I stood outside Professor Caldwell’s office door, my heart pounding so hard I could feel it between my legs.
The campus of the university was almost deserted on this Friday evening as most students had already left for the weekend, leaving the long hallways quiet except for the faint buzz of the fluorescent lights and the distant sound of a janitor somewhere far away.
My phone still showed the bright red 98% next to my name on his final exam. I had crushed it. Everyone said his tests were brutal, but I had aced every question while the rest of the class barely scraped by. Now he wanted to see me. His text had been short and commanding: “My office. 6:30 pm. We need to discuss your future.”
Professor Caldwell was young for a tenured position, only thirty-two, with that clean-cut profess
