Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2013 05:42:10 -0600 From: Prince Ernest Subject: Chapter 14 Room 108 Adult/Youth Section Disclaimers: Everything you read in this story is my intellectual property and as such should be treated with utmost respect. The students described are not living, breathing human beings mind you. They exist only in the realm of pure imagination, somewhat. These are my fantasies that I have developed over the years. The students described in the story do not really exist, but are rather the combination of several different students. Thus I am not harming anyone, because they combine features and thus are not really in existence. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO REAL PEOPLE IS ENTIRELY COINCIDENTAL ON MY PART. All other disclaimers/rules/procedures apply. If you are under the legal age of viewing this material (depending upon where you live, that could be any age) please direct yourself to something else that will occupy your time. Also, PLEASE PLEASE consider donating to Nifty Archives! We lose funding, and all these great stories disappear :(. Simple, easy and definitely worth it! http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html Other than that, I sincerely hope you enjoy my story. Constructive criticism/feedback/comments are duly appreciated. Please direct them to my email at prince_ernest86@live.com. All are welcome! And thank you in to all those who I already consider my fans! Your support means more than you will ever know! Room 108-Chapter 12: The Face to Face I walked back into the room intending to get things back on track. The class wasn't rowdy by any means, but I always hated leaving the room for a minute. I wanted them to know I was in control, and again I swear it wasn't for any narcissistic reason. I wanted them to do their best, and since they were still growing as individuals, I felt they needed guidance. I wanted to provide that guidance for them. I looked over by instinct to see where Liam was. Byron was talking to him up near my desk, but as I moved closer, Byron waved goodbye and went back to his desk to get started on his work. I knew he had plenty of work to do, but I didn't care that he was talking to Liam. If anything, I was slightly jealous. I wanted Liam for myself, and only for myself. I didn't even know if Liam was gay, into me, or into the boys in the classroom, but I was being an extreme predator in deciding he was mine. When I got close enough to Liam that we could whisper to each other, Liam leaned over to me and whispered very softly. "Byron was just informing me of some of the extra-curricular activities that you have them do. It sounds like I'm going to fit in just perfect here at Pat Nixon Middle School." I decided to play this one a little bit cooler than the voices inside my head were screaming. Liam was grinning from ear to ear, so I decided that if he wasn't going to say anything provocative, I wasn't going to give him any reason to think so. "Well I do try and push them pretty hard during the afternoon practices. I figure that every practice should be considered as an extension of the game, and that's why I think we will have a winning team. The boys want to win, I want to win, and I think I've done a pretty good job of preparing them to win." "Exactly! So many coaches just take it easy on the kids during their practices, but I think it's important for every practice to count. If we ever take it easy on them, they might start to take it easy on themselves and then we start to lose our edge." "Hold on Liam...slow down there a little bit. Yes, I'm glad to take you on as my Assistant Coach, but we haven't introduced you to the team just yet, so we should take things slow. This is a difficult age to work with, and again I appreciate your enthusiasm but we need to make sure that the boys still understand that I'm their coach and you are the assistant. Byron looks like he already half-idolizes you from this moment!" I wasn't trying to be mean to Liam, but I did mean what I said. I wanted the boys to understand that I was still in control of the situation, and that Liam would be assisting me. Discipline and order was important when working with teenagers, and I feel that by having a clear cut model of hierarchy, it would only benefit us in the long run. Also I wanted him to earn their respect and trust, and I felt that if I just made him the assistant coach without making him work for it a little bit, the boys might not take him so serious. I had decided to make him go through a little trial that the boys could have input with. It might seem cruel, but I wanted the boys to take ownership of the team with me, and having them put Liam through a mini-ringer might not be the worst thing to ever happen to him. I saw Liam's face get a little worried look on it, but he was able to keep his composure through the rest of Advisory. I wasn't able to much talk to Liam until lunch, when we were able to settle down and really get to know each other. I was eager to know more about this little stud that was finally a legal vision for me to want to touch. I got down to questioning him immediately. "So Liam, tell me about why you have decided to explore the glamorous world of Middle School Social Studies." "Well Mr. Lambert, I would say it's because of Mrs. Orton, my 8th grade Social Studies teacher. She was such a great influence on me because she made each one of us feel like we had her complete and utter attention during the lesson. The class had about 25 students in it, but we all felt like she knew us personally and would do anything to help us succeed. She even stayed after school to help us with our homework if we had questions. Plus she