The Military Girl

Secret Admirer

Harry was an elegant man, according to my mother. She never saw him do anything wrong. I never saw him do anything wrong. My dad said that Harry was a perfect gentleman, which was a rare occurrence for being eighteen.

Now that it was September, both Harry and I would be starting our senior year. He might've been eighteen, but Harry still had his one year left. He tried to explain the British school system to me, but I didn't understand a word of it.

I didn't get to drive my mini van to school. Mom needed it for work at Walgreens. So, I got to take the bus with all of the other kids.

Harry met me at the bus stop. He towered over me.

"It's September." Harry said. "Why is it sixty degrees outside?!"

"You mean ninety." I corrected. "Remember, we use Fahrenheit here."

"Celsius is used in most school subjects. I will continue to use it."

I laughed as the bus pulled up.

"Howdy, Olive!" The bus driver, Jim, was from Kansas. He used to be an actual cowboy before his mom got sick and he moved out here. He took the first job he could.

"Morning, Jim." I said, stepping into the bus.

"Who's this?" Jim asked.

"Harry." Harry introduced himself.

"British accent? Nice." Jim and Harry high-fived. I rolled my boys.

I walked down the center of the bus. I realized every girl was staring at someone, but that someone wasn't me. They were all looking at Harry.

Harry didn't notice. He just slid in the chair next to me.

"You don't even notice?" I whispered.

"Notice what?" He asked.

"All of the girls staring at you and all of them staring daggers at me."

He looked around. Many of the girls pretended to look at their phones. One girl waved. Harry waved back politely. A couple girls started giggling.

"Wow." He said. "Huh."

I rolled my eyes.

The rest of the day wasn't any easier. Harry and I had many of the same classes, which just made it worse. Even the teachers would look at him like he was a king.

I knew Harry was attractive. That wasn't rocket science. The fact that he was British made it ten times better.

Harry poked me a lot, since in almost every class we sat next to each other. He diligently took notes. He shared them with me.

"Why is graphing so hard?" Harry groaned when we got back to my house. "Too many numbers." He fell over and pretend be a dying fish.

"You're really weird." I laughed a little. "You are making me insane. Sit up." I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him up.

"I don't want to help Y find his ex." He grumbled.

"You got that off the internet."

"So? It's still true. He needs to stop."

I laughed, and started doodling on my paper. I drew hearts and faces, then Harry took his pencil and sketched H.S into one of the hearts.

"H.S.?" I asked. "Is that supposed to be you?"

He grinned. "Guilty. But, that's just one font. You can try other fonts and write my initials in the other hearts if you want. Just a suggestion." He laid down and tried to balance his pencil on his forehead.