Maka Albarn is an English teacher at DHS (Death's High School) where she attended as a teenager. She has the privilege of teaching alongside many old high school friends such as; Black Star (Physical Education), Tsubaki (Home Economics), Kid (Art), Liz (Drama), and Patty (Metal Shop). Everything is perfect; she gets along with everyone, the students love her, and she loves her job; what more could she ask for?

But when the old music teacher retires; a new face joins the faculty. Maka quickly learns that she cannot stand his guts but they must work together to put a good example forward for the students.

Will they put aside their differences and move on? Will they tear apart the faculty and students? Will they develop their relationship or resign themselves to distasteful bickering?

The first day of school was less than a week away. Faculty members were hustling and bustling; preparing themselves for the year to come. Anticipation blanketed itself around the halls, the faculty office, and most importantly; the teachers.

Maka was ecstatic as she always was when school rolled around. She was a notorious bookworm back in her days at DHS. She loved the academic lifestyle, so much so, that she decided to become an English teacher. It was an easy decision to make since most of her school years consisted of her button nose being buried between the pages of a good book. She oft-rejected anything a normal person would deem "fun" in favor of the literary arts. Her obsession with novels, glossaries, and the like were joked about frequently amongst her peers. Nevertheless, she loved literature to such a degree that sharing her adoration for the subject would be nothing short of a dream come true.

When she was offered a job at DHS upon graduating from a nearby university she was thrilled. She had many good memories within the confines of the school. She was hesitant initially because her father worked there as the vice-principal for as long as she could remember. Her relationship with her father was suboptimal, to say the least.

Her father, Spirit Albarn, was a flirtatious, womanizing douchebag who drove a stake between her mother and himself; resulting in a nasty divorce that Maka was unfortunately in the middle of. Her mother left to pursue other venues while her father remained behind as the vice-principal of DHS. The court ruled in favor of giving Spirit absolute custody over Maka; which she herself couldn't believe but she had no choice but to live with it. Their relationship has been rocky ever since. The mere sight of him was enough to churn her stomach most days. He was loving, giving, and affectionate towards her but it was hard to reciprocate those feelings when he drove her mother away with his infidelity.

She was pleasantly surprised when she found out that many of her high school friends also became teachers and were offered jobs as well. It turned out that it was Kid's idea. Kid became a high school art teacher. This revelation was shocking for most people since he had an undying love for symmetry; it could be considered obsessive-compulsive. The fact that high school kids seldom care about art, let alone maintaining symmetry, was a level of irony that Liz compared to the artistic stylings of one William Shakespeare.

But I digress. Upon Kid's discovery that all his close friends were working towards teaching careers, he sat down with his father, the principal who referred to himself as Death, and requested that he hire them if given the opportunity. Fortunately for Kid, most of the faculty were nearing the end of their careers and multiple teachers in the faculty were retiring at the same time or within a year or two of each other.

The first day Maka showed up at DHS a year ago was a rollercoaster. The eccentric personalities of her old friends were overwhelming initially, but still rather endearing. It sent a wave of warmth over her heart to see them all together in one place again; acting as they did when they were in high school. She was glad that they hadn't changed a bit.

She was astonished that even the likes of goofball Black Star and the ditzy Patricia Thompson became teachers. If she remembered anything about the two, it was that they hated school with a passion when they attended. To them it was a boring place; so, to see the two of them back again was nothing shy of a bombshell.

The year came and went and if one thing rang true, it was that Maka Albarn's class absolutely admired her. Her class was engaged in her lectures, she was exultant at their inquisitive behaviors, and did not hesitate to answer their questions thoroughly and knowledgeably. She always knew that she'd work wonders in a classroom setting but still couldn't help but feel delighted at how well everything played out.

Maka also found herself getting along famously with the other staff members; old and new. She still avoided her father and called him out on his bullshit whenever they were in the same room but aside from the tension between father and daughter, there was not an individual she could not co-operate with. She even got along with Black Star, despite his brash and obnoxious nature.

