You Are Loved

Kristen French woke up that first morning with a feeling of dread that was also mixed with excitement. It was her senior year but the school was making her take a music elective so she chose band even though she sucked at it. She just hoped the kids would be nicer to her than they were in the past. Kristen was average looking with long red hair, blue eyes and she wore glasses. She quickly showers and gets dressed in her school uniform which consisted of grey pleated skirt, white shirt and navy blazer. Just to be rebellious she wears her favorite polka dot converse. Kristen goes to Our Lady of Sorrows the Catholic high school in town. Most of the girls at Kristen’s school was snobby but there were a few specifically Kristen’s friends that were cool. The dress code was pretty strict but Kristen had added her own buttons of her favorite bangs to the lapels of the blazer. After she got dressed she goes downstairs for breakfast. Her mom is making eggs and bacon. She grabs a granola bar instead on her way out the door afraid that if she ate a big breakfast she would end up hurling it all over her first period teacher.

She jumps into her baby which is a powder blue Oldsmobile Ciera and drives to school. She worked all last year to afford it and she was proud of her baby.

She gets to school and parks in the student parking lot and heads to her locker which is in the senior hallway. Then she remembers she left her clarinet at home and groans. This was not a great way to start the day. She considers going home for it but decides against it. She will just have to explain to the band director she forgot it at home.

She’s at her locker putting some of her books away when he walks by. She turns and watches him. He’s very good looking and wearing skinny jeans and a tie with a button down shirt. He’s about 5’9 with light brown eyes. She thought he looked very punk. He must be a new student or something because she’s never seen him before and he can’t be a teacher because he looks too young to be one. She catches herself drooling because he’s that hot.

The bell rings and she heads to her first class which is math. She gets through that and is gathering her books together when she hears a couple of girls talking near her. They’re talking about the new band director and how they hope he’s good looking. The funny part is they’re not even in band. She ignores them and goes to her next class which is history and her favorite. It’s more of the same as her last class: hand out of books and going through the syllabus. There’s more whispering about the new music director but she tries to ignore the whispers and focuses on what the teacher is saying. Pretty soon the class is over and it’s time for chemistry. Like the last two classes it’s pretty much handing out books and reading through the syllabus. Then after science it’s gym before lunch. Luckily Kristen packed her gym clothes but she’s uncomfortable changing in front of the other girls. She changes in the stall and joins the rest of the class in the gym.

The gym teacher starts off by making everyone run laps and then stretches. After they do stretches it’s time to play volleyball which is Kristen’s favorite sport. She’s surprising good at it even though she sucks at sports in general. After gym is over she’s in the bathroom stall changing when she hears more of the girls gossiping about the new music director. She secretly listens even though she’s starting to get tired of it. After she gets changed she drops her gym clothes off at her locker and grabs her lunch and goes into the cafeteria. She sees her best friend Melissa who is a year younger sitting at a table with a couple of their friends. She sits down next to Melissa. Of course they’re all talking about the new band director.

“Not you too Melissa” Kristen groans. “I swear everyone is talking about the new music director and how hot he is. Can we please talk about something else?”

“What? Someone said they saw him in the parking lot this morning getting out of a Camaro. Supposedly he’s pretty young. This is his first teaching job.” Melissa says to her looking around the cafeteria probably trying to see if she could spot him.

Kristen joins her but only saw the other students. She gave up and concentrated on her lunch which was a turkey and cheese sandwich and chips and a flavored water. She felt like she was being watched though and looked up to find the guy from this morning staring intently at her. She smiled at him but when he sees her notice him he looked away. She shrugs and goes back to her lunch staring off into space. Suddenly Melissa shakes her shoulder.

“What Melissa?” She said irritably looking at her.

“I asked what your next class is?” Melissa asks defensively.

“Oh sorry its band. The school is making me take a music class if I want to graduate in the spring”
Melissa squeals with delight.

“We have band together! We’ll finally get to see how hot the new music teacher is.” Melissa plays the trumpet in the marching band and concert band.

Kristen groans at her words, not so much at having a class together but at how ‘hot’ the new music director supposedly is. She could care less at how hot he is. She got a far off look though at the thought of seeing the new guy again. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. He had brown hair with a streak of blonde in it and a killer smile. She thought she even saw a lip ring in his bottom lip. Kristen definitely had a thing for lip rings on guys.

Soon the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Kristen groans remembering that she forgot her clarinet at home. She stops at her locker and then drags her feet to the music room.

Kristen sits in the middle with the rest of the clarinets and tries not to look at the other students. She prefers to be invisible but that’s kind of hard when she forgot her instrument and everyone is staring at her.

