Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2013 22:10:55 -0600 From: Prince Ernest Subject: Room 108 Chapter Three 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 :(. 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 3 "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. It was also at this time that I offered up a silent prayer and curse to the Lord Almighty above! A prayer of thanks for allowing me to have plenty of access to Hayden and Byron, both in and out of the classroom, and a silent curse for rewarding me with the very same thing. This semester and soccer season was definitely going to be an interesting one. "Well Byron, I'm not sure just yet how we are going to go about it, but I appreciate your enthusiasm. Pat Nixon has won the 8th Grade Boys Soccer State Championship for the past three years running, and I fully intend to maintain that position. However, I'd also like to point out that in order to be on the team, you need to maintain at least a B average." "But, Mr. Lambert", Byron exclaimed, his face showing just a hint of real panic, "the school only asks that we keep our grades at C's at the least!" "I'm aware of those rules Byron, and I feel those are a little lax. I've already spoken with Principal Arthur, and she has decided to allow me to raise the bar for the soccer team to a B average. We want our student athletes to represent us well both on the field, and in the classroom. Thus we will also be following a zero-tolerance policy for student misconduct. Anything more than a detention and you forfeit your jersey and your place on the squad. That goes for during the season, as well as before it, young sir." Genuine panic radiated from Byron's face, and I was somewhat pleased by that. I wasn't pleased that he seemed worried, but I was pleased to see a little inner battle forming in his mind. Apparently Byron had every intention of playing it safe during the soccer season, and then checking out on me immediately following. He wanted to be on the team? So be it. From what I could tell of him, he seemed to be physically capable of doing it, but there was no way in hell I was going to have students mouthing off to others during the day, and then after-school playing in the regional match. These student athletes represent the school, themselves, and more importantly me. And there was no way I was going to be embarrassed by one of them. Marissa on the other hand seemed to have a smug little smirk on her face. At the moment I couldn't tell you why, but that soon became apparent. "Byron, if you need tutoring, I'd be glad to help you. I am a member of the Teen Tutoring Team, and I got straight A's last year. We could meet up after school and work on your homework then." "Work on this!" Byron said, while grabbing his crotch. The class immediately erupted into laughter and the sound of the dismissal bell. Before I could speak to Byron and let him know that this behavior was extremely inappropriate and would need to stop, Byron was out the door and onto his next class. I decided to let it go for now, and speak to him during tomorrow's advisory, one on one. I had the feeling that Marissa's public offer to help him with his homework highlighted the fact that he had trouble in school, and instead of seeing it as an offer for help, Byron saw it as a public humiliation and exposure of his difficulty. Such behavior was common place in boys that had more testosterone that brains, and I'm sure if someone in his own peer group had approached him one on one, the offer would have been much more appreciated. Time would tell. The students of my advisory group slowly trickled out of the room and into the hallway. All teachers are required to do hallway duties during passing periods regardless of seniority. Considering passing period is only five minutes, it wasn't much time for me to talk with Jacobson and Blankenhors, but rather just time to do crowd control. Byron had disappeared down the hallway, probably headed to the science wing of the building so getting to talk to him one on one this passing period was shot. A few students from my advisory class waved to me as they walked out of sight, and a few of the incoming students smiled at me. Word might have travelled about the icebreaker came, maybe they thought I had a nice smile and seemed friendly, or maybe they were just lulling me into a false sense of security to try and trick me up later. Perhaps they were a combination of all three. Only time would tell. While I was musing all these solitary thoughts over in my head, who should be walking by my classroom but the desire of my heart after one day, but young Hayden Van Diver. Against my better nature, and inclination, I sprung immediate wood, the 6 ½ inches in my pants springing to life, while my brain screamed "STAND DOWN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD MAN!!". It would have been easier if Hayden wasn't flashing me his smile, his perfectly white smile. I knew he wasn't due to be in my class till after lunch, so I figured he was headed to his locker, a guess which was proven true in less than five seconds. Again a silent prayer was sent to God, because his locker was right outside my door. The saying goes that God never gives you more than you can handle, and apparently God thought I could handle this. Game on old man. Game on. The one minute warning bell started to ring, and Hayden gathered his stuff to head onto his class. While he walked by, he gave a little fist-bump to what I would consider another fine specimen of young boyhood, and who Hayden probably thought of as just another friend of his. This young gentleman was power-walking, due to his fear of being late I imagine, but every step he took was graceful and full of power. He was wearing blue and white basketball shorts (the school's colors so a nod to school spirit I took it), a Nike T-shirt with one of those stupid phrases of theirs written larger than it needed to be. Brown hair cut short, but with curls, and brown eyes hidden behind those curls. Like Hayden he also had diamond studs in his ears. His legs were long and obviously toned from a workout program that the young man had undertaken over the summer. I knew it had to be from over the summer because as he moved the basketball shorts would lightly sway up, revealing a nice tan line on his calves. He was wearing black socks that came up to slightly below his knees, and had on some newish looking Jordan's that appeared to be one size too big for him because of his lack of tying the shoe strings. In short, Johnny Boynextdoor needed to be this boy's name. I made a mental joke to myself that this district had to have something in the water that made boys in it more attractive than the rest of the country. He waved at me as he walked into the classroom and smirked at me while he said "Hey teach! Got something fun planned for us today or just the usual rundown?" "The name is Mr. Lambert, but you can call me Lambert not teach. As for today's activities, I hope you studied up last year and over the summer, because you good sir are in for a test." This was said loud enough so that the entire class could hear what was expected of them, and as I expected there was plenty of groans and moans, accompanied by a few curse words muttered where I could hear them, but low enough that the perpetrators thought they might have gotten away from it. The young man walking in immediately rolled his eyes at me, but kept the smile on his face. "Bring