"I can't believe you're making me do this." That's all Donna Noble could think to say when she and the Doctor stepped out of the principal's office at US Grant High School. The principal of the small school in Clark, Texas, was out of the ordinary in the doctor's mind. Her nose overly elongated, her eyes pale and cold, like a bird of sorts. But it being the first visit for the Doctor to the states in a long time, he brushed it off as an evolution of looks.
"Just be glad you're not a dinner lady," Doctor said as they started heading down the hallways of the school, passing lockers and bulletin boards adorned with flyers advertising the up coming Spring Fling.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing." Lately, it seemed, the Doctor had been thinking about his long lost companion, Rose Tyler, more than usual. The last time he had been in a school of any sorts was when the two had gone under cover at a school in Attenborough and it had ended with a race of bat people being demolished and the school being blown up. Here's to hoping that it doesn't happen the same way. "But look at it this way," he started as they rounded a corner, the Gym doors in sight. "I'm sure the other instructor is all buff and he's probably sweaty by now. The period's half over already." Donna groaned.
"I'm gonna kill you for this. I'm a bloody gym teacher, for God's sake, while you get to instruct the young minds in Shakespeare and Jane Austin." She stopped herself, looking back at him before opening the Gym door. "They have written already, right?" Doctor nodded quickly, his hands going automatically for his pockets, where his hand fiddled with the buttons on his sonic screwdriver.
"Oh, yeah. This is the year 2009. The first African American President in the US has just been elected, and most kids now a days are going into the fad of…oh what is it?" He thought for a second. "Oh, yes, the Manga books. You know the funny looking Asian people with big eyes and tiny little bodies?" Donna just rolled her eyes and opened the door, slipping into the gym without so much as a goodbye. The Doctor heard the sound of the first period PE Juniors' feet coming to a halt after a whistle blew, and he headed back in the opposite direction, towards the office again. When he came to the door that had a small piece of paper taped over the name tag on the side, he stopped.
Smith
The name he'd been using for quite some time, now. John Smith. Doctor reached for the door handle, peering inside, and he spotted the morning sub sitting cheerfully on the edge of the desk in front, rattling away. When the door opened, he stopped talking, and looked at the Doctor, smiling slightly.
"Ah, you must be Mr. Smith, our new Literature teacher." Doctor nodded and walked up to the portly man, holding his hand out.
"Yes, I am. Very good to meet you. And you might be?" The sub shook his hand.
"I'm Mr. Verde. Juniors' Science teacher. This is my off period, and Margery said she needed someone to fill in for you while you got things settled with her." The Doctor nodded again, thinking back to their time in the principal's office.
"Well, thank you so much. I think I can take it from here." He showed the man to the door, but before he walked out, Verde turned back to Doctor.
"You might want to watch out for that group back there." He gestured to a group of four giggling girls sitting at the back tables of the large room. They sat talking, one playing with a cell phone. "The one on the phone is Carrie PuPree, Margery's daughter. Marge tries to keep her in line, but she likes to misbehave." The Doctor whispered words of thanks to him before closing the door, as Verde walked back to his own room across the hall. When the Doctor turned around, a good twenty Freshmen were staring back at him. He walked slowly back to the desk, before perching on the side like Verde had done before.
"Well, as you've probably all guessed by now, I'm Mr. Smith, you're sub for the rest of the term." Quick, and straight to the point. The girls in the back were still chatting away, and the Doctor shifted on the desk. "Before we delve back into R&J where Mr. Verde seems to have left off," he held up the tattered, dog eared copy of the play that was sitting on the desk. "Are there any questions?" Only two hands went up. A boy sitting in the back, wearing an Aeropostale shirt and jeans, and a girl sitting towards the front, with back curly hair and glasses, just a plain brown shirt and jeans on. The Doctor pointed towards the boy. "Name?"
"Jackson Feire." Doctor nodded, and gestured for him to ask his question.
"What happened to Mrs. Kelson? She seemed fine last week." Doctor shifted again, trying to think of the best answer. It's not like Ms. DuPree had told him much about why the teacher he was replacing was gone, only that it was a medical thing. And that's exactly what he planned on telling the class.
"Uhm, well, Jackson, that's a very good question. Mrs. Kelson, has, well, taken some personal time." He nodded for a third time, hoping that subject wouldn't be revisited in future classes. The Doctor already knew something strange was going on at US Grant. The psychic paper had shown a message from someone here. He didn't want to alert the students to that, though. He pointed to the girl at the front, and she smiled. "Name?"
"Elizabeth Westerfield." She spoke with a slight accent. It sounded English. And her last name seemed a bit familiar.
"Now, Elizabeth, where are you from?" She smiled again. Her friend seated next to her, with dark brown straight hair, giggled.
"I was born in Gloucester, sir. That's what I was going to ask you, where you're from. You sound English." The Doctor beamed back at her, glad to have another Brit in this American madness.
"Well, young lady, I'm from Gloucester too, as it happens." She raised an eyebrow at him, disbelieving. "Really! My mum used to drive us to London Square every weekend. Car ride was a bloody mess, though." He was making this up as he went along, but it seemed to be working. Elizabeth laughed. "And I have another question for you, as well. You wouldn't happen to be related to the author, Scott Westerfield, now would you?" She seemed to blush, and nodded slightly.
"My uncle on my dad's side."
"Loser." Someone had hidden the word inside a cough, but most of the class looked back to where the four giggling girls were all seated, their arms crossed. Now that the doctor could see their faces clearly, it was easy to tell that these girls were probably your textbook pretty girls. Large eyes, large lips, like a character in one of the popular comics the Doctor had been telling Donna about. Quite similar, in fact, to the specially modified characters in Elizabeth's Uncle's book. The Pretties had become reality, it seemed. The Doctor shifted again.
"Is there a problem, ladies?" The Doctor crossed his arms right back. Carrie was the one to speak. Her was voice light and tinkling, but there was a shadow of emptiness to it at the same time.
"Of course not, Mr. Smith." Oh, yes, there was definitely something going on here.