If That's Your Excuse

"Have you been to Birnbaum's class yet?" my friend Maggie asked me as she ran up in the library. I glanced up from the book I was reading for class with a confused look. Maggie was never what you would call an academic, so her having any interest in a class was a one in a million shot.

"Uh.. no. Why? Should I be worried or something?"

She shook her head as if in amazement and said ", Lexi, that is the hottest teacher on this side of the planet!"

Maggie has always had a tendency to over exaggerate, so I didn't take her too seriously as I shut my book. "This side of the planet," I repeated with a teasing smile.

"Lexi you have no idea!" "I left his class like ten minutes ago, and I'm pretty sure my heart's still beating too fast."

At this, I had to laugh. "Alright Maggie, but if he isn't all that you promise, we are going to have a problem."

She shoved me with a smile and walked back towards the exit, probably already late for the next class she was supposed to be in. "You'll see," she called over her shoulder as she walked out the door.

I grabbed the rest of my books that were spread out across the table and sat still for a moment, glad to take a rest. Senior year has been killing me slowly, and it won't get any better now that there's a new business class added onto second semester. School's never come easy for me, but I've always managed to pull through with good grades. People have always been surprised when they heard about the kind of classes I took. I guess my appearance doesn't really fit the schedule. Don't get me wrong, I'm no supermodel or anything, but the words cute and adorable have been used to describe me more often then I can count. Mostly, I'm average. Brown hair, more on the skinny side, but with curves. The only thing that I really like about my appearance is my eyes. They are green blue, and not trying to be vain or anything, but I think they are pretty.

After thinking about all of the stuff I would have to bring home for tomorrow's classes, I decided to just go down and grab some lunch in the cafeteria. At the speed I was getting through Calculus, it'd probably end up being my only meal for the rest of the day. I grudgingly grabbed the rest of my books and walked into the hallway.

*CRASH* "Dammit," I cursed under my breath as I picked up the remains of my full cup of coffee from the classroom floor. "So much for a pick me up," I muttered. After going through the routine of introductions with the first few periods of Business, I could tell already it was going to be a long year. Most of the kids in this school knew nothing at all about the subject, and even worse it seemed that none of them cared.

Tossing the ceramic pieces in the trash, I glanced up at the clock, seeing that I had just about enough time to go back to the teacher's lounge and try again with that coffee. I stood up from behind the desk and started walking down the hallway.

Because of the schedule this school ran on, there always seemed to be some kids at their lockers, especially around this time of day. I got a few appraising glances from some senior girls at their lockers. Trying to avoid any eye contact, I headed straight for the lounge three doors down. I'm not an idiot; I can tell what these girls are thinking. New male teacher under the age of 30 who isn't balding and or fat. I guess I'm not normally what's expected of a teacher. Blond hair and blue eyes at the young age of 26, I wasn't what most students or teachers expected. I've always tried to not let my age influence others' opinions, but even all the hard work I've put in so far hasn't stopped the questioning looks I get whenever I walk into a school building. Besides trying to prove myself I also had to make sure that these girls didn't do anything more then stare. If there was ever any reason to think I had a relationship with a student, in combination with my age, I'd be fired faster then I could even start to explain. I ducked into the teacher's lounge and headed straight for the coffee machine knowing how close I was cutting it now. If I didn't hurry, I wouldn't be in the classroom till after the bell rang, which would look great to a group of kids, who I expected to be on time. Filling a cup I headed back out the door.

Opening my eyes slowly, I tried to remember where I was. Looking around I quickly realized I'd fallen asleep in the cafeteria. Quickly I sat up and glanced around embarrassed, praying that nobody noticed. None of my friends were really in this lunch, so I'd just grabbed a two-seat table in the corner to eat as fast as possible. I reached into my bag hanging off my chair and checked my phone's time, still not completely awake. The display read 12:10.

