Chapter 3 The Hard-Headed Professor
"Debbie! Debbie!" a light voice kept calling out to Debbie as she was dozing off. Refusing to wake up, Debbie felt a constant tug at her sleeve. The more she ignored it, the stronger the voice and the tugging went. This got Debbie to give up and she finally woke up.
Though it was clear that she was still half asleep, Debbie groggily turned her head towards Kristina. "Kristina... you better have a good reason for waking me up..."
What Debbie saw as Kristina's response was a finger pointing somewhere. Debbie's eyes followed where Kristina pointed and she saw an absolutely exasperated Marc on stage.
Just witnessing Marc's protracted face was similar to being splashed on the face with ice cold water in Debbie's opinion. 'Oh, crap!' Scrambling to get herself back together, Debbie shook her head violently and then sat upright.
Marc, who was the professor that stood in front, was considered to be one of the remarkably hard-headed professors in their university. Taking the subject book out from her bag, Debbie then opened the book at the proper page and sent an icy glare to whoever dared laugh.
Almost immediately, Debbie's classmates turned their attentions back to the front, feigning that they didn't realize what was happening. Once the situation was sorted out, their professor Marc had returned to teaching.
'Oh God, he looks so angry...' Debbie buried her hands through her hair in regret. 'I'm definitely going to fail his exams...'
No one in the room attempted to taunt Debbie. Everyone in the room as well as the whole university knew that Debbie possessed a cryptic background.
Besides, Debbie was still a rowdy student as she constantly clashed with others, doused herself in alcohol, and cut classes. In short, she had done things that were deemed unacceptable by the university. Within Y City University, it was stated in the student handbook that students were neither allowed to dye their hair of any color, paint their nails, nor wear extravagant jewelry to the campus. However, Debbie didn't care as she possessed long lilac dyed hair and bright red nails. The professors in the university were too terrified to tell her off about it.
It was surprising that Debbie hadn't found herself expelled from the university. The reason for that was that she came from a family with power.
"Debbie Nian," Marc called out coldly,"please explain to me what finance is." The professor knew well of Debbie's background. Someone with the name of Emmett Zhong, who was Carlos' assistant, had something to do with Marc's assignment in the university. Even Carlos himself was a former student of Marc's. As a responsible teacher, Marc knew that he had to intervene as he wouldn't allow his students, Debbie in particular, to submit to her vices.
Feigning to look at the book, Debbie then sent a kick to the seat in front of her. Seated across her was none other than the class monitor and straight A student, Dixon Shu.
With that as a signal, Dixon Shu knew what Debbie meant and he quickly flipped the pages of the book to where the answer was written and slid it to his left side for her to see.
A smile of satisfaction was etched on Debbie's profile as the book was made visible to her eyes. Many stole glances towards Debbie and all could agree that she looked stunning.
She possessed features a girl would kill for, such as perfect fair skin, a pair of round, innocent eyes, a beautifully shaped nose, and soft, red lips.
Although Debbie's face was bare and free of make up, her profile still remained ethereal. Not to mention, her pair of long, slender legs were a treat for all boys to see.
If only her academic performance were better, she would perfectly fit the title of 'Miss University.'
'Alright, let's see here...' Debbie stood up and blinked as she began to read from Dixon Shu's book. "Finance is a broad term that describes two related activities: the study of how money is managed and..." As the professor, Marc saw right through Debbie's trick, this got him outraged. "Enough!" Marc's voice thundered across the room, making the whole class frightened.
The students could see how their professor was desperately keeping his anger in check.
Everyone was frightened and glued to their seats, all except for Debbie who flashed Marc a smile and asked, "Professor Dou, is my answer wrong?"
With that, Marc started to turn red in anger and Debbie couldn't help but regret whatever she did and started to beg for forgiveness. "Professor Dou, please don't get mad at me. I'll memorize the answer by heart before the class ends!" Debbie promised. Even she had people whom she feared and this professor was one of them as she knew Carlos was one of Marc's former students.