She postulated that teaching Physical Education was the ideal choice for the fitness nut. He could also use the opportunity to display his glorious physical condition to his students, stroking his immeasurably big ego in the process. Thankfully, behind all that bravado and egocentric behavior, Black Star was an empathetic individual with infectious levels of ambition. It was how he and Maka became and remained friends even after all this time.

If Maka was excited to work with anybody, it had to have been Tsubaki. Tsubaki was her best friend during her time at DHS. They talked about literally everything and spent ample time together. Maka was also aware of a crush that extended into recent years between a certain raven-haired beauty and the young Adonis that was Black Star. Maka was unsurprised that her feelings towards him never wavered, even years later, where he remained oblivious to her true feelings. She never had the courage to outright say it to him either. She was equally timid as he was bold. Maka and Liz teased her and encouraged her to ask him out but she could never follow through with it and would walk back towards the two with her tail between her legs.

Life was almost perfect for Maka Albarn last year. Everything she had hoped for came to fruition and it was arguably the best year in her life since before her mother left. She was looking forward to another joyous year at DHS.

Death had called a meeting the week before classes start, amidst all of the preparations. Maka knew what the meeting was about. The old music teacher, Ms. Ramsay, retired after school let out last year. That meant a new faculty member was to join the ranks of DHS. Maka was excited, as she always was with new people. She always tried to be the first person to extend a hand in greeting. This person would be no exception.

She found herself wondering what the individual was like, what they looked like, their interests, and their personality. She couldn't picture herself not getting along with the person; co-operative was her middle name God damn it!

She was irked by the fact that the principal hadn't even mentioned their name and the information was practically confidential. Whenever one of the teachers would ask about the newcomer, he'd just play it off nonchalantly like he always did, saying that they'd find out when the time came. The way Death beat around the bush was bothersome but he definitely knew how to ramp up the excitement. As Maka looked around the office, she saw everyone's faces were painted with the textures of curiosity.

The door opened slowly and a man walked in. He was of average height, perhaps 5'11". He had medium length, spiky white hair that looked unkempt. Maka was unsure if it was intentional or he just had a bad case of bed head. It was easy to think that way when one took a glance at his tired, almost lazy looking, eyes. His eye color was a ruby red, which she found unnerving. Who even has red eyes? She speculated that he may have been an albino but those thoughts were debunked by his tanned skin. It was so perfectly tanned that she postulated that it may have even been sprayed on which made her giggled to herself. He was wearing a leather jacket, open to reveal a red shirt and black tie with the top button undone and the tie loose around his collar. His shirt was accompanied by black dress pants, and he was carrying a motorcycle helmet.

Maka was not one to place labels but she understood his archetype immediately; the cool bad boy. It wasn't a type she was fond of but since she tried to get along with everyone she would at least try to look past it. If she could look past Black Star's exuberant behavior, this would be a walk in the park.

"Everyone say hello to Soul Evans. He will be our new high school music teacher. Give him a warm DHS welcome!" Death was never one for formalities so he delivered his greetings in such a casual tone that it could be misinterpreted as superficial.

Maka strutted with long legs up to the front of the class and extended a hand out to her new co-worker. Everyone watched attentively to observe the interaction.

"I'm Maka, Maka Albarn. It's nice to meet you, Soul!" She shot him the most cheerful smile she could muster and waited for his hand to take hers.

She noticed there was a longer delay than she was used to. He stood there and eyed her up and down for a few moments before opening his mouth to reveal relatively pointy teeth.

"Why is there a junior high student in the faculty lounge?" He spoke aloofly. He was referring to two things: first, her outfit could easily be mistaken for a student's rather than a teacher's. She wore a button up coat with a fairly short plaid skirt and high ankle boots. It was a look that she deemed her trademark and refused to change it even as she aged. 25 was not too old to wear such attire, at least she thought so. The other thing he was commenting on, which she caught immediately, was her body. Curvaceous was not a word that described Maka Albarn. Sure, she had some curvature but she looked 'underdeveloped' compared to most other women her age. In addition, she was fairly short at 5'2". It definitely didn't help that, despite her friends' attempted intervention, that she still wore her hair in pigtails at 25.

