“You’re all here for the same reason: to learn something.”

With that, he had hit the mark.

Nash vigorously grabbed his things and headed for the door. His group, except for Emely, immediately jumped up and did the same. As they passed the DeLoughreys, with the largest possible distance, they gave them aggressive looks, but this left the three DeLoughrey guys unimpressed.

“Where are you going?” Professor Copeland asked warningly.

“I’m going to tell Father what’s going on. And this time, he’s going to do something about it!”

With those words, they disappeared through the open door.

What was so bad about the three men? So far, they hadn’t done anything. 

In Sacramento, there had never been such hostilities, much less this strange cliquishness....

But what did I know about the people here? Except that they were all weird, hated each other, and, according to Grace, had some dirty laundry.

Immediately I remembered her assumptions about the drugs. The professor looked like he needed some, but he seemed like one of the sane ones here. More like he was an excessive coffee drinker who had gone to work without it this morning because he had overslept.

I didn’t know if Professor Copeland was on the verge of a nervous breakdown or if he was taking it calmly because, for a brief moment, he stared hard at the door before shaking his head and going back to the desk in front of the blackboard. There, he jotted down something with a green pen, probably from the university merchandise store that Grace had gleefully told me about last night. The people here were all so excited that their town had its own university. 

The professor put the pen aside. He then looked back at us to continue with the seminar.

“Now, where did I stop...” he ran his hand thoughtfully through his hair, making it even messier. “Right, yes... So, as I mentioned before, I want you to learn how to express yourself in a carefully chosen way in writing as well as orally, to get a glimpse of world literature, and over time, we’ll cover some of the classics.” 

You could immediately see his enthusiasm, because at the word world literature his eyes began to sparkle.

“At the same time, I will intentionally leave out the rest of the nonsense that you know from your school days. For the first topic, I have brought you a few examples here.”

The seminar had been over relatively quickly. We had had to compare some very lousy applications from former Vanderwood students. So much for data protection here in Canada.

“He’s really nice. I didn’t expect that.”

Grace and Julie were just getting into a lively conversation about Professor Copeland.

“Why wouldn’t he be nice?” Larissa asked, amused.

Grace was about to say something, but then looked conspiratorially at Julie. Julie’s look, on the other hand, avoided her gaze.

Were they back to the drug thing again?

“Because he deals drugs?” Larissa laughed, and the group of students walking next to us gave us a dubious look.

“Guys, you should really stop with the prejudices,” I interjected, lowering my voice intentionally. “Just because you heard it somewhere doesn’t mean it’s true.”

“To be honest, I agree.” Larissa joined me, and we both looked at Grace and Julie, who were exchanging conspiratorial glances. I had a feeling there was something else they weren’t telling us.

“And besides, he’s pretty hot for a professor.”

“Larissa!”

I lightly boxed my grinning friend in the side.

Why did she always have thoughts like that?

“What? I’m sure you secretly agree with me!”

I said nothing in response.

“He’s way too old for you,” Julie said with indignation.

“And besides, he’s off-limits to you.” 

Grace was right. There were rules at this university that strictly forbid romantic relationships between professors and their students. But I couldn’t take Larissa seriously right now anyway.

She just laughed and tossed her loose dark blonde hair back over her shoulder.

“You guys know I’m just kidding. There are much sexier guys running around here.”

Okay, I expected that reaction from her, too. 

“Nash looks cute.”

“But he’s an asshole,” I said quickly, aware that wasn’t a stop sign for Larissa.

“Or that mysterious black-haired man who just walked into the room earlier...”

“You really should stay away from the DeLoughreys.” Now Grace sounded seriously concerned.

“Are they dealing drugs, too?” 

Larissa just had something like her five minutes; only then everything felt funny, and every guy within a mile was hot.

I might have even joked along, but I remembered Mum’s words.

“DeLoughrey? Are they the ones who own the DLSC?”

I had wanted to ask earlier, but everyone had rushed to the room as quickly as if it were a matter of life and death.

“They are. How do you know about them?” Julie asked me with interest.

“My mum remembers them from her youth, no idea how exactly...”

We were just on our way out when Julian walked past us.

I had made up my mind during the seminar to talk to him again, as I regretted my prickly reactions toward him in retrospect, especially after he returned my necklace to me.

“Your mum? Who...”