"What do you think?"
"I don't know…he doesn't exactly seem like a pushover? Do you think he'll last longer than Mr. Gutierrez? Maybe we can make him quit by the end of the month? I wonder if he'll stay longer? What do you all think?"
"I'm down for that bet. I need gas money."
"You don't drive Manuel?"
"Alright, well at least for some bus money, damn."
"Not gonna lie guys, I'm rooting for this sub. He seems pretty chill and I hear he came back to this area because he has some 'unfinished business' whatever the hell that means?"
"Not to mention he is nice on the eyes. That glare he gives is just…"
"Alright that's enough. Remember, let's actually stay focused on creating a website for your project, yes?" said Daisy
Daisy had had enough of the conversation the newly reenergized students. The struggle of teaching electives, specifically the computer class, meant that you get the wide range of all the students from the nervous ninth graders to some of the obnoxious "think they're your bro" twelfth graders in the same class. As her students finally focused on creating a website for their projects, she reflected on all the things that went wrong that day. She didn't realize she would be 100% done after the start of the new year. There were already so many rumors, and behavioral issues from her students and it wasn't even lunch yet.
But as her students got back to work, she traced back the cause of all her irritation. Her lack of coffee due to her morning run in with the man as she was leaving the coffee shop.
She had already gotten her coffee in hand looked down at her phone for a split second as she got an incoming text from her fellow coworker Jemma and wham!
"Shit!" she rammed into the man as her coffee spilled all over her plaid shirt and jeans.
Of all days, it had to be the day she needed her coffee the most. The first day back from winter vacation to Garfield High School. Give or take, it was her fault as well because she didn't look up as she was turning the corner. But all she thought was this run-in made her lose her coffee, and now her brand new coffee stained shirt would have to be changed before she got to work. Therefore, this fool of man was evil incarnate himself. Little dramatic she had to admit, but teaching high schoolers without coffee in her system is a nightmare in and of itself.
"I'm so sorry, please…I just...towels. You need towels! Towels? Are you burned!?" The man exclaimed.
She had to take a pause before she responded with something she would regret, but she seemed to calm a little after seeing the man stare at her with a worried expression. Not to mention there was something about those brown eyes that stared at her hand to make sure that she wasn't burned but then they shifted to the cup on the floor.
"It's fine… No. It wasn't that hot. Thanks for that..." Daisy mumbled. Control, Daisy. Control.
She looked up to see his frantic hesitation to run into the coffee shop, but also his hesitation to pick up her phone which she didn't realize also fell. Daisy couldn't help but smirk at how much he fidgeted and looked at her for some sign on what to do. He finally ran inside for some towels and when he returned he realized he couldn't pat her down and awkwardly handed the towels to her. She barely looked up and just wiped the worse part of the spill. When she actually took a good look at him she realized that he also had coffee all over his leather jacket. Must be a rider? She thought.
As she stared at him, she didn't realize he asked her a question.
Embarrassed and not knowing what he said; she briskly thanked the man, shoved the coffee stained towels in his hand, and walked away. She wasn't proud of what she did then, but she was still bitter about having no coffee and if she was going to have enough time to change it seemed she would have to sacrifice her regular coffee from get the burnt coffee from the faculty room. What a joy.
"Ms. Johnson?"
Daisy was taken out of her memories, "Yes, Stacy? What is it?"
"Do you know when Ms. Yo-Yo will be coming back?"
"Again, Stacy, don't call her Ms. Yo-Yo, her name is Ms. Rodriguez...Well since she is on maternity leave, I want to say in about three months. Why?"
"Okay, because the odds are set, and some of us think we can get this new Spanish sub out by the end of this week and others are stacking by the third week."
"Knowing you all, I wouldn't be surprised if he runs by tomorrow" Daisy teased.
"C'mon Ms. Johnson, you know you love us. Subs just can't handle our superb personalities as well as abilities. We have to weed out the weak," said her senior, Manuel.
She couldn't help but laugh. These kids were already trying to make the new sub's life a living hell even if he just started. They weren't bad kids, but they were a force to say the least. So much creativity and being raised in the roughest parts of East LA, it wasn't surprising how many of the subs that came passing through couldn't connect with these kids. Many of these students had past histories that many wouldn't even dream of, and she was thankful to be able to connect and have an opportunity to be seen as a mentor to some of them.
They were indeed creative and they sure kept all the teachers on their toes, but they deserved the best. The previous Spanish teacher, Mr. Gutiérrez, she had to admit was an ass. While they took breaks in the faculty lounge, she would hear him brag about working in Beverly Hills, and how this community and Garfield high school lacked resources, so she could only imagine how he treated them in class. So needless to say, he didn't last about a week before his car was finally trashed.
"I don't know guys. Like I said earlier, I'm rooting for the guy until the very end. You didn't see him in action this morning when some kids were acting up. Put me down for $60," her student Edgar defended.
