1
Fiona Montgomery appeared more confident than she felt. As she walked to the Dean’s office in her high heels, which were completely unsuitable for campus wear, all sorts of misgivings were tumbling in her head.
Misgivings about what she was about to do.
Should I?
Shouldn’t I?
Should I walk in there and destroy a man’s life?
There was a devil whispering in her left ear: Destroy him, destroy him. He doesn’t want to fuck you. He’s a man, and all men are evil. Just like your stepfather, who took your innocence and made you what you are.
At the same time, there was a higher voice of reason, which sounded tinny and hollow in her other ear: You can stop this vicious descent. If you do this, you will never be able to take it back.
But she was so far gone now. At least, she convinced herself that she was very far gone. Sometimes, when you have stared despair and depravity in the face so many times, you start to become so damaged yourself that there was no going back, like a cancer which had extended its claws and rooted itself deeply in your vital organs.
Besides, he rejected me.
That stung.
It stung more than she could bear to let it. After all, he was the object of her adoration. Rust O’Brien. Intellectual, unattainable sex god. A sex god who could have any woman on campus – and out of it – that he wanted. And he had the gall to choose that fat cow, Kate Penney.
Yes. Kate Penney – whose name and portly visage did not even cross Fiona’s mind until recently.
She imagined Rust’s hard body grinding against Kate’s cushiony one. Granted, Kate would be the type of girl that some men craved, with her exaggerated curves and her doughy pouches. And a sickly, visceral feeling choked up Fiona’s esophagus.
He chose her over me.
That was what quickened her step and steeled her resolve as she entered the Dean’s office.
His PA looked up.
Fiona said, “I want to see the Dean. I have something very important to tell him. It has to do with one of his faculty members violating a campus rule.”
The PA – a bespectacled matronly lady – said, “I have to screen all requests for the Dean’s time, Ms – ”
“Montgomery.”
“Montgomery. Can you tell me exactly what it is about?”
“Yes. One of the Professors on campus, Rust O’ Brien to be exact, has been fucking one of his students. Isn’t that a violation of campus law?”
The PA was rather taken aback. “Is she a current student?”
“Yes. She’s currently in his class.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“I have evidence.”
The PA paused. “In that case, I’ll show you into the Dean’s office right away.”
Fiona smiled. “That would be nice.”
2
The buzz around campus was going around now, spreading like wildfire. Professor Rust O’ Brien was being summoned to the Dean’s office for allegedly having an affair with a student.
Kate Penney was with Michaela, her best friend, at one of the cafeterias in campus, when the news hit them.
Michaela was tucking into her apple pie.
“Mmmm, mmmmm,” she said, forking a heap of pie into her mouth. “This is good for campus crap.”
“But not as good as your Aunt Jemima’s apple pie,” said Kate, waggling her own fork around. She had heard the story of Aunt Jemima’s prowess in the kitchen only a million times before.
“Aunt Jemima should have been canonized for the cookies and pies she made. Pity she died of that heart attack before the Vatican got wind of her key lime.”
“I thought she died of morbid obesity?”
“A complication, among her other afflictions, bless her soul.”
There was a distinct commotion going on at the other tables. Students raised their voices, and there was a palpable excitement in the air. Kate could hear the barely concealed squeaks:
“You don’t say!”
“You’ve gotta be kidding.”
“Rust? Hot Rust O’ Brien?”
“He doesn’t seem like the type. I’d always thought he’d go for some leggy lingerie model.”
Kate’s heart stopped.
“Hot damn,” Michaela said. “You hear that? Something’s going on.”
She hailed a student who was eagerly getting up to pass the word to the next table. “Hey . . . you, come over here.”
One look at Michaela’s face and girth was enough to get the pimply-faced freshman scuttling over.
“Yes?” he said nervously.
“What’s going on?” Michaela demanded.
“Rust O’ Brien has been hauled up by the Dean for molesting a student.”
Kate’s stomach acids congealed.
“Molesting?” she squeaked.