was a bit of a weirdo, and would do crazy ass things in order to make us laugh and think social studies was cool. For example, she had pictures of Snoop Dogg and Tupac up in her room, and she even ate chalk one day! She did all of this so we wouldn't think her class was boring, and that was awesome. I never liked social studies before her class, and now I love it." "How interesting Liam. And how do you think that has affected you personally, and how do you think it has affected your view of education?" Again, I did want to know more about him personally, but I figured getting to know him as a teacher and educational colleague would be a good way to loosen him up before we moved onto the personal questions. I wanted him off guard when I decided to make my move. "I think it taught me that it doesn't matter what the subject is, it matters who the teacher is. Any subject can be entertaining and students can learn from a variety of different manners, but it matters how the teacher goes about it. If the teacher is someone who doesn't get excited about their subject, then how can they ever truly expect someone in their class to get excited for it as well? Also I think it taught me that every student should be made to feel value in their classroom. I mean Mrs. Orton had a huge amount of students in her classes, and yet every student felt like she really did know and care about them. And I think that goes along way into making students want to succeed in a classroom. If a teacher doesn't care about their subject, and they don't care about their students, then why should the students give a fuck about them?" "Interesting points Liam. I can tell that you do have a good understanding of what it takes to make a good teacher. You need to be a huge motivator in student's lives. That's half the battle in the world of education now. And that's something that can't be taught either, so it's good that you already understand it and know how to go about doing it. The other hard part is knowing what's important in the subject, and what you don't have to go about teaching. My host teacher told me something vitally important and I want you to have this bit of knowledge as well. She told me to forget about the standards, and to teach what I thought was important. Once I had completed my lesson plans, Michelle told me to THEN go back and find a state standard to tie it into. Standards in our field are so open ended that we can get up and teach anything we want, and we will probably find a standard for it later. I thought that was some good information, and I've got one more important piece of information for you, if you want to hear it that is?" I decided to turn a little bit of the charm on for him, in order to start reeling him in if I could. I leaned in to him when I said this last line, and winked at him. I was pleased to see that he leaned into me as well, as if we were exchanging confidences and were actually old friends instead of new acquaintances. "Mr. Lambert, I'm willing to learn anything and everything that you are willing to teach me. Ms. Arthur said you are a great teacher, and you've only been here like three weeks. You seem to really have impressed her already. " I was sure at this point that he was flirting with me because of his willingness to learn anything from me as he so delicately put it. But I still had a few tricks up my sleeve. "Okay here it is, straight from me to you. Rule number one as a teacher. Vitally important. You have to learn to stop swearing, even if it's in front of other adults. If you keep it up in front of adults, then you will eventually say something in front of students that you shouldn't say. And there is no quicker way to get yourself in trouble than to curse in front of students. Do I make myself clear?" Liam just nodded at me and sort of smiled. I was trying to establish my dominance over him by slightly chiding him, even if it was in private. I figured that if he knew right away that I was interested in him, he might get frightened and end up leaving me high and dry. Instead, I wanted him to work a little bit for my approval and then I would have him not just for a little while, but for a good spell of time. We continued our discussion but moved away from the educational topics and into the banal conversations that seem to be the mainstay of any relationship and any conversation really. I was interested to get to know him on all levels, and now that I had some idea of him as a teacher, and had made sure to note my disapproval of something he had done, I decided to move the conversation to more safer ground where he would be less likely to earn my disapproval, and I could get to know him as a person. "So Liam, tell me a little bit about your family and where you come from. It's important to know someone who with whom I will be sharing my students and classroom. I just want to know that I can trust you and also maybe by telling me a little bit about yourself, I will get to know how you might react to certain situations that arise in the classroom. No harm in that right?" "Ha! Well there isn't much to tell about myself Coach. By the way do you mind if I call you that?" "Actually, I don't mind at all. Most of the kids call me that, even if they aren't on the soccer team. It's just so natural now, I think when some of them hear me called Mr. Lambert, they have to take a minute to think who is being talked about." "Okay then. Coach it is. Well like I said, there isn't much to talk about. I grew up a little south of here, and I led my team of soccer players to the state championships in my junior and senior year of school. I played soccer since I was twelve, but our team wasn't very good in middle school so we didn't