Proceed With Caution

Chapter 3

He was tall and unrealistically neat. His hair was neatly gelled and his facial hair was short and tidy along his razor-sharp jawline. He stepped on stage dressed deep, midnight blue suit, and a white shirt ironed so crisply that it looked like paper. His eyes, a piercing blue, scanned the crowd, looking very unimpressed.

Not bad looking, I thought. He's probably one of those cold-hearted, emotionally lost men with an alpha-male complex.

Whispers from the assembly filled my ears as the mass of students commented on the new teacher's demeanour.

"This is Mr Harrison, he will be teaching English to the following classes: 2E, 3A, 3D and 4E." Mrs Isaacs announced, looking sideways at Mr Harrison. I groaned inwardly. My class, 3D, was stuck with this stranger as a teacher.

"Gosh, he looks so scary! And he's taking our class!" Carrie exclaimed, tugging my sleeve and burying her head in my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and patted her arm.

"Relax, chica. He's just a teacher. He isn't going to hurt anyone," I said confidently. Mr Harrison bowed at us and walked off stage coolly, as if he had done this a thousand times before.

"Don't worry, Angelcakes. If this Mr Harrison scares you, I'll be here to protect you." Connor whispered softly in my ear. I gave him an incredulous look.

"Seriously...never in a billion years will I ever be afraid of him. But I'll protect you if he scares you, macho man." I said.

Mrs Isaacs began the opening speech on the rules and regulations, proper attire, proper conduct. All the boring stuff that we already knew, basically. I tuned her out and looked around the hall instead. Most of the freshmen were listening to her lecture attentively. One of them was even taking down notes. What an ass-kisser. I started scanning down the row of teachers. I noticed the usuals; Miss Lee, a middle-aged tyrant of a calculus teacher. Mrs Lorvis, the really cool chemistry teacher. And there sat Mr Harrison in the third row from the front.

He sat on the blue plastic chair, legs crossed neatly over one another. He looked as bored as most of us did. He was looking at his nails as if they were a Monet painting. He had a rather arrogant aura, and carried himself in a way that made it seem as if he thought he was superior to others. He had chiselled cheekbones and deep dimples. His eyes squinted up at Mrs Isaacs briefly. I saw his shoulders move up and down slowly in a long, irritated sigh. I found myself staring at him more than I meant to. I could not help myself; there was something strangely magnetic about him. Maybe it was his ears.

He suddenly turned his head and looked around, before his eyes landed on me.

Oh god. He noticed me staring at him.

His eyes shot daggers into mine, trying to burn holes through my head. But I stared back twice as hard into his blue orbs, challenging him from afar. He raised an eyebrow and looked away, looking a little annoyed. I mentally punched myself in the face for sizing him up a little too obviously, and decided that I was probably going to hate him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Alright, I'll start dismissing all of you back to your classes." Mrs Isaacs said after approximately a billion years. I sighed in relief and stood up shakily. I noticed half the assembly of students was asleep, as well as some of the teachers. Carrie grabbed my arm lightly and we tried to manoeuvre through the crowd to get to class.

"Connor, wake up!" I said loudly, stroking his hair lightly. He stirred and groaned, rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly.

"Didn't you get any sleep last night?" I asked him. He nodded and stretched his arms above his head.