Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2013 11:32:17 -0600 From: Prince Ernest Subject: Chapter 2 of Room 108 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 :(. Just click on the Donate tab at the top of your screen! Simple, easy and definitely worth it! 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 2 "I see you've caught the eye of Hayden Van Diver, Mr. Lambert" said Jacobson with a little smirk. Blankenhors gave a quick follow-up. "Hayden's a great kid, Michael, but he's a bit of a behavioral problem. Nothing serious mind you, but he's in need of a father figure since his own father split when he was five. He needs a firm hand in the classroom his teachers told us last year. Many of them unfortunately gave up on him, but perhaps you'll be different." I must have had a glazed over look on my face because the only words out of my mouth were "What do you mean perhaps I'll be different?" Jacobson giggled a little and said "Oh my. You've not memorized your student roster lists. I thought all you first-year teachers did that. Hayden is in your fifth period class right before lunch." Total shock and awe came over my mind as I realized the implications of this all. Hayden, this incredibly gorgeous young man who I had already sprung an erection for, was going to be in MY class! My class! Daily interaction with him would be expected...and enjoyed from my point of view. And yet I was also struck with a sudden sense of fear. Could I maintain my professional composure, which I valued deeply, in the face of this young gentleman coming into contact with me? I resolved right then and there that I would be professional with him in school, that was a given. My reputation was young and weak coming right out of college, and I wasn't willing to take that hit. But outside of school, all bets were off. I forgot to mention that I was the 8th grade boys soccer coach, and I prayed a silent little prayer that this young Hayden would prove to be a soccer prodigy. God had so far decided to tempt me with placing him in my class, now I would resolve to be a great teacher to him, and well whatever else came my way would be dealt on a case-by-case basis. Jacobson, Blankenhors and I continued our discussion on various education topics for a few more minutes. I was pleased to see that I had made two friends already, as we all greatly agreed on various controversies in education. None of us were fans of state-wide testing for students, we all agreed that our students were our primary priority and we all somewhat bashfully admitted that we would gladly do anything it took to make our students succeed. From me and Blankenhors this was a bit naïve, but I was relieved to see that Jacobson, after ten years of teaching, still retained her initial passion for teaching. Yes, we would all make for fine cohorts for each other. The dismissal bell rang and we went our separate ways, well as separate as we could considering we all taught in the same hallway. I went to the mailroom to check for any mail, and they went up the long hallway from the commons to the main education wing. Students had ten minutes from the time they were dismissed from the commons to report to their first class of the day, which for 8th grade was an advisory class designed to acquaint themselves with their fellow classmates, as well as to allow them time to work on their homework. Advisory was only thirty minutes long, but I considered it important. Again, yes I was attracted to the group of students I would be working with, but I wanted them to succeed. If I got a piece of ass on the side, that was a bonus. A huge bonus I admit, but it was by no means why I showed up every day for. As I fought my way through the teeming mass of fresh young faces, I realized that I wasn't too far behind Hayden and his group of friends. They seemed to be well-liked by the students because many shouted out greetings, but they also gave them a wide berth. A few of Hayden's friends pushed the younger ones of the way. Nothing worthy of a discipline write up, but it was enough for me to become wary of his friends. I wasn't one of those teachers that were quick to label students as behavioral problems and ignore them during my instruction, but I was sufficiently warned enough by my college professors that these students would often try and push the rules of behavior in class. They would need a firm hand, which I was more than glad to give them, and ultimately they would respond well to redirected guidance. Hayden pushed one or two out of the way, which again made me on the watch, but the students he pushed playfully pushed him back as they moved out of the way and shouted hello to him. Typical first day activities in the hallway of a middle school. I arrived in my class 7 minutes before the bell rang and took around my classroom. Advisory's were designed to be small so the teachers could make better connections with their students and really help them with this difficult time in their lives. I had twenty students, and it seemed to be evenly split up between male and females. I noticed a few young ladies had put themselves in the front of the classroom, and were already getting their notebooks out in anticipation of taking notes. Notes on what I had no idea. I