the classroom - hs.

Chapter 6: Attention

Harry's POV: 5:30 AM
I woke up feeling better than I have in a long time. I always looked forward to work, but now I was extra excited at the idea of seeing Valerie again, even if it was just for a few minutes.
As I got ready, I thought back on our "meeting".

Our date.

For breakfast, I had eggs and grabbed some fruit for the road. As I drove to the school, I started my early morning playlist of calming music, relaxing as I stared onto the open road.

Then I remembered I would have to deal with Logan. Again. We had only had three days of school and I was already fed up with him. The only silver lining was that if he acted up, I'd have a reason to meet with Valerie again.

It's probably too soon to ask her on another date, right?

Maybe I'd wait for her to make the next move. But with her son, that seemed unlikely.

I wonder if she's told him anything about me.

I pulled into the parking lot, trying to come up with ideas on what to say to Valerie. As I walked into the building and headed toward my classroom, I was stopped by the principal- Ms. Johnson. I have to admit, she was beautiful. But at the moment, there was only one woman on my mind.

"Mr. Styles, could I have a word with you in my office?" She asked me.

What could she want with me?? We haven't even finished a full week of school yet...

"Of course Ma'am," I replied with a smile. If this took too long, I was going to miss my chance to see Valerie in the parking lot.

I followed Ms. Johnson to the office, stopping in front of a door that must've led to her personal office.

Her office was quite roomy. On one end it had a desk in front of a large window, and on the other end there were 4 cushy armchairs around a coffee table. Ms. Johnson led me to the armchairs and I sat down. Instead of sitting at one of the two chairs across from me, she chose to sit at the chair right next to me.

Hm.

I decided to ignore this and instead asked, "So,why did you want to see me?" I tried to sound casual, but I must have sounded concerned, because she laughed.

"Oh it's nothing bad Harry," she said, touching my arm.

Oh.

I felt relieved, but I was still more concerned with getting to the parking lot by 7:30. "Oh, okay. So what is it?" I asked nonchalantly.

She made a face of fake shock and asked, "Are you in a hurry to get away from me, Harry?"

Well, you're not wrong.

I laughed awkwardly and shook my head. Ms. Johnson smiled and explained, "We're just trying to make sure all of our teachers are settling in fine for this new school year. All of the teachers are getting a check-in."

I hadn't heard anything about this so far. "Am I the first one? If you're going in alphabetical order my name is pretty far down," I joked.

Ms. Johnson laughed- a little too hard, considering that it wasn't really that funny. "No, not everyone has been having meetings, sometimes we just pop in to make sure everything is running smoothly."

So what makes me special?

"Oh, that explains it. Well everything has been perfectly fine for me," I said, glancing at the clock. It was 7:20.

"Glad to hear it," Ms. Johnson said, smiling.

I began to stand up. "Well! If that's all taken care of-" She cut me off. "Why are you leaving so soon?" She pouted.

What the hell.

"I'm really sorry but it's almost 7:30 and the doors should be open by now. Plus I still need to put my stuff down in the classroom and make sure it's ready," I said, hoping she would just drop it and let me leave.

Luckily, she did and I practically ran to my classroom to throw my things in and get to the school entrance.

When I got to the doors, I saw Logan walking towards me. I tried to greet him, but he just brushed past me, not even looking me in the eye.

Rude.

Looking into the parking lot, I spotted her car. I started to walk towards her, trying to be fast but not so fast that I looked desperate.

When she saw me approaching, Valerie lowered her window and smiled. When I got to her car, I leaned down and rested my arms on the window frame, looking into her car.

"Hey beautiful," I said, winking. Valerie laughed and slapped me on the arm. "Don't be weird."

Ouch.

"Wow okay," I said, pretending to be insulted. "I just wanted to say hi and make sure you had a good time last night."

She thought for a minute and replied, "Well most of my night went pretty well, until some creepy guy tried to take me out for dinner."

"Well then, if it was so miserable I'll be sure not to do it again," I said, smirking.

"Wait- No!" She said quickly. "You should totally do it again."

"Oh really? How does Saturday night sound?"

Please say yes. Please say yes.

Valerie smiled and said, "I suppose I'll be able to make an appearance."

She said yes.

"Sounds great! See you later, then!" I started to walk away, still facing her window.

"Bye handsome," she said, winking.

I rolled my eyes and returned to the school doors. As I did, I saw M1s. Johnson through her office's window and our eyes met.

-

-

Time skip (10:30 AM)

It was 3rd hour- Logan's hour. I hadn't really started teaching since it was only the beginning of the school year. I gave the students a worksheet to introduce themselves to the rest of the class.

Some of the students finished early and they dragged chairs over to my desk to talk to me. Of course, Logan didn't. He must have something against me. The other students began asking me about myself.

"How old are you?" "29."

"Where are you from?" "England."

"Why'd you move here?" "For something new."

"What's your full name?" "Harry Edward Styles."

Logan looked up when I said that. I could tell he had been listening. He narrowed his eyes at me. I ignored him and continued to answer the other kids' questions.

I could feel his eyes on me for the rest of the class.

-

-

Time Skip (2:30 PM)

The school day was over and as usual, I walked out of the building with the students. I stood by the doors keeping an eye on the students. I saw Logan walking towards Valerie's car. When he got in, he glared at me and slammed the door behind him.

What was his problem?

I waved to Valerie and she waved back. "See you Saturday," I mouthed. She read my lips and nodded, smiling.

Logan turned away, avoiding eye contact. I could see him talking angrily with his mother. He was usually in a bad mood, but never this bad.

Did I do something?