Even as she tried to rationalize his point of view, she felt something toward him that she never felt towards another co-worker other than her father. Utter disdain. If looks could kill, Soul would have disintegrated where he stood; leaving nothing behind but a motorcycle helmet.

Her father began to walk towards Mr. Evans in a not-so-friendly fashion, only to be restrained by Death and Dr. Stein; the school doctor (working in a nurse's position).

Maka retracted her hand; her eyes were ablaze with disgust. She knew he noticed but he seemed indifferent to how his actions had affected her. One thing that Soul Evans was not prepared for; however, was the fact that Maka Albarn was a fighter. She did not back down from anybody.

"I know your type." She scowled while he looked down at her apathetically, urging her to continue.

"You think you're a cool guy who can waltz in and do whatever and say whatever to whoever the hell he wants. I knew it from the moment you walked in. I tried to be fair but an asshole is an asshole."

She stared him down with such indignation that the walls around her could have combusted. He met her rage and raised her a look of insouciance that boiled her blood. She wanted to scramble his stupid face under her fist. She opted to leave the room instead, slamming the door behind her. Spirit silently cheered for his daughter for showing that punk who was boss around here. He was also insisting that he was okay to be unrestrained.

Maka stormed down the hallway. Each footstep bellowed and played a concerto of wrath and contempt.

"The fucking nerve. Soul Evans…what kind of hippie name is 'Soul' anyway? Even if he tries to apologize for being such a cunt, he can kiss my ass because I am not wasting my time with such a smug, conceited, pompous jerk!" She was relieved that classes weren't starting for a few days. It allowed her to vigorously stomp up and down the hallways, spouting obscenities without fear of being reprimanded.

In between her disgruntled statements, she heard the sound of footsteps running towards her. She looked back to see a Tsubaki tailing her. Maka groaned and cloaked her scornful expression with a more gleeful one.

"Maka, wait up!" Tsubaki's voice was soothing to her ears most days but today, she just wanted to be left alone.

Maka turned to face her best friend, hoping that her masquerade would be convincing enough to deter Tsubaki from prodding. She didn't want to slink back into her vexation in front of Tsubaki; a friend who knew her as affectionate and compassionate. The last thing she wanted to do was taint her image because of some supercilious idiot.

"What's up?" Maka fired back without missing a beat.

"Oh, well um…you seemed pretty fired up back there. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?"

"You aren't fine," Tsubaki furrowed her brow at her friend. "If he bothered you that much, you can tell me you know! We're best friends remember?"

"You're right but I promise I'm okay. He didn't get under my skin. You know me, I just don't back down from anybody. Remember the days where the boys used to tease me? That didn't last long, did it?"

Tsubaki giggled. It was true, the boys often teased Maka for similar reasons. She taught them a thing or two using her fists or making them feel inferior with her vast vocabulary to the point that they backed down. People did not mess with Maka Albarn and Tsubaki should know better than to worry about her.

"Death said that he wants you to come back to the meeting. There are some other things he'd like to discuss before the semester begins."

Maka grumbled internally since she would have to stand in a room with him again; her stomach writhed in anguish as she thought about it. She didn't have much say in the matter since Tsubaki took her hand and was practically dragging her back to the office.

"This year is gonna suck."

Author's Comments:

Good day everyone! Following the completion of my first fanfic (Boku No Hero Academia), I was left unsure of what series to write on. After some postulation, I felt like this was a good choice.

This is my first Soul Eater fic. I love Soul Eater. The story was good, the progression was good, but most importantly; the characters were excellent. They all have such unique, contrasting personalities that I felt like it would be fun to write a story of my own about them.

Please read and review. PM me if you have any helpful suggestions or thoughts you would like to share; I encourage it!

I do not own the rights to Soul Eater or its characters.

Rated M(A) - Swearing, sexual content in later chapters.