did not anticipate teaching during advisory, but rather keeping it informal and casual so the students could feel free to come to me with their problems and enjoy the atmosphere. I chuckled a little as I told the young ladies to put their notebooks away, that this was advisory and they could relax in here. I heard a few "Hell yeahs" from the gentlemen who had naturally taken the back row of seats. The lead girl looked crestfallen, but her peers all seemed to relax. The bell rang and I shut the door so we could get down to business. I took another look around and noticed one young man in the back seemed to belong to Hayden's group of friends. He also seemed to be a delicious morsel, and I was grateful for my career choice. While he wasn't as physically striking as Hayden, he still seemed to be someone worth my time. He was sitting down but I judged him to be about 5'0 even, 115 lbs with a little muscle definition showing through his OBEY t-shirt. Black hair that was long, but not long enough to require a pony tail. Slight bangs which made him seem a little feminine, but he seemed all boy. His eyes seemed to be light gray which was intriguing to me. He also seemed to be wearing skinny jeans and he struck me as belonging to the group of young males that I would classify in the "skater boi" category. Again striking, but not as noteworthy as Hayden. I marked this young one for further study, but wanted to get down to business with the duties of classroom instruction. I took roll call and found out a few interesting names. The go-getter in the front row who wanted to take notes was named Marissa Juniper. She was the kind that wore sweater vests even though it was early August outside, and the temps clearly backed that up. She seemed pleasant enough and I bode her no ill will for wanting to take notes. Why should I? I was hoping that she would learn to relax during her time in my class or else I was afraid she would go down the road I had seen so many of my peers head down. Constant uptightness and a complete inability to relax would only do her harm in high school and ultimately college. I could tell Marissa had the drive to succeed, but whether she would have the charisma would remain to be seen. I made a mental note to try and include some loosening up activities in my advisory period so she could perceive it as instruction and hopefully take it to heart. The young "skater boi" in the back was named Byron Phillips. He was definitely the leader of the back row group of hooligans which I also looked forward to having in my class. Unlike Marissa, they would only to greatly enjoy the fun activities I had in mind. They on the other hand would need strict guidance in order to make sure they succeed. So far my Advisory seemed to be a good balance between those students that needed to loosen up and those students that needed to get their act together or they would be repeat offenders in 8th grade. After roll was taken, we got down to the pedantic first day activities. All students had to fill out these delightful little yellow note-cards handed out by the school in which they filled out personal information about them. The usual stuff was recorded, primary residence, primary guardian, any allergies, so on and so forth. I looked over my lesson plans for 1st period while students filled these out. They were used to them by now I imagine and it didn't take long before they had completed the task and were ready to move on. We still had about 17 minutes before the bell rang for dismissal, so I decided to try and be a little cliché and have the students get to know each other. I imagine most of them already knew each other having come up from 7th grade together, but they had not all been with the same group of teachers, and so a little ice breaker couldn't do any harm. In order to seem "cool" and inventive, while also still retain my authority I decided we would do something active while also sharing stories about our summers. It was something safe, but it got the students up and as it was the first day I wanted to make a good impression on them. I wasn't willing to go all out, but I wanted them to develop a positive idea of what advisory with Mr. Lambert could entail. I had my students get up into a circle around me. There was again only about twenty of them so the circle wasn't huge, and they all remained slightly close to each other which was good. Close contact with each other would make them comfortable with their peers in Advisory. Rather they get used to their cohorts in Advisory on Day One out of Day 180. I got out a small basketball which I kept in my desk. It was one of those cheesy little knock-off deals you got from your bank when you opened up an account and they wanted to reward you or your kid with something so you felt special. The slight foam would be fun for the boys to play around with, and if they got too physical and started throwing it around, it wouldn't do any real harm to the ladies who would naturally act as if they had been wounded on the fields of Vietnam if the ball hit them. I told them the simple rules of the game. They were to share stories about their summer, which could be about whatever they wanted it to be. It could be short and sweet, or long and drawn out. They could only