They Don't Know About Us

Chapter 3

Ava sped up her pace as she headed through campus to the psychology building for the first time. She was excited to see something new and to learn something new. The topic of psychology had always been interesting to her, but she wanted to get to know it even better before she declared herself a psychology major. She wouldn’t mind continuing to go to school after her bachelor’s either, as long as the grad school was out of state. She went inside of the building and down the hallway to the right, her eyes shifting across the room numbers until she saw 106 for her class. She stepped into the large lecture hall and headed down the stairs to sit in the front row on the left side in front of the professor’s podium. She found that she focused better when she sat in the front.

Ava glanced around her, noting only a few other people were in the room with her since she had arrived so early. Just in case she had trouble finding the room, she had left earlier than normal. Jackie was already gone to take her morning run by the time Ava got up, so she turned on some music and got dressed before heading out. She had a feeling that today was going to be an interesting day. The first day of any class proved to be memorable in some way. She took out her laptop and opened up her notes document, titling it with the date and the class.                          She couldn’t believe she was already halfway through her second college semester.

Students continued to file in as eight o’clock steadily approached, the smell of coffee and the sound of yawns filling the room as people started to gradually wake up. A minute before eight, a door to the left of the stage at the front of the room opened, a man in his late twenties walking through with a tan messenger bag on his shoulder. 

At first, Ava thought he was another student because he looked so young, but a confused expression graced her face as she watched him walk onto the stage and start setting up at the podium. She could hardly believe that he was the professor, and she heard surprised murmurs coming from her other classmates as well. She tried to get a better look at him, but his face was hidden by his laptop that he was working on. Soon, the projector streamed his slides on psychology onto the board, drawing her attention away for a few moments. 

“Welcome to Introductory Psychology. I’m Professor Gavin Rivers. You can just call me Rivers or Professor. Whatever you want,” the professor’s voice suddenly boomed out throughout the lecture hall.

Ava glanced back over to him as he walked to the center of the stage, noting the white button down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the slim fit khakis he wore. Her eyes trailed up to his face, at first noting that he was pretty attractive, but all of her thoughts fell away to shock as she recognized his face as the one under the hood from last night. She stared at him with wide eyes, unable to even really move. The circumstances seemed so impossible since she had convinced herself last night that she would never see the hooded man again, but there he was as her psychology professor. She didn’t know whether to laugh out of ridicule or to cry because she knew how dangerous he could be.

Gavin let his gaze sweep along the front row, the motion immediately halting when his eyes met Ava’s, a look of recognition dawning on his face. “I’m excited to get to know all of you and teach you the wonders of psychology,” he voiced, trying to stay on track as he tore his eyes away from her. His voice wavered a little at the beginning, surprise sapping the usual strength of this tone.

Chills threatened to shudder down Ava’s spine when their eyes briefly met, anxiety flushing through her face in the form of a reddened blush. He had somehow remembered her from last night, and he knew that she saw what he did to that other man. She didn’t even know what happened after she ran from the alley. Gavin could’ve killed the other man for all she knew, and she could likely be next if he wanted to get rid of any witnesses. 

“I’m going to call roll. If you don’t hear me call your name, see me after class and we’ll get you added,” Gavin announced as he turned his back and went to his laptop to read off of the list of names on the document. He leaned closer to the screen, lifting his hand to trail his forefinger along each name to keep himself on track. 

As Gavin read off names, Ava pondered on just getting up and leaving. Did she really want to learn from someone with such violent tendencies? What psychological categories did beating someone within an inch of their life fall under? However, she knew if she ditched and was counted as not attending that she would have to come into contact with him anyway. She just needed to sit through this and move to the back next class to put as much space between them as possible. She tuned in as he started to approach the ending of the alphabet, listening for Ava Williams, but he skipped right to Winston.

Confusion and anxiety flooded through her as he finished up roll without calling her name. Now, she had to see him after class and be physically even closer to him. She knew today would be interesting, but she didn’t think her safety could possibly be threatened. She tried to hide behind her laptop screen as Gavin strode across the stage, towering over the front row with boldness and confidence. It only intimidated her more as she nearly cowered back into her seat. She knew that her luck had run out.

“I know he’s our teacher, but wow,” a girl behind her murmured to her friend, her teeth gracing her bottom lip in a pleased bite as her eyes trailed Gavin.