"Oh crap," I mumbled rapidly grabbing my bag and making a run for the stairs. The bell rings for 6th hour at 12:15, and I'd be lucky to make the bell let alone be early, as I had hoped I would be. I ran down to senior hall bumping into a few people and mumbling apologies, but with no time to actually mean it.

Dropping my text book, I turned around to pick it up and standing up quickly, I slammed into someone knocking them to the ground. I heard a splash of liquid, but it all happened with my back turned, so I couldn't tell who it was. I hesitated for a second, knowing that I should stop, but if I was late for this class, whoever this Mr. Birnbaum was would already have a reason to hate me.

I shouted a quick apology over my shoulder and ran into the classroom. Because I was so late, the only open seats were within the first two rows, so I grabbed a front row seat, looking around for the teacher that Maggie had been babbling about earlier. But the only people in the class were students. Letting out a breath as I finally calmed down, I pulled out my books and waited.

"You have got to be kidding me," I mumble as I stand up. Looking down, I can see that my new oxford, which of course I bought in white, now had a huge coffee circle right in the middle of it. Shaking my head I tried to recall what happened. All I saw was a flash of brown hair and a green hoodie then *smack* I was down. I might have heard an apology, but I didn't even see a face. Muttering under my breath, I stood up with my once again empty-but not broken- coffee cup and headed down to my classroom. Already, I tried to work on a story I could give, or maybe even a way to joke it off, but nothing came to mind. I walked in the door, through which I could hear loud conversations until I entered the room.

"Good afternoon class"

I looked up from my textbook at the voice. A couple of thoughts struck me at once. I would have to tell Maggie that she'd been absolutely right. This guy was amazingly good looking. But at the same time my jaw dropped when I saw the large and still soaking wet coffee stain on the front of his shirt. I could almost feel the heat in my cheeks as I stared, unable to move or say anything. Then all of a sudden I looked up at his face about the same time he glanced over at me, and I could see the realization click in his mind.

"Oh My God," I said quickly.

After finally walking in and saying hello to everyone, I noticed this girl staring in the front row. Come on now, it's just a stain I thought to myself. But then I noticed the bright green sweatshirt and the brown hair. Finally I understood. I heard her mumble something and she immediately starting blushing and looked down at the textbook on her desk, as if suddenly fascinated.

Trying to shake it off, I started to continue talking. "As you guys may know, my name's Mr. Birnbaum and I'm going to be your Business teacher for this semester. Now I saw a couple of you noticed my shirt, and this wasn't really what I intended to look like for the first day. But I had an unpleasant run in with the coffee maker, so I apologize."

I heard a few laughs and saw some smiles, but I got no reaction from the brunette, who was still clearly very interested in her desk. Even I had to smile at her reaction, though I tried to make it seem like it was for the rest of the class.

"Well anyways, I thought I'd start off today's class by taking some attendance. Now I know that most teachers are big on seating charts, but I don't really know you enough yet to do that, so I want you guys to stay in the seats you are in now, at least for the time being. I'm going to go through my roster, and just shout it out when I get to your name, alright?"

Scanning down the list, I started to go through names, trying to figure out who this girl was in the front and trying out every name on her as I said it out loud. Brianna? No, she really didn't look like a Brianna. Michelle? No not really either. As I got midway down the list, I started to go a little faster, already being able to tell that this was boring them. "Alexis Green?"

All of a sudden her eyes popped up, and I caught my breath, which I tried to play off as a cough. This girl had the most amazing eyes I'd ever seen. Green and blue... it was incredible. I was shook out of my thoughts when I heard a soft voice say ", Actually it's Lexi." I shook my head and said ", Oh alright, hi Lexi." I smiled at her, trying to let her know that it was ok, and she gave me a nervous smile back, but again looked down at the books on her desk.

I ran through the student roster, and we started getting packets passed out. The rest of the class was pretty uneventful and as the bell was about to ring, I assigned an introduction chapter due Wensday, which of course was met with groans of displeasure.