Hello My Fake Fiancé (Book 1)

HMFF1-The First Encounter

Chapter 1.....The First Encounter

As a young girl, I spent a lot of time daydreaming about how my life would turn out. Naturally, I was a hopeless romantic, so my idea of true love was slightly skewed. Many people told me I walked through life with my head in the clouds, but maybe that's because I enjoyed the view up there. I didn't grow up with a lot of close friends. I had my siblings, but they didn't really count. Plus, it's easy to fade into the shadows when your siblings are royalty. It is not easy to make a name for yourself when you have a sister who was the Homecoming Queen and a brother who was the star athlete of your hometown. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the quiet because it gave me more time to read. Life was good as long as I had my books. They were my escape, my secret portal to places far away. I was drawn toward books because they allowed me to be someone I wasn't. Books were there for me through some of the most challenging times in my life. Books were one of the reasons I chose to become a teacher. Granted, I only teach second grade, but I hope to spark my students' love for reading from a young age. Because that's how it started with me, my mother read to me every night. Through those stories, she encouraged me to approach life head-on and never settle. And that's what I was doing.

It's been two years since my mom died, and my life has been turned completely upside down. I broke off my engagement to the only guy that had ever shown me any attention. I know what you're thinking. You think I'm crazy and I've made the biggest mistake of my life. Maybe I did, but it scared me because he was comfortable. I had known Andrew my entire life. He was my older brother's best friend. We'd been together since high school, but I caught him cheating on me, and I knew I deserved better. Just like my mother made me promise, I wasn't going to settle. I couldn't. If I settled for Andrew, I would never forgive myself.

So what was my plan? I packed up my bags, and I moved away from that small ass town across the country to live with my sister. She moved to Maryland to attend college and never returned home. Technically, I wasn't flying solo on this new adventure, but it was still the most daring thing I've ever done.

When I decided to move to Maryland, I scoured the internet for education jobs. Luckily, they had an opening at Jackson Hall Elementary. One of the second-grade teachers had recently retired, and they desperately needed to replace her. Despite a shaky phone interview, I was thrilled to receive an offer for the position. My qualifications and experience must have really impressed the interviewer, or they were really desperate. Call it fate, call it luck, call it whatever you want. I was starting my new life, and I was crushing it!

I sat at my desk grading papers as expected during my planning period when Suzie, the school gossip, came into my room to chat. Susie was the other second-grade teacher at the school, so my interactions with her were frequent. My Mama raised me to be polite, so I always tried to be civil with anyone I associated with, but with Suzie, it was tough. Unfortunately, she was the closest friend I had here. I was the new teacher, so I was still considered invisible to the "popular" teachers. All the teachers at this school had their little clichés, and Susie was kind enough to befriend me. I have a feeling it was because she was an outsider herself. She was probably so chatty because she was lonely.

"Is everything off to a good start in Ms. Meeks' second-grade class?" She asked, smiling. I wasn't one for small talk but acknowledged her question anyway.

"I guess so. I love teaching, and my class is really sweet. They're not too noisy, and they all seem eager to learn," I replied, smiling. It was all true. I wasn't trying to brag or anything. I hoped I wasn't coming off as arrogant. "Oh, look at the time. I have to go pick up my kids from P.E."

I was saved by the bell, literally. The bell rang in the hallway to signal the older grades to switch classes. I made my way down to the playground, where I saw two of my kids fighting over a baseball bat. It looked like Noah and Micah. I'm sure it was over something petty. I tried to solve the argument by removing the toy they were fighting over. That was a big mistake.