Kinley had never met a teacher she hadn’t liked.
More important, Kinley had never met a teacher who hadn’t liked her.
And despite the fact that playing bad with Tyler had been kind of fun, and yeah, maybe she’d spent the better part of a night wondering what it would actually be like to kiss a guy for once . . . that wasn’t Kinley. She was going to get along with Dr. Stratford, and he was going to like her.
Which was why she was here early. Again. She stalked through the halls like a soldier on a mission.
She opened the door timidly, and poked her head in. Mr. Stratford was sitting at the desk, a pair of glasses low on his nose, paging through a book with the weird, uneven expression he always wore across his face. A large cup of Starbucks sat beside his hand. Maybe next time she’d bring him coffee. And what was he reading? Maybe she’d check it out so they could have something to talk about. She squinted at the title. Fifty Shades of Grey. Okay. Maybe they wouldn’t be discussing literature.
“Excuse me, Dr. Stratford?”
He looked up, not even trying to hide the book. “Can I help you, Elsie?”
“Um, it’s Kinley?”
Dr. Stratford took off his glasses and massaged his temples, as if calling her by the correct name greatly pained him. “Class doesn’t start for another half hour, Kinley.”
“I know,” Kinley said, forcing herself to be bright. She would not be discouraged. She would win him over. She hugged her notebook to her chest. “I just feel like maybe I got off on the wrong foot with you last class, and I wanted to stop by and personally apologize.”
Dr. Stratford cleared his throat. “Frankly, I didn’t even remember that until you reminded me, but now it’s burned into my mind. I doubt I’ll ever forget it.”
Shoot. Shoot, shoot, shoot. This was not going like Kinley planned.
“Well, um, now that you do remember, I just wanted to see if there was something I could do to make it up? Like, maybe I could do an extra assignment or something. I’m a really hard worker, Dr. Stratford. I’d do anything.”
He turned toward her. “Is that so?” He steepled his fingers beneath his chin.
“Yes, sir.” Kinley let out her breath. Maybe this wasn’t going so badly after all.
“Very well.” Mr. Stratford turned away and pulled a fountain pen from the drawer in the desk, and he scratched across the paper for a minute. He folded the paper neatly into fourths and handed it to her. “Have these done by next week.”
A tiny, whispery part of her told her that next week was the first test. And that he was asking a lot. But that wasn’t something she should say, so she just took the paper. “Thank you so much, Dr. Stratford. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.” She put her palm on her chest. “Seriously, thank you.”
“I’ll see you in class.” He picked the book back up. “I need to prepare, so please come back when class actually is set to begin.”
Kinley eyed the book. “Oh. Okay. Thanks again.”
He fluttered his hand at her. “Go.”
“Yes, sir.” She left and very quietly shut the door behind her, then did a tiny little victory dance outside the door.
She was back. Kinley Phillips was back. As soon as she finished these assignments, she’d be the favorite student. The teacher’s pet. She’d ace the course and do her father proud.
“Uh, what are you doing?”
She whipped around. Mattie Byrne, the boy who had been locked out of the class last time, was standing behind her. Obviously, he’d decided to get to class early this time.
She grinned at him. “Winning.”
And then she walked down the hall. She unfolded the paper that Dr. Stratford had assigned to her.
Please check out Psychology: 305 from the local library.
Read and report on chapters one, four, seven, and eight. Each report should be minimum of eight pages long, single spaced.
Please answer test questions 1–30 for each chapter.
Complete activities 7, 12, and 14 in chapter one, activities 1, 2, and 16 in chapter four, activities 3 and 9 in chapter seven, and activities 1–30 in chapter eight.
If these activities are not completed by the beginning of the next class, I will assume you are not ready to take your academic responsibilities seriously.
PS: Remember, we have a test.
Kinley crumpled up the note in her fist, her blood cold. Then she smoothed it out, carefully folded it up, and borrowed a piece of tape from the front office to keep on the front page of her notebook. She downloaded the textbook onto her phone, and then waited outside the classroom with Mattie until the rest of the students started to arrive.
She would not be daunted.
She was Kinley Phillips, after all.
And Kinley Phillips had made a reputation out of accomplishing the impossible.
She would do this.
Kinley followed Kip in and took a seat in the third row—not too close to the back, but not so close she looked like an Eager Edith, or whoever.
She tried not to pay attention as Tyler came in. Tried not to watch as he chose a seat in the back. Tried to pretend she couldn’t feel his eyes on her.
At least, she hoped his eyes were on her.
Sort of.
Okay, she did.
Maybe she had a small crush on Tyler Green. And yeah, maybe Tyler Green was pretty much the first guy who’d ever actually given her the time of day, and maybe that was pathetic, but she couldn’t help it. She liked it.
But when Dr. Stratford started talking, she turned off the boy-crazy part of her brain and began taking notes. She didn’t get annoyed when Dr. Stratford was rude about questions, and only got a little bothered when an attractive Asian guy named Cade was introduced to the class as “an over-privileged boy whom I was forced to admit to the class by merit of an obscenely wealthy father.”
Cade, who was sitting back in his chair, sort of lifted his hand lazily, acknowledging this. “Here.”
He did look like a rich kid, Kinley thought. Like he didn’t have to try.
“We’re aware,” Stratford said drily. “Now, we’re going to skip around a bit. Who can name Freud’s stages of psychosexual development?”
Kinley could name at least three, but she stayed still. Today, she wasn’t going to draw attention to herself. Maybe she could answer one question directly and then fly under the radar before gradually emerging as star of the class. She didn’t want to be obnoxious.
Surprisingly, Cade, the new kid, raised his hand.
“Mr. Sano? Did your private tutor provide you with the answer?”
Cade smirked. “Oral, anal, phallic, latency . . . oh, and genital.”
A couple of the kids snickered, but it was quickly stifled.
“Surprisingly correct. Would you care to expand, Mr. Sano, or is that beyond your abilities?”
Cade lifted a shoulder. “I’ll let you take it from here.”
As Dr. Stratford launched into a detailed explanation of the oral stage, Kinley felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.
She ignored it and kept taking notes.
It vibrated again.
And again.
Very slowly, without moving her eyes from Dr. Stratford, she slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled her phone into her lap.
She didn’t recognize the number, so she tapped the message.
Hey.
Do you know who this is?
Look behind you.
Kinley glanced back.
Tyler was grinning at her. He winked and gave her a small wave.
She felt her face grow hot. She smiled and turned back around.
And found Dr. Stratford staring at her.
He strode forward quickly and reached out to grab her cell phone. Then, without looking at the messages, he walked to his desk, opened the top of his paper coffee cup and dropped it in. He replaced the lid and swirled the liquid around.
Kinley’s mouth dropped open.
And then, without acknowledging that he’d done anything out of the ordinary, he moved on to anal.