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It was Gary Boardman, but this time Coop wasn’t there to chase him away.
“Who’s your friend, Cara? What’s your name honey? You’re about to be famous, might as well give me your name.”
“Leave us alone!” Cara said as she grabbed Mallory by the elbow and began running towards the math building.
Apparently, Gary got what he needed because he didn’t follow them any further and took off in the other direction.
“Who the hell was that?” Mallory asked Cara once they were inside.
“He’s the paparazzi photographer who took the pictures of us at the lake. His name is Gary Boardman, and he’s a freaking scumbag.”
“Wait, so we are going to be on CMZ now?”
“Probably… I’m sorry, Mal.”
“Don’t be… I just wish I would’ve actually washed my hair…” Mallory said as she chuckled.
“I’ll understand if you don’t want to walk back with me after your class.”
“Are you kidding me? This is the most excitement I’ve had in college since that toga party we got kicked out of our freshman year!”
“You’re the best, Mal. Thank you…”
Cara gave Mallory a hug and they each went their separate ways to their respective classrooms.
Cara entered her Statistics class, which was located in a small lecture-style classroom and had about 40 students in it, most of whom were already in their seats and talking. There was definitely a noticeable buzz in the room. Typically, most college students were barely awake this early, and never this talkative.
As soon as the other students realized Cara had entered the room a hush came over the class. She felt all of them staring at her, and for many of them, it was likely the first time they even knew who she was.
This is really going to be a long day…
Cara smiled and took her usual seat towards the front of the room. She always liked to be in the front of the class, mostly so she could get out of the room quickly.
“Go Cubs!”
A voice from the back of the classroom yelled out. Cara decided not to even acknowledge it, but wasn’t sure if that was a good idea or not.
Might make things worse…
Whatever talking that was still going on came to a stop as Cara’s professor entered the room.
Dr. Howard Curry was straight out of central casting for what a collegiate math professor should look like. He was in his late 50’s, balding, wore glasses, and had a long beard that showed more grey than his natural auburn colored hair.
Dr. Curry was also the head of the math department, was known to be very strict, and also one of the few professors who employed an unforgiving attendance policy. If you missed more than three classes, for any reason, you failed. There were rumors that he even made a student who already had three absences attend class before he could go to his own mother’s funeral.
Dr. Curry greeted the class as usual and announced that he had finished grading their last exam as he began passing them out to the students.
When Cara received her exam, she noticed that below her grade of a 96% A was a handwritten note saying, “See me after class…”
What else could go wrong today…
The minutes ticked by like hours until her class came to an end. Cara stayed in her seat a few extra minutes as her classmates exited before she stood up and approached her professor.
“Dr. Curry… you wanted to see me?”
“Ah yes, Miss Knox… listen, I just want you to know that I saw your interview last night on ESPN. You see, I’m originally from Chicago and I am a huge Cubs fan. So, I just had to tune in and see what Cooper Madison was up to. Then I saw my very own student sitting next to him. I almost spit my evening cocktail out!”
He let his words hang for a moment. Cara, unsure of whether or not he was expecting a response decided just to nod and smile.
