Magic in Costa Rica

Frost and Flame

"Good morning, everyone!" Mr. Miller pranced into the classroom seconds before the final bell rang with a steaming mug of coffee in his hand. I concealed a smile as he straightened his black and white checkered tie and walked over to his desk to take attendance. I took out my printed copy of my five haiku while he rattled off the names of each student in class. He flashed me a half-smirk as he read my name.

"Here," I gave a small wave. I leaned forward slightly to mouth the words I like your tie and Mr. Miller chuckled softly. Thank you, he mouthed back before clearing his throat and returning his gaze to the list of names. I looked down at my haiku, proofreading it for mistakes, although it was too late to correct anything at that point. As Mr. Miller finished taking attendance, I heard the door open and somebody stumble in.

"Hi, uh, I just transferred in," a familiar voice stuttered, "sorry I'm late, here I have a note." I looked up to see Chris standing awkwardly at the front of the classroom, arm outstretched towards Mr. Miller with a note in his hand. "I'm Chris, Chris Stewart?" he said nervously. Mr. Miller took the note from him and gave him a polite smile.

"Great, thanks. Just take a seat and I'll fill you in on what we've done so far after class," he gave a thumbs up and Chris nodded before turning to look for a seat. As soon as he met my eyes, his freckles lit aflame and we both smiled. I gestured for him to take the empty seat next to mine and he walked over eagerly.

"Hey, I didn't know you were in this class! I had no idea you liked to write," he whispered as he took a seat. I snorted.

"How did you not know that? I wrote an entire book!"

"You did? When?" Chris asked. I opened my mouth to answer but was interrupted when Mr. Miller addressed the classroom with his usual line.

"Alright class, let's get started!" he said before walking over to the chalkboard. I gave Chris a look as if to say we'll talk later, and he nodded knowingly. Mr. Miller picked up a piece of chalk and started scribbling on the board. "Today we are going to read a couple of poems by my favorite poet, Robert Frost." He wrote the words Fire and Ice: Robert Frost on the chalkboard and turned to face the class. "But first, I should collect your haikus- sorry, haiku," he corrected himself with a raised finger. I stifled a laugh and he shot me a look as if to say something funny, Alma? I shook my head. A smile pulled at the corners of his lips for a fraction of a second before he turned back to the class. "So, why don't you all pass those forward?" Everyone in class began shuffling to get out their papers and pass them to the front of the classroom, and Chris leaned over and tapped my shoulder.

"You've already had an assignment?"

"Yeah, we've had two," I said, passing my paper to the person next to me, "This is Mr. Miller's class, after all."

"Didn't you have him sophomore year, too? I didn't know he was such a hard teacher," Chris muttered. I shrugged.

"He's not hard, he just gives a lot of homework. What did you expect? I mean, this class is for college credit."

"I don't know," Chris put a hand to his forehead, "my guidance counselor just switched me in here because I need another English credit to graduate. But I don't want to take it if we're gonna have assignments every night."

"Chris, don't freak out," I said putting a hand on his shoulder, "it's really not that bad. Don't switch out, you're like the only person I know in this class." Chris looked up and met my eyes with a warm smile. "And if you have trouble with the assignments, I'll help you out" I added, which seemed to put him at ease.

"Alright, thanks," he sighed. "Sorry, I'm just- frazzled, I guess, just all this senior year stuff," he laughed nervously. I tilted my head in confusion.