Page 10 of Baseball and Shifters

“The girl just nibbles on toast and eggs. Maybe you should take your eyes off your plate more often,” she teases.

Aubree glares at her as Maya and I laugh, earning matching glares.

I raise my hands. “Sorry. It’s true though. You get a little too focused when you’re eating.”

“Whatever,” she huffs, pulling another laugh from the rest of us.

After breakfast in the dorm lobby, we say goodbye to Dallas, whose first class doesn’t start until nine. We head outside and make our way to the large imposing buildings in the middle of campus.

Maya, Aubree, and I are all technically art majors, even if I don’t quite understand how studying History falls under art rather than science. All of our subject specific classes will be in the same building, Victory Hall. We even have some classes together, which I’m stoked about. Dallas is a science major, so we won’t get to see her until lunch.

We get to the building; it’s a massive stone structure with towering arched windows and thick ivy creeping up the outer walls. Making our way inside we all go our separate ways. Thankfully I only have two classes by myself, so hopefully it won’t be too bad.

Making my way into the building, I turn and go down the first hall. The class is listed as room 104 so I have to assume it is on the first floor. I weave through students, careful not to touch anyone even though I know I’m completely covered. It doesn’t take me too long to find my class thanks to a sign outside the door that says “Professor Stone”. There are a few small groups milling about, talking before class but I sneak by and take a seat in the very back, praying no one sits next to me. The scraping sound of the chair beside me being pulled out dashes those hopes.

“Normally I like my girls showing some skin, but damn, babe. All the layers in the world won’t hide that banging body.” He licks his lips as his eyes rove over my body like a total creep. His messy mop of oily brown hair falls into his eyes when he leans closer, the cocky grin on his face making my skin crawl. “Can’t wait to strip them off and see what’s underneath.”

Are guys really this gross? I’m more certain than ever that I don’t want mates.

Oh God! What if he’s one of my mates?

No. I have to stay away from him. I can’t risk being tied to this vile man.

I quickly grab my things and push out my chair to find another seat, not wanting to be near him a second longer.

The kind looking elderly professor shuffles out from behind his desk. His silver hair is just long enough to be pulled into a short ponytail, and his tortoiseshell glasses perch low on his nose. He moves slowly but with a sure steadiness. When he reaches his podium he claps his hands, drawing everyone's attention, before launching into his welcome speech. I glance around, desperately searching for an empty seat far away from this dillhole.

Unfortunately, while he was hitting on me, the room filled and there aren’t any empty seats left.

“I’m sorry, are you in the wrong class, dear?” Professor Stone tilts his head as he studies me, drawing the attention of the entire class.

My heart races and my mouth dries as I try to come up with something semi-intelligent to say. My eyes flick around, taking in all the eyes on me. Shaking my head, I squeak out a quick no before sinking back into my seat. He smiles at me before continuing his spiel.

A huff pulls my attention to the side, and I find the creep fighting a chuckle with a stupid smirk on his face.

“Can’t escape me that easily, sweetheart,” he whispers.

Great. I’m stuck next to him for two hours.

“Alright everyone,” Professor Stone pulls everyone’s attention back towards the front of the room. “We are going to play a quick introductory game. I want you to give us your name and any nickname you’d like us to use as well as your animal formand a quick fact about you. I’ll go first. I am Professor Eldrich Stone, but my friends call me Eddie. My other form is an Aldabra Tortoise. A fun fact about me is that I am a huge movie buff and have watched over twenty thousand movies in my life so far.”

Wow twenty thousand? I don’t think I’ve seen twenty.

I’m slightly startled when the jerk next to me shoots out of his chair and starts speaking.

“Hey, I’m Trent Hopper, but I’m sure you all know that already,” his cocky tone grates on my nerves. “Kangaroo is my animal and baseball is my game. Fun fact about me, I’m a master at home runs. Onandoff the field.”

He finishes his declaration with a wink shot my way and Professor Stone lets out a heavy sigh.

“Thank you for thatMr. Hopper.I suppose we will start in the back of the room,” he gestures to me and I want to disappear into my seat. “Would you like to go next Miss?”

I stand on slightly shaky legs and attempt to get through this as quickly as possible.

“My name is Rachel St. James, I am a kitsune shifter, I like ice cream,” I rush out before diving back into my seat.

I hear a chuckle from beside me before Trent leans over and whispers in my ear, “I’ll give you something you can lick, foxy lady.”

Shuddering, I lean as far away from him as possible while remaining in my chair and try to focus back in on the introductions going around the classroom. When the introductions finally end, Professor Stone hands a stack of papers to be passed around and launches into telling us the expectations for the term.

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