Disclaimer: I don't own anything!
Mr. Negan parked his car in the school's parking lot and stepped out. Looking up at the building ahead of him, pure annoyance went through his mind. "I don't even like kids." He thought.
He was a gym teacher at his old school, but often thought he was too smart for a job like that and wanted to get into actual teaching. The kids at Elizabeth Forward Elementary School were getting too out of hand, and he thought he could actually do something about.
"Well, here goes." The man said taking a deep breath and walking into the school. He immediately went to the office to meet with the principal.
"Ah, Negan." Principal Phillip Blake greeted. "Good to see you again." The two men shook hands. "I hope you're in a good mood today."
"Always am." He smiled his big Negan smile.
"Good to hear it. You're classroom is room 114." Principal Blake sighed. "Good luck. You're going to need it."
"Are they really that bad?"
"Well…the new school year is barely over and you're the fourth teacher who's tried to take over."
It was just as Negan expected. He sighed before answering. "You don't have to worry about me. I can do this."
"I like your spirit." Principal Blake said placing a hand on the man's shoulder.
"What poor sumbitch do ya thank is gonna be our new teacher, ay Rick?" Daryl asked his best friend. The two were super close, they considered each other brothers.
"I don't know, but I'll handle 'em." Rick said putting his hands behind his head and leaning back in his seat. The twelve year olds glanced over at two of their other classmates, Glenn and Maggie, who kept kissing each other. "Why don't you two get a room?" Rick said to them.
"For real." Daryl snorted. "It's like a damn romance novel." The two boys laughed.
"Will you two grow up?" Michonne snapped.
"Well, I'm only joking around." Rick said to her.
Michonne simply rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
Rick laughed and turned back to Daryl. "She totally likes me."
"Hell yeah." Daryl said.
"Hey, you know who's looking fine this year?" Rick asked his best bud.
"Who?"
"Carol." The young boy smirked. "Think she likes you."
"Shut up, man." Daryl waved his friend off.
"I'm serious." Rick said.
Daryl thought about what his friend just told him. He never had a girlfriend before. He suddenly thought of he and Carol dating and his cheeks turned red. Rick laughed at his friend and nudged his shoulder.
"Hey!" Tyreese yelled. "The teacher's coming!"
"Here we go." The two boys grinned at each other.
Mr. Negan made his way to his classroom. He could hear the commotion of the kids from down the hall and hoped it wasn't his classroom that was making all the noise. Unfortunately, it was.
He walked inside with his yardstick over his shoulder. The kids seemed to quiet down as soon as he walked in the door. "Peeing our pants yet?" Mr. Negan said with a smile. The man started walking closer to the students. "Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close. It's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon." He said.
"Who's this guy?" Abraham said turned around and looked at Rick and Daryl. They both shrugged with suspicious expressions on their faces.
"Which one of you brats is the leader?" Mr. Negan called the kids out. "You know? The one that starts everything and everyone else follows." The tall man swung his yardstick. The kids just stared at their new teacher. Mr. Negan put his hand to his ear. "What no answer?" He paused waiting for one of the children to speak up. When no one did, he put his head down and sighed. "Not off to a good start, are we?" He smiled. "Tell ya what, first one to speak up gets extra credit for the day."
"It's this one." One of the boys said pointing at Rick. Rick glared at him.
Negan laughed and glanced at the student roster. "Simon, is it?" The young boy nodded. "Well, thank you, Simon. I have a feeling we'll be great friends."
Simon grinned at the teacher then turned around and grinned evilly at Rick. Simon and Rick never got along. Ever since they were just little kids in Kindergarten. Simon had always been jealous of Rick.
The man with the yardstick walked closer to Rick. "Hi." He said. "You're Rick, right? I'm Mr. Negan. And I do not appreciate what you've done at this school." Rick stared wide eyed at his new teacher. "Also, when they sent another teacher to discipline you for making them send another teacher," Mr. Negan continued, "you made that teacher quit, too. Not cool…Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that crap is. But I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. You are so gonna regret crossing these other teachers in a few minutes. Yes you are." He smiled a devilish grin. It sent chills down Rick's spine.
"You see, Rick, whatever you do, no matter what, you don't mess with the new teacher's rules. And the new teacher's rules are, and it's very simple. So, even if you're stupid, which you very may well be, you can understand it. You ready? Here it goes, pay attention."
