"I want you all to stand, tell us your name, and sing the chorus of your favorite song!" Ms. Nocut was at the front of the chorus room explaining her little "it's the first day of school, so let's get to know each other better" game.

"And let's try to be on time from now on, Miss...?" she paused and stared at me. I supposed she was waiting for me to tell her my name. In all seriousness, though, she's the teacher; she should already know my name. After all, I'm supposed to know hers before I get there.

"Harper," I waved and scanned the room for potential. A few girls I knew from middle school were in this class, so I didn't have to look too hard for a place to sit. Gina and Kristen smiled and moved over so I could sit down. They helped me finish my scan by pointing across the room to the other section of students: only five boys. Even worse: only one good looking boy, but dear God was he good looking. He had a clean, polished kind of look to the dark skin that seemed so delicately placed over his perfectly structured face. He was about six feet tall, and even though he was wearing a loose polo shirt, I could tell his body wasn't made to disappoint.

"Miss Harper?" Ms. Nocut stared at me from the front of the room. Gina chuckled under her breath and Kristen smacked my thigh. Time to wake up from my day dream and be charming.

"I'm sure you know my name now," I smiled around the room. "Since that's the second time she's said it in the last ten minutes." I paused for just a second to smile at Ms. Nocut. My friends giggled lightly, encouraging our fellow songbirds to laugh a little at my non-joke. I took this time to steal a glance at my mystery man across the room. Odd - he didn't seem to be looking.

"But in case you missed it, I'm Christiana Harper. Nice to meet you all." I quickly shifted my eyes again in his direction before sitting down, but still nothing. He wasn't paying me any attention at all. A male's attention is always somewhere, though, so if he wasn't looking at me he had to be looking at something.

"Miss Harper." She was really starting to irritate me. There couldn't possibly be any reason to call my name that many times in the course of ten minutes. "You forgot to grace us with your voice!"

I sighed and sat back further in my chair. "With all due respect, Ms. Nocut, I just don't feel up to singing right now. I'm very sorry. Maybe another time." My friends laughed again and Ms. Nocut frowned but didn't say anything.

"What's wrong, afraid you're inability to carry a tune in a bucket might show?" You know how there's always one uncontrollable female who is determined to compete with you? Well in my story, or this particular chapter at least, her name is Maria Chandler. I'd never met her before, but I'd heard about her from my friends. I suppose she had it in her mind that Mr. Beautiful was meant to be her prize, which made me an obstacle. Better to get me out of the way early, rather than have to deal with me later. Poor thing, she really didn't know what she was getting into.

As her little group of sidekicks and a few other kids oohed at her comment, I merely chuckled and stood.

"I'm not as afraid to sing as you are of being humiliated by me," I started. "So I'll spare you - Maria, is it? I'll do this another time as I said earlier. That is, if you don't mind Ms. Nocut."
Ms. Nocut smiled and waved for me to sit back down, and she was silenced. I tapped Gina's arm and we had a moment of understanding. She checked to see if I had caught Mr. Mystery's eye yet and shook her head. What the hell was he looking at? He wasn't looking at Maria, or any of the other worthy females in the room, from what I could see. That's when she stood. She was a cute girl, with a sweetest-thing kind of feel going for her. Nothing particularly special to look at.

"My name is Sierra Marks," the girl grinned and waved at everyone, and proceeded to sing Natasha Beddingfield's "Unwritten." Her voice wasn't extremely impressive, but she wasn't tone deaf either. As she sat back down to spattered applause, I realized that she was the one he was staring at. How intriguing.

The class went on like this for another fifteen minutes or so before the beautiful boy finally stood. Every girl in the room held her breath as he flashed a perfectly white smile and put his hands in his pockets.

"I'm Devon," his voice sounded like the creamiest of chocolates coated every word. "Yall can call me D. I prefer it actually." Devon stopped and looked around the room. His eyes passed over nearly everyone, except me. He seemed to be intentionally avoiding me at this point. "I think I'll take my cue from, uh, Miss Harper." He stopped again to chuckle, as my heart stopped from hearing him say my name. "I'll just have to sing for yall another time." Devon took his seat and resumed staring at Sierra.

Gina and Kirsten poked and prodded at me, trying to get my reaction, but I was stuck. The rest of the class period was a blur and the next thing I was aware of was the bell to head to my next class. I grabbed my bag and headed straight for the door, where I stood and waited outside. Sierra walked out soon after, and I caught her by the arm, with Gina close on my other side.

"Hi Sierra," I flashed my friendliest smile at her and offered her my arm. She smiled back at me and took it. Score. This might be easier than I imagined. I asked her what her other classes were and as she babbled on I took a second to glance behind us. Devon had come out of the classroom just in time to see Sierra and I turn the corner.