“Flanders.”
Jason’s confident hand started withdrawing almost immediately as he heard snickers all about. Mike kicked the back of his chair.
Mr. Warner slowly turned his head towards Jason, seated in the far back corner of the room. He looked down his nose, through his square rimless glasses, and scowled.
“Would you repeat that, Mister McGrath?”
Great. Nothing like rubbing it in.
“Uh, Flanders?”
Rebekkah Smith, never one to pass up an opportunity, covered her mouth and whispered, “Doofus.” Those seated around her laughed out loud.
Mr. Warner shook his head. “No, Mister McGrath, Flanders is not the seat of NATO Headquarters.” He looked up with hopeful eyes to another student. “Miss Reed?”
“The headquarters of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is in Brussels, Belgium.”
God, how could he have muffed that? The cute new foreign exchange student, Anne something, was from Belgium. Way to make an impression. Bekka was right, he was a doofus.
Mr. Warner flashed a big smile. “Thank you, Miss Reed.”
The lecture went on, but Jason heard none of it, not really. He slumped down in his chair and tried to ignore the snickers and looks from the other students. He perceived every whisper, every laugh, every glance as aimed directly at him. He just wanted the bell to ring so he could get the heck out of there. At long last his wish was granted.
He was nearly the last student out of the room. As he entered the hallway he saw Anne what’s-her-name eying him, an amused expression on her face. She started towards him.
Oh, great. She’s going to rub it in even more. Jason could feel his ears and neck flush. He began groping for something to say that would redeem him, at least a little. Nothing sprang to mind.
“I liked your answer,” she said.
God, her accent was to die for.
“My name is Anna de Boeck.’” She stuck out her hand and smiled. “I am from Flanders!”
©2009 by J. M. Strother, all rights reserved.
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Awesome way to meet the girl! Quite nice. Am I the only one that thought we were seeing a #FridayFlash of The Simpsons after the first line?
One typo/error: towards (no s needed)
Also, great new look! Much sleeker and cleaner than before. Not as much jumble, and simpler navigation. Did I inspire the change? (and no, I do not really think I did)
Awwww, that was cute. What a way to make an impression!
Great job, as always.
Cute story, Jon. Only, it hit too close to home for me, as I had something like that happen back in the eighth grade. I know the feeling. Thanks for sharing, and I like that you’ve moved over to WordPress. Change is good.
Oh, Jon, you made me squirm in my seat this morning remembering my school days when I would blurt out the wrong answer to Sister St. Cornelia!
Jason didn’t get the answer, but I hope he gets the girl, hehe.
Always enjoy your flash…
[...] J. M. Strother’s “Flanders!” [...]
Yeah, seems to be a rare thing in the land of friday flash, a happyish ending!
Oh the memories. You had me all nervous and sweaty palmed. I loved the innocence. Always a great story here.
such a pleasure,
~2
Aww, so sweet!
Very cute, good pace, and highly identifiable. I think we’ve all been in Jason’s shoes.
An unintended pick-up line…. loved it! Very sweet story that managed to evoke all the awkwardness of school. Peace, Linda
You’ve captured young love quite well.
Just lovely
) And hooray for the new WordPress site!
Really enjoyed your story Jon!!! Memories from school.
Well, he got the wrong answer but he did get the girl with it.
What’s more important? Great sense of that dreaded classroom scene.
Short and sweet. Love it Jon! That poor fellow, I feel for him.
Thanks for a great story!
Nice one Jon. It must have been his subconscious answering for him.
Dig the new site too.
~chris
Always satisfying to see awkward teen moments go right. Cute story, Jon.
Great bit of writing and, yes, those strange exotic accents do it for some many of us. ¬_¬
Some things are just meant to be. One of these days (not this week) I’ll try to write something with a happy ending, too. That’s much harder than it looks – but you nailed it.
Nicely done.
Very sweet Jon and nicely done.
I like the streamlined site. And the comments are so much easier to read here.
Karen :0)
I could hear her speak in that accent! Well done. You have that teen angsty voice down pat in this piece
Sweet ending
and as Chance said above that is quite rare in our circle.
Nice, sweet write. I love it when the Doofus gets the girl.
Sweet story. If only every classroom experience ended so well.
Life can be so painful, and there really isn’t anything you can do about it. But, just sometimes, the pain vanishes, replaced by joy of matching intensity.
The intensity of that age – fabulous, exhausting, glorious.
Well captured, Jon.
Big smile! That was a quick, lovely and sweet! “He perceived every whisper, every laugh, every glance as aimed directly at him.” That’s a great line! I’ve been there all too often, even as a “grown-up.” Thank you for sharing.
Me too big smile!
To hell with all the nay-saying classmates – the wrong answer gets the girl, so na-na-na-nana!
The scene was set very well, Jon, to the extent of me getting an involuntary shudder: aaah, non-fond memories!
Woo! Great site. Great organization. The story, adorable. Thank you for your commitment to fridayflash.
Wow, what a trip back in time. Thanks for happy ending, rare in real life childhood trainwrecks.
Aw, how cute! Glad he got his silver lining.
Nice work!
It made me laugh. Then I read it over and laughed again. Delightful.
I couldn’t find your story on Friday or Saturday, but here it is on Monday, and everyone is right. The new website is a great improvement.
I loved the story, you just keep getting better and better. Besides Flanders is lovely in the spring.
Barb Relyea
I wish my wrong answers worked out that well.
“God, her accent was to die for.” – that’s the kind of detail that makes a character real.