Mr. Negan then slapped his yardstick on Rick's desk causing the young boy to jump along with his classmates. "Give me your full attention, do what I say…or I will punish you." He grinned that grin again.
The man started making his way around the room. "Today was career day. We invested a lot so you would know who I am and what I can do." He was standing right in front of Michonne now.
"Negan conitnued, "you work for me now. You have a test, you take it then you give it to me. That's your job. Now, I know that is a mighty big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will." He made his way back to Rick. "You ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But the word is out. You are not safe. Not even close. In fact, you are pegged, more pegged if you don't do what I want. And what I want is your respect. And if that's too much, you can make, find, or steal more time for that in detention. This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. You understand?" He put his hand up to his ear just like before. "What, no answer?" The blacked haired man laughed. "You kids are difficult. But…you don't really think that you were gonna get through this without being educated, now, did you?"
There was a brief pause.
"I don't want to have to punish you kids. Just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to respect me and learn. You can't do that if you're not in class, now, can you?"
"So, now…I'm gonna beat the holy heck out of you…with education." The man smiled. He turned his back to the chalkboard and started writing down the lesson plans for that day.
The students were practically frozen in their seats. Rick and Daryl glanced at each other. They were able to read each other's expressions. They were the shit for so long and then this new guy comes in. But this one was different. It angered the young boys.
Daryl suddenly ripped off a piece of paper from his notebook and wrote, throw this at the teacher, on it and threw to Glenn. The young Asian boy picked it up and glanced back at who threw it at him. Daryl gestured to the boy to read it. Glenn unfolded the piece of paper and read it, Maggie read it from her seat as well.
"No." She mouthed to her boyfriend. Glenn glanced back at his friends Rick and Daryl who urged him to throw it, but then there was his girlfriend telling him not to.
Eventually, the young boy gave into the peer pressure and threw the wad of paper at the teacher. The boys laughed and high fived.
Mr. Negan turned around immediately. "All right, listen. Don't any of ya do that again. I will shut that crap down, no exceptions. First one's free." He smiled. "It's an emotional moment, I get it." He slapped the chalkboard with his yardstick causing all the students to sit back in their seats. "Sucks, don't it?" Mr. Negan said. "The moment you realize you don't know anything."
The students looked at their teacher in fear. Something about this guy made him intimidating, not like any of the other teachers. "So…back to it." Mr. Negan said. He wrote a math problem on the board. "Who wants to come up to the board and do this problem?" No answer. "What?" The man said. "No volunteers? All right, guess we're just going to have to do this the hard way."
The man walked closer to the students and walked around the classroom, glancing at all of them. Mr. Negan stopped in front of Carl and smiled down at him. Little Carl seemed to have an expression on his face that said, "no." As he glared at their new teacher.
"Just stop it!" Rick blurted out earning looks from all the students, plus Mr. Negan himself. Carl was a smart student. He was younger than everyone else in his class because he skipped a couple grades. Carl was kind of like everyone's little brother, and often got picked on by older students. Rick always felt it was his duty to look out for the little kid.
"Hey!" The man yelled. "Do not make me pick the little future Bill Gates. Don't make it easy on me. I gotta pick somebody. Everybody's at the table waiting for me to order."
He started making his way down the lines again while whistling. He glanced at all of them.
"I simply cannot decide." He turned his back to his students and laughed. He turned back around with another evil look in his eye. "I got an idea." He laughed.
He pointed the yardstick at Rick and said, "eenie…" Oh shit! All the kids thought.
"Meenie…" At Maggie.
"Miney…" At Abraham.
"Mo." At Michonne.
"Catch…" He pointed at Tyreese.
"A tiger…" At Daryl.
"by…" At Rosita.
"His toe…" At Glenn.
He started to go the other way now.
"If…" At Sasha.
"He." At Eugene who started to cry a little.
"Hollers…" At Aaron who was breathing heavily.
"Let him go." It ended on Carl who was blinking in confusion at Mr. Negan. Rick got pissed.
Mr. Negan got a weird look on his face and looked at the next person. "My mother…told me…to pick…" He kept going around. "the very…best…one…and…you…are…" It felt like it was a never ending cycle to the kids. He stopped in front of Rick. Then…he quickly moved over to Abraham and said, "it."
