Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 20835 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 104(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20835 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 104(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
Marielle Beck thought she’d made a discovery that would impress her geology professor. But the lunar meteorite she found during a hike turned out to belong to someone already. The sexiest man she’d ever met…who insisted they belonged together.
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1
MARIELLE
“Don’t forget that your second lab report is due a week from today,” Dr. McCord reminded everyone as my last class of the week ended. “If you haven’t gone into the field yet, I highly recommend taking care of that portion of the assignment this weekend. Otherwise, you’ll find it quite difficult to finish the assignment before the deadline.”
I cringed, too aware that he wasn’t exaggerating. After barely getting a B+ in a class with him last semester even though I spent ten to twenty hours a week studying, I would’ve preferred not to take any more courses with Dr. McCord. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option since he was the only professor who taught several required classes I needed to be formally accepted to my major.
I had no idea what I wanted to study when I started college last year. I had enrolled because it was expected of me by my parents, and I thought it would take a while to decide what I wanted to do with my life. But I lucked out my first semester when I took Intro to Earth Sciences to meet one of my general education requirements. That was when I realized I could turn my love of nature into a career by studying geology.
Becoming a science major meant carrying a heavy courseload of tough classes, so I hadn’t really made any close friends last year. I hoped that would change as I got deeper into my studies, but I hadn’t had much luck in that area yet.
The classmate I spent the most time with lately so far this semester was Shelley, my lab partner. She was into partying more than studying, and I’d been stuck doing most of the work on our last assignment. She had promised me she’d do better this time around, but I hadn’t been able to pin her down on a time to go out into the field yet since she slept in until late afternoon every weekend.
I wasn’t surprised when she asked, “Is it possible to get an extension? Just for a few extra days?”
Without bothering to look up from the papers he was stuffing into his briefcase, Dr. McCord shook his head. “Late reports will not be accepted unless you have notified me in advance of an excused absence. Which you should already know since my late assignment policy is explicitly spelled out on the syllabus and was covered on the quiz you took during the first week.”
Our professor wasn’t even looking at her, but that didn’t stop Shelley from batting her lashes as she murmured, “It doesn’t hurt to ask.”
Dr. McCord lifted his gaze to glare at her. “Nor does it help. If you had doubts about your ability to keep up with the work, you should have dropped the class before the drop/add deadline. Something else that I included on the syllabus.”
I slouched in my seat, hoping he didn’t remember that Shelley and I were lab partners and give me the same look. The last thing I wanted was to get on Dr. McCord’s bad side, especially for something that wasn’t even my fault.
Grabbing his briefcase, he walked out of the lecture hall without another word, and I heaved a deep sigh of relief. But the feeling was short-lived when Shelley raced out of the lecture hall before I tucked my laptop into my backpack.
Hurrying after her, I called, “Shelley, hold on a second!”
Either she didn’t hear me or ignored me because she didn’t stop. I chased Shelley all the way to her dorm before I finally caught up to her. As she lifted her student ID to the scanner to unlock the door, I tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey, you took off so fast. We didn’t have the chance to figure out a plan for when we can meet up to do our fieldwork this weekend.”
“Sorry, no can do.” She wagged her brows. “I have a hot date tonight that I hope will last all weekend if things go my way. And they always do, so I’m gonna be too busy to play in the woods with you.”
I practically had to bite my tongue to stop myself from biting her head off. After spending the entire summer break with my parents trying to talk me into picking a more serious science for my major, people minimizing the impact that geology could have on our world was a sore subject for me. Add in the fact that my grade hung in the balance, and I was more than a little irritated with Shelley.
“You have to be kidding me.”
Yanking the dorm door open, she rolled her eyes. “Two things I never joke about are guys or sex.”
“If only you were as serious about your studies as you are boys,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest. “Then we would’ve done our field research weeks ago, and you wouldn’t need to worry about missing out on your date.”