Commission: Growing Her Grade - Preview 1

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"Valedictorian. It was a heavy title, earned through hard work and determination; and it was one Karen held when she departed from high school. Had she deserved it?

She wasn’t dumb by any means, her academic achievements were plentiful, what made her the top was her willingness to dip into “extracurricular” activities. Shining ruby hair flowed down to the small of her back, a curtain that highlighted her silhouette from the light flare of her hips to the perky curve of her modest chest. She was hot, she knew it in how she carried herself, the choices she made with her fashion, and she knew when and how to use it.

Some considered such tactics meant she cheated. To the contrary, school was supposed to teach you to be ready for the world. If she was the only one smart enough to use every tool at her disposal, then didn’t that put her head and shoulders above the rest? Besides, it wasn’t like she wasn’t learning the things she’d need for the future, just bumping the numbers of more worthless classes along the way; to prove her work ethic and dedication for her resume.

Disappointingly however, college was proving just the slightest bit more difficult for the redhead to take advantage of her wiles. Whether because she was surrounded by proper adults now, where an early puberty and good genes weren’t the same level of edge they were in her teens, or because her professors were more accustomed to the “sex for grades” trade, she hadn’t yet completely pinned down. Still, she’d managed over the past two semesters to find the weaknesses she needed to keep her GPA where she wanted it.

Well, most of them anyway. “Miss Neff,” her instructor’s voice called out over the class, disrupting the girl from her train of thought.

Professor Allen Mullins, the aegis immune to her attempts. How, she had no idea. He was exactly the type who’d normally succumb to her whims, moderately attractive with a fit form and well-cut brown hair. Plastic-rimmed glasses sat low on his nose, drawing attention to the stern gaze of his dark eyes and hinting at the lightest bit of nerdiness. There wasn’t a wedding band on his finger, and she’d pretty much ruled out him being gay, but still her attempt…

It had been after class a few days back, the redhead emboldened by her nature and the low-cut v-neck she’d chosen to show off her cleavage, enhanced by her best push up bra. “Professor Mullins,” she cooed, towing the line being feigned innocence and being obvious about her intentions, “Think I could have a word?”

“Yes Miss Neff?” he was neutral in his delivery, tapping together a stack of papers against his desk.

She sidled up, resting her elbows down and using them as a frame for her assets as she laid them over her arms. “I was wondering if, maybe, we could talk about my grade?” her teeth raked her bottom lip, pushing it out and making its ruby paint shine.

His dark eyes turned to her, magnified by his glasses. “What about it Karen?” he asked, briefly flicking his gaze up to her hair, avoiding her chest entirely.

The girl could read the signs, tell what a man was into and play to it. She reached up to fan her ruby mane, bringing it over her shoulder to display its shine and once more point down to her bust. “I was thinking, there has to be some… extra credit I could do, right? Bump up my numbers a bit,” she rolled her shoulders, her forearms pulling her already risky top down another inch so the edge of her bra was peeking up over the neckline.

“Well,” the professor adjusted his glasses, bringing a small smirk to her face, “you could start with a proper interest in philosophy Miss Neff.”

The curl to her lip faded, her sense she’d gotten her way going with it. Time to double down. “You do a pretty good job on interesting me professor,” she cast her sparkling greens on him, undressing him with her eyes, letting subtleties in her expression speak for her “interest”.

Once more the man looked her over. “That’s good,” he said, tapping his papers to the desk before getting to his feet, “I’m glad that I can pique your interest in the subject. Mayhap if you put the same effort you do dressing into your assignments, you wouldn’t be failing,” and with that, he left her there on long steps without so much as a second thought.

It was still stinging her to this day. “Miss Neff, if you paid attention and took notes, perhaps you’d be closer to that grade you want?” he suggested, locking her back in the present as he openly called her out in front of the whole lecture hall.

The silent shame of her classmates was worse than the sort of giggling high schoolers would have given, leaving Karen blushing nearly red as her hair and hiding behind her textbook. Who was he to criticize her? Philosophy, nothing here was going to be useful for her career plan. This was just a filler course on the way to her future as a software engineer.

As the bell sounded, she used it to hide a groan. The rest of her classmates filtered out around her, leaving her there as Professor Mullins made his way up to her seat. “You know, Epicurus once said: ‘The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it’. I have no issue helping you with my class Miss Neff, I could even recommend you a few readings that would certainly offer insight into the subject.”

“Bite me,” the redhead wasn’t in the mood for a lecture.

With a laugh Allen shook his head, the loose bits of his woody hair swaying across his forehead. “That wouldn’t be appropriate,” he said as he laid a small stack of sheets upon her desk. “Here, copies of the slides and quotes from today, since you didn’t seem keen on opening your notebook,” he stepped away calmly, suitcase in hand, towards to door to head for his break. But not before giving her one last bit of advice. “’Morality is not the doctrine of how we make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness'.”

She turned towards him, an incredulous look in her eye at his unsubtle call out. “More Epicurus?” she tried to sass.

“No, Immanuel Kant. You’d know that if you read your textbook,” the man chastised with a small adjustment of his glasses before departing.

Karen kept on a smile as long as she could, to be certain he was gone, then took up her book bag and smothered her face in it to scream. “Who does he think he is?” she furiously muttered, stamping her hard-shoed feet on the linoleum to vent her frustration.

Her eyes turned to the stack, slapping it away and all across the lecture hall; something she immediately regret, since such littering in the halls was frowned upon. She’d have to clean up before she left, lest she score herself a suspension that would impact her other classes.

Sighing the curvy girl got to her feet, starting to collect the print outs one at a time until she came across a curious one: “I can control my passions and emotions if I can understand their nature” – Spinoza

Perhaps there was something to be learned from philosophy? So what if he’d resisted her charms immediately? Every man had a weakness, it was only a matter of figuring it out; understanding the nature of Professor Mullins' passions. And what was it that he’d said? “The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it”?

Oh, she would surmount it. Find his Achilles heel and turn him to putty in her fingers." - Growing her Grade by Madam Materia