Debt to the professor

Chapter 2

Catherine’s pov

“Swizzler… please. Tell me you don’t mean that.” I choked out, reaching toward him. I just wanted him to tell me it was a joke. I can barely see him through the blur of tears that won’t stop falling. His face… handsome, confident, cruel distorts into jagged edges in my vision.

“Catherine,” he says casually, almost bored, “don’t make a scene.”

I reached for his hand instinctively, the same one that held mine just yesterday, the one I thought cared. My fingers tremble in the air, barely brushing his sleeve before something stops me.Before I could reach him, a blur of red nails and expensive perfume flashed before my eyes.

STING.

The slap was so sudden it sent my glasses away . My head snapped to the side, and a blinding, throbbing heat bloomed across my cheek. I gasped.

"Didn't you just hear him?" Jasmine hissed, stepping into my space until I could smell her cloyingly sweet perfume. "He said you were just a bet, and he doesn’t want anything to do with you! I don’t want to see your filthy self around my man ever again. Move, bozo."

The lobby goes quiet, Just muffled snickers from students who somehow feel like they’re watching a show.

I stood there, one hand shaking as it rose to cover my burning face. I looked at Swizzler one last time, begging for a shred of the boy I thought I knew.

He just chuckled, his grip tightening possessively on Jasmine’s waist as he pulled her closer. "Seriously, Catherine. Look in a mirror… You’re worthless and can never be my type! It was just all for a bet and I won, end of story!!!”

The words hit me like a fist to the chest. My hands curl into fists at my sides. The version of myself that believed in him, the girl who left chocolates in his bag, the one who smiled nervously at him after class vanishes entirely.

I nod slowly, I don’t even know why… Maybe because if I don’t, I’ll fall apart right here in front of them.

“Okay,” I whisper. My voice sounds distant, like it’s coming from someone else.

Jasmine raises a brow. “That’s it?”

I don’t answer because if I open my mouth again, I might cry and I won’t give them that.

Without thinking, I turn on my heel and run. My hands cover my burning cheek as I push through the lobby, blind to everything but the need to escape. Laughter chases me in waves behind me.

My vision blurs as tears spill over, hot and uncontrollable. I wipe at them angrily, but more come, and I can’t see properly and I can’t think properly,

I don’t care where I’m going, I just need to get away from him and away from the people who watched me crumble.

But then , something solid stops me, I collided with someone. The impact knocks the air out of me. The world tilts again, unsteady, and I stumble back, my heart pounding even faster than before.

Books scatter everywhere and a sharp crack follows. “Oh my God… im so sorry!” I gasp immediately, stumbling back, my heart racing for a completely different reason now. “I didn’t mean to… I wasn’t looking…”

My voice shakes as I drop to my knees, grabbing at the fallen books, trying to fix something, anything, like I can undo the damage if I move fast enough.

There’s a laptop on the floor, Open and broken . Water… no, coffee spilled across papers filled with neat, precise writing.

My stomach drops.

“I’m so, so sorry,” I repeat, my hands trembling as I try to gather everything. “Please, I didn’t…”