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All the sweet and sexyit nearly impossible for her to focus the way she needed to But if she blew this presentation that rade for the quarter, e would be too low for the ade her probationary acceptance to per the hair out of her face, she stared down at her notes and h thee It took a little while, but finally, she started to sink back into the material the way she usually did In fact, an hour later, when she finally thought to check her phone just in case Sean or Abi needed anything, she was surprised to see Smith Sullivan’s na, but it looked like he’d left her a voice mail Her heart rate ih she hated it when people used their cell phones in the library, she couldn’t wait to get all the way outside before hearing what he had to say
Holding it up to her ear, she pressed play and Sh "Serena, I wanted to call to tell you how pleased I aain that it took this long for everything to be set in stone, and after worrying that ould lose you to other projects and colad to hear via your mother that you will definitely be able to make our first day of production next week" He said a few s, but she could barely take theain to take down his full contact information just in case she needed to reach him between now and next week
She shouldn’t be shocked that her mother would have said Serena had "no other projects or commitments" that would interfere with his s Genevieve had said to her the day before, she was stunned Stunned and heartbroken to know that what she wanted mattered so little to the person who had been the center of her world for nineteen years
She dropped the phone into her bag and when she turned back to her presentation notes, no matter how hard she tried to study the about S went the way herit would, Serena would be on set by this tih her time here at Stanford--and Sean--had never happened at all, reduced to nothing more than a short little blip in her life
Disaster
Her presentation was a total disaster It was so bad, in fact, that by the time she fumbled her way to the end no one in her class could even make eye contact with her
"Serena," her professor said while the other students all shot out the door as fast as they could, "I’d appreciate it if you could stay behind for a few et the sense that Professor Fairworth paid much attention to pop culture, but it would just be her lucky day if he’d so to film Smith’s movie If he had, of course he would assume that she had intentionally wasted his time today with a ridiculously subpar presentation
"Is everything all right?"
Considering how uncomfortable she’d been around him in those initial weeks, ever since he’d canceled their one-on-one s, she hadn’t picked up on any weird vibes Well, not too many weird vibes, anyway Granted, she’d been too preoccupied with falling for Sean to notice much about anyone else
"I’m so sorry aboutfor it, but sos ca the excuse come out of her mouth, but for as fatalistic as all of this see she needed to get right, Serena was struck hard with a fierce need not to give up on everything that she’d had to fight so hard for in the first place Maybe all of this was the universe telling her that she’d never belonged here anyway…but, darn it, that didn’t change how badly she wanted to be here
"I know it’s no excuse and that you don’t have to give ht be able to have a second chance to prove to you that I take your class as seriously as I truly do--"
"Serena, it’s okay"
Her professor put his hand on her ar on Perhaps she should have beenher, and that he didn’t immediately remove his hand fro to give her another chance, the thought of pulling away didn’t even cross her oing to figure out a way to make it all work, after all? "I was so worried that you would think I’d flaked out, but I swear I haven’t"
"Breathe," he said as he an to stroke her back "Just a few deep breaths will help And then we can talk about our next step"
Finally--and with such suddenness that it stole her breath along with the relief she’dwith a hit of fear as she realized that she’d just walked into her professor’s arreeing to give ht If I could have a couple of extra days to make a new plan for it, I know I could do a h I’ree that it would be best if you did your repeat performance outside of class Otherwise, I expect your fellow students ht wonder where their second chances are We wouldn’t want the any special treatment just because your picture is everywhere"
When he put it that way, it suddenly see school to filht she and Sean were breaking up If Sean had been the reason her professor had backed off several weeks ago, did Fairworth now think she was fair ga in such a way that he was giving her the ain?
"Professor Fairworth, I really do feel terrible about an, but he raised his hand to stop her fro else
"We all have our off days Perhaps before you redo your presentation, we should get together to discuss a feays you ht be able to improve your analysis I have a full roster of classes to"