Page 60 of His to Own

“I am. You’re saying my last name wrong. It’s Mrs. Morozov now.”

“Fine then. Mrs. Morozov. I don’t want you in my class. So go.”

“I’m staying.” I sit back down in my seat. “You can’t make me go. I haven’t done anything wrong. I am paying to be here just like anyone else.”

“Fine. Then stay. But you’re not passing this class.”

I keep my head held high even as I want to bow it to my chin. Fight. I have to fight.

Professor Romanov resumes class and I take notes on Hamlet just to be on the safe side. The moment class is over, Polina rushes to my seat. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asks.

“What?”

“Why are you testing Professor Romanov like that? You’ll never be able to get Professor Burgov’s internship if you fail this class.”

“Shouldn’t that make you happy?” I ask as I pack up my books. “One less person for you to compete against?”

“I told you before. I like the competition. It makes me work harder.” Her eyes flick down to my journal. “Why did you write that?”

“I don’t know. It just came to me.”

“Is it about your new husband?” She shakes her head. “I can’t believe you’re married.”

“Why?”

“Because you never talked to anybody. It was obvious Alexei was into you. But you never seemed to notice. I just figured that you had no interest in men.”

“Well, I’m married now. It is what it is.” I brush past her and walk out of class, ignoring Professor Romanov’s eyes on me.

“Clearly,” Polina says, following after. “Your husband is intimidating. How did you end up with a man like him? I mean, he’s so handsome and you’re…”

“I’m what?”

“So plain.”

I flinch. My father always told me I was the ugliest out of my sisters. That tends to stay with a person. “Polina, I don’t have time for you right now. I have another class to get to.”

“Fine,” she huffs and storms away. Always leaving a dark cloud behind her wherever she goes.

Maxim is waiting for me after my second class ends. “How was school today?”

The second he asks me, all I can think about is Professor Romanov and how rude she was to me. “It was fine,” I lie. I get into the car, slamming the door behind me. After a beat, Maxim gets in too and we start the drive home.

“You don’t sound fine,” he says.

“Just one of my teachers,” I sigh.

“Tell me about it. Talk with me, Elena.”

In this moment, I want to reveal everything to him. Whenever I came home from school, my parents would show no interest in my studies. I got to the point where I just didn’t want to share anything.

But right now, I want to. I want to talk.

“My professor… she was rude. She made me read one of my poems in class.”

“How was that rude? I tried making you read your poetry last night.”

“Because this class isn’t for poetry. It’s for Shakespeare. She made me read one of my poems. She then told me to leave her class. But I refused and stayed. I decided to fight for once.”