Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 TITLE: Alex and Melody - A Love Story
PART: 1 of 10 -- At first sight.
AUTHOR: Big Al
KEYWORDS: MF rom nosex
SUMMARY: A high school teacher and his newest student find instant
attraction to each other.  No sex until the 8th chapter.

   **********



   Alex hit the 'Play' button on the music player, and turned the volume
low as strains of Chopin's "Raindrop Prelude" tinkled through the
classroom. First day of school, and he was excited to meet his newest batch
of high school seniors; he'd already met four such batches, now fifth
period was beginning.

   "Is this Mr.  Croft's class?" A gangly boy with a mop of brown hair
stuck his head through the door.

   "Yes, sir," Alex smiled.  "Come on in, pick a seat."

   The kid called out into the hall.  "Told ya it was this one, chickens!"
He marched into the class, followed by two other boys and a girl.

   "Good morning!" Alex said brightly, and went up to them.  "I'm Mr. 
Croft." They told him their names, and he shook the boys' hands, and
gallantly took the girl's hand, in greeting.  Showing his students the same
respect he'd show to adults worked wonders for him, and these teens were no
exception.  "You're Destin's younger brother, aren't you?" he looked at the
mop-headed boy.  He groaned, but nodded.

   "I expect that you're much cooler than he is, eh?" he winked.  The boy
laughed and enthusiastically agreed.  As more students spilled into the
classroom, the first four took their seats, and Alex busied himself
introducing himself to his new senior English class as Chopin's piano gave
way to Mozart's Requiem.

   Two minutes later, the room was filled with chatting and laughter as the
students talked to each other and picked seats around the tables.  Alex
took a count and realized he was one short as the bell rang.  Hmm. 
Hopefully the latecomer would arrive soon.  "Okay, class, we ready to
start?" he asked.

   A chorus of Yes and Sure answered him, except for a few discontented No
way's.  "Alright," Alex smirked at the naysayers, "Let me know when you're
ready.  The rest of the class and I will enjoy our snack."

   Everyone perked up at that, as Alex passed out Hershey kisses.  He only
gave three each; didn't want them getting any more hyperactive than teens
already were.  The naysayers quickly affirmed that they were ready, to the
other students' laughter.  "We're going to go around the room," he said as
the kids tore open their wrappers, "and introduce ourselves.  I want
everyone to tell us your name, your favorite book, and something cool about
yourself.  I'll start.  My name's Mr.  Croft, my favorite book is Prince
Caspian by C.S.  Lewis, and I like to play board games."

   "I'm Roger," volunteered the mop-headed kid on the heels of Alex's
introduction.  "Um, I don't really read, but I guess I like Harry Potter?
And I'm the best football player in school!"

   "No way!" a girl declared.  "Tommy George is way better than you!"

   "Is not!" Roger argued.

   Interceding before this got out of hand, Alex gestured to the girl. 
"Why don't you go next?" So it went.  Too many of the kids confessed they
didn't read much for Alex's liking, but hopefully he'd correct that before
the end of the semester.

   "I'm Hannah," a mousy brunette said shyly.  "My favorite books are the
Percy Jackson books.  And, um, I like to ride my bicycle."

   "My favorite book is The Dreaming Children," a new voice declared. 
Everyone turned to look at the girl who had just walked through the door -
the latecomer.  Alex sucked in his breath.

   The latecomer was an absolute vision.  Long waves of blonde hair crowned
her angelic face before falling to her waist in waterfalls of sunshine. 
She had an adorable button nose, inquisitive blue eyes, and plump pink
lips.

   She also sported a generous rack.  Two full, lush breasts pushed her
pink blouse away from her chest, as round perky as fresh, ripe oranges, and
quite a bit larger.  She flushed slightly at the scrutiny.  "I haven't
finished it yet, but my favorite part is when Cole greets the princess in
her own language and kisses her hand."

   Her fingers plied her equally pink skirt.  She spoke with a flowing
accent, her words blending together smoothly as if delighting in the sounds
of vowels while the harshness of consonants were added in merely as an
afterthought.

   Alex recovered himself, and strode to her, kneeling to one knee before
her and taking her hand as he had taken his other female students'.  But
inspiration struck him, and he brought her hand - so soft, and small, and
warm!  - to his lips, murmuring, "Enchantee, mademoiselle," just as the
musical tones of Fur Elise came on.

   Her sapphires were large and round as she replied with a small smile,
"Salut, monsieur Croft." Her reply was slightly breathless.  "I'm Melody."
Her scent was light and fragrant, the completely natural scent of a lovely
teenage girl.  It filled his nostrils - her very presence filled his world
as he inhaled, and it was intoxicating.  Their eyes were locked for a
handful of infinite moments, before time crashed back on them.