“I don’t see a ring on his finger,” her friend giggled quietly into her hand.

It was hard to admire his dark styled hair, dark stubble, and shocking green eyes after watching him slam his fists repeatedly against some poor guy’s face. Ava shook her head subtly, trying to brush the thoughts away as Gavin’s deep voice sounded throughout the lecture hall again.

Gavin clicked to the next slide that had a few definitions of psychology listed in neat bullet points. He nodded to the large board as he walked to the front of the stage. “Let’s start with defining what psychology is, yeah?” Gavin spoke, a hint of an accent that Ava couldn’t place occurring to her. 

Ava wondered where he was from, her eyes narrowing in thought as she guessed the accent was from around Europe. It sounded bold and heavy, coming from his throat. She couldn’t help but wonder if Gavin Rivers was even his real name since it sounded so American. She knew that he wasn’t as simple as he appeared. There had to be something deeper and darker to him. It was a wonder he wasn’t in jail or that he had the job he had. None of her other professors seemed violent like that. 

“He could definitely teach me a thing or two,” the girl murmured lowly, inciting more bubbly giggles from the girls.

“Or we could get extra credit somehow,” the girl’s friend smirked, flashing a smile at the girl before biting the tip of her pen.

“Excuse me, ladies. Let’s focus in, okay?” Gavin told them, giving them a pointed look before shifting his gaze over just slightly to Ava, a smirk playing out on his lips. “We’ve got a lot to talk about,” he commented before tearing his eyes away and heading to the podium. He changed to the next slide, the noise from the audience dying down as he launched into an explanation of the content on the slide. He seemed passionate about the subject, his hands waving in animated motions as he continually moved across the stage. 

Ava couldn’t tell if she was imagining things or not, but it seemed like he was talking directly to her. She swallowed down the lump in her throat, her eyes dropping down to stare at the tears in her jeans. Whenever she met his eyes, there was far too much tension in the air between them for her to stare for too long. She figured they would talk about what happened in the alley last night, and he would probably tell her to keep her mouth shut, which she would so that she wouldn’t get hurt. She didn’t want to die when she just started living her life. All of the progress that she had made so far being away from her parents and being in college would be for absolutely nothing.

Class seemed to crawl by, but it wasn’t because the content was boring. Ava actually found the subject of psychology really interesting when she was actually focusing on the slides and not on how big and strong his hands seemed. She knew the damage they could deal. She figured it was going slow because she was dreading the end of class when she would have to go up and see him to talk about why she wasn’t on the roll. 

“Make sure to go over your syllabus tonight. Thank you for being such a great class. See you next time!” Gavin bid the class goodbye, his smile warm and vibrant. He headed to the podium as a few students made their way to the stage to speak with him. His eyes flickered over his laptop once toward her before moving to the first student, his smile brightening as he chatted with her. 

Ava stayed in her seat, only moving to pack her laptop into her backpack. She watched him interact with each inquiring student, feeling confused as he came off sweet and understanding. She narrowed her eyes a little, feeling as if she was being deceived. Everyone was being tricked by his fake demeanor, his smile seeming like plastic to her. She knew that he was bad beyond that friendly mask he currently wore. She wouldn’t be fooled. 

As the line of students dwindled down to one more, Ava begrudgingly stood from her seat, keeping her eyes cast down. She slung her backpack onto her back, her hands moving to smooth down her college shirt, representing the school’s grey and blue colors. She eyed the side door, seriously considering leaving now that it was her turn to go up onto the stage and talk to him. She didn’t like that she was all alone in the room with him. What if he hurt her since no one was around to witness? If she cried out, would anyone even hear her?

Ava slowly made her way from her seat and around the front of the stage to the small set of stairs on the side. She watched her black sneakers step on each stair until she approached the podium, the light brown hue of her eyes clashing with his green ones. It felt like the air had been sucked from her lungs as they held each other’s gaze. Any words she could think of saying were trapped in her throat, unwilling to come out. Her fight or flight instincts were ringing as she prepared for the worst.

A small smirk crossed over Gavin’s lips as he tilted his head at her. “That storm last night was something, huh?” He asked her, his words holding weight that was only apparent to her.

Ava felt a sense of dread wash over her, coldness rushing down her spine. She couldn’t believe the trouble she had already gotten herself in.