HARPER.
I sat in the back row of the lecture hall like I always did, my legs crossed tightly under the desk, my tennis bag shoved against the wall beside me. The room smelled like old wood and coffee, and Dr. Kane’s voice carried through it with that calm, precise tone that made every sentence feel important. I was taking notes as fast as I could, but my hand kept pausing because I was too busy watching the way he moved when he wrote on the board. The way his shirt stretched across his shoulders. The way he pushed his sleeves up to his elbows when he got passionate about a passage. I hated how aware I was of him.
Literature seminar was supposed to be my easy elective. Instead it was kicking my ass. I had a big paper due in two days and I knew it wasn’t good enough. I had spent most of la
