the principal's daughter ─ hes

one

"And here you are, Mr. Styles. I hope your first day goes smoothly." Ms. Dubois, the assistant principal of Notre Dame Catholic High School for Girls, smiled whilst leading me off to the classroom that I'd be calling my own. The feel of the classroom was way different compared to when I had first gotten my tour in June—unlike then—within the four walls felt dreary and dark, most likely due to the inclement weather.

I returned a warm smile before she left me on my own, and in response to her departure, a long sigh escaped my lips as I plopped down on my wooden chair. Nervous would be a major understatement to describe how I was feeling in this moment, not only because this was my first teaching job, but because I was so scared of how the young female students would react to me.

In a panicked manner, my eyes flickered to the clock before my eyes as the symphonic tune of the first period bell filled my ears. Without a moment to react to the reality that was hitting me, a small amount of chattering girls piled into the classroom without bothering to acknowledge my presence. I stood from my seat, swallowing the lump in my throat as I observed each girl that entered one-by-one afterwards—each one of them having their own specific style that I assumed reflected their personality.

Once the late bell rung and just about everyone was seated, I walked around to the front of my desk with my fingers laced with each other in front of me. My eyes flickered to each of their attentive faces as I cleared my throat and spoke in a loud, confident voice that hopefully left an impression that I was a serious teacher who came to do one thing and one thing only - guide them on their individual journeys of creating art.

"Good morning students and welcome back to school! My name is Mr. Styles and I'm your new art teacher," I began, pausing in between to give a warm smile. "sadly, being that I'm a newcomer to Notre Dame, we're gonna take some time out to introduce ourselves. All I want you to do is share an interesting fact about yourself, whether it be what kind of music you like, your favorite color, favorite movie, or simply whatever you feel like telling me."

The class remained silent as I gave my instructions, and within that silence, I could faintly hear my heartbeat in my ears.

"I'll go first. Um...my favorite superhero is Captain America, which is weird considering I'm British." I chuckled to myself, and thankfully, a few brave students laughed along with me.

The first student to stand and share was a tall, fair-skinned girl with blonde, pin-straight hair and warm brown eyes. She was absolutely beautiful to say the least. I smiled at her bravery and sat on the edge of my desk, folding my arms across my chest.

"I'm Kat and I think you're super hot, and if my assumptions are right, a bit too young to be a teacher, but perfect enough to take me."

I choked back the fit of coughs that threatened to escape my throat when she spoke her mind, which made nearly the whole classroom erupt in whistles, laughter, and nods of agreement in response to what she had said.

"That's not okay." A short, dark-skinned girl with bright brown eyes and jet-black curly hair commented from beside her, although a smile was spread across her face.

I pushed myself off of my desk and slammed my right hand against the surface of my desk, immediately stopping all the ruckus that filled up the tiny classroom. "You're right, that isn't okay. I don't know what possessed you and made you think it's okay to say such things to a teacher. Never mind sharing out, just tell me your names and we can get started for today."