Stick Around After Class

Chloe drummed her fingers softly on the desk while she waited to get her midterm grade back. The room was quiet except for the shuffle of clothing and the rustle of paper. Professor Friedman walked down the rows between desks, handing out graded blue books.

She finally got to Chloe and set the blue book face down on the desk. "Well done," the professor whispered, before moving on down the line.

Chloe turned the blue book over and was greeted with a big red A. She breathed a sigh of relief. She had been pretty confident, but you never knew. She flipped idly through the pages and noticed that it was the TA's handwriting, not the professor's, that showed up in the margins. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She couldn't prove it, but she had the feeling that she tended to get better grades when the TA graded her than when the professor did. Not by much, she was an A student, but his criticism always felt a little more lenient.

Maybe that was because he was just an easier grader. Or maybe she was imagining it. But she thought, once or twice, that she'd caught him looking at her in a way that could have been less than appropriate.

Or maybe not.

By the time she'd finished reviewing her feedback the professor had finished passing back the papers and was starting to go over the test with the class. Chloe fished out her notebook and started doodling. It was a garden scene, looking out the window of a cottage somewhere with snow capped mountains off in the distance. Normally she'd be busy taking notes but she'd done well on the test and didn't particularly need the review.

When the period ended Chloe filed her way out of the room with the rest of the class. She found her friend Nancy waiting for her outside, leaning against the wall.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Nancy asked.

"Yep," Chloe said, shouldering her bag. "All set."

"Cool." Nancy paused, cocking her head. Chloe realized that she was holding her notebook against her chest, with the doodle she'd been working on facing out. "That's pretty good. Did you do that in class?"

"I was paying attention," Chloe said. "But it was just a review day. The professor was going over the midterm. So I doodled a little."

Nancy laughed, shaking her head. "*That's* a doodle? Come on, I need to go win a few sets to prop my ego back up."

The two started walking over to the athletic center. "You really think it's good?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah," Nancy said. "What, you find that surprising?"

Chloe shrugged. "I don't know. I've just never shown anyone my doodles before. It's nice to hear."

"I figured you must have had lessons or something."

"Youtube videos, online courses, that sort of thing," Chloe said. "Nothing formal though. I asked my parents when I was younger but they didn't think I had the time."

"They wouldn't let you draw?"

"Oh, I was allowed to in my free time. They just didn't want me focusing on it. Which made sense, between school and tennis I was already pretty busy. They thought it would hurt my grades or my performance on the court."

"Still."

"Asian parents," Chloe said with a shrug.

"I guess it payed off," Nancy replied. "They're going to have a lawyer for a daughter in a few years."

"If I'm lucky," was Chloe's chipper reply.

"You're a shoe in. Don't get me wrong, I think law school sounds awful and you're insane to go there on purpose, but you'll kill it."

"Thanks," Chloe smiled. "It'll help that I already have an in with the best accountant in the state. I'll be able to call you in for all sorts of exciting forensic accounting cases."

Nancy laughed. "Yeah, that'll be me. Best in the state."

"I don't see why not."

The pair reached the locker rooms and quickly changed before heading out onto the court. They played for a good hour, and by the end Chloe's muscles were well worked. Finally, breathing hard, she called it a day. The two friends returned to the locker rooms to shower and change. Nancy left first. If she'd stayed, maybe she would have seen the flash of white light as Chloe stepped through the doorway out of the locker room.

***

"The second member of Trevor's burgeoning harem will be our youngest competitor this year. Please welcome, Chloe Chen!"

Shame. Trevor could feel his face turn red. He pushed the feeling down. He hadn't done anything wrong. None of this was his fault. He hadn't exactly volunteered, and the choice of harem members was completely out of his hands.

Chloe strolled into view from behind Trevor's thrown and looked around nervously. "Over here?" she asked, approaching the depression. Violet nodded.

Chloe kept her deep black hair cut relatively short; it fell only halfway down her neck. She could almost be considered waifish if it weren't for the excellent shape she was in. As it was, her thin body was held together by toned muscle.

She didn't have many curves to speak of. Her breasts were almost nonexistent, her hips trim, and her but flat. She stood at only 5'1", contributing to the diminutive stature of her slight build.

None of that was to say that she wasn't attractive. Her light blue eyes were striking against her dark blue-black hair, and shone with intelligence. Her heart-shaped face was undeniably cute, or maybe beautiful. Both.

Chloe turned toward him when she reached her spot, and furrowed her brow. Trevor looked away, unable to meet her gaze. If the show was picking girls he was attracted to then that would imply...but no. He'd never acted inappropriately. Not once. He shoved the shame deeper.

"Chloe is an eighteen year old student, taking the Intro to Philosophy class that Trevor is a teacher's assistant for," Violet said. "She hopes one day to become a lawyer."

Trevor pointedly tuned out as Violet went on to describe Chloe's physical characteristics. She was supposed to be a student of his, and it wasn't right to think of her that way. For that matter, it wasn't right to think of someone almost ten years younger than him that way. He wasn't going to let Violet tempt him. Chloe, for her part, took the diatribe quietly although she looked about as deep in thought as Trevor.

"And," Violet said, this line cutting through Trevor's intentional disinterest, "as a special point of interest, Chloe remains a virgin." His eyes widened and Chloe's cheeks flushed deeply as she made a little **** sound of protest. This was not the sort of thing he needed to know and so he stared pointedly down at his own lap for the rest of Violet's introductory monologue.

When Trevor next looked up Chloe had taken her place on the next podium over from Kaya. She was looking at him. She kept herself well composed, but if Trevor had had to guess what that look on her face was, he'd have guessed disgust. Trevor wanted to die.

"Up next, we have a contestant who might just know Trevor's bedroom better than he does." Violet said this with mirth, but if it was a joke Trevor didn't get it. He let out a sigh, preparing for whatever the next emotional blow of the day was going to be.