"Er, afternoon. I'm your new professor, you can call me Rolf."
Rolf meant it for the class but spoke only to Fahmeen. She sat down quickly and busied herself with grabbing what she needed from her bag. She heard Georgia behind her, "He's-"
"I know." She sighed, this will be interesting!
Professor Rolf cleared his throat, trying to look at all of his class and said,
"I will be your professor for the rest of the year, Mr. Granger had to leave due to personal reasons."
"Wait, so he's gone? You're our teacher now?" Joey looked astonished.
"Yes, anybody has any more questions?"
The new professor looked confident, his top buttons all done up, back straight and arms (with the sleeves rolled up) crossed over his chest.
"Why did Mr. Granger leave?" Someone asked.
"Unfortunately I couldn't tell you, even if I did know."
"Everybody always leaves us."
There were mutual sounds of agreement throughout the class. The students felt disappointed and insecure as they remembered the abrupt departure of two much loved (and missed) teachers from last year.
Rolf watched as some of his new students looked down at their desks in sadness, some lost in thought and he felt sorry for them.
"Guys, I know I'm new and you kinda have to do this all again. But believe me when I say this. I'm here to stay. I'm your professor, here to help you however I can. I'm not some temporary substitute."
He stood in the middle of the room, between two rows of desks. He sat on one of the desks, his legs stretched out in front of him. "If I let you down then I've failed. I've heard about your previous professors. I know you guys haven't caught a break but if you let me help you, then we'll work hard and have fun." A brief moment of silence passed by.
"Sounds good, professor." Joey spoke up. Everyone was intrigued by the passion of this new teacher. They watched him return to his desk and sit down.
"Call me Rolf."
...
Professor Rolf went on to explain the day's objective but Fahmeen couldn't meet his gaze. She distracted herself with perfecting her inconsistent handwriting and doodling the corners of her exercise book.
"I hate to do this but I really wanna get to know you guys. So I have an exercise I want us to do." He announced. This time she looked up, worried at the thought of having to do something in front of the class.
"Some of you are looking at me a little lost." He chuckled. "Don't worry, just a quick presentation. Tell me a bit about yourself."
"Can we stay at our desks?" Georgia asked on behalf of herself and Fahmeen. The idea was too uncomfortable.
"Sorry, no. I'd really like for you to get up here and speak to the class." He regrettably said. It wasn't up for discussion, ugh.
Fahmeen looked back and looked disappointedly at Georgia.
It was her turn and she hadn't come up with what to say. Some people talked about their interests, some gave witty one liners and the professor seemed to enjoy himself as he laughed away with the sarcastic jokes. He shook his head (albeit with a smile on his face) at the borderline inappropriate ones.
Safe to say, things were going well.
"Next." Rolf said, looking down at the paper on his desk. Fahmeen presumed it had their names on it. She stood, and he finally looked up as if he had been waiting for the right moment just to properly look at her. She tried to control her breathing, ignoring the eyes of the class on her. He watched her, stretching his hands behind his head as he leaned back in his seat. She stood on the spot everyone had used and looked ahead.
"Start us off with your name." Rolf sounded gentle, as if he knew she was uncomfortable.
"I'm Fahmeen. Erm, I like to write, and... I have a thing for chocolate." Fahmeen glanced at him and he had a small smile on his face.
"A thing for chocolate, huh?" She nodded and smiled, and the professor's smile widened towards her. He really did make her feel warm inside.
“Wait, stop! he's your teacher” she thought to herself.
"Me too. What's your favourite?" Rolf sat up, leaning one arm on the desk.
"There's too many to choose from." Their eyes connected and it felt easy to ignore everyone else. Fahmeen realised this was his intention. Sadly, the eyes of the class were still on her so she asked, "Can I go back to my seat now?"
He nodded once, smirking and sat back.
Phew, at least her turn was over.