The color red then started to leave Marc's profile as he calmed down upon hearing Debbie's words. In Marc's opinion, Debbie was a clever girl. If she just put her mind into studying, she could very well be an intelligent, straight A student. But, as a professor, Marc could not further tolerate Debbie's insolent actions. 'You don't like studying? Fine! You failed many exams? Fine!' Marc then sent Debbie a glare. 'But you're not allowed to fail in my class!' he swore to himself.
"If you dare to sleep in my class again, Jared Han, Kristina Lin, and Kasie Zheng, the three of them will go stand under the flag!" Marc declared. "Do you understand?!" The three whose names were mentioned groaned in disbelief upon their professor's statement.
'Why are we the ones suffering when Debbie commits mistakes...' they all thought in chorus.
The reason why Marc made this decision was that he knew Debbie was loyal to her friends. The intention of hurting others for her own personal gains was far beyond Debbie. This was one of the advantages Marc saw with Debbie's attitude.
Casting a burning glare towards their professor Marc, Debbie cursed in the depths of her mind, 'Why?! You cunning little piece of...'
Lifting her head up, Debbie then responded in confidence, "Got it, Professor Dou. You'll never see me doze off in your class ever again." Sitting herself back down in her seat, Debbie then picked up her pen and started to write on the notebook she had. A look of satisfaction was present on Marc's face as he thought she was taking notes while in reality, she was just doodling.
When the bell rang, Marc said his final words before collecting his things and then eventually left the room.
Classes were officially dismissed.
The moment Marc left, several boys and girls gathered around Debbie and started to state their complaints regarding their professor.
"Hey, Tomboy. What's up with Professor Dou?" Jared asked. The look of frustration was written all over Jared's face. 'Why the heck did he choose to deal with us instead of Debbie? He's a strange man, ' he thought to himself.
Measuring 210 centimeters in height, Jared was one of the students blessed with height and considered to be the tallest in the whole university. To add, Jared was one of Debbie's closest friends and he was a generous guy.
"Debbie, please don't sleep in Professor Dou's class again..." Kristina whined as she held onto Debbie's arm tightly and acted in a charming manner. "I'm begging you..." Kristina, Debbie' another friend, possessed long, curly hair and a petite body, yet oozing with charm.
"Debbie, as Miss Room 3301, I can't afford to lose face in public like that, alright?" said Kasie, who proclaimed herself as the most beautiful girl in the dormitory.
Currently, Debbie's spirits were low because of the whole divorce matter and the kiss between her and Carlos. The noise that surrounded Debbie started to irritate her. Taking the book in hand, she then slammed it against the desk and the crisp sound of the book hitting the table reverberated throughout the whole room, sending everyone into a state of shock.
Everyone in that room knew that if they looked back, they'd be frozen as they felt Debbie's cold gaze lingering around them. They all zipped their mouths shut.
Feeling the tension growing heavy in the air, Kasie then spoke up in hope of alleviating the tension. "Hey, I just remembered. There's a grand promotion in the Shining International Plaza today! Do you guys want to come?"
Standing and snaking her way towards Kasie, Debbie flashed a dazzling smile and said, "Me!" 'Probably just because of the lipstick she's always wanted to have...' Kasie rolled her eyes playfully. As close friends, Kasie and Debbie knew each other like the back of their hands.
Debbie usually engaged in fights and doused herself in alcohol; it was a surprising trait for her to be so interested in lipsticks. Never did she bother about the clothes she wore as she would dress casually. However, her interest of collecting a kaleidoscope of lipsticks was unstoppable.
At the Shining International Plaza
The group all gathered up and they had finally arrived at the Shining International Plaza. Inside the said plaza contained so much beauty as it had so much to offer.
The Shining International Plaza consisted of seven buildings, named after the stars that made up the constellation of the Big Dipper.
The names of the buildings were Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, and Akaid.
At the peak of each building, there were several lights and when night fell, the lights were lit and if you possessed a bird's eye view, the lights formed the constellation of the Big Dipper. Indeed, it was a breathtaking spectacle.
The domestic lighting designs had been designed to resemble the diamond studded skies, giving you a feeling that you were walking through the sea of stars. It would not be surprising for several people to fall in love with such a plaza wrapped around a unique concept with the Big Dipper. Thus, being a famous dating spot wherein you'd see people of all ages take their loved ones out for a get together or a date to gaze closely into the stars.