#and thank god i finally got glasses last year 😅

[canirove]

Professor Rice | Chapter 1

Summary: It is Veronica’s last year at uni. After partying maybe a bit too much the previous one, she wants to be focused and not struggle again. Especially not when to finish her major, she will be needed the credits from one of her most hated subjets: Science. But because that wasn’t enough already, her professor happens to be one of the most handsome men she has ever seen. Professor Rice.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━          

"What are you looking at..." Madisson stopped mid-sentence to look at the door. "Oh my sweet baby Jesus!"

"Can he be my lab partner? I promise to be good" I laughed.

"Babe, that's not a classmate. That's our professor."

The professor... that's our professor. I'm screwed!

Author’s note: This story is a very special one, because I didn’t write it, a friend of mine did. It was my birthday present from her a couple of years ago, and that’s why the main character was named after me 😁 She got inspired because when we saw the photo of Declan that I’m using on this chapter’s header, I told her that with the glasses he looked like an university teacher 😅

If you’ve read any of my other stories, you’ll probably notice that our writing style is a bit different, but I hope you still enjoy it as much as I did. Thank you for reading! 💜

Next chapter

Masterlist

Veronica's POV

On my first day back at uni, I woke up feeling like an anxious mess. I was in need of one of Jo's pep talks.

After I showered and got dressed, I went into the kitchen to find my best friend cooking my favourite breakfast: banana pancakes with chocolate chips. I don't deserve her.

"Good morning, gorgeous. I made you some breakfast" Jo said while placing my plate and my cup of tea in front of me.

"Have I ever told you that you are my favourite person in the whole wide world?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Jo said, rolling her eyes. But I could see a little smirk on her face. Josephine knew this was the only way to get me to eat something before class on my first day, so she woke up extra early to get everything ready.

"You ready for this, V? I know you worry too much, but this year you have fewer classes and it shouldn't be as stressful as last year, ok?"

"I guess... I do have some classes that I can't keep avoiding. Like Science. Ugh, I hate Science" I groaned. Why do I have to take more Science classes?

"Veronica, don't be silly. I'm great at Science, I'll help you out if you need it." Of course, Jo to the rescue.

"I know. I just don't want a repeat of last year".

The end of my second year in Uni was a rollercoaster. I might have enjoyed my party time a bit too much, and when it was time to catch up on everything that I had to study... well, saying that it wasn't fun was an understatement.

Jo and I spent multiple nights awake studying, and I managed to get good enough grades to keep my scholarship. I’d liked to think I've learnt from those mistakes. But Jo and I had already been invited to three parties, and we still haven't found a way to say no.

"Veronica!" Jo screamed.

"What?" I said, covering my ears. She knew I didn't like loud noises so early in the morning.

"Stop daydreaming, peach. We need to go. Oh God! You've barely eaten." She immediately grabbed a napkin and put two more pancakes on it. "You can eat this on the way to your first class. Have fun. Love you!"

"Yes, mum. Bye, mum." I couldn't help but tease her as I left to go to hell. I mean, today's classes.

These next 9 months are going to be the worst of my life...

Two classes down, two to go. And it was finally time for the worst of them: Science. I knew I had to get these credits from this Science class to finish my major, but I also knew I didn't have to be excited about it.

My least favourite part of first days was teachers making a big deal out of everything. As if university wasn't overwhelming enough. They felt the need to talk about every single detail of everything we'll be doing for the next few months, and I always left feeling just a bit dumber than before that class started.

As I made my way to my seat, I saw Maddison was already there. Maddie and I were good friends but had never been in a class together. She was also very good at Science, so being next to her in this class sounded even better than it normally would.

"Hi Maddie" I said while sitting next to her.

"Hi Nica! We finally get to be together in a class. Only took us three years" she laughed.

Maddison always called me Nica. Apparently, there was a singing contest she watched as a kid with her mum, who is from Spain, and her favourite contestant's nickname was Nika. So she couldn't help but call me Nica. It was cute, to be honest.

"So," Madisson started, "have you heard about the new professor?"

"New professor? What do you mean?"

"Well, there was this two hundred-year-old man who has been teaching this class since before dinosaurs went extinct, but he finally retired and we are supposed to be getting a new professor who is a hottie. At least according to some classmates of mine that had him in their first class today." Madisson, of course, started to wiggle her eyebrows while telling me the story.

"A hot professor?" I laughed. "Not in this class, please. I struggle with concentrating enough as it is."

