Chapter 1

Cora steps into Ms. Lawrence's classroom and slams her hands on the nearest desk. "Hey Ms. L, who's the hot sub across the hall?" she asks excitedly.

Ms. Lawrence raises her eyebrows at Cora's enthusiasm. "I'm not exactly sure, but to be honest, he is way too old for you," Ms. Lawrence lowers her voice and continues, "and way out of your league. Mine, too."

Jem walks in behind Cora, saying, "Ms. L, remember all those parent-teacher conferences my dad couldn't come to? Well, if you want to talk to him about my grades from three years ago, he's right across the hall. He's a long-term sub for Ms.B's class."

Cora widens her eyes in horror, "You mean to tell me that THAT GUY is your dad, Jem?"

Jem answers, "Yeah, he used to be a lawyer, but he stopped after this one case a few years ago."

At that moment, Mr. Finch walks into Ms. Lawrence's classroom. "Jem, shouldn't you be in class now?" Mr. Finch asks him.

"But Atticus, I want to talk to my favorite English teacher!" Jem whines.

Cora can quietly be heard saying "You call your Dad 'Atticus'?"

Mr. Finch turns to Ms. Lawrence. "You must be Ms. Lawrence," He says, shaking her hand. "Jem has told me so much about you. I believe my daughter, Jean Louise, is in your homeroom class this year. Just so you know, she prefers to go by 'Scout.' Don't worry, she is nothing like Jem. She should be in here, but I don't see her," he says, looking around the classroom."

As if on cue, Scout walks into the class, arms linked with Charles (Little Chuck Little), the nicest boy in school.

Charles gives everyone a dazzling smile. "Good morning, guys! How's it going?"

Jem grins back at Charles, bending down a little to high five him. "Hey man, it's going good. How about you? Got any 'first day of school jitters' yet?"

"Why I'm doin' just fine! I'm sure no first day of school could be worse than that first day with Miss Caroline!" Charles laughed.

Scout rolls her eyes at the memory.

She turns to Ms. Lawrence and greets her. "I'm sure I'll do well in this class, Miss. I've been reading since I was born."

Ms. Lawrence smiles in response to Scout, looking at the substitute, who was beaming with pride towards his daughter. Ms. Lawrence clears her throat, in an attempt to not get too flustered, and asked, "Can we speak, Mr. Finch?"

"Please, call me Atticus." He opens the door for Ms. Lawrence to step outside the classroom.

"Thank you, Mr. Fi- I mean, Atticus. Now, do you have your lesson plans?"

Atticus sighed and rubbed his temples. "No, I'm afraid the teacher didn't leave me any material. I'm sure they had to leave in a hurry and had their own problems, so it's understandable, but…" He chuckled. "It would've been helpful."

Ms. Lawrence's eyes widen. "Well, I could help you with that. Maybe I could bring you the work I give my kids every morning?"

Atticus clasps her hand in gratitude. "That'd be awful nice of you, thank you." He let go and glances into the classroom. "Jem, Scout, you two be good now. Especially you Scout, no fighting."

Scout gasps in offense. "Don't say that in front of my class, Atticus!" she pouted.

Atticus laughs and waves goodbye. "I'll see you around, Ms. Lawrence."

Ms. Lawrence replies, "You too, Atticus, and please, call me Megan."

Atticus walks out of the classroom, just as the warning bell rings.

Ms. Lawrence enters the room and questions, "Cora and Jem, who are your homeroom teachers?"

"Umm.." Cora starts, looking at her schedule. "I don't think I have a first period. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have a free period."

"Me neither," Jem says. "Hey, Ms. L, can I hang in your room in the mornings?"

Ms. Lawrence gives them a skeptical look. The three of them enter a staring contest of sorts, one in which Cora and Jem were losing.

Ms. Lawrence breaks eye contact, saying, "If you were to hang around my room in the mornings, you have to actually help. You can't just sit in here and be distracting."

"Of course," Cora responds.

"Yeah, we got you fam," Jem adds, dabbing, and subsequently knocking down a Slytherin poster off the wall. "Ow," he yelps, holding his left hand with his right. "I think it's broken!"

Scout yells from the back of the classroom, "It's not broken, you nitwit!"

"I'm not a nitwit," Jem retorts," you're a nitwit, you little-"

"Stop!" Ms. Lawrence shouts through her laughter. "Although I would love to be the one to explain to your father that Jem broke his arm dabbing, I would greatly appreciate it if you two could get along while in my classroom." She tapes her Slytherin poster back onto the wall, stating, "Also, Jem and Cora, the two of you are welcome to hang out with my class during first period, as long as you don't pick any fights with my actual students, especially your sister."