Oh God! Abraham thought shaking his head.
"Anybody moves, anybody says anything, I'll send ya out in the hallway and then we'll start. You can breathe, you can blink, you can cry…Heck, you're all gonna be doing that." He motioned to Abraham to get up to the board and do the math problem. Abraham just sat there with a tough look on his face. It made the other kids nervous.
"Stand up." Mr. Negan said to the young red headed boy. Abraham continued to just sit there with that look on his face. Mr. Negan's smile faded and he became serious. "I mean it, kid." He said threateningly.
Abraham finally stood up and grabbed the chalk from his teacher.
"Ho!" Mr. Negan yelled. "Look at that. Taking it like a champ!"
"Suck my nuts!" Abraham yelled and threw the chalk down on the floor. It broke into pieces. The other students were amused. Some laughed, others gasped in shock.
"Get out!" Mr. Negan yelled. Abraham calmly walked out of the classroom. Mr. Negan slammed the door making the other students jump. He turned around then stopped and laughed. "Did you guys hear that? He said, suck my nuts!" The students were shocked that their teacher actually used those words. He continued laughing.
Rick and Daryl shared a look then shrugged. They laughed along with their teacher. Soon all the kids were laughing. Mr. Negan then slapped his yardstick on Tyreese's desk then all the kids stopped laughing cold turkey. Things became serious again.
"He won't be in this class anymore." Mr. Negan stated. "I'm having him moved to another class in a bit." Rosita and Sasha gasped. They both have a crush on the ginger. "Sorry, we're you together?" The teacher taunted Rosita. Soon the girl began to cry. This angered Daryl.
The young redneck balled up his worksheet and threw it at the teacher. The other kids gasped. "Daryl." Rick said to his friend.
"No!" Mr. Negan pointed his yardstick at Rick. "Oh no." He grinned that grin again. The two just stared at each other.
"Anyway…" Mr. Negan continued. "That's not how it works here." He walked a few steps and stood next to Glenn. "The first one was free, and then what did I say? I said, I will shut that crap down…no exceptions. I don't know what kind of lying idiots you've been dealing with, but I'm a man of my word. I need you to know me. So…back to it."
He turned to Glenn. "Get out!"
"W-what?" Glenn asked. "Me?"
"Yes, you!" Mr. Negan said roughly. "Out!" Daryl looked down sadly.
"No, please!" Maggie screamed. Glenn slowly got up and walked to the door.
"Mag— Mag—" Glenn was saying while the door was closing, it accidentally hit him in the head.
"Whoa buddy!" Mr. Negan said to the young Asian boy. "You just took one heck of a hit! That door just cracked your skull so hard your eye could've popped out!" The tall man laughed. "But still, I'm gonna need you to leave. You won't be in this class anymore, either."
"Maggie, I'll find you." Glenn said rubbing where the door just hit him. Maggie sobbed as her love walked away.
"Oh, jeez, guys." Negan said. "I can tell this is hard on you…but I did say…no exceptions!"
The students looked down sadly. That was two of their classmates now that are gone. They all had to stick together to defeat this horrible teacher, but they were weaker now with their friends gone.
"That kid looked like a bee with his black and yellow striped shirt." Mr. Negan said. "Which is funny because…he will no longer be around." He laughed. The kids angrily glared at their teacher.
"What? Was the joke that bad?" Mr. Negan laughed.
"I'm gonna get you fired." Rick finally said.
"What was that?" Mr. Negan crouched down to the young boy's level.
"Not today, not tomorrow…but I will get you to leave this school."
The tall blacked haired man just stared at Rick like it was the stupidest thing he had ever seen. He had a look of amusement on his face.
"Simon?" He called to his star student. "What does he have? An 'A'? A 'B'?"
"He has a 'C'." The Simon kid said.
"A 'C'?" Negan questioned. There was a bit of sarcasm in his tone.
"He had a low 'C'." Simon stated.
Negan continued to stare at little Rick. The young boy tried to look tough, but was actually shaking in his Sketchers.
"Simon's my new star student." Mr. Negan informed the kids. "My right hand man. Having one of those is important. What do you have without one? A whole lot of work. Ya have one? Oh, or did I…" He pointed at the door with his thumb. Rick was close to just hitting his new teacher in the face, but knew it would just be worse for him.
