I didn’t want to interrupt so I leaned against the wall and took my phone out. I was checking my social media site when he came over to me. From the look on his face, I had a bad feeling.

  “Violet! I am so sorry! I need to run to the Greek Council office and handle something. Do you mind waiting?” He looked genuinely torn.