The Devil is in the Details
Mick arrived at class uncharacteristically late and walked to his spot in the back where Abigail and Zoe were already in their seats, as was Whitney Harrington and her friend Lauren. "Hey," he said to Abby as he sat down, intentionally keeping his back turned towards Whitney.
"Where have you been?" Abby said to him.
"Rolled through my alarm and had trouble getting going this morning," Mick told her, but he was lying.
Mick had certainly been in no rush to get to English Literature as today was the day that everyone was going to get their graded term papers back and his insides were roiling because of it. He had worked his ass off and felt good about the paper he had turned in but was still relatively confident that he was going to have to grin and bear Whitney's smug expression as she belittled him over winning the bet they had made together. Mick did not care at all about the possibility of losing five-hundred dollars, he just could not stomach the thought of having to endure her pompous attitude, even for a brief moment.
"Quiet please, take your seats," directed the professor as he entered the lecture hall and strode to the lectern. Both Mick and Whitney turned to face the front but neither of them acknowledged the other's presence in the slightest way.
The majority of the session was spent reviewing the material presented over the semester to prepare the class for their final exam. Near the end of class, the instructor walked up the side aisle returning the term papers by sending them down the rows of seating. "Please find your paper and pass the rest over to the student next to you," he instructed the undergrads.
"Here we go," Mick mumbled to himself, feeling very tense. He looked down his row and watched as the papers slowly made their way to him.
Mick became briefly distracted when Hannah, who was sitting in the row in front of him, swiveled in her chair and stretched forward over the empty seat next to her to collect the essays being passed her way. He could not help but notice when her shirttail rode-up and exposed the small of her back. Mick was surprised when he spied what seemed to be a tattoo peeking out over the top of her corduroys, as his impression of Hannah was that she was a very reserved, proper young lady. Having ink on her lower back seemed totally out of character for her.
When Hannah sat back Mick got a much better view of her artwork and was stunned beyond comprehension. "Is that a... paw print?" he asked himself. Mick flashed back to Halloween and being domineered by the anonymous girl in the Catwoman costume. "No... no way, it couldn't be her," thought Mick in disbelief.
Having retrieved her term paper, Abigail passed the stack over to Mick, interrupting his mental deliberations. Nervously he sifted through them but he could not find his term paper. "It's not in here," he said looking up at Abby who shrugged her shoulders back at him. Mick once again rifled through the pile and having no better luck the second time, pushed the papers over to Whitney without bothering to look in her direction. Not finding his paper only made him more anxious.
Once again he was drawn to Hannah as she turned to pass term papers down her own line. After handing her stack to the adjacent student, Hannah reached back and placed Mick's project on the table and slid it in front of him. "Yours was mixed in with our pile," she told him demurely.
Mick looked down and saw his cover sheet resting under Hannah's palm, but it did not even register with him because that was not the only thing he spied. Once again, he had trouble believing his own eyes.
Mick brought his hand down on top of Hannah's abruptly, surprising her. "Thanks," he said looking her straight in the eye. She tried to pull her hand out from under Mick's own but he held it firmly in place. Mick pinched the tip of Hannah's ring finger and lifted it off the table slightly before breaking off from his gaze with her and looking back down. Mick could clearly see that her fingernail was much shorter than the rest of her well manicure tips.
"You!" he declared, doing his best to not be too loud even though he was completely astonished. Hannah forcibly pulled her hand out from under Mick's as he looked back up at her, then quickly turned around in her chair.
Abby was preoccupied with reading the professor's comments about her own paper but still caught part of the interaction out of the corner of her eye. She leaned over and whispered to her friend, "What was that about?"
"What was what?" replied Mick, doing his best to play it off. "I simply said thank you for finding my paper," he told Abby, "That's all."
"Well how did you do?" asked Abigail eagerly.
Mick slowly leafed through his paper before arriving at the professor's summary comments which were attached at the back. "A very thorough and solid effort on your part Mr. Michel," noted the professor. He continued to read through the instructor's typewritten remarks and criticisms in their entirety before arriving at his grade, a ninety-four. Instantaneously his anxiety evaporated and he beamed ear-to-ear feeling very satisfied now knowing that all his hard work had paid-off.
Underneath his grade were some additional hand-written comments.
"I sense that you have struggled to connect with the subject matter but not because of a lack of effort on your part," penned the professor. "You have shown steady improvement throughout the semester and your term paper is a culmination of such steadfast endeavor," he wrote, additionally adding, "and taking into consideration the extraordinary pursuance of your research, I am very pleased to award you five bonus points to be added to your final grade for the semester -- Congratulations!"
"I can't believe it," Mick said under his breath as he read through it all once again to be sure he had read it correctly the first time. He thrust his hands into the air and turned to Abigail saying once again, "I can't believe it!"
"What?" she asked with hopeful anticipation.
"I got a ninety-four and was awarded the five points!" he euphorically informed her.
"Congratulations!" his friend said as they both hugged each other. Mick looked over at Zoe who smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.
"I can't thank you enough," he whispered in Abby's ear.
"You just did," she replied.
Both of them could feel the aura of abject anger emanating from Whitney Harrington as she stormed by them having obviously overheard their conversation. "I guess you want to go gloat and collect your bet," said Abby, her voice now sounding more melancholy.
Mick knew she objected to his wager and would be disappointed in him if he followed through with collecting his prize. He did not know how to respond so Mick said nothing in reply.
"Well I'm not sticking around," she informed him as she rose from her chair.
Mick and Zoe both stood up and followed Abby down the steps on the side of the lecture hall. As the trio neared the bottom, overhearing Whitney's verbal berating of the professor was unavoidable. After exiting through the door and taking a few steps down the corridor Mick said, "I'll catch up later. I want to talk with the professor and thank him."