"Sure. Yeah. A 'C' minus student isn't going to do crap to me." Mr. Negan said. He hauled young Rick Grimes up by his arm. "We're gonna take a little trip. When I get back maybe Rick will be with me. If not, well we can just handle things without him." He put a hand on the young boy's back and walked him into the hall.
Mr. Negan took Rick to the gymnasium. "I used to be a gym teacher, you know?" He grinned evilly at the boy. "Let's see how well you do on the playground." Mr. Negan picked up a whistle and practically blew it in the boy's ear. Rick cringed.
"Start climbing." Mr. Negan tugged on the rope. Rick scowled at him, but knew he didn't have much of a choice. He started climbing the rope. He struggled badly, once he got about halfway up. "All the way up." The tall man yelled. "I want you to grab the ribbon and give it to me."
Rick was sweating and groaning as he continued climbing. The young boy almost fell at one point. He caught himself then stopped to take a break. "Breaks will only make it worse!" Mr. Negan yelled into a bull horn. The boy wondered briefly where he got it.
Rick glanced up at the top, he wasn't that far, for her could see the little, red ribbon. He took a deep breath then started up again. It took him a long time, but eventually he made it to the top, grabbed the ribbon and quickly started down.
Once he was more than halfway to the bottom, he just let himself drop. Rick lay on the ground panting and soaked with sweat. It was harder than he ever imagined it. "You're not done until that ribbon his in my hand, kid." Mr. Negan said. "The clocks tickin'."
Finally, the young boy stood up. With a scowl, he slapped the ribbon in his teacher's hand. "That a boy!" Mr. Negan said. "Now…" The intimidating man cleared his throat and made his way to a crate of balls. "How about some dodge ball?" The young boy's eyes widened and he ran just as a ball went flying at him. "Think you can dodge them all." His teacher said. "How long you gonna keep this up, kid?"
None of the students knew how much time had passed, but it was definitely a long time when the two finally came back. The door opened and Rick hit the ground hard. Mr. Negan laughed. "Tired, kid?" All the students were looking at Rick with curiosity. He was red in the face and soaked with sweat.
After a moment's hesitation, he grabbed the young by his shirt and helped him stand up.
"Get to your seat." He told him. Rick didn't say anything, just went and sat down in his assigned seat.
So, tell me, Rick." Negan started. "Do you even know what that little trip was about?"
Rick didn't answer, the boy just kept his head down.
"It was about the way you looked at me. Like I crapped in your scrambled eggs, and that's not the look I'm looking for. So, tell me…do I give you another chance?"
"…yeah…" Rick said. "Yes…yes."
"So, this next move will tell you if this crap day is everyone's last crap day or just another crap day." The tall man paused for a moment. Then he looked to Daryl. "Give the kid a piece of your notebook paper." Little Daryl didn't even give the man a look, he just did what he said and ripped a piece of paper from his notebook and put it on his best friend's desk.
"See that problem on the board?" Mr. Negan said and pointed with his yardstick. Rick nodded. He knew where his new teacher was going with this. He was going to make Rick do the problem.
But…Mr. Negan had something else up his sleeve. He looked at Carl. "Kid, come here." Carl didn't move. "Right here. Kid, now." Carl slowly got up and walked up to Mr. Negan.
"You a southpaw?" He asked him.
"A-am I a w-what?" The little boy stammered.
"Are you a lefty?"
"No."
"Good." Mr. Negan said. "All right, on the ground, kid." Rick and the other students watched as Carl laid on the ground. What is he going to do? They all thought.
"Simon? You got a cell phone?"
"Yeah." Simon said and pulled out his phone.
"Get your timer ready for me, will ya?" Mr. Negan asked his favorite student. He turned back to the boy on the floor. "Sorry, kid this is gonna suck big time for you."
"Please, don't." Rick said beginning to panic.
"Me? I ain't doing anything." Negan said. "Rick, I want you to solve that problem on the chalkboard. And while you're doing that, little Carl, here, is going to do pushups, with his right arm behind his back for as long as it takes you to finish that problem." Mr. Negan paused. Rick began to panic. "I know, I know that's going to take a while to sink in. But if you don't get it right, then all these kids are going to pay for it." The tall man squinted. "Essays. Tons and tons of essays."