Daisy became even more intrigued. "Although I don't support gambling in any form, that is a pretty confident bid Edgar."
Edgar blushed, but defended his stance, "Ms. Johnson, I've seen him in action and I have to say I wouldn't cross him. He seems prepared for everything. He seems like he came from my barrio too. And I like that he didn't talk down to us… I'm also curious why he came back too? I heard even from other teachers that he came from this area and he is coming back for some reason? So Manuel, put me down for $60 till the very end."
"You're on Edgar!," Manuel yelled as he took the bid
"30 for the end of this week"
"Alright, 30 for Stacy"
As more bids were going through the air, the final bell rung and the intense chatter and debates continued as they walked out. Daisy's mood lightened up as she watched them debate away. Albeit, she was a bit annoyed that the last 10 minutes of class were dedicated to this Spanish substitute, but she couldn't help but be more curious about the huge impression he made on Edgar. She was looking forward to lunch break because hopefully she would finally catch a glimpse of the infamous sub.
What she didn't expect was that the faculty lounge would be full of almost all of the instructors also talking about the Spanish Sub. What is it with this guy?
"I heard that he has a girlfriend in this district and he came back to work close to her?
"Really, I heard that he was given an opportunity to be full time but turned it down."
"I heard that he is a part of the Prison to Career Gateway program and that's how they got him as a sub"
The last comment bothered her more than it should have. She didn't even know the guy but her anger probably also came from the person who made the comment.
Grant Ward, the Calculus teacher from classroom 28C. Ward was the teacher that you need but don't want to have. He had a tendency to be rude to every teacher, but still made sure to let everyone know that his students received the highest test scores. He also was on her blacklist because of his blatant flirting with her even after her break up with the previous school nurse. She was recalling his awkward attempt to flirt with her on the last day before vacation. She couldn't account for his social awkwardness, but he really couldn't read boundaries.
"Daisy, have you met him yet? Do you like him? What do you think?" Grant asked and just as she was about to retort, her fellow coworker interrupted.
"Daisy would you like some coffee? I noticed that you didn't have your regular cup and thought you would like some from the personal Keurig." Jemma Simmons said with a smile that brightened the dim faculty lounge. Daisy couldn't help but smile back at the biology and anatomy professor that seemed to save her from engaging with the Grant. Jemma always had the tendency to come at the right moment.
"Thanks. Yeah I had a little mishap at the coffee shop and …."
Seemingly unperturbed that he was interrupting, Grant continued where he left "Of course you wouldn't. I don't think he is your type at all. Besides why do they keep sending these subs that won't last. Yo-Yo will be coming back anyway. No reason to make him feel at home."
Daisy was getting exhausted of hearing constantly about the infamous Spanish sub as the topic of conversation, but she couldn't let his last comment slide.
Just as she was about to tell Grant to shut it, Principal Coulson and Vice Principal May walked into the office.
What next?
They seemed to be taking advantage that the majority of the faculty and staff were in the lounge to give the updates and goals for the rest of the year.
"Now as some of you may know, we will have a new sub after our little mishap with Mr. Gutiérrez towards the end of last semester..." Principal Coulson went on,
Some smirked from the memories. Nobody was really sorry to miss him.
"We also want to extend our congratulations to Yo-Yo and Mack on their new addition to the family. As you all know, she will be out for the remainder of the school year to care for their beautiful baby girl…"
Daisy looked at Mack who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. Mack was the P.E and weightlifting instructor for the school and he had the glare to frighten any 9th through 12th grade student on campus. He was the one everyone called when there were behavioral problems. But even if he was terrifying, Daisy had seen him enough around Yo-Yo and herself to know that he was a very loving and protective man. He and Yo-Yo met when they were coaches during the Track and Field season a couple years back. She was coaching the sprinters and long distance runners and he was coaching the shot-put and discus teams. Even when they would argue about having the field for their practices it was evident that they enjoyed every minute of their arguments. Slowly but surely, even with their conflicting schedules, they only had eyes for each other. She could only imagine what was going on in his head. I mean who wouldn't want to be at home with their family as well.
"So you are good with that, right Daisy?" She didn't realize that while pondering she missed half of what Principal Coulson said.
"Yeah..uh...I'm good…with…that….Yes." She couldn't admit that she heard none of that. She would make sure to ask Jemma later on.
"Great." Principal Coulson continued, "In addition to that, some of you may be may not meet Mr. Reyes until Wednesday when we have our full staff meeting, so please make sure to make him feel welcome if you run into him. I have a good feeling about this one." Grant scoffed at that and Daisy rolled her eyes at his response. Why was he so bothered by the new sub?
She was also intrigued to catch that his name was Mr. Reyes?
