A/N: This is a quick little side story to "Hall Duty." If you haven't read that story, it involves Steve going undercover as a social studies teacher in a Public High School to catch a murderer. Diane is another teacher in the room across the hall from Steve. This is actually a true story. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent, and the guilty. As always, the standard disclaimers apply, don't own the boys, but wish I did, just take them out to play. I promise to put them back when I am done.
Steve had spent most of the morning just trying to hold on. After his disastrous first period and breaking up a cat fight, and almost his nose at lunch, he really did think teachers were seriously underpaid. He only had two more periods before his first official day as a teacher was complete. A headache was building at the back of his skull. In addition, two lovely black eyes were blooming spectacularly on either side of his nose. He'd had enough of surly teens for one day.
Diane had warned him that Rebecca Knight, who was in his 6th period, was immature, annoying and would do her best to get on his last nerve. As the students filed in, he made note of the animated brunette taking the seat assigned to Rebecca. When the bell rang most of the students settled down, but Rebecca made a point of loudly continuing her conversation with the blond seated next to her. She openly glared at Steve when he politely asked her to settle down.
After working with Mike for a number of years, Steve was a veteran at handling "the glare." Rebecca wasn't in the same league as Mike or Jeannie Stone yet, but he had no doubt that she would be an All-Pro by the time she got married. Steve did the only thing he could and responded to her glare with a disarming smile and twinkling green eyes. Take that, he though as the girl blushed, averted her eyes and took out her assignment.
Rebecca's retreat lasted only a few minutes. As the time crept by, she engaged in a litany of immature behaviors that would put a terrible two year old to shame. Each one, it seemed, was engineered to unnerve and annoy even the most experienced teacher. After each new disruption, Steve cleared his throat and looked her way, in an effort to get the teen to stand down.
After about 20 minutes of this high school version of whack-a-mole, Steve had just about had enough. The rest of the class was now watching the fencing match between Rebecca and Mr. Keller, instead of doing their work, hoping to see the new teacher blow his top at the annoying adolescent. Truth be told, for the most part, the students found Rebecca to be irritating as well. This, however, did not take away from the entertainment value of watching a new teacher crumble.
When Rebecca start filing her nails, Steve was done. With the smile never leaving his face, he countered, "Miss Knight, if this class is so, ahem, beneath you, maybe you should spend the rest of the period in the hallway, LEAVE NOW." Rebecca was startled at the sudden change in Mr. Keller's demeanor.
With great dramatics she packed her things and literally stomped towards the door. The class held its collective breath to see Mr. Keller's response to the latest disruption. Rebecca, aggravated that she was losing her audience, went for the coup de gras, grabbing the door and swinging it back with gusto. "Before she could get the satisfaction of banging it home, Steve added, "Please, don't forget to SLAM the door on your way out!"
Robbed of her dramatic exit, she cringed and quietly shut the door. The class dissolved into laughter and a smattering of applause. Feeling rather pleased with himself, Steve acknowledged the class with a small nod of the head, knowing his credibility as a teacher had just jumped a few notches.
The laughter ended as Steve called the class to order, "Let's all get back to work." He said with a chuckle and a grin.
