“Don’t call Mrs. Hawkins that.” Though he had to suppress a smile. “Anything else?”
“A big man came after breakfast. He had a letter for you, but the Hawk didn’t let us touch it.”
“A letter, huh?” Shawn got to his feet, cradling Emily to his chest, and walked to his desk. “Let’s see.”
He picked up the envelope and returned to the bedside lamp. He squinted at it and his stomach dropped when he saw who it was from.
“What is it?” Emily asked.
Shawn opened the envelope, pulled out the piece of paper inside and started to read.
“…unacceptable grades…” “…upon failure of improvement…” “…scholarship will be terminated unless the student achieves…”
The paper dropped from his fingers to the floor and he didn’t notice.
“Shawn? Something bad happened?”
He looked down at Emily’s wide blue eyes and forced a smile. “No, pumpkin. Everything is fine.” He buried his face in her hair and closed his eyes.
When it rained, it poured.
Chapter 2
“Something wrong?” said a familiar voice before an arm was slung around Shawn’s shoulders.
Shawn glanced at Christian, but kept walking. Their next class was going to start in ten minutes and it was one he couldn’t be late for. “Nothing.”
“Bullshit. Spill.” His friend’s dark brown eyes were fixed on him curiously.
Shawn shrugged. “I’m broke. And on top of that, they’re going to terminate my scholarship if I don’t improve my grades in three classes.”
Christian frowned. “I thought you already talked to Bates and Summers and explained your situation.”
Sighing, Shawn raked a hand through his hair. “Yeah. But there’s also Fluid Mechanics.”
Christian grimaced. “Rutledge.”
“Yep,” Shawn said miserably.
The school’s youngest tenured professor, Derek Rutledge had the nickname “Professor Asshole” for a reason. Strict and harsh, he set impossibly high standards for students and despised those who failed toachieve them. He didn’t tolerate “laziness.” And since Shawn missed too many of his lectures and often didn’t have time to complete his assignments, he was probably one of Rutledge’s least favorite students—if the man even had favorite students. The chances of Rutledge cutting him some slack were nonexistent. Rutledge didn’t cut anyone any slack. His demands bordered on ridiculous, but in the board’s eyes Rutledge could do no wrong, since he garnered a lot of research grants—like,a lot. Shawn had to give Rutledge credit—one didn’t become such a highly respected researcher by the age of thirty-three if one wasn’t incredibly intelligent—but it didn’t change the fact that the guy was a total asshole.
“What are you going to do?” Christian said.
“No idea.” Shawn made his way to their usual seats at the front of the lecture hall: Rutledge had ordered him and Christian to sit there all the time after he had caught them talking during his class. Shawn sat down and sighed. “What should I do?”
“I wish I could help you.” Christian dropped into a seat next to him. “But you know I’m a bit tight on the money, too.”
Shawn nodded. Christian lived at his grandmother’s and helped her as much as he could. His parents worked in another country and weren’t much of a help.
“What about your aunt?” Christian said. “I thought she used to help you out when things got tough.”
Shawn paused and gave him a look. “She died last year, Chris. I told you that.”
Christian’s face flushed bright red. “Shit, I’m sorry—I don’t know how I—”
Shawn shook his head. “Forget it.” It wasn’t that Christian didn’t care; he was just very sociable and had more friends than Shawn had acquaintances. No wonder it had slipped out of his mind.
“What about your cousin—Sage?” Christian smiled sheepishly. “See, I’m not completely hopeless! I remember him!”
