To Be Loved

Chapter 1

“Who knows the answer? Anyone?”

The room was deadly silent as the kids stared at the board. Most took on a clueless face and all the others were of disinterest. The only girl who seemed to care was the one who raised her hand.

“Yes Paige?”

A short girl with long black hair looking to be made of silk and beautiful gleaming emerald green eyes answered the question.

“X equals five.”

The teacher looked at her in approval and said like all the teachers did, “That’s correct.”

                                                                                       ~

The bell rang and I got up. Everyone scurried out of their assigned seats glad to be able to drive home or hop on the bus so they can start day dreaming once again. I, not wanting to cut anyone off, waited until everyone was gone to get up. As I collected all my books and tried to keep them all balanced, the teacher was checking papers.

I started walking toward the door while I tried my best not to fall backwards with the weight of all my books.

“Oh have a good day Paige.”

I looked back at my teacher and in the swaying motion one of my reading books fell. I started to reach for it when a quick hand snatched it from the ground. I turned to see the person who had picked up my book from the hard, frequently stepped on ground. The breath was sucked from my lungs as I took in the sight.

Shaggy brown hair covered the top of his head but I only glanced at it a second before I was transfixed by the deep chocolate brown eyes. They seemed to capture my soul as he stared back at me. I couldn’t keep my eyes away from the chocolate swirls of complexity.

“Oh Mr. Mitchell! What great timing!”

The word rang through my head. It went in and out of my head and then back in just to tease me.

Mr.?

This guy could NOT be a teacher! He looked like a high schooler from all angles! I stared at him with wide eyes as he set my dropped book on my pile of others.

“There ya go.”

His voice wasn’t very deep but the sound just made you want to hear him talk for hours. He smiled at me and I swear his teeth made that little twinkle like they do in all corny shows.

“Mr. Mitchell this is out treasured honor student, Paige Carlton.”

I snapped back to reality and to where I was. What was I doing!? He is a teacher and I was checking him out! I cleared my throat and returned to normal and composed.

I stuck out my hand and said, “My name is Paige Carlton it is nice to meet you.”

It seemed like he was taken aback by my composed look. He grinned and took my hand.

“Nice to meet you too.”

I tried not to get swept away by his killer grin and voice.

“Mr. Mitchell just graduated from college.  He will be taking over my class because I’m retiring.”

I smiled at Mr. Mitchell and said, “That’s amazing! Welcome to Honor High,” I turned to the teacher he was replacing and continued, “We’ll miss you.”

Then I made sure my books were stable and I left. I walked quickly watching the lamp light on the ground pass one by one. An endless pattern ran down the hall; never ending. When I got to my locker I dropped my stuff on the top of the locker and twisted the lock.