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Untitled Document
High above the streets of Neopia’s largest city, the
sun peeked its blazing face out of the clouds. It looked upon the mounds of
snow piled high beside the road, then snickered evilly and proceeded to melt
it all into little puddles: all the better to hamper the populace as they made
their way to work. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!
(It might be worth noting at this point that
yes, the sun is truly evil. Go on, think of all those sunburns it’s maliciously
given you over the years when you know you put on sunscreen, or blinded you
when you walked out of a movie theatre – indeed, if Dr. Sloth had ever thought
to form an alliance with the sun, Neopia would be a much different place. But
back to our story...)
Arl-entiros sprinted down the street at full
speed, splashing frigid water from the scattered puddles onto various passers-by
in his wake. “Sorrryyy!”
“Hrmph,” the mail Chia commented as he watched
the figure of the blue Aisha fade into the distance. “Never seen anyone so excited
to get a letter before!” He shouldered his mail sack and moved on to the next
house.
The blue Aisha skidded to a halt in front of
a small building whose red neon lettering named it “Ruby’s Diner.” A golden
bell jingled annoyingly as he pushed the door open (what did you expect? It
was a self-respecting diner, after all, and wouldn’t dare be seen without
a nice annoying bell).
Ruby looked up from cleaning the front counter
and waved. “ ’Morning, sunshine! You’re here early today.”
The Aisha’s eyes positively shone as he pulled
a letter from his coat and slid it across to his friend. “Ruby, look! I got
in!” The red Scorchio tore it open eagerly and read it aloud.
Dear Mr. Arl-entiros,
Your application to fill in the vacant position of science teacher at Neopia
Middle School has been reviewed and accepted.
If you are absolutely sure you want to take this job (and have your
medical insurance up-to-date, as the school will not take any responsibility
for any bodily or psychological harm inflicted by your students), school begins
at 8 AM on Monday the second.
I look forward to seeing you then. Good luck (you’ll need it)!
Sincerely,
Principal Miller
Ruby looked up. “You applied for the science
position?” she asked incredulously. “Faeries above, are you insane?”
Enti looked at the Scorchio. “Why does everybody
keep asking me that? Of course I want to teach; it’s what I’ve always
dreamed of!”
Ruby pointed to a few lines in the letter. “
‘Medical insurance’? ‘Bodily or psychological harm’? Doesn’t that strike you
as a little strange? Don’t you know who you’re going to be teaching?
The only reason there’s a position open left for you to take is ’cause the last
teacher ran out of the building screaming something about Magtiles with sharp
pointy teeth, turned the corner, and never came back.”
This announcement failed to faze the blue Aisha,
who merely grinned all the wider. “I know! Won’t it be great!”
The red Scorchio began to feel that she was losing
this argument, but tried one last time to make her point. “I don’t think you
understand - that class holds a record unequalled in all of Neopia: no teacher
has ever lasted more than a month with them without running away or needing
serious therapy!”
“Don’t we all?” Enti countered, smiling. “Don’t
take those tall tales so seriously, Ruby! They’re just kids! I’m sure they can’t
be that bad...”
***
The next day...
“Here’s your classroom,” Principal Miller said, looking decidedly nervous.
Memories of screaming teachers running past him and out the door weren’t the
kind that you forgot easily. “You’ll excuse me if I don’t accompany you inside;
I have work to do. Very important work.” He practically sprinted away
down the hall.
“Hmm,” thought Enti. “I wonder why he’s in such
a hurry?” A memory of Ruby’s advice surfaced, but he determinedly pushed the
nagging words out of his head. “They can’t be that bad.” He opened the
door and walked into the room –
– And was greeted by a scene of roaring chaos.
All the students were screaming at the top of their lungs and hurling paper
balls at each other. A paper airplane whizzed by, narrowly missing his ear:
had that one been aimed?
Enti frantically thought back to the first page
of his Teaching 101 manual: How to Gain the Students’ Attention. The
only words on the page had been “Good luck!”, so it was up to him to
figure out a way. The Aisha tried clearing his throat, yelling above the fracas,
and even the time-honored trick of switching the overhead lights on and off,
all with no effect. Finally an idea popped into his head.
A moment later, all sound and movement in the
classroom came to a sudden halt at the horrible grinding sound of the teacher’s
long claws screeching their way down the blackboard. “There,” said Enti brightly,
smiling at his students. “Now that I have your attention – good morning, class!”
They all stared at him blankly. “My name is Arl-entiros,
though you can feel free to call me Enti, Professor, or...”
“The new science teacher that won’t be around
longer than two weeks before we drive him out,” a faerie Kiko in the front row
supplied sweetly. This remark was met with some general grins that gave the
teacher the disturbing impression that the students were sizing him up, but
he chose to ignore it and plough desperately on with his speech.
“That too! I’ve always believed that one of
the best ways you can learn is not just through a textbook but also to see the
connections between things: that’s why I’m going to throw in as many demonstrations
and facts as I can in my lectures.” He turned his back to the class – the number-one
mistake of new teachers to this group, and usually the most critical – and began
writing on the board.
“We’ll show him a demonstration,” a shadow Techo
muttered rebelliously. Enti never noticed the large red bull’s-eye a student
taped to his back.
***
A few hours later...
The little golden bell jangled all the more annoyingly as the front door to
Ruby’s Diner was thrown open and the small figure of an Aisha staggered in.
A few bits of paper were stuck in Enti’s blue fur and a bruise made by the unlucky
hit of a piece of hard Lemon Sweetie was rapidly darkening under his left eye.
The red Scorchio hurried over and helped her
friend collapse into a chair. “Bad day?”
“You have no idea....”
The End
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