In 15 Seconds

first impressions

Once I got to the classroom, I hung my head out of exhaustion, I was never the sporty type. I lifted my head up to scan the classroom for a free seat, and thankfully, there was. I sat, sighing as I arranged my things and waited for the professor to ask me to explain why I was late, but it never came.

In 15 seconds I went from sighing because of running, to sighing because I was late, and finally, to sighing because of relief. The professor wasn't there yet. Just my luck! "I wonder what's taking her so long..." I whispered. The professor's never late. As I was about to ask one of my classmates, someone entered the room. But it wasn't our professor. Instead he was this guy, barely looks like a professor. He looks quite old, around the same age as my mother. He was wearing a kind smile, one that makes you think he'd make a good friend. We eyed him curiously, even though we already assumed he was just a substitute.

"Hello class. My name is Steven Mulroy, but please call me Prof. Mulroy. Unfortunately, Prof. Marotta will be unable to teach, because of unknown reasons, and so I'll be your new professor." Murmuring erupted the whole class, as Prof. Mulroy sighed, knowing this would happen. "Don't worry though, I'm sure she's happy and well, and it's just some family problem encountered." This eased the class somehow. Prof. Mulroy sighed once again, so did the class, and started the lesson. 'There's a lot of sighing today..' I thought, as I partly listened to the lesson and drifted off into a memory, an attempt to forget about the fact that I lost one of my favorite professors.

*flashback*

'It's the first day of school!' I thought. "The time to reunite with my old friends and make new ones!" I exclaimed brightly. I didn't notice others smiling at my enthusiasm, and if I did, I'm sure I would've put on a smile that would've matched my enthusiasm. I marched down the hallway, already knowing the way to my classroom, while greeting students and teachers. I've been in this school since birth, so I memorized every inch of it...

'The school building has never changed, even now.' I thought, going back to the present for a moment as I half-heartedly copied some notes. I leaned back a bit and let myself go in the memory once more.

'There it is! The 4th grade classroom!' I thought as I quickly raced for I wanted to see my friends after 3 months of waiting. I stopped at the doorway, looked for my friends and there they were, smiling upon seeing me. We said our greetings happily and talked for the rest of the homeroom. Even if it's been like this every year, I still can't help being so excited, I may be the only person in the world to be excited for school.

But there's a reason I chose 4th grade to remember, and here it is.

In the midst of chatting, I turned my head slightly, to see if there are any new students, and there he was. Writing something in a little notebook, ruffled black hair bouncing at his every move, then suddenly, he turned his head up as if to look at me. I quickly snapped my head back to the direction of my friends, slightly making my glasses go askew, pretending I didn't see him. But of course he noticed. I looked back, for some reason, and he was still looking at me. I felt a blush creeping through my cheeks, and I'm sure he did too. But we never looked away. After 15 seconds, he waved. I was shocked and didn't know what to do for a moment, but I waved back, smiling slightly. I turned back to my friends, ignoring the fact he didn't turn back to his notebook. I hoped my friends didn't notice... but they did. They were silently watching me the whole time, and my blush grew brighter. I took off my glasses and buried my face in my hands, murmuring a bunch of please don't's to my friends, but it was too late. They were whisper-teasing me and some were patting me on the back. Now those please don't's turned to please stop's, and I never noticed that he was silently smirking to himself as he continued writing. What I did notice, however, after orientation, written on a paper outside the classroom, was his name, Mason Rowe.

I snapped back to reality, and I realized one of my friends was calling me. "Hey! Hello? Earth to Alice? The lesson's over. We're the only ones here!" She said, waving a hand in front of my face, I knew it wasn't the first time she said that. I looked around, she was right. "Are you okay?" I was surprised for a moment because she knew I tend to disappear into my own world of either memories or imagination, but then I realized she was talking about my punctuality. "I'll tell you later." I told her. I grabbed my stuff and headed out with her, slightly smiling to myself for I realized,

'I guess this morning wasn't the first time.'

_________
A/N:
Finally, a new chapter am I right?? Also they'll own a camel. And people write songs about it.