Chapter One
Mr. Coulson
Sam Coulson walked into the classroom, travel mug of coffee in hand, briefcase in the other. He quickly glanced around towards some of the less-than-eager faces before him, and put his coffee on the desk along with his briefcase.
"Good morning everyone," he cheerfully announced to the class, his eyes quickly darting over to the girl that just walked in. She smiled at him. With a gently sway of her hips, she started heading towards an empty desk.
Sam knew Caroline Jensen had a crush on him, but he had no intention of seducing his student.
The first day of class, Sam had noticed her right away. The dark unruly curls swaying gracefully about her shoulders, lovingly framing deep sea-green eyes surrounded by long dark lashes, the gentle curve of her inviting mouth as she smiled at him flirtatiously… Of course, he noticed her. She was quite attractive.
"Hi, I'm new here," a voice came from the front, suddenly bringing Sam's attention back to the class.
"Hi" he replied back, "I don't think we've met. I'm Sam… Coulson. For some reason the school has this thing about letting you guys call me Sam." Sam Coulson introduced himself to the new girl who had addressed him.
"I'm Josie Geller" she replied. "But I'm pretty sure the school will be okay with you calling me Josie."
Sam couldn't help but smile. At first impression, Josie certainly didn't dress like a typical teenager. He had to suppress another smile at the sight of the white feather scarf wrapped loosely around her shoulders.
"Right… so welcome to Shakespeare's 'As You Like It'" and Sam walked up to the blackboard to write in big letters the word 'pastoral'.
As Sam spoke, Josie found herself mesmerized by his voice. Typically, she'd be the first to take detailed notes of every word a teacher said, but here, she could only sit and stare.
"Pastoral" Sam said sharply, turning to the front of the class. Josie's eyes followed him as he approached the front row. "Can anyone tell me what that means?" Sam continued.
An eager hand went up. "Oh oh oh! That's what they do to milk!", exclaimed a young girl named Sera. Josie smiled at the ditzy girl's mistake.
"No, that'spasteurize, Sera." Sam corrected. "But close."
"Parakeet?" Sera tried, almost desperately.
"Okay, anyone else?" Sam looked hopefully around the class. He was about to call on Caroline, when he noticed the raised hand in the front row. "Josie?"
"Pastoral means set in the country. Originally seen in the Eclogues of Virgil. It comes from the Latin pascere; to graze" Josie explained, and noticed a smile appear at the corners of Sam's mouth.
Sam was stunned.
"Are you sure you're seventeen?" he asked, not quite sure if he was joking or not.
"Y..yes," Josie replied hesitantly. "I'm seventeen," she stammered, and repeated "I'm seventeen!"
Sam stared at her intrigued, before regaining his composure. He smiled broadly at her and Josie beamed at him. Her heart was beating really fast. "Excellent answer Josie" and Sam added, "I think you're yet to become one of my most promising students".
Josie blushed a pretty pink, and suddenly her silver-blue eyes found it hard to look into Sam's piercing green ones, for he was still intently looking at her. His gaze gave her butterflies. She bit her bottom lip nervously and glanced down at her desk.