The other kids began to panic, they knew that their fellow classmate, Rick Grimes, wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to math. "You—you don't have to do this." Michonne said. "We understand. We understand. We—
"You understand, yeah." Mr. Negan cut the young girl off. "I'm not sure that Rick does."
The children sat there dumbfounded, they knew they didn't have any power over their new teacher. All they could do was hope that their friend and classmate could correctly answer the problem.
"So, Rick, pick up that pencil." The new teacher told the boy. "I'm gonna need you to start soon." He checked his watch. "It's almost lunchtime."
"It can be me." Rick said. "You can do it to me. I-I'll do the pushups. And Carl can answer the problem."
"No, Rick, this is the only way. It needs to happen now or I will start assigning a thousand word essays right now." A gasp could be heard from the other students.
Rick looked up at the math problem and started to panic. It looked like a different language to him. He didn't know what to do because he didn't want to let his classmates down. He sat there with his hand shaking, the pencil in it.
"Not making a decision is a big decision." Mr. Negan then said. "Do you really wanna see all these people get hand cramps? Your little girlfriend over there? You will see ugly things later on in this class."
There was a brief pause. Rick still hadn't attempted to solve the problem. "Are you really gonna make me count?" Mr. Negan said. "All right. I'm counting. Three!"
"Please!" Rick cried. "I can't do it!"
"Two!"
"Please, don't." Rick cried some more. His classmates had never seen him like this before. Mr. Negan slapped his yardstick on Rick's desk.
"This is it." The tall man said.
Rick panted once Mr. Negan took his yardstick off the desk.
"Rick." Carl said from down on the floor. Rick looked down at him. "Just do it." He said. "You can do it." Rick gave the small boy a look before lifting the pencil. The other students eyes widened. He's really going to do it! They all thought.
Rick Grimes cried as his pencil touched the paper. "Stop." Mr. Negan said. Rick looked up at his teacher. The other students exhaled in relief. "You answer to me, you respect me, you are my student." He said. Rick dropped his pencil and nodded his head.
"Speak when you're spoken to!" Mr. Negan yelled at him. "You answer to me."
"Yes." Rick said.
"You respect me."
"I respect you." Rick repeated.
"You are my student, right?"
"Right." Rick said quietly.
"That…is the look I wanted to see." Mr. Negan said. "We did it. All of us together. Today is a new beginning you sorry brats. Whatever you had going for you…that is over now." All the kids looked down sadly.
"Daryl." Mr. Negan called. The young redneck looked up. "Let's go. You're helping me with paperwork." He pointed to his desk. "You're going to be my new assistant."
Daryl sighed and made his way to the teacher's desk. "Take those papers there and take them to the office." Mr. Negan instructed the boy. "I need thirty copies." Daryl gathered up the papers and left the room.
"I like him." Mr. Negan said once Daryl was gone. "He's got guts. He's not a little wimp like someone I know." He glanced at Rick. "He's mine now. You still wanna try something, I will keep Daryl as my assistant for the rest of the year and you will never see your best friend again during school."
Rick looked down sadly. He couldn't even imagine what school would be like without his best friend. Rick was angry. He was angry but also scared. This new teacher was different. He knew just how to get under the young boy's skin by messing with his classmates. He didn't care what happened to him, but he was the leader of this class and all the students looked up to him, even the bigger ones. He felt as though he had failed them.
Suddenly, the bell rang and the kids knew they would be safe for a while. They jumped up and ran to the door, but Mr. Negan shut the door before anyone got out. "Not so fast, runts." He said. "We didn't get anything done today thanks to someone." He looked at Rick. "So, during lunch, I want everyone to finish their worksheets. I want them completely done and on my desk right after lunch."
All the children groaned. "Excuse me, do you want an essay, too?" The tall man asked them. The kids widened their eyes and rapidly shook their heads no. Mr. Negan laughed. "That's what I thought." He clapped his hands together. "All right, chop chop." He opened the door. "Get to lunch and don't forget your work." The children quickly ran out of the room and headed to the cafeteria.
Rick Grimes, however, slowly walked out with his head hung low. He wasn't sure he could take another minute of this new teacher of his.