Chapter 8: Irresponsible student

After having lunch with Rayne at the school cafeteria, Mia headed for Mr. Jasper’s office. Mr. Jasper was the supervisor for the assignment, which she had failed to deliver on the day of the presentation. Although she could have presented her other story, she was too shocked and upset with Diane that she ended up abandoning her altogether. They have had story assignments before, but usually it was about insider news and something that could only be published in the school newspaper. This one project was a chance to get published in an actual newspaper company, which she lost due to Diane. It was to find fresh, interesting stories worthy of making headlines, and Diane no doubt did that now. Mia gave a light knock at the door and, hearing a response, she headed inside, greeting the man behind the desk lightly, who only replied with a snort, not even sparing her a glance from the bunch of papers he was fiddling with on his desk. After a few long minutes, the professor finally stopped what he was doing to glance at Mia once. The displeasure in his eyes at her sight could not be mistaken. No doubt to Mr. Jasper Diane was his favorite student after she displayed her immense dedication and love for her studies by ’working hard on the project.’ Mia was just another irresponsible student with personality issues. He eyed her disapprovingly before beckoning her to take a seat. "Why are you here, Miss Harrison?" "Sir, I’m here to talk about the assignment. I apologise for my actions the other day, and I hope I can get another chance to present a new story for the project." Mia knew fully well how displeased the man was with her and wouldn’t even think about arguing about what happened the other day. On top of that, the rumors circulating about her being suicidal made her appear like a really troubled person with a personality problem. The only thing she could do was try to make amends by proving to them that she was worthy of the scholarship and wasn’t an irresponsible student like they thought her to be. Mr. Jasper looked at her across from him with a blank gaze. "Well... I’m afraid there is nothing I can do for you, Miss Harrison. You have already failed the assignment, which will leave a huge dent in your overall scores. Besides, you have done a thing that’s considered a huge crime in the news industry. Plagiarism. Had you been working at some organization, your company could get sued for your actions, and that’s not the worst case scenario; you could ruin that company’s reputation to the point that it would be hard to rectify. You should be lucky this little incident isn’t put into your records, else I'm afraid no company would want to hire you after you graduate." Mr. Jasper berated her in a stern voice. "Sir, I apologise for my actions, and I assure you it was all just a misunderstanding. Sir, you’re aware I’m on scholarship, I can’t afford to lose my scores, please can you give me another chance, sir, I assure you this time I’ll carry out the task, and I’ll make sure not to break any rules." Mia pleaded. Ivy Grove Institute was one of the largest in the country, with the best courses and best facilities, it could be said as the dream school of most people. And she wouldn’t want to mess up any chance of getting a bad name in her grade or lose her scholarship. Mia had gotten in only due to her good grades in high school; she was already content, at least her mother wouldn’t be burdened by having to pay the tuition plus more expenses at the shop. But if her scores lowered, she might just end up losing her scholarship. This assignment was to give the students more exposure and a huge boost in their G.P.A., a chance Mia really wouldn’t want to miss. Mr. Jasper sighed at her words. He must say, before this little incident, Mia and Diane were one of his best students of the second year, he was quite surprised to find out Mia was the kind of person to would try to snatch something she didn’t work for. But nevertheless, he wasn’t a completely heartless man and knew some students wouldn’t be able to afford the school’s tuition, so he decided to give her another chance. "Fine, you will restart the assignment; however, I don’t have time to reassess you, so I’m going to refer you to another professor for the time being. Let me see." Mia’s face broke into a happy, relieved smile. "Thank you so much, sir." The man squinted into his glasses as he pulled a few papers, mumbling. "I don’t think there’s any..... Oh here. Professor Bennett, I think he might be available as he has just replaced Mr. Olsen today. He would be here until Mr. Olsen recovers." Mia’s heart skipped a beat at the name mentioned. Wasn’t that the new professor who had pulled her from the rooftop? "Here, take these. Professor Bennett’s office, the second office in block 29. He’ll know what to do. You’re to report back your assignments and everything else to him." Mr. Jasper handed her a stack of papers, dismissing her to get back to his work. Mia’s mind was in a jumble as she walked across the hallway in block 29. ’Was it the same professor Bennett? The one she was always thinking about? Her heart was suddenly filled with anticipation; she didn’t know any other professor surnamed Bennett in this