Lucky Guess Introduction

Riley Intro

"Must I do this again?" Riley queried as she sat on the edge of the desk at the front of the college Theatre class. Bright eyes across the room stared as eager bodies leaned forward in their chairs.

"They always love it when you come. This lot has been excited to meet you since I mentioned you were coming." Professor Hobbs said, sidestepping answering her question with a bit of persuasion. "And you know that you enjoy watching their faces after it is all done."

"Fine." She looked over to the grey headed professor and gave an amused sideways grin before turned to look back at the class. "Who's first?" Hands flung up into the air and the room turned to pandemonium as each student wanted to be the first to test the increasingly famous Riley G. Slades. She scanned the room before coming to a redheaded young man in the front to her right. "You."

"Me?" He withdrew his hand from in the air and put it to his chest questioningly. Riley nodded and motioned for him to come closer. He quickly jumped to his feet and walked up to her. She had her eyes squinted, examining him from head to toe before lifting her head triumphantly and smirking.

"Home-schooled." His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to question her as to how she knew this but she simply held up a finger to silence him. "No siblings and raised by a single Mom." She cocked her head to the side as if she were looking for something in particular on his shoulder. "Unmarried, with no girlfriend either."

"You are making that up!" A male voice shouted from the back. Riley leaned her body to the left and pushed the amazed and babbling redhead out of her way.

"Ah, you." She pointed to a young man with his arms folded and his glasses perched midway down his nose.

"Yea, I said it." He pushed the glasses up onto his face so that they were now at the top of his nose and continued to lean back in his chair with his arms crossed. "You're a fake."

"Really?" Riley laughed and turned to Professor Hobbs who only shook his head with a smile. She then turned back to the skeptical man and inhaled deeply while biting the bottom of her lip, looking very amused. "I guess I am just going to make up everything I just read off of you then too, hmm?"

"What do you mean 'read off of' me? You can't read me. I am not a book." He retorted as he leaned forward and uncrossed his arms.

"Aren't you though?" She cocked an eyebrow and began walking around the room. "While there are no words on you, there are still things to be read off of you."

"Such as…?" His eyes narrowed as he swiveled his body in his chair to follow her movement around the room towards him.

"The glasses on your face, your keyring clipped to your belt-loop, the flipped collar on your jacket, and, my personal favorite, your change in body language." Riley was now rounding the corner of the tables in the room and on the homestretch towards the fuming young man.

"Yes, what about them?!" He snapped, his body was turned completely sideways in his chair so that he was facing her as she approached him.

"Well, the glasses, to the average person would suggest that you don't like to wear contacts." He chuckled and looked down, amused, as she said this. "But, to the trained eye," his head shot back up as the sternness returned to his face, "it shows that you just like to wear them because you believe it gives you the appearance of being intelligent." He gritted his teeth and his left eye twitched. "And, of course, what 21 year old male doesn't want to seem intelligent to his peers?" She smiled and threw her hands out to gesture to the class. "Oh, and, in case you think I just made that up, you should check that class ring you have looped to your keys. It has your birthstone and graduating year on it." Riley didn't leave time for the man to interrupt as she quickly jumped into the next part of her explanation, still getting closer and closer to the infuriated young man. "Next is the flipped collar on your jacket, which hasn't seen much use seeing as it is still a brilliant shade of black versus the dullness of the rest of the jacket." Her grin grew as she continued explaining. "So that leaves the question as to why you would flip up your collar?" He stood up abruptly, thrusting his chair behind him furiously. Riley just continued to speak. "Simple, after a quick look at you and how tight you have that jacket pulled to your neck. You have a very passionate lover," She was now face to face with the youth, his chest heaving heavily as he glared at her, "But they seem to have left you a parting gift that you didn't want." She reached up and flicked the collar down to reveal a bright blue hickey on his neck.

"I think that's quite enough for today class!" Professor Hobbs piped up from the front of the classroom. "Be sure to read chapter six before Tuesday!" The students began to pack up their things and leave the classroom in their individual groups, all except the humiliated young man standing in front of Riley.

"Well, still think I made it all up?" She spat as her bright green eyes stared intensely at him. He glared at her for a few more moments before turning away angrily, retrieving his belongings, and leaving the classroom. Riley watched him leave until her gaze met that of the Professor's, who was staring sternly at her. "What?!" She lifted her shoulders and smiled uncontrollably. "You knew I was going to do this."

"Yes, but I told you to be nice about it!" Hobbs shook his head and plopped down in his swivel chair behind his desk.

"I was nice about it." Riley had been weaving slowly through the rows, almost dancing as she hopped here and there. He leaned back in his chair and she stopped in the third aisle directly in front of him. "Ah, so you think I was harsh?"

"I tire of these games, Riley." He leaned forward, setting his elbows onto the table and his head on top of his fists. "Next time, don't cause a scene in my classroom." She nodded and trotted through the rest of the aisles without the giddy hop in her step she had before. Just as she reached the doorway, Professor Hobbs piped up. "By the way," Riley stopped and popped her head back into the room.

"Yes?" She lifted an eyebrow.

"You never did explain what you interpreted out of his body language." He turned his head and looked at her with a smile.

"Like I said before, I was nice." She grinned sideways, parting her lips just enough to see a bit of her teeth on the left side and, with a swift backtrack, she reentered the room. "His initial behavior was snide and confident, which came through in the crossed arms and leaned back position in his chair. In contrast, at the end of my observation his behavior had changed to a worried and infuriated state, which was seen in his clenched fists, gritted teeth, and sweaty face."

"Yes, he was angry that you were analyzing him. Most people get that way when you do that." The Professor cocked his head, his interest peeked by her explanation.

"Ah, yes. Quite right, old friend." Riley clasped her hands together and then pointed them at him. "But, this wasn't the typical anger that is seen by those who are just simply tired of being told who they are." She paced in front of his desk. "No, this was the anger of someone who was desperately trying to hide something they did not wish anyone else to see."

"What was he trying to hide?" His gaze was locked on her every movement as she slowly walked over to the door. "Riley?! What was he trying to hide?" She stopped at the edge of the door and, with a grin, looked back at her old professor.

"Didn't you wonder why he would try and hide that hickey?" She stood in the doorway and waited for him to respond. Hobbs looked up and to his left as he tried to think about what she asked him.

"I dunno." He finally replied after a few moments of thought. "Maybe he is just shy."

"Hardly." She said with a laugh. "He was embarrassed by it, not because he is shy, professor." Hobbs narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"Why then?" He asked, but she just simply smiled and walked out the door. "Riley?!" He leaned forward over his desk to try and spot her through the doorway.

"I never said the hickey was from a woman!"