Chapter One: Bugs, Mud Pies, and Professors

"Did you hear about Dr. Marchand?"

Looking over her shoulder, Katerina Thorpe, found one of the other students watching her intently.

"No. What?" She asked, wondering what could possibly be so interesting about their professor. The brunette didn't understand what all the fuss was for.

"Apparently, Dr. Marchand is on sabbatical leave. He's not going to be teaching this course."

From beside her she heard another student speak up.

"So who's going to teach us then?"

Good question, the golden-brown eyed girl thought, thinking about why their professor would have left on sabbatical so suddenly. Contemplating who could possibly replace their teacher for their third year 'Introduction to Polymer Chemistry' course, she found her thoughts drifting off.

Sitting in her seat, Katerina paid no further attention to the sounds of students talking around her. The babble of chit-chat did nothing to snap the brown haired girl out of her thoughts. For some reason memories of her childhood kept flitting through her mind, an occurrence which had been happening more and more often. It had been years since she had last thought about that time. In her mind's eye she could see her small childhood self and the boy who lived across the street. The same boy who she used to pelt with mud. The boy who used to -

"Kat? Katerina?"

At first the words didn't register.

"Katerina!"

Shaking away her thoughts, Katerina looked over at the girl who sat beside her, Nadine DeMarchelier. The honey blond girl looked over at her closely. They were sitting in the lecture hall at eight thirty in the morning, waiting for the new professor to show up.

"Yeah?"

"Where were you spacing off to?" She asked, an eye brow raised.

"Nowhere. I was just thinking about who's going to teach us now, and what we'll cover in the course." She quickly covered up for her inattentiveness.

"Yea, I was wondering about that as well. I wonder why Marchand left like that? Probably something health related, right? He is quite old." Nadine said, tapping her pen against their table.

"Yeah. Maybe."

Flipping through their course textbook, Katerina heard the door to the lecture hall open. Looking up she saw a man's back, she guessed he was going to be their new professor. The hall became quiet. Dimming the lights as he headed to the computer station by the lectern to start his Powerpoint, soon enough, the sound of chalk against blackboard echoed through the room. He had written his name and was passing around the outlines, still not having said anything.

"I hope his front looks as good as his back." Nadine muttered.

"Urgh! Are you kidding me?" Katerina whispered, a little disgusted; only making the other girl giggle at her reaction.

As the first slide appeared on the screen before them, Katerina started to read through the course outline, when their professor finally broke the silence.

"Okay, so first of all happy Monday, and happy start of winter term. I hope you're all awake this morning. I apologize for being late, but I didn't get a chance o drop my things off at my office, and it's been a while since I was here last." He told them, sounding relatively young and enthusiastic. "I kind of got lost."

Not paying any attention to the new man in front of them, Katerina intently read the course outline.

"Since we have such a small class, I'm guessing about thirty or so, why don't you all give me a short introduction about yourselves. It'll help me remember your names and faces, and in the future when you complain about a low mark I'll be able to tell if you were in class and paying attention."

Soft laughter sounded around the room, forcing Katerina to look up. He was still hidden partially by the shadows.

"Sir, why don't you introduce yourself first?" One of the students at the back interjected.

"Fair enough." The new professor chuckled. "I'm Dr. LeBlanc. You can call me Prof Le Blanc, or Ashton, if you like. I recently graduated with my Ph.D from Northwestern, and I used to be an undergrad here, in fact I got my Bachelors from Lassonde University, and I was a part of Dr. Mackay's group."

The name didn't register, as students around them started asking the professor questions. Katerina paid little attention, catching only fragments of the conversation.

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"Why should we call you Ashton? The course outline has your first name as Michael." One girl asked.

At this he laughed. Katerina found herself wondering when he would start teaching them, since the class was only an hour long, and they had already wasted twenty minutes.

"Well, that's because there are too many Mike's in the Chemistry Department, so it'll be less confusing. And I've been called by my middle name since childhood."

As the class started to introduce themselves, she looked over at the course outline's grade breakdown only to be surprised. He had changed part of their course. The easy part at that. Rumor had it Dr. Marchand didn't care if answers were right on the assignment, as long as you answered all the questions and showed all the work full marks would be given. Why had he taken that out? She wanted to know.

"Well miss, is the course outline that interesting?"

"I was just wondering why we don't have any weekly assignments? Instead there is a weekly quiz, and essay with interview?" Katerina asked, not looking up, her cheeks flamed with embarrassment at being caught out.

"I decided to change that since unless the assignments were graded properly, there was no point to them. Weekly quizzes will give a better idea of what needs to be studied properly, as well as prepare you for what kinds of questions I might ask on tests and exams."

