Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Stravaganza. But you better believe that I would like to own Falco/Nicholas.
"Did you here that the history teacher got sick with food poisoning and won't be able to give us that lecture on the Medici. Personally, I never did like him but he was tolerable when he wasn't talking his brains out," gossiped Daniel. Daniel always was a gossip fanatic, even though that was slightly weird for a boy to get into. Also he was the ex-captain of the fencing team and the best male friend of the new captain, Nicholas Duke.
"What do you mean he's sick!" wailed Nicholas.
Being that he was from 400 years in the past, Nicholas was one of Mr. Lester's best, and most interested students. Of course no one knew that Nicholas was that old or that he was from another dimension. He was also the only one looking forward to the lecture.
"Well all I know is that he went to that one restaurant on that one street and when he got home he was sick," said Daniel.
"Wow that's loads of information, how do you manage it?" teased Nick.
"You're mocking me aren't you?"
"Well do you know the substitutes name?"
"………uhhhhh………Mr.….Something?"
"Yeah that's really going to help me when I introduce my self to him."
"Why do you always introduce your self to the substitutes anyway."
As usual the conversation continued on like this for about another minute or so before both boys had to get to class. Of course nothing was gained in the end, so the conversation was utterly pointless. Just like most of Daniel and Nicholas's conversations.
All through Nicholas's next class, what Daniel had said was slightly nagging on the back of Nicholas's brain. There was just something not right about the history teacher being gone, and the only time that that nagging feeling was there was when Nicholas was around another Stravaganti. Of course, he just thought that it was because Georgia was in the class next door to his and Sky was in the gym which was just downstairs from Nick's French class.
When Nicholas finally got to his history class, he knew that he was going to be terribly bored. The substitute hadn't even had written his name on the board and looked completely frazzled from the last class. He completely forgot to even introduce himself before moving into roll call.
"All right class settle down now," said the substitute in a quiet and obviously tired voice.
All that he wanted to do is get home, but in order for him to go home he had to make it through this last class. So he might as well start by taking roll.
"I will start class today by calling roll. This is one of my least favorite parts of class but it must be done. After this is over I'll tell you a bit about my history and about my family then all you have to is watch a movie until the end of the hour. Simple but I expect 100 attentiveness while I talk understood…Good."
"James Applefeild?"
"Here."
"Kenny Blaston?"
"He's sick with the flu."
"Okay. Thank You. Charles Connet?"
"Present."
"Robert Donno? Has anyone seen Robert?"
"Yeah he's still asleep in his last class."
"Nicholas Duke?"
"Hello sir."
"Ooookay. LeAnna Kristo?"
And so the roll was taken. No one's name was severely mutilated, but everyone did laugh at Daniel when his voice cracked while saying "I'm here but my brain sure isn't." Once the teacher had started the lecture on history and why it is important to you and your future, all the students realized the class wasn't going to be nearly as boring as they first thought.
"And so, class, anyone who doesn't study history are doomed to repeat it," he said near the end of the period.
"Mr. Teacher, can I go to the bathroom?" interrupted Jone
"Sure, but did I not tell you my name?" asked the teacher.
"No." replied the class in unison.
The substitute turned to see if he had written his name on the board, which he hadn't, then, picking up the chalk he proceeded to write his name and double underline it.
"Well class since I neglected to tell you my name first off, I'll tell you it right now. My name is William Dethridge the fifth. If you trace my ancestors back far enough you will find that I am related to the Dr. William Dethridge who was an alchemist for Queen Elizabeth the First in the sixteenth century." the substitute calmly stated not knowing the effect that statement would have on Nicholas Duke.
To put it shortly, Nicholas fell out of his chair.
"You've got to be kidding me," Nicholas yelled.
"Why would I do that," replied Mr. Dethridge, "I'm just telling you a fact that I thought was interesting. Now will you stop catching flies and get back in your seat."
"If you really did do all that research then you must know about all the times when Dr. Dethridge the first was transported to the undertaker and sat up in his coffin and how it freaked all the people at his funeral out," Nicholas replied shakily as he climbed back in to his desk.
Of course Nicholas knew all this because the first Dr. Dethridge was the one who was fostering Lucien, or Luciano as he was now known in Talia as, and Nicholas was being fostered by Lucien's parents. Lucien had appeared to die of brain cancer one year before Nicholas came to our time, so Nicholas had heard of both Dr. Dethridge's and Lucien's absences while they were stravagating.
Dr. Dethridge's absences happened because he didn't know that stravagating during our day time would result in his body appearing to be in a coma or be dead. He eventually used this to his advantage when he was sentenced to death for working with the devil. The only reason people thought this was because of toughs times when he sat up in his coffin.
Lucien only had absences when he returned home to late and when he was kidnapped by Nicholas's cousin Rinaldo di Chimici. The latter being the reason for Lucien's parents and doctors for believing him to be brain dead and having the life support system turned off.
Because of all the racket that was caused by Nicholas falling out of his chair and yelling practically at the top of his lungs, Georgia, who was on her way back from the rest room, decided to stop in and find out what was going on.
"Is every thing alright, sir? I just heard Nicholas yelling while I was on my way back to class, so I wondered if you had everything under control," said Georgia.
"Yes and no," replied Mr. Dethridge, "All I did was tell the class my name and that boy, Nicholas was it, just freaked out and started reciting some facts about my ancestor as if he knew him."
"Well, Nick does have his reasons for doing things like that, sir. I am probably one of the few people that can truly understand why he does these things. So, what is your name, I don't think I've met you. My name is Georgia O' Grady."
Just then the bell rang and the entire class leapt to their feet except Nicholas who stayed right where he was at. He was blushing from ear to ear he was so embarrassed. All he wanted to do now was dig a hole into the ground and hide there for a while.
To Be Continued…