First Period: Shakespearean Literature
The teacher drummed his fingers on his desk, surveying his students with a hawk's eye. Late. New students were never late. Of all people, he had to get the student that was the exception.
Aeris sighed softly ..perhaps in contentment. This morning's excitement had been enough for her to burst. A new student, odd and enticing on the very first day, and in New York! Eyes raised, pausing over the impatient teacher, wondering what he was thinking.
Nushi wandered the halls aimlessly, desperately longing to have her staff with her. She shifted the satchel to her other shoulder, looking at the room numbers idly. 116. 118. 120. They said it was down this hall. With a frown, she reaches the dead end. "Darkness damn them. Those lying little imps. 130 must have been in the other direction." She turns slowly, shaking her head. Her words echo through the silent hall as she makes her way back to the main corridor at a leisurely pace.
She watched the teacher become more impatient, still curious as to what he was thinking. Impulsively, she reached for her books, sliding them onto her desk in an orderly fashion before looking up to the approaching of footsteps in the hall. Dismissing them, she ran her fingers over the edge of a spiral bound book, glancing to the clock.
The teacher glanced at his watch, never having trusted the school's bell system. She was four minutes--no, five minutes late. This was inexcusable. His eyes flick over each student in turn, watching the class warily. They didn't know why he wouldn't start; he could see that was putting them on edge. 'Good,' he thought, 'I like it when they're afraid of me'. His students were almost always afraid of him, however. This was nothing new. As he heard the resounding footsteps, he smiled grimly.
She shifted nervously underneath his cold glare, not being used to such cruelty ..or class starting so late. As the footsteps got louder, his gaze and smile got wider, longer, and more glassy, almost as if he was trying to burn a hole through the door. She coughed quietly, and opened up her book to last night's assignment, reviewing in case of any quiz.
With a contented smirk, Nushi made her way down the hall. 126. 128. Ah, here it is: 130. She pauses in front of the door, peering in curiously. She saw rows of students with books on their desks, opened. No student looked at the material, though. Each one seemed to be watching something... the teacher. With a frown, she throws open the door. She steps in far enough for it to close behind her on its own without catching her hair.
The throwing of the door caused her eyes to dart from Shakespeare to the girl, with that long hair and those odd manners. An eyebrow rose again, looking at the clock, knowing lateness was almost intolerable to this teacher. Ouch, she'd get it, she thought. And rather than watch, she lifted her notebook to covert her stare to something other than discipline.
The teacher stood silently at the intrusion. Crossing his arms over his wide chest, he glared at Nushi with narrowed eyes. His gaze was piercing. He waited without a word.
Aeris didn't have to be watching to know what was going on, she cringed just at the thought alone, her grip tightening on the spiral side of the book, making sure to keep concentrated on the material, knowing the other students would probably be more focused on the front of the room than their text also.
Nushi chuckles softly as most eyes in the class turn to her. She bows deeply, proud of having her presence known. "Well met," she murmurs to all. Her eyes scan the class, noticing one or two faces from her homeroom. She could have followed them here, but she hadn't known where any of them were going. She blinks, finally noticing the intense glare from her teacher. Turning to face the man, she smiles softly. "Please pardon my lateness, M'lord." Again, she bows.
Lowering the book ever so gradually, her gaze finally passed over the teacher, and then bravely ventured to the girl. A bow? She raised both eyebrows, fingernails caught in her teeth pensively. Her eyes left the girl, returning to the teacher. He didn't look pleased, and she couldn't say she agreed. It was her first day, how could there be any misunderstanding there?
"Not excused," the professor hisses through gritted teeth. "You had no reason to be late." He points to an empty seat near the front of the class. Coincidentally, it is the seat to the left of Aeris. "Sit. I'll deal with you after class. We're starting with a quiz. I don't care if you're new here. The requirements of this course clearly states that the student have a working knowledge of Shakespearean Literature."
She bit hard onto the nail of her index finger, and wincing as she caught a bit of skin; she lowered it down, briskly brushing the books off her desk onto the floor below, only keeping the same pencil there. Quickly, she scanned through what she hadn't been reading while trying to pay attention to the teacher and Nushi. Hmm ..what would this one be on? All chapters? One? Or only a couple select? And why did he have to be so difficult?! She sighed audibly, flashing an apologetic smile to Nushi.. almost as if to apologize for the school in general. As if it were her duty to.
Nushi slips into her seat, dropping her satchel beside her and situating her hair. "Aye, M'lord." She takes a pencil from her satchel before kicking it under the desk carefully. A broad grin graces her features.
She wondered how the girl could keep poise, and not lash out at the teacher to explain the situation. Without another word, she placed the pencil in quiz taking position, waiting for the paper to be tossed onto her desk with the teacher's pent up impatience.
The teacher nods, throwing a quick glare at Nushi. "I won't tolerate such triteness. Shakespearean literature does not mean you will speak in dialect." He takes a stack of papers from his desk and begins passing them down each row. "This quiz will be on everything we have covered to date and last year's material as well. Every student in this class took last year's course. I don't expect you to pass."
Ouch! She wondered if he was intentionally giving Nushi a hard time, but she didn't say anything again. Her eyes flashed over the teacher, trying hard to give him the most disgusted look she could muster up before turning to her desk, and trying to focus on something other than her anger.
