Stollen Glances

Chapter One: The Blonde Boy.

The professor waited patiently at the door as he greeted the students early in the morning. He gave each of them a tired hello and handshake as they filtered past him into the big lecture hall.

Michaela sat down in one of the seats near the middle row and began to unpack her things. She set out her pencils and paper and set her computer to a place where she could easily grab it.

Once she was satisfied with the layout she looked up and saw that a boy had sat down right across from her on the other side of the hall. He had blonde hair that was parted in the middle and in-between the blond hairs poked out the brunette ones from his roots. His eyes wandered around the lecture hall and finally landed on hers. They were kind but looked tired.

She peered at him for a moment and then turned her attention to the many other students filling the empty chairs around her. The circular lecture hall had only a few more seats left, and the rest of the students filtered in.

"I'm Lyla!" said the girl who was sitting next to her as she extended her hand.

"Michaela." She said shaking hands and giving her a tired smile. Michaela looked back over at the boy and Lyla noticed this and giggled. "What?"

"Somebody thinks he's cute." she said nudging her shoulder.

"I don't think he's cute, it's just that he's sitting right across from me," Michaela said, turning her head back to look at the boy but when she looked at him, he was already looking at her and gave her a sweet smile before the professor began the class.

As the lecturer talked, she wrote down her notes, and every so often she would glance at the boy and watch the way that his eyes followed the lecturer as he listened so intently.

After a while, the bell rang, and everybody got out of their seats and left the hall. Michaela walked quietly to her next class and sat down looking at all the people around her. She watched as more people entered the room and took their seats. The last person to enter was the blonde boy.