Page 5 of Dragon's Unwanted Love
“What did you do to him?” Jackson leaned over and asked. “He’s going after you like you ran over his dog.”
“I didn’t do anything to him,” she hissed. “I guess he just doesn’t like me. Of course I don’t have a big trust fund or connections to important people like some people around here do, maybe that has something to do with it.”
“Hey, don’t take it out on me,” Jackson said, instantly defensive. “And you don’t know anything about me. I don’t have a trust fund or connections, Dr. Simmons just likes me.”
“Well, isn’t that nice for you,” she said, turning to look over at him, her anger finally boiling over, then wishing she hadn’t when her eyes connected with the most beautiful pair of green eyes she’d ever seen. Her heart did a couple of flip-flops, and what she was going to say next fled from her brain. She found herself staring at Jackson, her pulse starting to race.
“I don’t remember seeing you before,” Jackson said. “Are you new here?”
The weird feeling that had begun to form in her middle suddenly vanished. Her pulse raced, but for a different reason. “I’ve been here since I was a freshman,” she said. “We’ve had the same classes. I think we even did a group project together during sophomore year. Are you really so self-absorbed that you don’t remember me? Never mind, don’t answer that, just sit there and look pretty, that’s what you’re good at.”
CHAPTER 3
***JACKSON***
Another wave of the strange feeling he’d experienced when he looked into Abby’s eyes rolled over Jackson, and he could only stare at her, trying to control whatever it was, hoping that she didn’t notice. A few seconds later, her words finally sank in, and the feeling vanished, replaced by annoyance, and he scowled at her. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t remember her. There were over a thousand students on campus, or at least there had been.
“Hey, there’s no need to insult me just because I don’t remember you,” he said, trying to control his temper. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. I just don’t remember you.”
“We don’t exactly run in the same circles, but I thought you’d at least recognize me,” Abby said, some of the tension fading away. “It’s not a big deal, I’m just frustrated. I might have taken it out on you, I shouldn’t have.”
“I get it,” he said, the anger evaporating, replaced by that same feeling. “This has all been stressful. Change always is.”
“This is a bit more than change,” she said with a sigh. “I really need to get into a good medical school; it’s all I’ve everdreamed about, and this could ruin my chances. I might be freaking out a little. I’m sure it’s hard for you to understand, you probably already have a spot waiting for you somewhere.”
“Why do you say that?” he asked. “Do you know something I don’t know?”
Abby looked over at him, then hesitated a second. “I know how the world works,” she said. “You come from money, which means you have connections. Someone somewhere will pull a few strings, and you’ll get into one of the top schools even if you don’t deserve it.”
“Wow, I guess you’ve got me all figured out,” he said. “Too bad you’ve got it all wrong, but I’m not going to bother telling you the real story. You’ve already made up your mind about me, so why should I waste my breath.”
Before Abby could respond, Dr. Simmons cleared his throat loudly. “Now that you’ve all had a few minutes to settle down, let’s get started,” he said. “Our first task of the semester is to clean the dissection lab. It should have been done at the end of last year, but we won’t get into that again.”
There were groans around the room, but Dr. Simmons ignored them. “There are detailed cleaning and stocking instructions in the back of your materials for this class. I expect you to follow them,” he said. “I don’t care how you divide up the chores, I just want it done. This will be your first test, so don’t screw it up.”
Dr. Simmons exited the room with a slam of the door, and silence fell over the room. Then, everyone began paging through the materials on the table in front of them. No one said anything for a long time, but there were plenty of groans and sighs of annoyance as they read what they would have to do. When everyone was finished, they sat looking at one another, waiting for someone to take the lead.
Tom finally stood up. “Fine, you bunch of chickens, I’ll take charge. The way I see it, we just need to break this all down into smaller tasks and assign everyone a couple of things to do,” he said. “We can have this knocked out in a couple of hours if we all work together, but first, I need some caffeine. I think someone should go for coffee.”
No one volunteered, and Tom started to look annoyed. Then he saw Abby. “Oh, April, you can go. That’s a perfect job for you. Grab a pen and get everyone’s order,” he said, waving his hand at her. While you’re gone, we’ll divide up the list. I’ll make sure you’re on the cleaning crew. Maybe you can even be in charge.”
Jackson saw the color slowly rising in Abby’s cheeks and leaned back, preparing himself for the explosion that was sure to come, and rightfully so, he thought. “First, my name isn’t April; it’s Abby,” she said, getting slowly to her feet and her eyes flashing with anger. “Second, would you care to explain why getting coffee is the perfect job for me? And when you’re done explaining that, tell me why I would want to be on the cleaning crew, let alone running it.”
Tom looked unsure of himself for a second, then looked around the room at the other men and squared his shoulders. “Well, you’re a woman, you’re better at that kind of thing,” he said, looking around for approval. “I mean, it’s in your genes or something, everyone knows that. I’m just trying make you happy.”
“Trying to make me happy,” Abby sputtered. “You’re nothing but a chauvinist pig, you can take your coffee and…”
He jumped to his feet and stood between them, “I have a better idea; let’s divide up the chores, write them down on little scraps of paper, and draw for who does what. Add getting coffee to the list if you want to, but we don’t have time for this. Dr. Simmons is going to expect that lab clean by the end of class.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Charlie piped up. “I’ve got some paper right here. Let’s get started.”
Tom gave him a dirty look, but turned and sat back down, “You’re not making any friends, sweetheart,” Jackson said, looking back at Abby. “Not that I blame you for being mad.”
“Don’t call me sweetheart,” she spat at him. “My name is Abby.”
“Hey, I was just trying to help,” he said, holding his hands up. “For what it’s worth, I hope Tom gets stuck going to get the coffee.”
That earned him a little smile, and Abby sank back down into her seat. “It would serve him right,” she said. “I hate guys like him. Just because I’m a woman, they think I should wait on them. It drives me crazy.”