it Lambert", he said as he took a seat in the front row. Ohhh the attitude on this one. Now don't get me wrong, I am in no way a pushover when it comes to discipline. But as demonstrated earlier with Byron, I understand the difference between outright insubordination and a wayward 8th grade boy trying to score some points with the girl he's currently "talking" to. This one definitely fell into the latter category and so I decided to let it slide this time. First day jitters you may call it, but what teacher really wants to walk into their class on the first day and start calling kids out left and right? Someone who hates students and needs to get out of the job is the only correct answer. Instead, I decided to push back on him just a little bit and see what he could do when confronted. Let him know who is in charge but also let him know I'm not gonna be a total dick. So after roll call, at which I ascertained that this young man's name was Gideon Sherwood, I decided to make my move back to him. A sort of chess match of wits between me and an 8th grade boy. Surely I could win right? "I've brought it sir. 30 question test, 20 multiple choice, 5 fill in the blank, and five vocabulary questions. Sound like fun to you?" I said this with the biggest, toothiest smile on my face I could muster, acting like this test would make them or break them. He faltered a little bit in his swagger, but passed the tests back to the students behind him and got started. I wasn't about to tell this test was completely designed to test their previous knowledge from last year, and would carry no academic weight at all. Let them sweat a little bit. Like I said no academic weight at all, but I viewed education as a chain of links if you will. Each chain is only as strong as the chain in front of it, and if these kids were going to be in my class for 180 days, I needed to know where they stood on Day One, and make my plans accordingly. While they were taking their tests, I monitored about the room answering student questions as they arose, and also mainly reflecting on how well things were going so far. No major discipline issues in advisory or Period One. Students that seemed relieved to find out I wasn't a douche, and would probably make for a fun and educational year. Two fellow teachers that I had already laid the groundwork for towards friendship. And to top it off so far, three guaranteed little hotties in my classes with two of them being hopefuls for the soccer team. This year was shaping up to be one of the better ones, and it was only my first official year teaching! I started to collect the tests with five minutes remaining in the period, and let them talk a little amongst themselves. No sense in giving them a test, and then getting down to a lesson which would probably bore about half of them, and the other half would just check out on. That half would think that since I had given them a test, it was their God given right to relax after that test. And truth be told, I was in agreement with them. I wanted to see what the results of the tests were before I started fleshing out the lesson plans I had in mind for them. I chatted with a few students who came up to the lectern I had next to my desk while still managing to keep an eye on what was going on around the room. Students of both genders flocked to Gideon and he seemed to be a natural leader amongst the class. Many of the girls were obviously flirting with him, laying their hands on his legs, flipping their hair back out of their eyes, while slightly arching their budding breasts trying to get his attention. Oddly enough ,none of it seemed to be working. Gideon stayed talking with his mini-court of followers about the latest Lakers game and their chances at the playoffs. I decided to chalk this up more to his genuine love of sports, rather than anything which might have portrayed him on my "team". The dismissal bell rang, and just like clockwork, the herd moved out of the room and into the teaming mass that was the hallway. I did my hallway duties, but didn't see anyone worthy of my attention, except for Marissa who seemed to be leading a pack of vicious looking girls dressed in similar fashion to her. Let the cliques emerge! The next period was a prep/planning period for teachers in my hallway, and so since it was only the first day, I didn't have much to prep/plan for. I decided to be an industrious little fellow and prove my worth to the other teachers in the hallway. Jacobson came in with Blankenhors and wanted to check on how I was doing. I told them both that so far no real major concerns, and that I was just going to get to grading my papers so I could get to the actual planning I wanted to do. Blankenhors looked a little disappointed, but Jacobson just chuckled to herself. "You first year teachers. How quickly you think you have to get things done. Come see me around mid-terms and we will compare stacks of material that need grading." They both exited the room and I got down to my grading. I didn't use a key, why would I? I had designed the test myself so I immediately knew whether the answer was correct or not. Thus the grading was easy enough. I was pleased to see that most of the 1st Period had a good basic understanding of the Geography of American and California, a passable knowledge of the Colonization Era, but they were all seriously lacking in their knowledge of Early America. I knew then that my first couple of week's lessons, the Geography ones, would be quick and painless. I was again reflecting on how well of a position I might have found myself in. Question 31 was the telling question though. True enough there was only 30 questions about Social Studies, but I wanted to try and get to know a little about them while they were taking a test. Question 31 was a simple enough question. "What would you consider your biggest goal for your 8th grade year?" Many of them gave me answers that I knew to be fake, such as "I want to get an A in my Social Studies class because Social Studies is my favorite class." I speculated that only about half of the students who wrote that down actually meant it, giving me a total of five. Others listed social goals such as making new friends or making a particular sports teams. A few did mention academic goals, aware that 8th grade was a do or die year for some of them, as this is the last year we would be promoting them socially. 9th grade year they would have to earn it, but 8th grade was a good staging area. Gideon's answer threw me for a loop. My silent prayer from the beginning of the day came back to my mind, along with my grandmother's admonition. "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." "My biggest goal for this year is simple. Me and my two best friends, Byron Phillips and Hayden Van Diver, will stay best friends, and lead our mighty Pat Nixon Trojans to victory on the 8th grade soccer team!" And thus we come to the end of Chapter 3...whatever will Mr. Michael Lambert do? For those of you looking for some sexy stuff, I'm not going to lie, that's still another chapter off. Expect it no earlier than Chapter 5. I want to really flesh out the characters and give them dept. It will be well worth the wait I gurantee you, so if you've come this far, please just go a little farther with me. Questions/comments/concerns/and dare I say complaints, please direct to my email, prince_ernest86@live.com Please, again consider making donations to Nifty! Your support is gladly appreciated!