go very far. I'm one of four boys though and I'm the oldest of them. My brothers are named Jayden, Evan and Ben. Jayden is 15 while Evan and Ben are 13 year old twins. I've always had to take care of them while I was growing up, and I miss them a little bit now that I've gone out on my own. My dad has been the parent for us all our lives pretty much. Mom died when Evan and Ben were born, and I was five. I remember a little bit of her, but not too much. I've always been a good student in school, and I want to help guide middle school students because I just feel it's such a weird age, and they need all the help they can get. I bet that sounds really dumb doesn't it?" "Actually Liam, that's why I chose to go into middle school grades myself, because it's important for the kids today to have important role models that they know care about them, and will be there to support them when they can. Four brothers you say? That's quite a task for you to take upon yourself at such a young age, but I think it has made you into such a fine young man." "Well thanks Coach, but all I did was to make sure they got fed and their homework was done when I could. Dad is great to them, but he works on an oil rig off shore, so I was the one that tucked them into bed at night. Our aunt takes care of them now since I'm gone. It's good money for dad, and so he keeps doing it. He loves all of us, but he needs to work at that job so we can all have the things we need." What an incredibly positive and mature young man. I was finding myself more and more attracted to him as we continued discussing various other points of our lives. He was such a bright young man with a great future ahead of him, I almost felt like emailing Natalie and letting her know that I wasn't worthy of such a great young mind to mentor. He deserved someone better than myself. And yet as it was, I didn't want to lose him. He was everything I wanted in a partner, and I could tell he was still trying to hit on me. He would brush his hair out of his eyes so he could look me straight into the eyes and make me feel weak in the knees. This adult, well barely an adult more of a kid really, was making me feel like I was the same age and maturity of the students who we were supposed to be teaching. "Liam, you have already set yourself up as a great role model by working to make sure that your brothers were well taken care of and had a good home environment. You know what it takes to work with younger students, even if you are just a couple of years older than they are. It's important to build relationships with students that are positive and full of support. I imagine that you have had to deal with a few issues while making sure your brothers were provided for." I said it with a slight chuckle. I wanted him to relax again, even as we continued our verbal sparring matches. "Thank you Coach, but I swear I just did what any big brother would do for his younger brothers in those situations." How could you not love this kid? "Coach there is one more thing that I want to talk to you about. I'm gay Coach, and that's not going to change. I want to tell the players on the team especially, but I don't know about the students in the classroom. I want the players to know because some of my fellow classmates from college will be going to other middle schools and high schools, and I've told them. I'm sure my classmates will tell their students about how Pat Nixon takes in faggots, and I want the boys to hear it from me and know the truth about it before they hear it from someone else. What do you think about that Coach?" I was completely blown away. From the moment I had met him this morning, I had suspected that Liam might be gay or at least bisexual, but here over our lunch of Turkey Manhattan from the school cafeteria; he had confirmed my suspicions and had done so in an incredibly mature manner. I felt that his reasons were logical and I did think it was important for him to be honest with the students. I had spoken to him about how important it was to build relationships, and I thought this would be a good way for him to build trust within the soccer team. I could already tell him that most wouldn't matter, and three in particular it might make him seem cooler too. I started to reach over so that I could touch him on the shoulder and confide in him too that I was also gay and that he might not have too much to be afraid of when I heard a cough in the doorway, and looked over to see Hayden Van Diver standing there with a shit eating smile on his face, and his lunch tray in his hands. "Hey Coach, I heard about your new assistant and wanted to know if I could come and have lunch with you two. I am the captain after all, right?" I decided to play it along with Hayden for just a minute and see how Liam would react. "Sure Hayden, come on in. I'm sure once you get to know Mr. Malcomb, that you will see you two have more in common than you think." ***** Will the twists and turns at Pat Nixon Middle School ever stop? I know this chapter seems a bit all over the place, and I also know it's probably not one of my better ones, but I'm happy and proud of it. I hope you all continue to enjoy the story! I love writing it for you guys, and I hope you know that! You guys keep me motivated when I don't want to sometimes!! Again I've got some model pictures of the boys that I wouldn't mind sharing with people if you don't mind sharing some good stuff with me. Just say hello and let's see where we go from there. Questions/comments/concerns/and dare I say complaints, please direct to my email, prince_ernest86@live.com Or Skype me @ prince_ernest86. Please, again consider making donations to Nifty! Your support is gladly appreciated!