Really Listening To What She Has to Say Because You Really Care

[AN: The title is literally longer than the fic lmao. Written for BluSakura.]

Miss Pond trotted towards the door in high heeled gladiator sandals, a chirpy smile, and a billowy dress. A few of the students thought she looked a little silly but that's just what Miss Pond was: light-hearted and silly.

She knocked on the door and she could visibly see Mr Knight's shoulders slump and his lecture pause. He had that "What does she want now?" face but Miss Pond wasn't disheartened. She was clutching onto the proposal quite urgently. She had spoken to the Deputy Principal and apparently it had to be in now. It couldn't wait until Mr Knight's next free period as it would be too late for submission which would mean that the excursion would be cancelled, her students wouldn't be able to go see the production in the next town over, and her students would fail because the curriculum hadn't been followed properly as seeing a play was mandatory for the theatre kids' syllabus.

A student opened the door for Mr Knight. 'Thank you, Ana.' Miss Pond said and she came inside. Her hair and dress were hit by the high air conditioning but she battled on. 'I'm sorry to interrupt but Mr Swanhilde wants this signed now. It's the excursion proposal we were discussing at yesterday's meeting.'

'I understand. Give me a moment.' Mr Knight replied and he accepted the proposal. He sat down at his desk.

Miss Pond wandered to the whiteboard and smiled dreamily. 'I love Shakespeare. Where are you guys up to?' Miss Pond asked. A student's hand shot up.

'The themes of Hamlet, ma'am.'

'Wonderful, wonderful. Appearances versus reality... Can anyone elaborate? Or is this the topic you've just started? No matter, I'll just prattle. If this was senior drama, we would be discussing how we would portray that through costume, stage, lighting, music, the elements of drama, as well as style of acting. Anyone have any suggestions as to how we can portray that in production? Come on now, we've been through this in prelim, my students.'

A student's hand went up again. 'Masks?' he suggested.

'Yes, the use of masks can be used to portray appearances versus reality; typically this happens in Greek theatre. In Shakespearian theatre, masks didn't have much of place so other techniques were often used to convey the theme. Can anyone come up with a suggestion as to what we could use in the place of masks to demonstrate appearances versus reality?'

Mr Knight sighed and put his pen down. He rested his hand against his face and his gaze, warm and soft – completely unlike him – settled on miss Pond who enthusiastically went through the a brief overview of Shakespearian theatre and Hamlet themes.

A few students noticed the way Mr Knight's eyes lingered on Miss Pond's exuberant energy. 'Well, brevity is the soul of wit, an ironic comment from Polonius who is characterised as being bit of bumbling mess with his words as he dolls them up a little too much at times, anyways I best be going, um, Fakir – I mean Mr Knight- have you finished with the proposal?' Miss Pond asked as she turned around to face him. He flustered and handed the piece of paper. She briefly looked over it.

Miss Pond truly had a smile that could light up a room because it was able to lighten up sour Mr Knight. 'Fantastic. Well, enjoy what's left of class.' Miss Pond said and she tottered off again like a whirlwind.

'We saw that...' whispered Ana with sly eyes.

'Back to work, I hope some of you were able to find Miss Pond's anecdotes useful. Anyway, continue on with that activity. If you're not careful I will add more homework questions and an essay about Polonius if you are not careful.' Mr Knight snapped embarrassedly but that only caused his students to whisper more about his "flirting" with Miss Pond.