   He stood up as she took her seat.  "I'm Melody Grace," she chirped
brightly at everyone, in that smooth fluid tone.  "Something cool about me,
right?  But there's so many things to choose from!" she pouted.  Alex
laughed along with the rest of the class, and her eyes sparkled impishly,
favoring him with a mischievous look.  "Well, I moved from France when I
was 4, but just moved here."

   "Welcome to our town, Melody," Alex smiled at her, tasting her name on
his lips.She beamed at him, and a warm glow filled his chest.

   He suppressed a groan as he realized that Roger was staring rather
ostentatiously at Melody's chest.  "Roger," he called on him, successfully
drawing the boy's attention away.  "I want you to pick a book on the shelf
and start reading it to the class.  You can sit in my desk chair." He leapt
up, eager to be the center of attention - and to sit in the teacher's
rolling chair - and dashed to the bookshelf; Alex's philosophy to encourage
reading was to have reading-aloud sessions, instead of merely impersonal
required reading lists.  Melody shot Alex a grateful smile - it was almost
a smirk, as though she knew exactly what Alex had just done and why.

   Roger began reading "Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone", but Alex's
gaze kept returning to Melody.  She was mouthing half the words of the
novel by memory in time with Roger's reading, and caught his gaze.  Her
cheeks turned slightly pink and she quickly looked away; Alex wondered if
she'd been stealing glances at him too.

   Later on, as Alex dismissed the class for lunch, Melody and Hannah
dawdled.  "Hang on just a sec, Hannah," Melody smiled brightly at Hannah,
who murmured an Okay in her quiet tone.  Melody bounded up to Alex as he
sat behind his desk, and dumped a book in front of him.  "What's your first
name, Mister Croft?" she demanded curiously.

   Alex looked at the book cover in front of him.  The Dreaming Children,
by Alex Croft.  He lifted his eyebrows at her, smirking with his crooked
smile, and turned open the book to the end.  On the inside back cover was
his photo, backdropped with his garden at home.

   Melody's lush pink lips dropped into a round 'O', and then she squealed.
"I love you!  I love your book!"

   Alex laughed, pleased.  "Thanks.  You know, I sorta like it too."

   She rolled her eyes at that, but grinned.  "It reminds me a lot of
Narnia."

   "Really?" Alex said.  "I was inspired by Narnia in a number of ways;
it's actually my favorite book series, been reading them since I was a boy,
younger than you in fact."

   Melody nodded enthusiastically.  "Yeah, they're really cool.  But what I
like even more about your book - and Narnia - is that it's not, y'know,
dumbed down.  A lotta kids' and teens' books are written like they think
we're stupid or something."

   "Y'all are a lot smarter than some people think," Alex winked at her,
and her eyes sparkled.  "A lot of Victorian era books are written for
youngsters like that, not like today.  You ever read Little Women?"

   "Yeah!" Melody said fervently.  "I wish Laurie and Joe would get
together, but it doesn't happen."

   "Ha," Alex snorted, "I always wished that too." They were silent for a
moment, just grinning at each other, then the spell broke as Hannah
coughed.

   "Um...  Melody...  I wanna get something to eat."

   "Oops!" Melody jumped a bit.  "Gotta go, Mister Croft!  See ya after
lunch!" Alex watched her scarper out with Hannah on her heels.  He had an
excellent if brief view of her cute buttocks beneath her skirt, which were
soft and small and round; in fact, her whole body was small, save for her
breasts.

   Melody bounded past the cafeteria, and Hannah called after her, almost
shyly, "Um, it's right here."

   "Oops!" Melody said again, abashed not a whit, and skipped back.  She'd
been distracted.  Mister Croft was cute!  And he treated her like a person,
not like a stupid little teenager.  It didn't hurt that he was the author
of her favorite book either.

   "Hey hon, you new here?" A cafeteria lady smiled at her, and Melody
smiled right back.

   "Sure am!" she said, and all but mashed her face to the glass, looking
at what food was available.

   "That's an adorable accent you have, hon.  What would you like today?"

   Melody twisted her lip in thought.  "Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes,
green beans, and milk, please.  Thanks!" she said as she took the tray and
went to sit next to Hannah, who was very carefully cutting her salisbury
steak into tiny pieces with a plastic knife and fork.  "That's no fun,
silly," she teased, as she speared her own beef patty with her fork and bit
off a piece.

   Hannah blushed, but continued to cut her meat very finely, as Melody dug
into her meal.  Melody more felt than heard the presence coming up behind
her, and turned to see the acne-ridden face of an older boy.  Maybe a
held-back senior?  "Hi," he said, flashing his teeth and blowing garlic
onto her face.  He was talking to her chest, not her face, Melody noted
with a grimace.  "You're new here, aren't you?  If you like, I could show
you around town after school."

