Applause, slow and sarcastic and from a single source, came from above. The last of my fellow students had already left, and there was only one person I knew who could somehow put disdain into the sound of his hands clapping. Professor Radisson.

Still tucking my laptop into my backpack, I looked up to where my supposed teacher was strolling through an upper level of the lecture hall, his fingers steepled. "Lies, lies and more lies," he said, the corner of his lip twitching up.

"It's easy to dismiss what you don't understand," I replied, hoping against all hope that this time – maybe this one time – Radisson would actually listen to what I was saying instead of automatically rejecting without a moment's consideration. "Or what you don't want to understand."

"There it is," Radisson smirked. "The default setting of the Bible thumper. If only you'd open the Scripture and read," he mimed opening a book, a parody of a beatific smile on his face, "then you would understand."

If only he knew, I thought.

As soon as I thought it, Radisson closed his hands with a snap – the same way he closed his mind. "So says the brave young freshman. For thou art wise and with you, all wisdom shall die. Job twelve, verse two."

I studied my shoes, the breath almost knocked out of me. God's words from Radisson's lips… The thought unsettled me, making my stomach flip-flop.

"What else does Job tell us?" Radisson was asking before I could recover enough to respond. "For man, who was born of woman, is few of days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a shadow and does not continue, so man lies down and does not rise until the heavens are no more." Radisson let out a dry laugh. "Well, at least he got that part right." He cocked his head, studying me, I was sure, for any cracks in my armour. "During your little statement, when you quoted Hawking and told me there was no need for my class," Radisson continued, peering at me intently, "Did you have any idea how much I wanted to bend you over my desk and take you in front of the whole class?"

Radisson's tone hadn't changed, and his words hit my nervous system before my brain, sending a freezing jolt through my stomach half a second before my brain reeled. I stared up at Radisson, eyes wide, my mouth open in a slight gasp, replaying the last few moments over and over. He couldn't have said what I thought he'd said, meant the words that spilled from his lips – the same lips that had just quoted Scripture.

"No?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he sauntered down the steps toward me. "No, I suppose something like that wouldn't occur to a good little altar boy."

"I, uh…" I pulled on the zipper to my backpack, trying to yank it shut. In my hurry it bit into the fabric, stopping dead. "I gotta go." With one final yank I managed to get the knapsack closed halfway. Good enough.

"So soon?" Radisson smirked, going back to his default expression. "And I was just starting to enjoy our repartee."

I flung my bag over my shoulder. "I really have to – " Textbooks and binders and loose leaves of paper fell from my bag, scattering across the floor. Not thinking, I immediately knelt to gather my things.

Radisson strolled by as I tried to shove a wad of my notes into my bag, leaving a clear footprint across a sheet of lined paper. Furious, I snapped my gaze up to him, only to notice what I was eye level to. Pausing to savour the moment, Radisson smirked down at me again.

And then, just like that, he walked away, oblivious to – or ignoring – my eyes glaring into his back. He reached his desk and turned, leaning casually against it. I couldn't even look at the desk without thinking about… Without thinking about what Radisson had said.

I trained my eyes downward, focussing on the task at hand, my face hot. "So I guess you weren't going to give me a hand?" I asked with more venom than I'd meant to.

"You blew any chance at help from me on day one," he answered, watching me. "Besides, I thought you liked being on your knees."

My hand fell across one of the philosophy textbooks I'd scrounged from the library, the same one Kara had caught me reading in preparation for my clash with Radisson. They'd spilled from my knapsack then, too, tipping her off to my extracurricular activity.

"Please tell me you haven't me spending all your time on that philosophy thing," she had pleaded with me.

"Not all of it."

She hadn't been impressed.

"Okay," I had admitted. "Most of it."

Kara hadn't been able to accept that this was something I had to do. She couldn't accept that my faith was worth any risk. Instead, she'd told me to prioritize. "Decide who's the most important person in your life," she'd demanded. "Me, or Professor Radisson."

I'd laughed then, but now, with Kara gone and Radisson smugly watching me from his desk, it didn't seem so funny. She'd warned me and I hadn't listened. A voice at the back of my mind wondered if this was what I'd deserved before I could push it away. Kara told me to make my choice and I'd chosen. Maybe I'd asked for this.

Finally the floor was clear, all my books shoved into my bag and tamped down until I could close the zipper. This time I wouldn't be closing it halfway. I carefully slung the bag over my back, not taking any chances. I stood to leave, but before I could turn, Radisson was there, inches away.

"I need to – " I started.

"I know," Radisson cut me off, and then his mouth was on mine.

Shock slammed into me at the sensation of his tongue, pressing, probing, exploring. Like a speck of dust trapped in the suction of a vacuum cleaner, I was pulled forward, unable to fight. My mind went blank, my head reeled. Heat pounded through my body as my heart hammered against my ribs. Everything seemed to disappear. Everything except Radisson.

With a start I realized the world was gone because my eyes were closed. They snapped open in a deer-in-headlights stare and I pushed away from Radisson, stumbling back a few steps.

Radisson still watched me. His expression seemed changed and unchanged at the same time, now laced with satisfaction. My jaw hung open in shock. Without another word, without even bothering to close my mouth, I bolted from the lecture hall.