Page 11 of Loved

I wondered who he’d gotten to teach my class that Penny was in.

“They can just continue doing it until the end of the semester,” Joe said. “You two have one class together. The validity of your grades is in question, Penny. You'll have to re-present your speeches to your new professor so he can sign off on them. This way you won't have to completely retake the course. Or you can stop taking the class. That's up to you. But the drop/add window has passed, so you'llhave to withdraw and pay the fee for changes in registration. It'll appear as a W on your transcript, but it won't hurt your G.P.A. You'll have to let me know by next Tuesday before the window closes.

"So I'm not being expelled?" she asked.

"No," Joe said. "I'm giving you two strikes which will go on your record. You broke the rules too, but the blame for this lies on James. It has to. The university has standards for their professors. I don't know how your relationship started and I don't want to know. Don't give me reason to make your punishment harsher."

Penny pressed her lips together. It looked like she wanted to say more, but she was finally staying quiet. And she looked a little relieved.

She’d gotten a slap on the wrist. Which was all she deserved. This was all on me. And it was a good thing Joe did like me. Or I think all of this would have been much worse.

I ran my thumb along her palm. She was going to be okay. And so would I. Eventually.

"So I'll talk to the press today and let them know about your resignation," Joe said. "Unless there is any way I can change your mind?"

"I'm sorry, Joe." If I could help him out, I would. But I wasn’t walking away from the first good thing that had happened to me in years. I needed Penny. And I knew how fucked up that sounded. But I did. I needed her.

"I'd prefer if you didn't flaunt your relationship around the school. I know I can't tell you what to do anymore, James. But I'm asking this as a favor. Let things settle down. We're still running the investigation. The university has to come out looking like we did everything we could do. Especially now that you're resigning. It makes you look guilty.”

Yeah. I know.Isabella had gotten exactly what she wanted. And that was the only part of this I wasn’t okay with.

“I believe that it's just her, but this is only just the start. It's going to get worse before it gets better." He grabbed the newspaper off his desk and tossed it in the trash. "And I have to ask, under the circumstances. What happened to your eye?" He stared at my black eye. It was fading, but it was still visible.

"Just a misunderstanding,” I said.

"Good." Joe sighed. "I thought the next thing you were going to tell me is that you got in a fist fight with a student."

Well… technically I had. But Joe didn’t need to know that.

Joe laughed and shook his head. "That's the last thing this school needs right now. And I didn't want to have to talk about that in the interview."

I shifted in my chair. Tyler wasn’t going to tell anyone about that. He was a piece of shit, but he did care about Penny. And he was at least smart enough to know that telling anyone about our fight would hurt her. Honestly it was probably a good thing I wasn’t a professor anymore. Because there was a pretty high chance I was going to fail that kid for just being an asshole.

"Penny, do you mind if I have a word alone with James?" Joe asked. "We need to discuss a few more things."

"No, that's fine,” she said.

"Go to class. And be prepared for most of the student body to already know."

Penny glanced up at me. She looked so…defeated. And hurt. All I wanted to do was pull her into my arms and kiss her. But I had a feeling that Joe would really be pissed if I did that. So I just nodded at her and let go of her hand.

She stood up. "Thank you for being so understanding, Mr. Vespelli. And I'm sorry about all of this."

"Well you really should have thought about that beforehand, shouldn't you have? One more strike and you'll be expelled. Don't let me see you in here again."

She gulped and looked once more at me before turning her attention back to Joe. "Thanks," she said quietly and walked out, closing the door behind her.

As soon as the door closed, Joe put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh. “Seriously, James? You couldn’t keep it in your pants until at least the end of the semester? Winter break would have been a lot better for me.”

I laughed. “Sorry, Joe.”

He finally smiled. “You’re going to get me fired you know.”

“I think you’ll be fine. They’re not going to find anything else in the investigation. And I’ll say anything you want to the press about it.”

“But you won’t stop seeing her?”

I shook my head. “No. I won’t.”

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