talk when they had the ball in their possession, and the only other real rule is that the ball had to go from male to female. This way it wouldn't become just friends passing it back and forth to each other. Genius right?? I stared off naturally. I informed them that I had moved out here from the great state of Illinois, and had always been a great admirer of California. Who couldn't help but be one when you had grown up around flat plains all your life? I wasn't married or seeing anyone, no kids, a few younger brothers and had always wanted to be a middle school social studies teacher. I told them I enjoyed classical music (a few snickered), but also enjoyed such bands as Three Days Grace, Nickleback and a few others. Just enough for the students to see me as relatable but still someone to admire and respect, rather than as a chum or buddy. I passed the ball to Marissa after my story ended. I figured letting her go first would make her feel rewarded after being informed this wasn't a solely academic exercise. "My name is Marissa Juniper, and one day I'm going to be the first female President, if Hillary Clinton doesn't beat me to it. " "Freak!" Bryon muttered under his breath, but loud enough so that I and others could hear him. His gang snickered. I decided to move closer so he wouldn't try it again. If it put me closer to this attractive young man, well that was a burden I was going to have to take upon myself. Oddly enough, when I moved closer to him I noticed the faint smell of marijuana. I had been around it enough when I was younger, but had never been a regular aficionado. Again that was something I kept a mental record of, but what could I do about it right now? He wasn't smoking it in class, and for all I knew it was from an older brother or someone at the house rather than him personally. My immediate concern was that I wanted him to be respectful and listen, but I wasn't going to make it a full-blown confrontation on day one. Marissa continued. "Over the summer, me and my family travelled to Washington D.C, where I got to see the White House, the U.S Capital, and even sit in on a case of the Supreme Court! We also visited my grandmother in New York City, and I was privileged enough to see Ground Zero. It was incredibly moving, and also I fully support the War on Terror. President George W. Bush is one of the greatest Presidents in our living memory. Obama should never have won the election, he wasn't even born in U.S!" I looked over in her direction, and decided that was enough politics for one day. I wanted them to feel free to express themselves, but politics in 8th grade can quickly become more hotheaded than level-headed. Again the goal of today was casual, not deep. I looked at Marissa's backpack and noticed a "Romney 12" sticker on her backpack. That was a mental note I filed away for later use. Marissa would be great in discussions in my class, I could tell, but I would need to make sure I remained objective and hopefully she would follow my lead. Oddly enough, even though he had made a negative comment towards her, Marissa passed the ball to Byron. The ball dropped in back of him, and went he bent over; I noticed he was wearing AE boxers. Nice. Once he picked up the ball, he looked to his buddies like the whole exercise was a big joke. However, when he made eye contact with me and I gave him a mini "you better take this shit seriously" look, he cleared his throat and started his speech. "So this summer me and my friends we just chilled at the skate park, meeting some fine young girls ya know?" He smirked when he said this and pushed his bangs back from his eyes. While he did so I noticed his bracelets on his arm. One said YOLO, a phrase I knew meant "You Only Live Once", a ridiculous phrase if I ever had heard one. The other was dark green and said "I <3 Boobies". I knew those were for breast cancer support, but I also knew young men wore them as a sign of their rebellion from authority. I made a note to discuss those bracelets with Jacobson and see what the school policy was. "Yeah we mostly just shredded it up at the park and chilled on the beach when the weather was nice. My main bro Hayden got a new 4 wheeler for his birthday, and man did we have fun with that! I stayed over at his house, and we would attach a sled to the back of it! He drug me around on it through the fields by his house. I flipped off it a few times, but it was awesome! His mom watched us so we knew we couldn't be too stupid with it, but we still had a few wild times on that 4 wheeler! Hayden and I also did summer soccer camp up in Las Culpas (a town twenty minutes away), and we are looking forward to winning the State Championship this year. Any plans about that Coach?" It was then that I noticed Bryon had me dead in his sights, with a little smirk on his face. Oh yes, this was going to be an interesting year. Well that about wraps it up for Chapter 2. I hate to sound like a broken record player, but this is going to be a slow story with a good amount of buildup. I hope you enjoy it, and would LOVE to get any and all feedback from those who read this story! Email me at prince_ernest86@live.com! Please, again consider making donations to Nifty! 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