Miss Emma Rose

Miss Emma Rose

I scrunched my nose at the heavy textbook I pulled from the cheap plastic bag. “Jesus Emma,” My roommate Katie snorted as she caught a glimpse of the thickly bound book. “I told you that you should have just taken a history course instead.”

We both had the same Arts major, but instead of having the same elective as her, I chose to go with something a little more challenging, German. After flipping through the textbook I was starting to think I might have taken on a bit more than I could handle.

Katie’s annoying little jab was rattling the last of my nerves. We both had our electives in an hour and I was still panicking about the content. It seemed the professor was trying to cover a huge amount for the small semester that we had. I had picked up a bit of the language from my fluent and friendly neighbor, but that was years ago.

I shoved the textbook into my backpack and went to inspect myself in the mirror before we left. I fiddled with my hair for a moment, it was a bit past my shoulders all chestnut and curls and at that moment it was a bit wild looking. I tuned sideways to inspect my outfit, a plain pair of jeans and a nice red blouse. I readjusted my bra to make my B breasts appear a bit more full .I had just noticed that my blouse had a bit of lint sticking to it. I picked a bit of it off before I heard Katie kick the door. “We don’t have time for all that!”
“All of what?” I impatiently hollered through the door as I continued picking off bits of lint on the hem of my shirt.

“Your freak out session, you are going to be fine Emma, I am just giving you a hard time.” She said, her voice softening a bit. “You are a top student, you know that.”

I sighed as I gazed at my own reflection; a pair of nervous brown eyes peered back. “Alright,” I said, defeated. “Let’s go then.”

Glengall building, where my class was being held, was only a short walk away from residence commons so Katie and I quickly parted. It was a part of the old side of campus where most of the buildings were originally built when the university was first established. I weaved in and out of the first day of class buzz as I navigated my way to my classroom. I was only five minutes early but there was no sign of the professor. Unfortunately the class was relatively full so I was stuck sitting in the front row along with a couple of other stragglers.

As I took my seat a man in his early forties rolled a covered trolley in. He had a shag of graying dirty blond hair that came down to his ears and a full beard that had silver whiskers along with his natural color. He would have easily towered over my 5’6 height and he was wearing brown trousers with a corduroy blazer over a white dress shirt. He had an impressive body for a man his age, he was toned, but not to muscular. I had a suspicion that if he took off his shirt there would be a hard stomach underneath. With a little kick the door closed behind him and he straightened his burgundy tie as he flashed a brilliant smile while surveying his class.

He wrote ‘Dr. Nikolas Kirsch’ in chalk across the blackboard and German 101 beneath it. “Do you know what I wish for you to take with you when you leave here at the end of this semester?” His accent was subtle; I wondered how long ago he had learned English because he was very good at speaking it. No one in the class said anything, there were twenty-some students and we all suspected it to be a rhetorical question. Well, it wasn’t.

His eyebrows arched as he eyes his class, his inquisitive blue eyes settled on me. “Why don’t you give it a shot Miss…”

“Rose,” His deepening look cause my name to sound like a squeak, I cleared my throat. “Emma Rose.”
“Well Miss Emma Rose, what are your thoughts?” He playfully questioned.

“I-I suppose you want us to have a grasp on beginners German,” I tentatively answered, it seemed he wanted more though. “And perhaps an understanding of the German culture?”

His playful smile grew and to my dismay my cheeks flushed. “You are absolutely correct Miss Emma Rose! I want this class to not just speak the language, live it with me! Which is why a portion of this class will consist of test, quizzes and such on the language and a portion will be on our adventures. I have a calendar posted on the bulletin board outside of our class which shows you of our scheduled outings, some of which will happen outside of class.”

I heard some of my classmates shift uncomfortably in their seats, and even someone make a groan. If Dr. Kirsch heard, he didn’t let it show. “Now I know that most of you also have evening jobs so I only require you to come to five of the eight outside activities, but for that I require a bit of extra homework on your part. I am wishing to submerge you in the German culture and what better place to start than with the music.” He tore the cover off of the trolley to reveal it full of CD’s. “It’s all here, from Rammstein to Mozart. And because of Emma’s daring to be the first to answer one of my questions, I will let her have first pick of the lot before I turn it over to the rest of you at the end of class.”

He gave me an eager smile, “Come on, don’t be shy.”

But I was. Something about him made me feel like a blithering mess. It could have been his expressive eyes or maybe the gesture of him running his hand through his hair as I hesitantly walked up to the trolley. I haven’t heard of most of the musicians on there and I quickly surveyed the trolley for anything I recognized. Where was the Mozart he talked about? After realizing I had been up there for a moment too long I quickly picked up my next safest choice, a classical album titled ‘Bach: Partitas and Sonatas for Violin’ and rushed back to my seat.

“Hmm, that is quite an interesting choice Miss Emma Rose.” Dr. Kirsch commented.

“I play Violin.” I managed to squeak out as my cheeks grew hot under his gaze.

“Ah, a musician, wonderbar!” He gave me a wink and I practically melted. “Now if you all can open your textbooks to chapter one.”

***

After the long first lesson, which proved that focusing on my work and not on Dr. Kirsch would be more difficult then I though, I escaped to look at the events calendar for the semester. I managed to beat the rush to the bulletin board to see that the first ‘adventure’ we were going on was on the first night of the Fall Festival party that residence held every year. I sighed heavily, I had been looking forward to it, but apparently I would be going to a formal dinner at the German club instead.