Cora snickers behind her hand. "Jem already broke that rule."Jem shoots a withering glare at Cora but lets it drop.

First period passes smoothly, aside from the occasional interruptions of giggling from Jem and Cora.

Kids file out of the classroom as the bell rings for third period. Later on, at the end of the day, a familiar face pops his head in the doorway and knocks on the door lightly. "Hello, Megan!" Atticus greets.

Ms. Lawrence smiles at the sight of her visitor. "What can I do for you, Atticus?"

"Just came to check how your day went. Did Jem and Scout fight at all? It's fine, you can tell me." Atticus grins with a wink.

Ms. Lawrence thinks back to Jem's continuous laughter and Scout's continuous eye-rolls. "Just siblings being siblings." She says.

"Ah, great! Not that I entirely believe you, no offense." Atticus leans against the wall and puts his hands into the pockets of his tailored pants. "It's just that I know my children, and although they're brilliant, they're also... troublesome." An expression of mixed fondness and exhaustion falls over his face. "They haven't changed a bit."

"Oh, I remember Jem's freshman year. There was a reason we needed to have all of those parent-teacher meetings." Ms. Lawrence grins at the memory of Jem's end-of-the-year prank.

Atticus smirks. "Well, I sincerely apologize for whatever terrible grades he earned himself in your class."

"Oh," Ms. Lawrence says, "the most fun I ever had grading was his research paper at the end of the year. It took me twice as long to grade as any other student because I was laughing so much."

"I don't recall Jem doing any research paper. What was it about?"

Ms. Lawrence thinks back to Jem's freshman year, "I believe Jem's research paper was on the history of puns. There was a pun on nearly every line, and somehow he had managed to rickroll me."

Atticus chuckled. "That's clever. What's a rickroll, though?"

Ms. Lawrence stars blankly at Atticus.

Cora burst through the door, shouting, "How do you not know what a rickroll is?!"

Jem runs into the classroom, singing at the top of his lungs "NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP NEVER GONNA LET YOU DOWN NEVER GONNA RUN AROUND AND DESERT YOU NEVER GONNA SAY GOODBYE NEVER GONNA LET YOU CRY NEVER GONNA TELL A LIE AND HURT YOU!!!"

Ms. Lawrence turns to Atticus saying, "You, sir, have just been Rickrolled by your own son."

Atticus looks at Jem for a second, then shakes his head. "Nope." He says as he walks out.

"You should try out for the musical," Cora tells Jem. "We could really use another tenor. All of them graduated last year."

"Oh, really? What's the musical about this year?""It's about bootleggers and adultery."

"Well, that sounds…..interesting."

"Oh, my reaction exactly." Cora waves her hand about. "But really, it's super fun, and you'd definitely get in. I mean, you have the voice, and you're plenty of drama."

Jem straightens and puffs his chest out. He put his hands on his waist. "Well, if I'm such a shoo-in, then why not?"

Ms. Lawrence leans into Cora's ear. "Did he even hear the last thing you said?"

Cora whispers back, "Probably not, but it's better that way. Now his ego is boosted."

Scout stuck her head in the doorway. "Jem, let's go! Stop flirting with Cora! And what's with that hero pose?"

A blush spread over Jem's cheeks."I am NOT flirting! And I just decided to try out for the musical. It's the most manly of the theatrical productions."

Scout looks at her brother, unimpressed. "Whatever, let's go, we're gonna be late."

Atticus walks back in with a briefcase by his side. "Are you two ready?"

Scout points at Jem. "He's still in his fantasy world. He's saying he'll join the manliest musical."

Ms. Lawrence continues Atticus's thought. "Yeah, Jem. I'm sure you'll make it, you'll be great."

Jem goes back into his confident pose.

Scout tugs at Jem's arm. "Let's go! Stop looking so smug or I'm gonna scream!"

Jem swatted her off. "Fine, fine. Bye, Ms. L. Bye, Cora." he hugs Cora and waves goodbye as he exited with his father and sister.

Cora sat on a desk and started swinging her legs. She leans in and gives a wide grin. "So, how'd you like the first day, Ms. Lawrence?"

Ms. Lawrence rested her head on her hand, smiling, looking out the door and across the hall, "It's going to be a good year."