DISCLAIMER: I don't own the copyright of Star Wars. Leia's full name was my idea, inspired by the long names of the princesses of old (think Anastasia Nicholaivena of the Romanov family). Just using all these for fun!
Chapter 4-Professor Westenro
"Oh gosh, Winter, it's really him," Leia muttered breathlessly upon seeing their professor for Clone War Literature enter their classroom. It was the man who had helped her out that morning, and Leia never expected that he would be her professor, much less to find work in the school she went to.
"You've known him?" Siobe asked curiously, who edged closer to her so it wasn't obvious that they were chatting. Leia nodded her head in agreement.
The handsome man with the wispy brown hair and deep blue eyes cleared his throat first and then greeted the students.
"Good afternoon." He spoke in a husky, masculine voice, and Leia swore that his voice sounded handsomely gorgeous.
"Good afternoon, sir," the students uttered in unison.
"Thank you. Now please sit down." The students sat, and Leia could see that most of her girl classmates whispered to each other and exchanged comments about their new professor.
"He is so cute!" she heard a girl who sat in front of her exclaim in a hushed tone to her seatmate.
"Yes! I'm crushing on him!" the other girl gushed. At that moment, Leia also felt love struck, but she tried to regain her composure and started to listen to what their professor had to say.
"You're crushing on him, huh?" Winter asked her with a naughty smile on her face. Leia felt muted and tried to speak up, but Siobe instead replied for her.
"It's obvious, because she's blushing!" she exclaimed as she pointed gently to her cheek, which was a shade of pink.
"I'm not blushing!" Leia denied, even if she felt her cheeks burning hot.
"Oh yes you are!" Siobe said in a sing-song voice.
Leia just ignored her seatmates' remarks, and shifted her eyes to the professor who wrote something on the holo-board. "As you can see," he said while he wrote his name, "I'm a new professor here.' He stopped writing and said, "My name is Professor Axel Westenro," he introduced himself. His name was written in a beautiful, cursive handwriting.
"His handwriting is so nice!" Leia said admiringly. So does the sound of his name. Axel. I love the sound of it, she thought.
"Definitely not that of a man," Siobe commented.
"How did you meet him?" Winter suddenly asked.
"Both our swoop bikes hit each other while I was on my way here, and he helped me out because I fell down," Leia narrated, and she felt like squirming in girlish delight at the thought of being so close to him that morning. "I wounded my knee, and he mended it," she added.
"Wow, that was so sweet," Winter said smilingly.
"If I were you, I should have punched him because he made me fell down on my bike," Siobe nastily advised.
"Oh, I don't like that. Besides, it's my fault. I was in a hurry then," Leia shot back. "But I liked it when he helped me out," she said with a silly smile plastered on her face. She soon started to daydream about meeting Professor Westenro by chance. A hundred possibilities may happen, she thought happily. Maybe I'll trip over him and then we'll be...
"Ms. Leia Organa!" a voice called out. It was Professor Westenro, who was in the midst of checking the class attendance. Leia was lost in her daydreams until she felt a strong nudge on her back from Siobe.
"Ow!" She stared at Siobe, glaring.
"He's checking out on you," Winter whispered to her.
"Um, Ms. Leia Adelene Nicholavenia Organa, are you present?" Professor Wesntenro asked aloud as he searched around.
Leia felt shocked at hearing him mention her full royal name, which she never used. That jolted her back to reality. "I'm here, sir!" she exclaimed as she stood up and shot her hand up in the air at the same time. It made the class burst into laughter, and not just because of that funny antic. She blushed even harder, embarrassed, and slumped back in her seat.
Professor Westenro had to laugh too, and called out on her again. "It's okay, Ms. Organa. Don't feel bad," he said to her with a smile. That made her feel less embarrassed.
"Sir, was that Leia's full name?" a boy with freckles asked him.
"It says so in my student's list," he replied.
"I didn't know her name was that long!" the nosy boy commented.
"It sounds absurd!" a girl said. "No wonder, Leia never used it!"
"Because it was a royal custom to give long names to princesses," Leia explained to teh class, feeling somewhat irked. And my full name is quite a mouthful! She remembered having a hard time writing it when she was learning how to write her name when she was a child, that's why she shortened it to just her first name and surname, to be easily remembered. She didn't like being called Adelene, much less Nicholavenia.
"Aren't you Viceroy Organa's daughter?" Professor Westenro asked her, his blue eyes drilling into her. It made her feel like melting.
"Yes," she replied sheepishly.
"Oh, your highness, how nice to have you here in my class," Professor Westenro happily stated. It made her feel much more at ease with him, and she smiled back.
"Equal treatment is given here in my class, and don't worry, the Princess will be fairly treated just like anyone of you," he said good-naturedly, assuming them that equal treatment with the students was very much observed.
Leia was not the type of student who acted in a primadonna manner, even though she was the only member of the royal family who attended a public high school. In fact, she was low-profiled; silent, does her job well, and was still an ordinary girl who enjoyed going to school as much as she hated it at the same time. Viceroy Organa wanted her to develop her social skills and not be boastful with her charmed life as a princess; hence, the reason why she was enrolled there, instead of hiring a private tutor, which was what the other Alderaanian princesses did before her. She was tutored at home until she entered school at the age of six.
"So these are the rules to be followed in my class. Only three," Professor Westenro stated after he wrote three items on the board. "Always do your assignments, never cheat on exams, and be honest in what you do and say," he explained as he pointed out the items he wrote with his laser pen. "Do I make myself clear?" he asked sternly.
Of all the professors I had, this one knows how to be authoritative and at the same time, to get along well with the students, Leia thought. I like him. I really, really like him, and not just for his looks.
Professor Westenro was able to get his point across, which made the students reply "Yes, sir!" in a serious, "we meant it" tone.
"Good," he complimented them. "Any more questions?" he asked.
"Sir, can we call Leia 'Nikki'?" A boy suddenly asked. "Because of the Nichola-whatsoever attached to her name." The class burst again into peals of laughter.
"For your info, it's Nicholavenia," Leia stood up with her hands or her waist, stating it in a matter-of-factly tone, even though she knew she was only joking, and was very stifled not to laugh.
"Oh sorry for that, your highness," the boy jokingly apologized.
"At least that's something different, Ms. Leia Adelene Nicholavenia Organa," Professor Westenro joked. "Nikki Organa or Adelene Organa sounds nice!"
"I think Nikki Adelene Organa sounds better!" somebody commented.
"Right with that!" Professor Westenro pointed at the person who said it from the front row. "Isn't it, Nikki Adelene?"
"Oh sir, please stop calling me like that! It's too cutesy-sounding, and I feel like a Wookie puppy!" Leia exclaimed whiningly. "And why do you have to repeat my full name to the class?" she asked, pretending to look irked, but was already on the verge of laughing.
"Because it fits a cute girl like you," Professor Westenro told her smilingly.
The classroom erupted with the hearty sounds of laughter, and soon, Leia already joined in. Professor Westenro sure has a good sense of humor, she thought in between laughs. His bedimpled smile and infectious laughter surely was contagious for someone who came to be known as "Ice Princess", and it rubbed off well on her. It made her feel good all over.
He thinks I'm cute! She thought joyfully, which lead her to another thought.
Maybe next time, I'd be writing my name like this on a sheet of test paper:
Leia Nikki Adelene Organa, 3rd year, Section A.
Not bad, isn't it? Just for this class, she thought smilingly.
A/N: I'll be delayed in posting due to the holiday rush, because I have to visit my auntie in the province and stay there for a while, add to that, to attend my family reunion. So please be patient, and watch out for the next chapters to come! Happy holidays!