Am I never to get away from you?

She kicked off her ballerina flats to step on the sand barefooted and immediately knew this had been the right choice.

The sand was smooth and warm against her soles and she curled her toes to feel the tiny grains of sand move between them. For a moment she focused only on that sensation, then shifted her attention to take in the long, wide, almost white beach and the rolling waves beyond, the sea stretching all the way to the horizon where it merged with the clear blue sky. It was serene and simultaneously full of life. This was surely the right place to come to forget an unrequited love.

It was the summer break between second and third year of university. Most of Charlotte's friends would remain in London doing temp jobs to afford a trip to some sunny party island before their final year started but she had felt the need to get away from everything and everyone to clear her mind. Via an agency she found a job as a nanny in the seaside town Sanditon for the next two months and thought it ideal as it simultaneously would provide her an income, an escape and a summer by the sea. She had arrived by train this morning and was now familiarizing herself with the family, the town and the marvelous beach. It was love at first sight and she instinctively knew this was what she needed.

First year at university had been brilliant. It had been everything she had hoped for when she moved from the small country village Willingden to London. After the first few insecure weeks of trying to familiarize herself with the new home town and find her kind of people, the sunny and sociable Charlotte found herself included in a circle of great friends who were more than willing to help her feel like she belonged there. It had been a year of much partying and loads of fun and perhaps she had not spent as much time studying as she ought to, but she had shrugged her shoulders thinking one was only young once and continued to enjoy all of it immensely. First time away from home for real, away from her parents, she wanted to experience everything. Well, except drugs (which she stayed away from) and bad sex (which she unwisely had tried at one drunken occasion or two, but there had been good sex too so all in all the average result was positive). She had flirted and dated, even had a shorter relationship but she had not truly fallen in love that first year. There were guys who had fallen for her; cute and fun ones which she loved as friends, but it had never 'clicked' for her. It had not bothered her the least, she was there to experience life, not to immediately settle with someone, get married or have kids in the foreseeable future.

Things had taken an abrupt turn at the beginning of second year when she entered philosophy class for the first time.

They already knew that Professor Bertram, the philosophy teacher from last year, had retired and would be replaced. They had never imagined that the aging, grey-haired, bony man would be replaced by someone like Mr. Parker.

As they entered the lecture hall that day, everyone had gone quiet and stared at the imposing man standing on the podium. He was very tall, broad-shouldered and looked like he might be seriously fit under the slim white shirt. His lithe figure in combination with sharp, handsome features, wavy dark hair and brown eyes made him seem like he rather belonged as the protagonist in a romance novel or an action movie, than in a class room teaching philosophy. The first impression was that he seemed quite stern, as he seriously let his gaze travel over the room inspecting them all, but then he broke into a disarming smile and greeted them welcome.

It was inevitable that the majority of the female students would have a crush on him and behind his back irreverential jokes about getting him into one's bed quickly became standard banter. Few dared to make a pass at him though, because even if he turned out to be a great teacher, he kept his distance to the students and did not for a moment play along if anyone was a bit flirtatious. On the contrary he efficiently choked any attempts to hit on him, making it clear that he was not there to overstep any boundaries with his students no matter if they were young and attractive, with shiny long hair, had curves in all the right places and legs up to their chin, something Eliza Campion got to experience when he deflated her by totally ignoring her quite obvious advances. Charlotte had witnessed that conversation, passing in the hallway and cringed inside, feeling embarrassed on the other girl's behalf even if she did not like her one bit, but simultaneously her hear fluttered with joy seeing Mr. Parker handling a student coming on to him with professional distance. Charlotte certainly did not try to flirt, nor did she partake in any filthy jokes about the hot teacher. She simply could not because she had fallen head over heels in love with him.