21. NNWM Day 06

[meitachi]

Blog Post: 20xx/08/22

This post is dedicated to the stalkers who stalk, or to those who don't know him, my good friend Aiden L. Without you, this post might never have come into existence...

No, that is a blatant lie, as I have been promising for weeks now that I would write about my first day teaching at Ben Frank. Today is that day. I have, as I've told a number of people, emerged unscathed from the first class. The kids, it appeared, emerged unscathed as well. All in all, I would consider it a success.

It may be too early for those famous last words, however. My second class of the day meets in roughly half an hour and who knows what may await me? Or what might await them...

Both classes should consider themselves lucky that they see me directly after a cup of coffee. Imagine what kind of teacher I'd be running three long hours into one cup that has more than worn off. The horrors need not be described, for the sake of keeping this blog PG, for the certain day one of my tech-savvy students will stumble upon it.

This is a sanitized, child-safe blog, my friends.

--

There were only sixteen students in his Section 4 class: 9 female and 7 male. Clarence perused the roster ten minutes before two o'clock, when the students were due in. Definitely a smaller class, he noted. They should prove to be less of a handful - although Section 3 hadn't been particularly out of hand, but there had been the boisterous boys. Those, Clarence could deal with.

Section 4 came in louder than Section 3, but they were almost at the end of the school day. It was understandable that they would be antsy.

They settled down as he stood at the front of the room, gazing at them. His intro started off slightly differently this time.

"How many of you know who Clark Kent is?"

Various hand shot up around the room. He picked on a boy near the back.

"He was Superman!"

"No," the boy sitting beside him argued, "he was Superman's disguise."

"Whatever."

The things middle school boys could get into arguments about... Clarence interrupted them before they got any further. "Yes, being Clark Kent was only Superman's day job, to help him keep his superpowers under the radar." He tipped a grin at them. "Now what would be more suitable for a disguise than being a middle school history teacher?"

The students stared back at him with wide eyes.

"That's crap," someone finally said. "People don't have real superpowers in real life."

Clarence raised an eyebrow at him. "Or I'm just so ninja that you'll never find out," he corrected mildly. "Now, you may call me Mr. Fisher. Let's do introductions before I pass out the class rules. Everyone tell me your name and what superpower you'd have if you could pick your own. And take notes - there will be a quiz on this later."

"What?" There were outcries of protest, predictable whenever the subject of quizzes and tests came up. The boys scowled while the girls pulled out their shiny new notebooks and pens.

Clarence's memory was sufficient - sixteen was fewer than twenty-one, after all, and he'd been fine with Section 3 - but he pulled out his pen as well. "Let me know if there's another name you'd prefer to be called," he said. "A nickname or a middle name." He had forgotten about this earlier, but no one in Section 3 had corrected him, so it seemed to work out. He nodded at the boy in the corner seat of the first row. "Let's start here."

The list Clarence compiled mentally over the next ten minutes went thusly:

01. Katie White, who thought going invisible would be cool.

02. Christina Johnson, who had, apparently, three older brothers, and wanted the superpower to crush them in her mighty fist. Her grin was infectious. Clarence wondered if all younger sisters were so vengeful toward their older brothers - his younger sister certainly was, and he'd hardly knocked her around as a child.

03. Len Nakamura, who enthusiastically wished he could pilot a mobile suit.

04. Danny Hutchinson, who thought being a ninja would be cooler, and flashed a thumbs up at Clarence. He had clearly taken Clarence's allusion to the possibility of maybe being a ninja in secret (if that wasn't redundant) to heart.

05. Richard Roberts, who asked to go by "Rick", and wanted the power to fly.

06. Jennifer Marino, every inch of Italian descent obvious in her features, who thought it would be more useful to have mind control powers.

07. Chelsea Smith, who was tiny and sweet and vocal about the power of super strength to do lasting damage.

08. Colin Ackerman, who pointed out that all of these powers were already featured on the TV show Heroes and that he wanted Hiro's power to travel through time.

09. Taylor Quinn, who was a girl, which Clarence knew thanks to his handy roster, wanted the ability to heal people with a touch. Clarence told her that was probably the most useful and practical superpower to want, and was rewarded with a bright smile. She was a girl of few words, that one.

10. Jason Park, who was Jessica Park's twin brother, didn't really care about saving the world or destroying it "or whatever", he said dismissively. "I just want to be the best soccer player in the world!"

"You're in the wrong country for it," Clarence informed him.

"I'm going to move to England or Spain or somewhere when I grow up," Jason informed him right back.

Clarence grinned. "I'm glad you've put thought into achieving your life goals."

11. Lily Nelson wanted the ability to control fire. Her voice was quiet but her eyes lit up when she mentioned fire. Clarence made a mental note to keep her away from lighters, matches, candles, and the like. Not that they were allowed in the school building, but as a precaution nonetheless.

12. Leiling Yang, whose English was faintly accented, but Clarence thought he detected a hint of a British influence rather than any East Asian influence. It turned out that she had spent her childhood in England.

13. Brian McKinley, who was nearly as tall as Clarence and twice as broad. He could have easily passed for a high school student - but his answer was all middle school: "I wanna shoot lasers from my eyes like Cyclops," he said enthusiastically, and made accompanying sound effects.

Then again, as Clarence thought back to the high school students he had known, perhaps Brian's answer was just suitable for most males up until the age of twenty.

14. Edmund Forst, who answered to "Ed" or "Eddie", which prompted Rick to shout, "Like the show Ed, Edd, and Eddie!" He thought flying would be pretty cool.

15. Grace Lee, who seemed unobtrusive and well-behaved, as far as Clarence could tell. She wanted the ability to teleport too.

16. Phillippa Corvick, who went by "Pepper". Clarence had demanded an explanation from her, wondering if she had a sibling who went by "Salt", but she'd only shrugged and told him she was an only child and that her parents thought she had a "peppery personality".

"Thanks for the heads up," he said dryly. "And what superpower would you want if you could pick?"

She grinned. "You can get anything in the world if you have money," she said. "I want the ability to create my own money whenever I need it!"

Oh there was the epitome of the material girls growing up in their material world. Clarence wasn't sure whether to be amused or to despair of the world.

He concluded the introductions and returned to the whiteboard where he wrote three questions.

1. Who wanted the power of super strength?
2. What power did Brian want?
3. What is Mr. Fisher's middle name?

"Quiz time," he announced. "No talking, but you may use your notes. Turn your answers up to me when you're done."

Five minutes of scribbling later, Clarence had all sixteen sheets of notebook paper. He flipped through them, deciphering the often poor handwriting. Afterwards, he looked up and told them, "This quiz didn't count towards your grade, but the two of you who apparently have friends in Section 3 will receive a bonus point on your next assignment for knowing my middle name."

Jason and Chelsea looked pleased.

"Now, here are the class rules." He handed a stack to Katie and motioned for her to take one and pass them along. "I'll tell you the same thing I said to Section 3: you're responsible for reading them on your own and bringing them back, signed. If you didn't read them carefully, you might regret it." He passed on another sheaf of papers. "And this is your assignment for today. Work on it individually, please, quietly. There are books at the back of the class to help you, if you need it."

And so went his second class of his first day of teaching.