Jenny opened Mr. Ward's office door quietly, shutting it behind her and holding her books to her chest. She thought she'd been silent, and so she jumped when his high-backed leather chair swung around.
"Ah, Jennifer. Sit down." He spoke quietly, but with such authority that she felt like she'd just been yelled at. He was annoyed with her. She timidly crossed the room to the chair, smoothed her skirt behind her and sat down.
"Do you know why I called you here?" His brows lowered on his chiseled face, he looked down his hawk-like nose at her, and she shivered.
"Mr. Ward," she started, "I'm sorry about my homework. I promise I'll try harder, I just had my eighteenth birthday party this last weekend and -" A decisive gesture of his hand cut her off.
"Not good enough, Jennifer." He stood and walked around to sit down on the edge of his large oak desk and look down at her, crossing his arms. "That promise is one you made me last quarter, and the quarter before. Against my better judgment I gave you a C instead of the D you so richly deserved. Your test scores show that you know the material inside and out. Why can't you just do the homework?" She opened her mouth to answer, but he leaned forward and placed his fingers over her mouth. "That was a rhetorical question. The real question for myself is, what do I do with you?" He pulled back his hand and stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "The only option I see is to give you an F."
Jenny blinked back tears, but one escaped as she slid to her knees at his feet. She sniffled and grabbed the fabric of his slacks. "Oh no, Mr. Ward, you can't do that? I can't graduate if I don't pass this class!"
He grasped her wrists and removed her hands from his pant legs. "I'm sorry, but you should have thought of that earlier."
Tears streamed down her cheek as she lifted her face up to him. "But isn't there something I can do? My parents will take away my car, and they won't let me go to a party ever again! I'll do anything, Mr. Ward, anything you want, if you'll just let me pass this class!"
He stopped still, slowly turning her wrists so that her palms turned up, and slid his hands down to rub circles in her palms lightly with his thumbs. His eyes bored into hers as he repeated her words. "Anything I want?"