The Beautiful Monster

Alyssa's hand shot up.

Dr. Pierce brightened up at the sight of someone finally wanting to participate.

"Yes! You are?" Dr. Pierce asked as he smiled at her.

"Alyssa," she said, trying to project her voice so that he could hear her but not sound like she was shouting either. She worried about the least important things. She could thank her anxiety for that, and then thank her parents for that. Her life was an unappealing domino effect.

"Alyssa, thank you for being present this morning," Dr. Pierce replied as he gave the rest of the class a playful glare. "What is psychology?"

"It's kind of hard to explain it in simple terms because it's such a complex area of study," Alyssa explained, internally pleading herself to not stumble over her words. She already felt like she was on the verge of breaking a sweat as everyone turned to look at her. "But it's basically the study of the mind and of behavior."

"'I think that's a great, to-the-point explanation of this class," Dr. Pierce said with an enthused nod. "Hope to hear more from you, Alyssa."

Alyssa felt her face burn as she nodded and lowered her head a little. Pride flooded through her. She was just glad that she didn't mess up and make herself look like a fool. But all that happiness soon disappeared when she heard whispers behind her.

"Teacher's pet much?" the blonde girl huffed beneath her breath.

"Answer the next question. Then, you'll have his attention," the brunette said.

Alyssa felt a little stung at the comment. She wasn't a teacher's pet. No one else would answer the question. She decided to shake the comment off. Those girls wouldn't even be a factor in her life in a few months when the semester was over anyway.

Dr. Pierce continued on with his presentation, touching on the details of the course and what the class would be learning throughout the semester. He paused on a slide about key terms of psychology. The words "behavior" and "mental processes" appeared on the slide.

"Who can tell me the difference between these two words?" Dr. Pierce asked.

Alyssa had taken psychology during her senior year of high school, so the information was still fairly fresh in her head. She thanked herself for being able to remember information so well. It would definitely help her in these general courses.

"Answer," the brunette whispered to the blonde.

The blonde groaned before throwing her hand up and waving at Dr. Pierce.

Dr. Pierce nodded to her.

"Yes?"

The blonde tossed her hair back behind her shoulder as she flashed her white teeth at him.

"I'm Kaleigh. I'm so excited for your class," she said.

Alyssa had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. And she was the teacher's pet? She knew those sorority girls just wanted a private lesson with their teacher. They didn't care about learning about anything regarding psychology from him.

Dr. Pierce cracked an amused smile as he nodded.

"Thank you. Do you know the answer?" he asked her.

Kaleigh laughed awkwardly, like she was trying to fill the silence.

"Um… well, they're kind of similar. I think mental processes are like your thoughts. Behavior is like what you do," Kaleigh replied as she fiddled with a piece of her blonde hair. She didn't sound all that certain.

Her friend glanced at her warily.

Dr. Pierce scratched at the back of his head as he gazed around the lecture hall.

"Can anyone add to her point or clarify it?" he asked.

Alyssa felt another pull deep inside of her. She couldn't help but feel a little petty for what those girls said earlier, and she knew the answer. But she didn't want to stoop so low. She was better than that, right?

Her hand shot up against her will.

Dr. Pierce turned and spotted Alyssa.

"Yes, Alyssa?" Dr. Pierce called on her.

"We can't observe mental processes, but we can observe behavior," Alyssa told him. She supposed Kaleigh hadn't been entirely wrong, but she had given Dr. Pierce the answer that he was looking for.

"Good explanation!" Dr. Pierce responded as he turned to tap on his keyboard. The definitions then appeared next to the words.

"That bitch…" Kaleigh growled under her breath.

A frown crossed Alyssa's face as she lowered her head. She shouldn't have done that. She was supposed to just be shutting up and listening, not playing into this petty game. She internally chastised herself, wishing she could take it back. She wasn't trying to make enemies. She had enough of those back in high school, even if she hadn't done anything to make them.

She remained silent for the rest of class. Thankfully, Dr. Pierce didn't ask many more questions and other people jumped in to answer. She could hear the girls whispering behind her, but she couldn't make out the words. She hoped this would blow over.

"I'll see you next class! Be sure to look over your syllabus!" Dr. Pierce announced once class ended.

While others made a beeline to the stage to meet Dr. Pierce, Alyssa hurriedly tucked her things away and slipped her grey and black book bag on. She hastily yanked out the strands of her red hair that got trapped between her bag and her back. She was ready to get out of here and deal with her next class. She believed it was general microbiology.

She heard laughing, prompting her to glance behind her and meet Kaleigh's eyes. Ice cold blue. She wasn't a friendly face, especially after being humiliated in front of the professor she was drooling over.

Kaleigh sneered at Alyssa before motioning for her friend to follow her out of the row.

Alyssa felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she watched them walk off. She messed with the wrong person. On her first day. It felt like high school all over again. She thought that she had left this all in the past, but some things didn't change. Some things threatened to haunt her forever.