Disclaimer: I don't own this. Even in my dreams. I'm not making money from it. Please consider this flattery.
-----------
"Good morning class. I am Miss Williams." Sarah, still slender and dark of hair and eye turned to write her name on the blackboard in the preternaturally neat handwriting that all teachers seemed to acquire. She smiled determinedly as she did; the first day was always the worst in so many ways.
She turned back to them. "Does everyone see the rule sheets I have posted?" They nodded. "Does anyone have any questions?" They shook their heads. "Then I think we can move onto something more fun. Since today is the first day of third grade, I thought we would start with an easy question. What did you do over the summer? Don't forget to raise your hands if you would like to volunteer and remember to tell everyone your name." Five hands immediately shot into the air and began waving frantically and a few more were raised in a more sedate and hesitant manner. Sarah smiled again and picked a child who looked as if he would explode.
Forty-five minutes later, after making sure that everyone had had a chance to talk, she had a better idea of who was who and how much they were likely to talk in class. Sarah passed out a short math sheet that spanned addition, subtraction, and multiplication and walked around the class. "Remember, you don't have to know every answer on the sheet. Just do your best. I just want to know how much you have already learned."
She gave them another forty-five minutes and, after recess, passed out some handwriting sheets which, coincidentally, also had the class rules printed on them. These they worked on until nearly lunch time when she had them line up to wash their hands and then walked them to the cafeteria. Sarah chatted with some of her friends on the teaching staff and looked over her notes for the rest of the day. Things were going well, she decided.
After lunch she read them two chapters of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle on the reading rug and then Sarah asked them to return to their desks. She was just returning the slim paperback to her own desk and getting out her copy of the social studies text when it happened.
Russell Mayer pushed Johnny Taylor against Susie Atkins's desk.
"Watch it!" Johnny protested.
"Oh, sorry," Russell answered him with a look that said he wasn't sorry at all. "Freak." Sarah's head snapped up.
"I am not a freak!" Johnny shouted and stamped his foot.
"Russell, Johnny, that is enough!" Sarah said firmly, walking toward them. They boys ignored her.
"Yes you are! Always reading that stupid girly story. It doesn't even have a hero!" Russell sneered.
"It's not stupid!" Johnny protested.
"I said that's enough," Sarah put a hand on Russell's shoulder. "Would you like to go to the office on the first day?"
"I wish," Johnny muttered.
"What, Baby?" Russell sneered.
"Russell, to the office. Now."
"I wish the Goblin King would show you just how real he is!"
Sarah froze. Surely he wouldn't answer. Surely Johnny meant some other, less real Goblin King. There was a crash of thunder and the lights went out. "Oh no," Sarah breathed, barely noting that Johnny said the same thing at the same time. Lindsay Thibodeau shrieked.
"Everyone stay calm. It will be all right. Just stay at your desks. I'm sure the power will come back in a moment." At that the room brightened, although Sarah noted that it wasn't because the ceiling lights had come on. Johnny was standing absolutely still and staring at a point just behind her. Mentally she cursed.
"You're him, aren't you?" Johnny's voice shook and he stepped around her. "You're the Goblin King."
"You know very well who I am."
Sarah let go of Russell and spun in time to see Jareth, looking precisely as she remembered, incline his head in acknowledgment of Johnny's question. Kayleigh began sobbing quietly, joining Suzie, who had already been upset.
"You don't look like a king to me!" Russell stepped forward and crossed his arms in what, on an adult, would be an intimidating pose. "You look like a freak in a costume. Don't you know Halloween's not for weeks?"
Jareth tilted his head and glared down his nose at the child. "So you don't think I look like a king, Russell?" Russell looked shocked that he had been called by name. "Perhaps a small demonstration is needed."
Sarah wrested herself from her daze. She had not felt this out of control since the last time she had met the Goblin King and it was a feeling she could do very well without, thank you very much. "Jareth, no! He's only a child," she protested.
Jareth looked at Sarah for the first time. He quirked an eyebrow up and smirked as he replied. "What's said is said."
"They are children," Sarah said firmly. "And you are frightening them." She looked into his eyes and knew that she would be trembling if it were not for the fact that she needed to protect her students. "They can see that you are real," she said softly.
Russell and Johnny looked up at her in surprise. Although he had been standing before them, an adult acknowledging that the Goblin King was there made everything different. If an adult like Miss Williams said he was real, then he was not just a guy in a costume or a character in a book.