“Um are you lost? This is concert band” one of the girls sitting next to her says. “No offense but you don’t even have an instrument with you” she looks down at her shoes. “I forgot my clarinet at home” she mumbles from behind her hair that hangs down around her face. All of a sudden there’s a loud clearing of a throat. Kristen looks up to see the mysterious guy from this morning at the front of the room carrying a black music case.

“Good afternoon class. I’m Mr. Cody Carson your new band director/ music teacher. You can call me Cody if you want” Kristen looks at the man in shock. This is the new music director? But he was so young! Maybe it was a prank? Maybe-. Kristen’s thoughts are interrupted by Melissa clearing her throat.

“You’re the new music director? But you’re so young! Our last music director was in his 60’s” Melissa protests. Mr. Carson smiles at her.

“Not that it’s any of your business but I’m 28. Now let’s go around the room and introduce ourselves with our name, favorite type of music and the instrument you play” he points at a guy in the first row. “Hi I’m Brian, I like classical music and I play the saxophone” Brian introduces himself and looks at the next person. This goes on for a while until they get to Kristen.

“Hi I’m Kristen French, I like alternative/punk music and I play the clarinet” Kristen says none too brightly. Mr. Carson smiles but then frowns when he sees she doesn’t have an instrument with her. “Where’s your instrument Kristen?”

She hangs her head, “I forgot it at home” she mumbles and Mr. Carson frowns again at her. “Well make sure you bring it with you to next class. How are you supposed to play without an instrument?”

She sinks low in her chair embarrassed. He dismisses her and goes onto the next student. Pretty soon all the rest of the students are done introducing themselves and Mr. Carson starts handing out folders and sheet music to the different sections.

“Now I’m not sure who plays what so I’m just going to eyeball for now so feel free to trade if it suits you”. When he gets to Kristen he hands her first chair but she protests.

“Mr. Carson I actually haven’t played in years so I’m not sure if I should play first chair.” He frowns and shuffles through the sheet music and picks out 3rd for her instead.

“I’ll give you third for now but we’ll see how you do with it” he says smiling and Kristen feels her heart skip a beat. “By the way I like MCR too” he adds nonchalantly.

One of her buttons is My Chemical Romance. She grins and takes the sheet music from him. Once all the sheet music is passed out he goes back up to the front and opens his music case. Inside is a gorgeous clarinet. Kristen is stunned. The last music director played the saxophone as far as Kristen could remember from when she used to be in the junior high band.

“Are you going to play with us Mr. Carson?” One of the girls asks curiously.

“I’m going to try.” Mr. Carson responds smiling at the class.

They do warm ups to start and Kristen sits and watches following along with her eyes to the music. Even though it’s been years Kristen is still able to read sheet music.

Soon class is over and everyone starts packing up. Kristen grabs her stuff and starts to leave before Mr Carson calls her name. “Kristen can you hang back please?”

She waits till everyone is gone and then waits for him to speak.

“I would appreciate it if you are prepared for my class next time. How are you supposed to participate if you don’t have your instrument?” He asks her frowning.

“I understand Mr. Carson. I’ll try to be better prepared for next time.” She replies hanging her head. He sees this and instantly feels bad.

“I’m sorry if I’m too harsh. I just want everyone to be prepared for my lessons.” He pats her on the back and inwardly she smiles. She leaves the room with a bounce in her step. Melissa is waiting for her outside of the classroom.

“OMG wasn’t he a hottie?” She declares as they walk to their lockers. Kristen has to agree with her. “He’s definitely hot. I saw him this morning and thought he was a student!” Kristen responds giggling and they part at Melissa’s locker.

Kristen goes upstairs to her locker to drop off her music folder and goes to her next class which is study hall. She doesn’t have any homework yet so she doodles in her notebook. She can’t help but think about Mr. Carson and how hot he is. She daydreams about him until the bell rings.
She drops her books off and heads to English.

It’s the same as her other classes so far, handing out books and reading the syllabus. But the teacher also assigns reading homework for pride and prejudice. Kristen grins as the book is one of her favorites. Pretty soon the bell rings and Kristen goes to her last class of the day which is Psychology. The class consists of handing out textbooks and reading the syllabus. The teacher Mrs. Henderson also assigns homework. The homework is to read the first chapter of the book and be ready to talk about it tomorrow. The bell finally rings signaling the end of the day and Kristen stops by her locker dropping off books and putting books in her backpack. She drives home and parks in the driveway. Later that night Kristen is lying in bed when her thoughts drift back to Mr. Carson. She couldn’t believe he was her music teacher. Their last music teacher was in his 60s. This new guy was too hot to be a teacher especially since he had a lip ring. She drifted off that night to thoughts of him.