Hello, hello! It’s been quite a week. My son had a jazz band concert at which he played a solo during “Bad Attitude.” He didn’t tell us ahead of time so he could surprise us. Last night, my daughter played at the Christmas piano recital. She did a lovely version of “What Child Is This?” Now we just have a few days left until vacation officially begins.
I’ve put my NaNoWriMo novel on hold until after the holidays. At that point, I should be rested and ready to begin fresh on editing. I’ve made several important decisions about the work, and I’m feeling a bit more like I can get this done. Meanwhile, I’ve been working on a couple of short pieces. I already shared snippets of the one with Alex and Phin, and on Friday, you can read my Christmas story here on my blog.
Today, I’m sharing a bit of my unfinished short story. It doesn’t have a title yet. I obviously have a thing for teachers (there’s been at least one in almost everything I’ve written lately), and this is no exception. I have a “hot nerd” high school chemistry teacher who’s no stranger to students with (unrequited, of course) crushes. He has his sights set on someone less…adolescent. I’ll start with the opening scene.
WIPmath: 17th = 17 sentences.
Ethan stood at the front of the classroom, waiting for his students to settle down. As soon as the bell rang, he cleared his throat, and they all looked at him, their mouths closing almost as one. He bit back a smile. This was why he loved teaching the honors section—twenty students all eager to prove themselves.
“There will be no foolish wand waving in this class,” he told them.
That earned a ripple of quiet laughter around the room. It was the third time that day he’d used the line but the first time it amused nearly ever student. Ah, but chemistry was fun. Ethan picked up a stack of papers and began passing them out, simultaneously giving a run-down of his expectations. That was another thing he liked about these kids. They could handle multi-tasking, for the most part.
While he gave his opening lecture, he observed his students, discovering yet another perk to the advanced class. They were all paying attention to what he was saying rather than staring at him. Ethan wasn’t ignorant. He knew what he looked like, and he knew he was appealing. Despite the fact that he owned and flaunted his messy-on-purpose dark hair, his small, round glasses and his wiry but muscular build, he tried not to be too vain about it. The unfortunate drawback was having a number of teenage fangirls. If only they knew.
If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, you know exactly what would disappoint the adoring masses (er, aside from the obvious fact that I don’t write about predatory teachers going after their underage students, of course!).
Like what you see? Hop over to the link-up and read excerpts from some really cool people. Feel free to add your own by posting a bit of your work-in-progress, doing Fancy Math to link it to the date somehow, and sharing the link. As always, thanks to K. L. Schwengel for dreaming a little dream and giving us this space. Happy writing!
