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It was a beautiful spring day only a few days before Easter and Rey had taken her first year German high school students outside for a project. Mother Nature positively greeted Rey this fine day with a sun bursting bright in the blue sky, a gentle breeze not quite strong enough to rustle the young budding leaves, and a rainbow of newly blooming tulips. Had it rained today, this project would have sadly been done inside. Adequate for the lesson, but not as fun.
"Attention, class!" Rey clapped her hands, the teens reluctantly gathering around her in the park next to their school. They were good kids. A quirky, adventurous bunch, but still an intense shyness at using freshly learned language skills.
"Are we learning about the weather today?" Temiri, the most vocal in the class, asked as his hand shot up before his teacher could even call on him.
Rey shook her head no. "We are still learning about prepositions–"
The class groaned.
"–so we're going to practice them by having an Easter egg hunt!" Rey held her hands out, or excited jazz hands as her students called them, and smiled wide. As usual, they did not share in her enthusiasm, except for maybe Temiri who watched her with an intrigued head tilt.
"Um, Miss Andor?" Bazine raised her hand, waiting for Rey to acknowledge her before continuing. "What do Easter eggs have to do with prepositions?"
"Excellent question! There are two eggs hidden around this park for each of you with your names on them. I want you to find them and," Rey looked around the class, "do you have your notebooks?" At their nods, she continued, "I want you to describe where you found them and what each egg looks like. The blue egg is on a bush. The pink egg is under a tree. Things like that. As many details as possible and you will turn it in tomorrow. Any questions?"
They shook their heads no, not looking too thrilled, but also not like they were in pain, so Rey counted this as a win. They were probably happy to be outside.
"Alright then! Off you go!" Rey motioned them away and they all took off in different directions looking for their eggs.
"Miss Andor!" One of the girls called out just as Rey settled in on a bench near a pink flowering tree. "Miss Andor! Over here!"
"Jess?" Rey called back. "Where are you?" She followed the bend on the asphalt path to where Jess was giggling with Bazine over by some tulips under a tree. "What is it? Is anyone hurt?" Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe setting teenagers loose in the park was a recipe for disaster.
Both of them pointed to the patch of flowers. Rey raised her eyebrows and went over to investigate, thinking perhaps they found a spider or caterpillar they were afraid to go near. But they had no reason to be by this tree. Neither of them had eggs– "Oh!" Her hand reached out, plucking the sparkling egg from a patch of grass. "This looks valuable..." She ran her fingertips over the glimmering rhinestones covering the entire egg. "Someone must've–"
"Miss Andor!" Bazine cut her off. "Look!"
Rey's eyes followed Bazine's pointing finger to the swirling light pink flower petals next to where the egg had been sitting. No, not swirling. The petals formed three letters.
"Rey." A much larger hand extended in front of her, palm up. A hand Rey knew well. A hand belonging to the love of her life. A hand that had done unspeakable– NO, not those thoughts in front of the children.
"Ben?" Rey placed her hand in his, allowing him to help her up from her kneeling position. "What is this? Don't you have class now?"
Giggling and murmurs broke out behind her, probably a gathering of students, which abruptly stopped with one of Ben Solo's patented stern glares. He was one of the music teachers at this school, a fast favorite amongst the student body ever since he was hired a few years ago after a tumultuous orchestral career. Their band that could once barely hold a tune and survived on sheer force of willing the notes out for love of music had turned around under his instruction, even going to New York City this past fall to march in Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.
And Rey? Rey had fallen for him like everyone else, even in the midst of their work enemies relationship which had begun after she thought he had insulated her singing when he really just wanted to play piano with her. Ben had an awkward way of communicating. It was one of the things she loved about him and she had a feeling she was about to experience another one of his awkward plans.
Ben took the egg from her and pressed the front latch, triggering a mechanism the flipped the top open. Inside? A ring sparkling even brighter than the rhinestones on the egg. Rey gasped. The students gasped. She's pretty sure she heard the wail of a trumpet. Judging by Ben's glare directed over her shoulder, it probably was. Did he bring his class? Rey couldn't look to check. She was too busy gazing up at him with all her love for him pooling in her eyes. "Ben?"
Of course, Ben Solo wouldn't do a normal proposal. He wouldn't plan a fancy dinner or get down on one knee. "I want you to marry me," he blurted.
Rey laughed through the tears falling from her eyes now, holding out her left hand and nodding even though he didn't actually ask a question.
"Mr. Solo, that's not what we discussed!" Someone yelled.
Another glare from Mr. Solo directed at the owner of the voice, but he quickly turned back to Ben and was smiling wide for Rey. He carefully took the ring out and tossed the egg onto the grass.
"Ben!" Rey barely got out, shocked at the lack of care for such a beautiful egg, before a ring was slipped onto her finger and lips were on hers, Ben's large hands cradling her face.
Rey barely registered the whoops and cheers of the students behind her, completely consumed by the emotion of the moment and the flutters that never left her stomach from the day of Ben's very first kiss, but a cymbals crash jolted the newly engaged couple apart followed by loud voices breaking out in song.
Hail to Chandrila High
Hail! All hail again!
Blue and gold they colors fly,
Soaring upward to the sky
Thee will cherish ever more
As the years go by!
Ben snorted, wrapping his arms tightly around Rey. "That's not the song we discussed," he whispered into her ear as more cymbals crashed and the band began playing a march.
"Is that?" Rey asked, pulling back just enough to look back at him.
"Yep." Ben's eyebrows pinched together. "Stars and Stripes Forever." With a final groan, he stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled, causing Rey to flinch away but also thankfully brought the band's song to a halt.
"Jesus!" Rey gasped, hands covering her ears as a trombone faded out.
"I'm sorry." Ben gently kissed her forehead. "Fiancée."
"What song did you plan? Hey!" Rey tugged on his piano key tie. "And how did they even know?"
"Oh! Well, you know how nosy Bazine is."
"That girl is going to be a private investigator," Rey interrupted.
Ben's lips twitched as he nodded in agreement. "She asked after rehearsal one day when I was proposing and told me I needed help."
Rey tugged on his tie again. "No!" She hissed over the beginning notes of Gimme Some Lovin', a band favorite to play at basketball games and also apparently marriage proposals. "How did they know ? About us?"
"We're not exactly subtle," Ben said as he started swaying them side to side in beat to the song. Left step, left step. Right step, right step.
Rey scoffed. They had been careful to keep their relationship a secret from the student body, not that it stopped any students from speculating or finding great amusement in gossiping about it. Nothing fuels the high school rumor mill quite like the story of two teachers in a secret romance.
"What song, Ben?" Rey tried again.
Ben was a music teacher, a musician most of his life. They had many songs they loved to share together, many that had meaning.
The commotion around them seemed to quiet, leaving just her and Ben. He stopped their dancing and pulled her close. "I found love in this world and my heartstrings just unfurled..."
Rey smiled, resting her head on her shoulder. It was the song she was singing the day they met when it caught his attention as he walked by her classroom.
"I found love in the spring, and I did not lose a thing..."
As Rey gazed at the sparkling diamond on her finger, she felt as light as a feather in Ben's arms. They didn't lose anything that day they met. They gained everything.