"But those were easy marks!" Cried a student.

"If you want easy marks then work hard on the essay and interview component."

Oh, she thought, seeing that the essay and interview was worth fifteen percent of their mark, while the quizzes were ten percent. They had three term tests which were worth roughly seventeen percent each, while the final exam was twenty five percent.

As silence settled around them, Katerina wondered why it was so quiet. Wasn't the class introducing themselves?

"Well, will you be introducing yourself, or are you busy reminiscing about some childhood memory involving the boy next door and mud pies?"

At this Katerina's head shot up, while around her, her fellow classmates giggled. Meeting his gaze, shock coursed through her, Katerina's eyes narrowing.

"You..." She realized that she was in class, and changed her accusatory tone, as Ashton LeBlanc grinned knowingly. "Are mistaken, sir."

"Then why don't you introduce yourself, please."

"My name is Katerina Thorpe. I'm a chemistry major who is deciding between Atmospheric and Organic chemistry." She said, trying to sound unfazed, but her anger got the better of her. "And for the record, sir, I would never touch mud pies unless the boy put bugs in my hair. So next time please remember that when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me, sir."

Inwardly, Katerina smirked, having seen the look of shock in Ashton's eyes, while the class snickered.

"I'll keep that in mind, Miss Thorpe." He said coolly, moving on.

Going through what they would be learning for the semester, time flew by, and as the class started to pack their things, Katerina heard Ashton's voice, as she zipped her bag and stood up ready to leave.

"So, which one of you will be kind enough to show me around and help me to my office?"

Many students – mostly girls – Katerina noticed, raised their hands, but Ashton looked over at her, and she knew she was about to be reprimanded for her earlier remarks.

"Miss Thorpe, you'll be my guide. Consider it punishment." He said, a smirk threatening to show. "Hopefully you all will refrain from making smart-Aleck comments during my lectures in the future."

Glaring at him, she didn't move from her spot.

"Well, Miss Thorpe, lead the way."

Gritting her teeth, Katerina walked up to Ashton and stormed out the lecture hall, not caring if he was behind her.

"I'll see you all on Wednesday." She heard him say, before footsteps sounded behind her.

Not bothering to speak, she lead them through the halls and out of the building, heading for the Chemistry Building, which she thought would be where his office was. As soon as they walked into a deserted hallway, she turned to confront him.

"What the hell are you doing here, Ash?"

There he was standing a whole foot taller than her, athletic build from playing varsity soccer, Michael Ashton LeBlanc, better known as Ashton, or just Ash to those who knew him; looking the same as always. He hadn't changed very much from when she'd last seen him six or seven years ago. His mixed green-blue eyes laughed at her, as he gave her a once over.

He had lived across the street from her own home, and together with a few others, they were the only children in the neighborhood. They had known each other since Katerina was in kindergarten, during which the mud pie incidents occurred. Five years older than her, he had graduated high school and entered university when she had started grade nine. Shortly after, she had moved, not keeping contact with any of her childhood acquaintances.

"What do you mean? I'm teaching." He grinned.

"Why are you of all people teaching at my university?"

"Your university? If anything, I was here first, so it would be my university."

He always knew how to infuriate her, she thought, feeling herself grow more and more annoyed.

"Quit joking! Why are you here?"

"They advertised a job, I applied, and here I am. I decided to take it since it was close to home."

"Yea, right." She scoffed as they started to walk once more. "You're probably here to make my life miserable."

"I had no idea you would be in my class, Kat." He said, giving her an incredulous look. "When I saw the class list it never occurred to me that you could possibly be K. Thorpe. I thought there were other possibilities."

"Why mention the mud pies?" Katerina was still fumed that he had had the nerve to bring something personal like that up in front of her classmates.

"I was checking to see if it was really you." The words making her scowl, as Ash laughed. "Honestly, you should be happy to see me, Kat. We're friends, and it'll probably be helpful to have a familiar face around if your ever stuck or in trouble."

"The last thing I need is help from you. You'll probably be the one to get me in trouble in the first place." Katerina snapped. "We were never friends. You used to put bugs in my hair."

"And you used to put mud pies where I would either step or fall in them, not to mention fling mud at me for doing so." He pointed out. "I thought we were past that."

"Whatever. I have other reliable sources that I'd rather go to instead of asking for your help." She said, pulling out her course outline to see what room was his office, as he had forgotten to tell her. "I don't want it, and I won't need it."

"Just you wait." He snickered, angering her more as she saw his office come up.

"Here's your office, sir." She said, pointedly. "And from now on, just stay away from me. All I am is a student in your class. You don't know me."

With that Katerina left in a huff, he was not going to come in the way of the school life she had carefully crafted over the years.