Chapter 12: Favoritism and Suspicions

The next day, Isabella continued with her routine attending classes while she gave her clothes to a laundry mat to take care of it. Since she wanted to look her best for the dinner with Alex's mom, she quickly rushed to see James as she was also having his class that same afternoon. She then remembered that she had promised James she would give him the time of his life. But the last night after hearing an earful of words from Rachel, she became a bit hesitant and did not plan on doing that anymore. 

She decided to be a bit late for James' class while thinking about everything she was doing so far. She was soon 30 minutes late for her class as she slowly opened the door to see that James was not in the class and students went on as usual. She heaved a sigh of relief, only for her to feel a huge bulge behind her. But she turned around and it was James who also held the door handle and a smirk on his face as he spun her around.

“Why are you late?” he muttered to her.

“I got occupied with so many things, but don't worry, I am all done with all that,” she said as he quickly scanned around to be sure that nobody could see them before kissing her on the cheek gently and opening the door for her to step in. 

She quickly composed herself and entered the class. At the same time, James also came in. Meanwhile, Rachel, who was having the same class with Isabella, noticed she had her brow arched in suspicion as she watched Isabella and James come in. Something about the way James walked behind her, smiling and fancying her steps, made Rachel more than sure that James had a thing for Isabella and Isabella did not plan on pushing him away.

Just then, Isabella's gaze fell on Rachel as she waved to her happily and rushed towards her, sitting beside her. Students stared at Isabella, wondering why James did not scold her for coming late, why some of them just waved it off as he thought maybe he had already scolded her outside the classroom before she came in.

“Why are you late? We both left the house at the same time and you don't have as many lectures as I do, so why are you late?” Rachel asked.

It made Isabella angry as she slammed her hand on the table looking at her.

“You can't just tell me what to do. Stop questioning me, okay? I have a life that I am living too and I have things I have to do just as you know. I am going to see Alex's mom and I need to look my best. Of course, I went to get my dress ready in the laundry, so don't question me just because of any little thing. I know you suspect me? But I'm not that foolish enough, okay? It doesn't mean I walk around sleeping with any man I see on the road. Just stop this already,” Isabella said to Rachel, who kept quiet after humming a sound.

“I am only trying to look out for you. You might think it is easy. You might think you will be able to get out of it like it is nothing. It is not that easy. Do you understand? Try your best to stay out of danger. It is not going to be funny—the consequences. I am warning you,” Rachel said.

Just then, two female students entered the class. They looked scared as they knew that they were late, and to everyone's surprise, James scolded the both of them.

“Why are you two just coming now? You are 40 minutes late. Why?” he questioned. 

They were both out of words as the other girl stepped out.

“We had a problem getting a cab from the hostel to the lecture room,” the girl stuttered.

“I don't care. I always tell every one of you here that I don't want to hear or have any reason to scold you. And you know how much I hate students that are late. You can't just walk in here being late and expect me to let you enter. Nobody can escape that from me. Even if I don't scold you for anything, I will scold you for that,” he yelled as everyone stayed silent, some of them avoiding his gaze because it was quite scary.

“Professor James, I am so sorry. It's just that I tried my best to be fast. In short, I ran with all the strength I had in me left but I still came late. Please just give me one last chance to amend all my mistakes,” the lady pleaded.

“Fine, go to your seat. For next time this happens, you would be canceled from my class for good,” he stated.

Just then, the class representative stood up.

“But, Professor James...” she questioned as the professor looked at her.

“What? What else do you have to say?” he said angrily.

“I saw you smiling with Isabella as she came in. You didn't scold her at all and she didn't utter any word about you scolding her or even stopping her on the way and asking her why she is late to your class. Normally, you don't do that behind the backs of other students. You do it in the presence of all the students so they can feel and understand the discipline you are giving to them, which is what you always warn us about. But now I saw you come in with Isabella and you did not scold her,” the student said as Isabella's eyes bulged out. 

She did not know how Professor James was going to answer that question. His glare immediately went to Isabella, who was sitting stiff at her seat beside Rachel, before he looked back at the class representative.

“Are you the one to tell me what to do? Did you have a security camera watching everything that you would know whether or not I scolded Isabella? Besides, I scolded her more than anyone. I just want her only because I was one of the reasons why she was delayed,” he said clearly, his excuses not going according to plan. 

Isabella clenched her fists angrily because it was more than obvious that he did not scold her, and even nobody in the class was dense enough to believe this little excuse he gave. The class representative was not ready to let one student be favored more than another.

“Or are you taking her as a special student all of a sudden?” the class representative questioned.

James could also sense the suspicions and knew that he would not be able to escape their questions. 

So he boldly turned to the class representative. 

“And what difference does it make if she is my favorite?” That answer alone made everyone present gasp in shock…but Isabella wasn’t liking this.

“Remind me what I said earlier,” Rachel whispered to her. And even Isabella sensed that it won’t end well.