"Oh, c'mon. A bit of eye candy never hurt nobody."

The class was about to start when the most beautiful man I've ever seen in my life walked through the door.

"What are you looking at..." Madisson stopped mid-sentence to look at the door. "Oh my sweet baby Jesus!"

"Can he be my lab partner? I promise to be good" I laughed.

"Babe, that's not a classmate. That's our professor."

The professor... that's our professor. I'm screwed!

Declan's POV

Why is teaching a class in front of one hundred students more daunting than being in front of thirty thousand people at a football pitch?

"Hello class. I'm Professor Rice, and I'll be teaching this course now that Professor Richards has retired. Now, I don't want to overwhelm you on the first day talking about everything you're supposed to do in the next few months, but I do want to talk about how I plan on organizing these first weeks of classes. So pay attention, I don't like repeating myself".

Did that sound confident? I bet they can all see how much I'm sweating underneath this suit. Why did I wear a suit in August? God! I'm a mess.

"So, next week we'll do a small test." I could hear complaints already. "Relax, this won't count for your final grades. I just want to know how to organize the study groups and to check who might need more help. My office is always open for anyone who has questions, ok?"

I then wrote all the topics that will be covered on the test on the board. My handwriting was worse than usual because I was trying not to show how nervous I was.

All for nothing, because the day had been going really well so far. All the students in the first two classes seemed excited to have a younger teacher in their class. Even a couple of girls asked me where my office was. I didn't expect that.

You can do this, Declan. You can do this!

"So, any questions?" I asked, and then saw a couple of hands being raised.

Once I answered the questions, I kept on explaining how the course was going to work. It's not that I didn't want to be a harsh teacher, but I was in their place only a couple of years ago and I felt like I got how they felt better than a sixty-year-old professor could.

Also, I really wanted them to like me. The footballer in me craved that praise and love. It's not easy retiring when you are eighteen while your best friend goes onto winning all the trophies. But hey, this was a good job, and I would make the best out of it.

While the students left the class, I noticed many of them staring at me. Including a cute redhead who blushed when our eyes met. Wait, why was I thinking about one of my students as cute? I had actually noticed her during class, she kept on frowning at most of the things I said. And she was constantly asking her friend questions. Why didn't she ask me those questions? And why did I care so much?

I looked down at my backpack and started to pack all my things.

I need to talk to Mason.

[justwhumpythings]

What are your fav shows, movies, books, songs?

Shows: The other day I was thinking about Daredevil S1 again and I thought 'you know, this might be my favourite show!' and then I remembered 'no you idiot, that's Good Omens' So both of them XD I also quite enjoyed Our Flag Means Death although I think I will come to love it more with later seasons. Have been rewatching some A:TLA recently too.

I tend to watch more comedy than purely fictional stuff regularly, so I like some of our classic British comedy panel shows like Would I Lie To You, QI, Taskmaster and Mock the Week (rip :'() I finally got myself to watch This Country (which I always want to call Our Country instead, I had to look up which it was XD) not too long ago and enjoyed it more than I thought I might!

I also go for more Youtube-based entertainment these days, where I can thoroughly recommend Drawfee for art, humour and chill, and the spinoff Secret Sleepover Society (mirrored from Twitch) for gaming, humour and chill.

Movies: I don't watch so often, but Megamind is always a comfort choice, or Kung Fu Panda, and while I haven't watched it for years now, Thor (2011) has a special place in my heart. Then there are other films like Lord of the Rings or The Lion King which are such perfect classics that it never even occurs to me to list them as favourites, but they are, especially LOTR.

Books: I haven't read books in years 😅 For real, I'm hard pressed to think of anything I could call a current favourite rather than just a long-ago childhood fave. I found Marie Kondo's book a good read a while back, and often will just plump for a Discworld book if asked (Going Postal, usually). Good Omens is actually far from my favourite Pratchett book sshh don't tell anyone 😉😅

Songs: God, I'm so terrible, I haven't listened to much music recently either.(There's a reason I added 'I don't consume media' to my description lol). I got this new computer last October and still haven't gotten around to adding my music library to it 😅 so I can't even use that as reference. My Youtube Mix seems to be stuck in 2012-13ish when I last listened to new charts music socially XD But I am trying to listen my way through Glass Animals latest album from February, and I always enjoy some Woodkid or Alt-J.

Thanks for the opportunity to ramble about things that only I care about! XD