Natasha

Dread bubbled in my chest as I froze. I stared at Kirill with clenched jaws and wide eyes. My stomach knotted with anxiety.

Kirill was wearing a formal white shirt with a narrow collar, the sleeves of which were rolled to his elbows paired with navy-blue pants. Wearing glasses, he looked eerily handsome. His blond hair was neatly combed back.

Nicole almost barreled into me from behind. “Natasha!” she cried, but was rooted to the spot when she saw the new English teacher. Her mouth fell to the floor. “Mr. Kirill?”

Kirill’s lips curved into a smile. He adjusted his glasses on his nose and said, “How are you, Nicole?”

“I am good!” she said excitedly.

He glanced at me. “Why don’t you girls sit in your place so that we may start with the class?”

My face heated up and I rushed to sit in my place with Nicole following me hurriedly. When we were seated, Kirill looked at me once and then turned to the board. He wrote ‘Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 3.’

“Today we will be studying about the meeting