Nushi only smiles at this comment, nodding respectfully to the minor demon she sees before her. She whets her lips as the quiz falls upon her desk. She smiles, sure of herself. Immediately, her pencil falls to the paper, scribbling furiously in her rich, curled handwriting. Multiple-choice questions are answered in an instant. It seems as if she doesn't even read the question. Short answer takes her a moment longer, but certainly not as much time as a student should take. In three minutes, she has finished the entire quiz--even the short one paragraph essay on the back. The teacher only watches her with distain, scowling slightly. He sneers as she looks up from her desk. "Done so soon?"
Aeris is impressed at the speed and dexterity, also the assurance of Nushi, ..so much so that she neglects her own paper just to observe. Coming to after hearing the teacher, her pencil flies against the paper, making obvious wrong answers and completely oblivious mistakes. Coughing into a curled fist, she sighs, wondering how much more could go wrong on the day - but still quite impressed with Nushi to feel too much remorse.
A soft smile curls Nushi's lips. She nods politely, handing her quiz to the teacher. His grin shows exactly what he thinks of the girl: failure. He expects the quiz to be filled with rubbish. He walks to the garbage can at the front of the class, glancing at the paper before he is about to throw it away. His brows furrow. Reading the first two answers, his lips purse in anger. He looks up from the paper to the girl who turned it in, scowling. His eyes return to the paper. He shakes his head slightly, walking behind his desk without lifting his gaze. He sits. He takes out his red marker. He reads. The marker does not touch the paper once.
Forgetting completely about double-checking, or even checking at all for that matter, she's focused on the actions of her instructor. He's a very tough grader, and to not see the marker aid the paper with corrections was almost impossible. She glanced at Nushi once, that same smile still imprinted on her lips, and a frown touched her own. After studying her for awhile ..almost to determine her position on things, she ripped her gaze away, focusing it to study her own paper for error.
The teacher turns the paper over, reading through the short essay carefully. He grins maliciously, placing pen to paper as he makes a correction. His hand twitches, ready to make various other corrections, but he finds none. The grin slowly bleeds from his lips.
Nushi does not watch the professor work on her paper. She only smirks softly, pulling her satchel from beneath her desk. After rummaging in her satchel a moment (making a good deal of noise in the process) she pulls out a small cloth wrapped bundle.
The sound of the mark upon the paper is almost deafening, and she lifts her eyes from her own paper to furrow a brow, hearing and witnessing no more marks. Her own amazed expression turns sour at the mark, so many confused things running through her mind. She glances at Nushi ..wondering if the girl is as intrigued that she's stumped the teacher as she herself is. She idly watches the cloth bundle in wonderment ..curiosity getting the best of her so much so that she stares.
Nushi unwraps the cloth with a loving hand, oblivious to those who stare at her. She carefully removes the long dagger from the cloth. A warm smile curls her lips as she turns the dagger in her hands appraisingly. The teacher, now finished with his grading, does not look up. He proceeds to scrawl a rather lengthy and highly illegible note at the end of Nushi's quiz.
She's not much interested in the grade anymore, but rather the dagger, a long look placed over each square inch of it. Eyes alight at the blade, and at the boldness of a girl to carry such a manly weapon, or so she'd thought.
Nushi runs her thumb over the blade slowly, a soft hiss of breath escaping her lips. She presses her thumb to her lips, sucking on the slight cut she induced upon herself. "Damn," she murmurs.
Gasping at the sight of even a little blood, her attention is turned away, right into that teacher ..whom she now knows will be severely angry once catching Nushi with a weapon, and in school.
Frowning deeply, Nushi re-wraps the dagger. A soft sigh of longing escapes her lips as she returns the bundle to her satchel. She looks up just in time to catch the teacher's eye. He scowls, gesturing for her to approach his desk. Pushing herself to her feet, Nushi stands elegantly, taking her time as she meanders to the teacher's desk.
"Class, the quiz will end in five minutes. Finish up." His words are spit out angrily before he turns to the approaching Nushi.
She's perhaps a bit afraid for Nushi, and keeps watch over the girl as she approaches. Forget the quiz, she thinks, this is more important. Her ears and eyes are open as wide as possible, available to all conversation and aware of everything except the quiz that she's probably just failed. What interesting news would come along other than a dagger in school, and in his classroom nonetheless?
The professor closes his eyes, his palm pressed flat to the quiz on his desk. His hand covers the grade so that Nushi cannot see it. "I want to see you after classes, Miss Hiryuuno. There is too much about you that comes into question. 3:30 in my office. Do not be late. The room is 17b." Nushi nods slightly, bowing her head. Her fingertips play with the cut on her thumb a moment before she takes in another soft breath, bringing the wound to her lips and sucking on it lightly.
She hears the words, however soft they may be, her eyebrow going up in questioning.. wishing she could be there to see what exactly he thought of her outside of his tough exterior. She sighs, picking up the paper and examining all the wrong answers.
"Aye, M'Lord." Nushi concentrates on the metallic taste on her tongue. She licks her lips lightly as she removes her thumb from her mouth. "How did you get that," the professor questions slowly. He raises a brow, watching Nushi curiously. "Paper cut..." Her whisper is loud enough to be heard by all in the class. One boy in the back of the class snickers quietly. The girl next to him begins to mutter something about 'lying little--', but he leans over to slap his hand over her mouth.
The teacher scowls, knowing something in her words is false. He only shakes his head, turning away from the girl. "The bell is about to ring, class. Put your papers on my desk on your way out. I don't want to hear a word." With that, he removes his hand from Nushi's paper, showing her the grade marked at the top of the paper, in red, which reads 99%. He was right. At that very instant, the ear-splitting shriek of the bell cuts through the air, dismissing the class.
Rising, Aeris edges out of the room after turning in her quiz, sauntering down the corridor in a complete and utter daze.