Jareth's sharp eyes read the realization that was dawning on small faces and his brows dipped even lower at the fear he saw on them. He looked again at Sarah and nodded ever-so-slightly, gravely. "Clever, still, Sarah," he murmured softly. He tossed a crystal at her and was gone in a blur of motion and an explosion of glitter and light. Sarah barely caught the projectile and scowled at the fruit she now held in her hand. She still did not like peaches.
"Miss Williams?" Johnny looked up at her solemnly.
"Yes?" she asked looking down at him. His eyes held a question that his mouth could not form. She nodded once at him with equal solemnity. She glanced around at the class and at the traces of fear, of tears, and of confusion she saw there. Is everyone all right?" They nodded hesitantly. "Then how about a little more Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and then we'll move on to social studies?" They nodded again. She paused. "If any of you want to talk to me about what happened, let me know. In the mean time, everyone to your seats." She looked meaningfully at Russell who nodded and hurried to his desk without looking at Johnny. Sarah left the peach on her desk.
Once everyone had calmed down the rest of the day went smoothly. Her students took the encounter with the Goblin King at face value and seemed to be dealing with it calmly. By afternoon recess the class was bragging about how cool it had been. Sarah was privately grateful that it did not look like there would be any unhappy parents calling her. 'About this, anyway,' she smirked.
At last the school day ended and Sarah walked her class to the buses. "Russell," she said as the students broke out of the orderly queue and dashed away.
"Yes, Miss Williams?" he asked distractedly.
"I want no more bullying or name-calling. Is that clear?"
He looked up at her guiltily. "Yes, Miss Williams."
"Good. Go ahead," she nodded and he took off toward the buses. Sarah sighed and turned around. She had plenty of worksheets to look over tonight to see where her students were and she would need to adjust her lesson plans slightly in science and social studies. 'How can I be behind already?' she lamented.
Sarah re-entered the classroom and strode to her desk. Sighing she looked up to make sure the room was tidy and gasped when she realized that she was not alone. "You startled me," she accused him, pressing a hand to her chest.
"It was not my intention." He took a step forward, no longer dressed in his full regalia but still full of feline grace. "It is not often I run into people I have met before," he remarked. "What have you been reading to them?" He smirked at her.
"Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle," she replied pertly, determined not to seem nervous. "Johnny called for you all on his own."
Jareth nodded. "How is Toby?"
Sarah colored and bristled. "Why do you ask?" Her tone was glacial.
He gave a liquid shrug. "I was fond of him. I had intended to make him my heir."
"Not a goblin?"
"No more than I am." His slight smirk indicated that that statement was not as straightforward as it sounded.
Sarah frowned slightly. "He's in high school and doing well." She paused and looked up at him. "He remembers you."
Jareth gave her a satisfied and faintly triumphant look and glanced obviously around the room. "And you, Sarah?"
"As if I could ever forget," she snorted.
"You are a teacher," he stated with some bemusement.
"I am."
He shook his head. "I would not have expected it."
"Practically no one did," she laughed. "Even me. But adventurers are in low demand and I like this."
"I am glad to see you happy."
She inclined her head at that. "And are you happy?" she asked impulsively.
"Happier now," he gave her a vulpine smile. "After all, twenty more people now believe that I exist."
"You frightened them," she reproached him. "It's lucky children are so resilient."
"You underestimate yourself. They knew you would protect them. Indeed, Sarah, you have always been one of the bravest people I have known."
She flushed slightly and looked down, her eyes catching on the peach sitting innocently on her desk.
"Keep it," he insisted, seeing her regard. "That way there will be no doubt in your students' minds. Otherwise I might be forced to return," he sighed in mock sadness, smirking at her again.
"You've already disrupted my lesson plans quite enough, thank you." She paused. "You should be safe from doubt anyway, though."
"Indeed. I shall try not to disturb your plans, then. Although, one never knows…" He laughed at her as she scowled and effortlessly caught the peach she hurled at him. "Ah, ah, ah." He crossed to her and placed the fruit gently back in her hand and kissed her cheek. "You are a wonderful teacher, fearless Sarah," he whispered. Then he was gone again.
"And you are a frustrating man, Goblin King," Sarah replied under her breath when she saw he was gone.
At last she took a deep breath and shook her head. Replacing the peach on the corner of her desk she sat down and got to work. Better to get it done now, after all. Tonight she needed to call Toby.
-----------
A/N: All right, so it's an over-used plot. But it was fun to write. I hope it is also fun to read.
I know pretty much nothing about teaching in general and the only thing I know about third grade is that I was in it once. I've probably got a lot of stuff wrong, so please, forgive me. And if you feel like pointing out my mistakes with regard to the teaching profession I would be very interested to hear what you have to say.