   Melody replied with a straight face, in a tone of utter seriousness,
"I'm sorry, but I don't let my boobs go out on dates by themselves."

   Laughter surrounded them as the older boy flushed, and muttered
something unintelligible as he scurried away.  Melody scarfed down a
swallow of mashed potatoes in satisfaction as Hannah favored her with a
look resembling awe.  "Wow," the shy girl said.  "The lacrosse captain
wanted to talk to you!  And you talked back with no problem." She put her
knife down and picked at her cut up meat.  "Wish I could do that."

   "Wait till your boobs blow up," Melody muttered, referring to the the
shy brunette's underdeveloped chest.  "You won't be wishing then." A
somewhat dreamy smile floated across her angelic features for a moment as
she recalled talking to Mister Croft.  Sure, he'd noticed her chest - he
was a guy, after all - but he had talked to her, to her face, and seemed
genuinely interested in who she was and what she had to say.

   Well, he treated all the students with respect, but still.  She recalled
the electric thrill of his lips tingling into her hand earlier, and
flushed. It had been like thunder booming inside her chest.

   She finished lunch in a daze, her thoughts continually drifting back to
her new teacher, and lapsed into a quietude twinned with Hannah's.

   A couple of hours later, when Alex dismissed the class for the day and
all the students eagerly rushed for their buses or car rides, Melody
lingered for a moment, which unexpectedly gladdened him.  His mind was
awhirl; though he'd been the object of many a young girl's affection, he'd
never been taken with one of them before.  It was probably just an
infatuation, right?  She was incredibly beautiful after all.

   And spunky and self-assured, the observations came on the heels of that
thought.

   "I think I'm gonna like your class," Melody said in her sweet French
accent.  "You're fun, and I have a new best friend!"

   "Hannah?" Alex guessed.  Melody had walked into the class this morning
as a stranger, and she was already as thick as thieves with the shy, quiet
girl; she'd been quite gregarious with the rest of her classmates too, who
seemed to like her.  Of course, she was very likeable.

   "Yup!" she flashed a grin.  "I also met a cute boy," she winked and then
flounced off, giving Alex another eyeful of beautiful bouncing buttock as
she dashed out the door.  Uncertainty floundered in Alex's gut.  Was she
talking about him?  Or someone else?  A slight kernel of jealousy knotted
in his stomach, but he released it with a sigh.

   His face finally relaxed into a grin.  A bold girl, Melody was, to come
out and tease like that.  Beethoven's Fifth began playing in the
background, and its cadence seemed to match the thumping beat of his heart.

   Outside the school, Melody pulled the car door shut a little too
enthusiastically, and Jeanne Grace looked at her daughter.  Her face was
fairly glowing.  "Good day?" she asked.  Her accent was much thicker than
Melody's, but she resolutely spoke in English.

   "Yeah!" Melody beamed.  "I have a new bestie!  Her name's Hannah, and
she likes to read too!  Guess what!  Mister Croft wrote Dreaming Children!"

   "What?" Jeanne shot her a look as she pulled out of the school parking
lot, unsure if she had heard correctly.

   "Yeah!  My favorite book!  He wrote it!  Isn't that awesome?"

   "That is very...  hot," Jeanne hazarded a guess at the appropriate word.

   Melody stuck her tongue out at her mother.  "You mean 'cool', Mama.  But
um...  I did meet a hot boy today." Now Jeanne really did look sharply at
her.  A foolish grin was plastered all over her daughter's face as her eyes
stared at something far away.

   Her first crush.  Jeanne didn't know whether to smile or cry.  Her only
child had blossomed a couple years ago, and was as mature as someone twice
her age.  But she still only had the experiences of a eighteen year old
girl, and Jeanne worried for her.  She settled for saying, "Is he nice?"

   "Yes," Melody nodded fervently.  "Very respectful." Jeanne nodded; there
was that, at least.  Her husband had died before Melody was born, and
Jeanne worried that her daughter had no male role model in her life.

   Speaking of male role models...  "What's Mr.  Croft like?" she asked. 
When she'd enrolled Melody in Pioneer High, she'd heard good things about
him.

   "He is so much fun!  Smart, funny, and treats us like we're people, not
stupid little kids." She paused, then giggled.  "Even though there are some
stupid little kids in class." Now Jeanne really did laugh, and as the car
turned into their neighborhood, Jeanne had the sense that her daughter was
going to be just fine.

   **********

   COMMENTS: Like many authors, I love hearing positive feedback and
suggestions!  If you like, email me: big DOT al DOT author AT gmail DOT com
   NOTE: All characters are 18+