Romantic Friday Writers - First Love

Hi all, I’ve been quiet on the blog for too long. In between trying to write book 3 of the Men of Valor series and completing line edits on Book 1 for a deadline on Sunday, I’ve come up for air. So you know I’m alive and well, albeit harassed.

This week the Romantic Friday Writers challenge is to post 400 words of flash fiction/excerpt/poem with the theme of First Love.

I am sharing a snippet from my second ever contemporary novel titled Reunited. This book is due out early next year – date to be confirmed. The story is in Lagos, Nigeria. This scene is part of the prologue. Ike Thomas, the hero, is a new graduate on youth service at Lara’s (the heroine) school as a geography tutor. Lara is a final year senior school student and develops a huge crush on him.

I’m sure a few of us can remember having crushes on young teachers at school. Well for Lara there’s a happy ever after, though it came ten years after this scene. I hope you enjoy this snippet.

Word count: 400

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A few days later Lara walked into the class for her tutorial. Mr Thomas sat at the teacher’s desk. Her steps faltered, stopping just inside the doorway. Looking up, he smiled. Her heart rate took off on a sprint.

“Come in and sit down,” he said.

She could have sworn an angel had spoken to her, his deep voice rumbling through her. She wasn’t sure how she moved. Sitting down in front of him, she stared at him sheepishly, forgetting the reason she was there in the first place.

“You are...Lara Johnson?” He glanced at the sheet of paper with the list of names before looking at her again.

“Y-yes s-sir,” she stuttered, suddenly tongue tied.

“Relax, these sessions are informal. You can call me Ike instead of sir. Otherwise you make me feel like a fifty year old man with grey hairs. I don’t look that old, do I?” He smiled benevolently. She relaxed, a shy smile breaking out on her face.

“That’s better. You should smile more often.”

At his words, a warm glow spread through her body. There and then, she knew she was in love with him. It was crazy. Her first love. She read romance novels, had occasionally dreamt of being swept away by a dashing hero. Here he was in flesh not print. All he’d done was given her a compliment but he changed her world from that moment on. She swore she would do whatever it took to get him to notice her.

So she studied hard. Geography became her number one subject; she topped the class in all the tests. She lapped up everything that was thrown at her. Apart from holidays when she went home to see her sister and father, the only other thing she looked forward to was her afternoons in class with Ike.

All this time, he made no overt gestures towards her, simply remained the courteous, friendly and professional teacher to her mild irritation. Even when it was just the two of them sitting in the class room, he never said anything that could be misinterpreted as romantic. Still, she knew there was something between them. Each time he spoke to her, looked at her, she felt special, felt a bond between them that went beyond teacher-student. Even when she couldn’t see him, she felt his presence. She hoped one day he would say something to her.

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Please share your thoughts/feedback. Don’t forget to stop by the other RFW entries for this week challenge by using thelink. Thank you.

Enjoy your weekend.