The loud sound of children chattering could be heard clearly in the corridors of the school, making it clear, even to the outsider walking past the classrooms, that the children were not very well disciplined. The woman couldn't help but cringe at the thought of entering the unopened classroom door; they had already left a bad impression before she'd even started. It seemed unbelievable to her that she was supposed to be teaching the brightest of the schools students.
There were many factors that worried her, most obvious being the small age difference; would thy not respect her for it? Or would she be lucky and gain their admiration? Either way she was only a teacher in training and there was going to be an older and more experienced teacher watching over her… Surely he or she would step in if anything went wrong?
Gathering her courage she opened the door "Hey guys sorry I'm late!" she said, waving apologetically to the dark haired man sitting, with a sour face, towards the back of the classroom.
"Okay everybody!" she said, still doing her best to avoid eye contact with any of the students "My name is Miss Rockbell" she told them as she picked up a marker and wrote her name on the white board "Please try to remember it as I'll be substituting as your biology teacher for the next month" finally she turned around; glad to see that she still held the attention of most of her new students, though a little put of that most of them were males "Anyone have any questions?"
"Yes actually" announced a remarkably familiar blond haired boy "Why are you here Winry? Did you lose your job or something?!" his declaration caused a sudden stir amongst members of the classroom and left Winry on a spiralling down staircase of shame.
"Actually mister Elric, though I'm only a temporary teacher, I would like to remind you that it's inappropriate to bring up a teacher's personal matters at school. Little kids should remember to keep their mouths shut" she added with a grin.
"Hey I'm not sh-" he began to resort angrily before she cut him off.
"I'll be seeing you in break time for disturbing the class" she said, writing his name down on the board.
"Come on that's not fair!" he started to argue.
"I guess we'll have to make it 10 minutes since you so obviously crave my attention" she said, her eyes sparkling with menace. Finally the trouble maker shut up and she felt free to start the class; it was just her luck to end up meeting him there, though she could have sworn e was too young to be in 6th form…
"Okay everybody! Since it's our first day together I thought we might start off with something fun! How about we look over the history and creation of automail?" there was a loud groan throughout the class but she couldn't hep but smile.
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After class was finished, and after she'd had a quick chat with the supervising teacher, she confronted the troublesome student.
"Edward!" she shouted as she slapped him across the face "Why did you have to say that in front of my students? It was so embarrassing!"
"You do realise" he muttered as he rubbed his, now swollen, cheek "That I'm going to do you in for child abuse right?"
"Oh shut up! I mean how are you even in this class? I thought you were only 16?!" she asked confused and feeling a little disorientated, probably because she just couldn't believe someone she'd know for so long and some who was just so short could possibly be in their second year of 6th form.
"Well with smarts like mine they had to move me up two grades, they wanted to move me up higher but they were afraid I might become socially 'restricted'" he said with his usual tone of sarcasm he used when talking about the foolishness of people of authority.
"You may mock them Ed but they're right, you'd probably be bullied if you went any higher" she said as she sat down on one of the many desks.
"And why is that?" he asked, seeming to sense that what ever she was going to say wasn't going to be flattering.
"Well you're pretty small, even for your own age, you'd stand out if you went up any further"
"Say that again and I'll divulge all the history of your past boyfriends to the class!" he flared up, though this time he sounded a little calmer.
"Yes" she said as she ruffled the top of his head "And you'll be in afternoon detentions for the rest of the semester!" she laughed before gathering up her bags, ready to go in search of the staffroom "I'll see you later at Grandma's for dinner, okay?" the door then closed behind her with a loud click.
Silently Edward picked up his bag, swinging it over his shoulder, and then pressed his hands against the framing of the window; before then effortlessly pulling it open and jumping onto the ground outside. That day he just didn't feel like studying.
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"So how have you been doing Miss Rockbell?" asked the man, she now knew as Mustang, who had been supervising her class before.
"Please call me Winry Mr Mustang, and yes I think I did quite well for my first lesson; though I guess I veteran such as you might not think so…" she muttered as she stared down at the coffee she had just been given by another teacher in the staff room.
"Call me Roy" he said as he began to laugh, for some unknown reason, rather foolishly "And don't worry about your skills, I liked the way you used that Fullmetal kid as an example in front of all the others. It's good to get them under control early on after all!" he said, beginning to go into another fit of suspicious sounding laughter. There was no way she could tell him that she would have never had the guts to be so strict with any other student than Edward.
"Wait; you called him Fullmetal? Is there a reason for that?" she asked a little edgily, already beginning to feel perspiration forming on her forehead.
"I just got that from the gossiping students, the kid often gets into fights, and they say his punches are so strong that his fists had to be made of steel. For some reason the nickname just stuck among us faculty members"
"I see, so he's a well known character then?"
"You could say that" he said chuckling "But you know it might become a little bothersome for you if you have to put him in detention everyday since I doubt you'll want to hang around the school too much after hours"
"I guess you're right" she said sighing despondently "But as a teacher I feel it's my duty to properly discipline my students…"
"Really? But then I'll never be able to invite you out for dinner" he said smoothly causing a light blush to form on Winry's cheeks.
"Sir" said a young woman as walked up and she put a hand on Mustang's left shoulder "You know what the headmaster said about harassing the young female teachers" he smiled at the woman warmly as he gently removed her hand from his shoulder.