faculty. Furthermore, he was the only substitute professor at the University. She snapped out of her thoughts as she realized she had already walked past the second office. She drew in a breath as she knocked on the door slowly. "Come in." The magnetically enchanting voice sounded, and she almost forgot to breathe. Pushing the door open, she stepped in, and her eyes lit up at the sight of the person sitting behind the desk. "Oh my God, it’s you." Mia gasped before she could control herself. Neil, who was initially immersed in his work, suddenly looked up at the student who had just entered his office, hearing her gasp. "It’s you. I knew it, even fate allowed me to come to you. Don’t you think this is fate? We just keep meeting each other, hmm." Mia smiled widely, letting herself into the office, sitting across from him comfortably without receiving permission. "What?" Confusion written across his face,ce he queried. Mia drew in a breath in surprise. "You don’t remember me? That’s unfortunate, I thought this was fate, doesn’t matter, it's still fate." She mumbled more to herself than to him, as he could only hear part of what she said. She suddenly extended her hand. "Hi, I’m Mia Harrison. It's nice to meet you again. Did you not remember me? I’m the first person you saw after landing from the sky." Mia joked, grinning widely, her almond-shaped eyes shining radiantly as she waited patiently with her hands extended over the table for him to shake. Bet it’d be nice to feel his hand in hers. Mia thought amusingly. His face continued to hold no expression as he glanced from her face to her outstretched hand and said, "You’re the student who arrived late to my first class? What do you want?" His voice rang out firm and tough. Mia pouted disappointedly as he didn’t take her outstretched hand. For some reason, she seemed to have forgotten that the person before her was supposed to be her teacher, not someone she could casually go and make friends with. "Right, straight to business then." She sighed, handing him the stack of papers from Mr. Jasper. Neil raised his eyes to look at her questioningly as she had handed him the papers with no prior explanation, looking down at her hands with pursed lips. She suddenly realized the look in his eyes and said, "Mr. Jasper asked me to give those to you." The n as if remembering something, ng she broke into a smile and added. "It seems we’re going to be seeing more of each other now that you are in Ivy Grove." She winked. Neil raised his brows at her actions. ’Was this fool trying to flirt with him? How bold of the idiot.’ Several girls would look at him with hearts in their eyes since he arrived at this school; however, seeing the unwelcome look in his eyes, none of them had the guts to approach him and speak to him casually. Yet this one over here was openly trying to flirt with him. "Take that back to him, tell him I don’t work with irresponsible students." He threw papers back to her with his eyes remaining frosty. Mia was taken aback; her smile immediately vanished. "What? Why not?" After recovering from her shock, she suddenly asked. "What do you mean by you don’t work with irresponsible students?" "Pardon?" He raised his head to look at her again. "I mean, why won’t you work with me? And in what way am I irresponsible?" She boldly asked, defending herself. "You don’t think you’re irresponsible? Then let me tell you. Fir, you arrive at my class late, without the decency to apologise, I only let you sit through that class because I wanted to. Second, you have no respect whatsoever for your teachers, and thirdly,y you lack professional ethics? Tell me, is that what you call responsible?" His deep voice laced with ice as he spoke each word, his face not showing any emotion. "I... I." Mia found herself speechless. Fine, the man was her teacher, alright, but who told him to be so good-looking? If he were an average-looking middle-aged professor, she wouldn’t have behaved that way; she was only trying to be friendly. This morning, she had been too shocked to apologise for entering the class after him, but how was that her fault? It appeared she’d have to coax him into agreeing to be her professor or else she would fail her project for this semester. And that wouldn’t be good for her scholarship. Mia sighed dramatically. "Sir, I apologise. Is that enough, or do I have to prove it? I’m very professional, it’s just this one assignment; after that, you won’t have to work with me anymore." She clasped her hands, peeking at his face from her side of the table. "Hmm? Say yes?" She blinked her doe eyes like she always did with her friend, Owen. But it wasn’t working on him at all. He shot her a deadly glare that almost made her lose her balance on the chair. Mia didn’t mind him glaring at her; in fact, she could have sat in the office all day to pester him if he hadn’t gotten the security to chase her out of his office. Mia sighed dejectedly as she left Block 2walka, walking aimlessly on the campus. What a grumpy man he was. Not even taking pity on her. He was her only chance; she definitely wouldn’t allow him to refuse. She was going to find a way to convince him to supervise her assignment. No matter how grumpy he was, she would find a way to make him agree.