"So, I look forward to all the great things we will accomplish this year. We will be keeping in touch. See you all Wednesday"
Daisy turned to look for her friend, but noticed Jemma was already preoccupied in an enthusiastic conversation with Leo Fitz, the physics and engineering teacher. Daisy had already heard rumors that Fitz was infatuated with Jemma and was trying to figure out ways to approach her. She didn't want to get in the way of his attempt at asking her out. The poor man was already sweating up a storm, so deciding that she already had enough of the faculty lounge she went back to class to enjoy the remaining 15 minutes of her break in silence.
She also wanted to avoid other coworkers asking for her "expertise" on their computers to make sure things were up and running everyone seemed to call only her. Just because she was the computer science teacher didn't make her their own special "technical support."
Only two more classes after lunch. Two!
Finally escaping and making it to the class, she noticed a young man at her desk hovering by her computer.
"Excuse me!? What are you doing?"
The man snapped around and to her shock it was the coffee man!? To say she was taken aback would be an understatement.
He seemed to be just as shocked because he just stared at her and looked her over. Any other time she would have called him out, but she was still trying to regain her composure.
Finally getting his bearings, he hesitantly asked, "Are you….Mrs. Daisy Johnson?"
Trying to pull herself together, she finally composed herself and steadily answered "Yes, I'm Miss Johnson. Why are you in my classroom?"
Sensing her sharpness, he started responding, "Principal Coulson mentioned to me that you would be able to help me set up the programs in my classroom or switch classrooms if need be."
"Wait what?... Since when?"
"He called me to let me know you were okay with it."
Shit! Of course it would be what she inadvertently agreed too when she wasn't listening, but leave it to Coulson to spring this on her the day before.
Welp, it was too late to go back now. Rolling her eyes and walking towards her desk she shooed him away from her space: "Yeah I can help you install the programs…But I'm not switching classrooms."
Responding in the same sharpness, "That's fine. I told him it would be okay for me to install them, but he insisted that it would be more efficient if you helped me…um...install the program for... 'cheaper'"
Daisy eyed him closely, "How many programs need to be installed?" she asked while she sat down and started up her computer.
"About 35"
35!? What kind of extra work? This is going into her overtime.
"What kind of program is this? What class is this for?"
"It's something I will need when they are practicing conversations in Spanish."
She didn't know why, but she shot straight up out of the chair to finally take a good look at this infamous Spanish sub/Coffee man that had occupied almost every conversation this morning.
He took a step back in response to her jumping out of her chair, but his stare remained the same. Stern but inquisitive like he was getting a sense of who she was.
She couldn't believe he was the same man from earlier that was extremely fidgety trying to help her. The man who stood before her was calm and collected and seemed to be very mindful of each movement. Although before she didn't pay much attention, but he did have a powerful presence and the tension was starting to get to her. He didn't have the leather jacket anymore, but he was dressed in nice slacks and had a black dress shirt. She looked for the evidence of the coffee stains, but she figured his leather jacket took the biggest blow.
"yeah…um yeah I'll help." Why was she stuttering?
"I normally work alone but didn't care to get into another discussion with the Principal." He stated bluntly.
"Yeah, you're not the only one…" Oh she could already feel Vice Principal May's response if she heard her saying that about Coulson. "But yes, I'll help you. I prefer that then getting moved out of this class which I would have fought tooth and nail for that to never happen"
"Even if it means that you might be working with me earlier in the morning?
She paused. Although she hated the fact that she would be working earlier in the morning, she could deal with it if it meant getting paid overtime. That wasn't what made her hesitate.
'Working with me?' reverberated in her head.
She gathered her thoughts and said, "As long as you pay for my coffee, and it stays in the cup…I think we'll be good working…you know…together…"
He finally looked down but she could see the smirk forming on his lips, "You know…I don't think coffee is enough repayment…I already owe you for earlier… gotta say…I sorta hate owing people..." he mumbled.
"Like I said Reyes…think of this as an investment, and besides, I think you'll have enough time to pay me back." She answered slyly leaning against the front desk.
He looked straight up at her and held her eyes with his brown ones.
"I'm looking forward to it… Ms. Johnson," he said as he walked out.
And with that, the final bell rung and she started seeing the student's heads passing through the hallways to their next class. As her students started walking in, she couldn't help but think about tomorrow so she could start working on those programs. Daisy Johnson...excited to wake up bright and early and work on computer programs? Who would have thought?
At that moment, she found herself condemning gambling, but also secretly hoping that Edgar would win this bet.
So much for this day passing without incident.
A/N - If you have made it this far, I really hope you enjoyed it. It's my first contribution to any fandom whatsoever, so I am really new to stories like this, but I hope I did this AU justice. I first was inspired after I saw a AU headcanon of Quakerider being teachers by quakrider-hell and I couldn't help myself. Will I continue it? I have no idea, but I will probably continue until the end of the bet. ;) Thank you again quakerider-hell and bilutata. Any reviews or comments are welcome.