"I'll try to remember that next time Liza" he said as he got up to follow her "Goodbye Miss Rockbell, I look forward to having dinner together sometime"
"So" muttered the woman Liza; once she and Mustang had left the staffroom "How's the latest recruit? She seems a little young don't you think Sir?" Liza asked; a look of concern marring her beautiful face "Do you think she'll be able to deal with the students?"
"Well she managed to put Fullmetal in his place, this morning so there must be something to her; she at least has a back bone. Besides, whether she's skilful or not doesn't matter, what's great is that we have one more beautiful lady as part of our staff" Liza sighed heavily as they continued to walk down the corridor.
"I was serious about what I said earlier, last time that woman nearly sued you for sexual harassment" she said curtly, hoping he would take heed of her warning.
"Yes Hawkeye; I'll try to be careful…"
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Winry had only one lesson planned for that day, so once she'd finished introducing herself to everyone who was in the staffroom; she'd gone home to sort out her teaching schedule for the following month.
Even now, back in her own home as she sifted through pieces of paper, she found it hard to believe the job she had landed herself. She was on a special program of teacher training and because of how well (and early she'd graduated) she'd scored in university they had decided to put her on the fast track and skip out on all the normal prior training.
She'd heard that these days this sort of thing wasn't that unusual though as schools were now becoming very poorly staffed. Well if she did well with the course it would be great for her as she'd then be able to become a substitute teacher at times when business, for her usual work, became slow. It would be even better if she could earn enough to get a place of her own.
Just as she had finished compiling a neat pile of paper on her desk she heard a call from her grandmother.
"Winry! Dinners ready!"
"I'm coming!" she yelled back before exiting her room and going down the stairs.
"What are we having today?" She asked as she sat herself down on a chair in the dining room.
"Roast beef!" her grandmother called back from the kitchen "though it will go cold if those brothers don't arrive here soon!"
Luckily it wasn't long until there were a couple of impatient knocks on the door "I'll get it…" Winry reluctantly told her grandmother before getting up from her chair.
"Hurry up you too; dinners almost ready…" she said as she opened the door before turning away to head for the dining room.
"Really the hospitality in this place is as ever unbelievable" she heard Edward mutter, sarcastically as he passed her, hands deep in his red coat pockets.
"So how are you doing Al?" she said, deciding to ignore Edward's comment as she turned to converse with his younger brother "Are you still doing well in those art classes of yours?"
"I think so!" Al said, smiling brightly as he took the chair next to her on the table "My teacher Mr Armstrong really praised the sculpture I made today!"
"Humph, well we'll see how the skills will support you in the real world, won't we Alphonse?" said Grandma Pinako as she served the food.
"Actually its great Al can do so many different things Pinako" interrupted his older brother "It means he'll have more opportunities available to him when he gets older and he won't be stuck , out of work, just because he only has one specialised skill" Winry frowned at this, understanding quite clearly that he was sniping her. But she had a least a little composure and decided not to respond as she knew he wanted her too.
She was a teacher now so it was best for her to begin familiarising herself in how to respond to sneering students; especially since he'd be one of them.
"So how did your first day of work go Winry?" asked Pinako.
"It was pretty good and a lot better than I expected! I even met a wonderful teacher called Mustang; he really helped me get my bearings" she said, unable to suppress a small giggle that erupted from her throat.
"Your first day and you're already making friends with that bastard" said Ed loudly enough to be heard across the table.
"Mind you language young man" Pinako reprimanded him "Besides the relationship between a student and a teacher is very different to one between colleagues"
"Yeah" he replied smarmily "It's probably more like the sucking face kind where that bastard's concerned!" he then picked up his plate and stood up from the table "I'd stay longer Pinako but hanging around one of my teachers leaves a bad taste in my mouth" he muttered before putting the plate on the side and leaving the room.
"Sorry about my brother" Al apologized "He just really doesn't get along well with that teacher" he then also got up and put both his and his brother's plate into the kitchen.
"Thank you for the food Grandma Pinako!" he said before he himself left, probably to go after his brother in a vain attempt at forcing him to come back and apologize.
"So you're teaching Edward?" asked her grandmother after a long minute of silence.
"Yes I am" she replied firmly, surprised by how much the question had sounded like an accusation.
"Well I can see why the boys upset"
"And why is that?" she asked, irritated that she was being blamed for his behaviour. How was it unusual for Edward to storm out in a huff?
"You've only been his teacher for one day and you're already starting to treat him differently" The woman took a puff from her pipe "Oh well maybe this is for the best…I doubt it would have worked out anyway"
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Preview:
"Its fine and in a way it was good in a way because I got to meet an interesting person because of it"
"I suppose that's one word for the major" he muttered as he put his key into the ignition.
"Hey; I've been wondering; why are there so many teachers nicknamed at positions in the military?" she asked curious as to why this phenomena would be so widely spread.
"So you noticed huh? Well actually it was a student who started it and as the nicknames spread we eventually started using them amongst ourselves unconsciously. Maybe if you're lucky you'll end up with one too" he chuckled as he pulled into a café car park.
This is so weird and wrong… That's why I can't help but write it… R&R please… I know you're all waiting to pounce on me for this one… OCness abound… As a side note I actually found the first paragraph of this story randomly floating around on my computer under the name 'undecided'. Originally I think… And I'm not sure because I wrote that part so long ago so my memories hazy but… I think it was originally going to be with Sakura as the teacher… Could Naruto really have pulled it off?! I need a beta… Oh and this chapter is sort of introductory so... It probably sucks but then all my stories suck so thats okay! See I'm just bursting with self confidence!