I got next to no work done in class due to his intoxicating scent of cigarettes and sandalwood drifting over to me during class. I hate smoking but for some reason Herndrickson makes it look fucking hot as hell. He’ll walk around school, a cigarette hanging in his mouth. He even once set off the fire alarm. He just kept walking down the center of the hall, all eyes on him as exhaled his last breath of smoke. His cigarette had gone out due to the sprinkles going off. His honey hair dripping beads of water as he flicked the cigarette into the bin. He walked out the double and fully windowed doors into the sunshine like a devil in daylight. God that day is one of my favorites to recall.

The bell rang jarring me out of my daydream. I slowly got up and packed my things into my leather satchel. It had pins all over it, from bands to my favorite shows, I fucking loved this bag. As I placed my things carefully I made sure to act as if he didn’t even exist. Which was kind of hard as I put my books away I heard a sliding noise on my desk and a light tap. I slowly looked at the sound and realized Herndrickson had torn the drawing out of his notebook and placed it with my snub of a pencil on my desk. With a little note in his scratchy writing:

‘I can paint you like a french girl Jack’ with a simple smiley face in between that winks at me suggestively ‘or should I say Jake?’ and I feel my face redden and my heart pound.

I searched the room for him a tiny bit frantic and found he’d left. The smell of him lingering like smoke tendrils from a blown-out candle, winding around my body with a dangerous heat. Trying to hear him whisper those words in my ear like sweet nothings.

~

Leaving school I couldn’t help but realize the grin I’d been containing. I was fanboying too hard to care that I had only just left the gates and people might see me because he fucking knew my name!? And he gave me a drawing?!!!!! Literature just got more interesting. Much much more interesting.

But...

How the fuck was I going to pay attention to Mr. Lee with him sitting next to me?!