The bell to start school rang. Few were still in the halls but those that were went running to whatever classroom they belonged in. Being the new and youngest teacher in the school, having been brought in last minute for the second semester when the previous teacher died suddenly in a drunk driving incident, Dr. Rodney McKay knew that this year was going to be hell. Sitting at the teachers desk in the front of the room he knew a great many of the students still entering the room thought that he was a new kid that had lots of guts. Boy would they be in for a rude awakening.
He tried to guess what some of his students would be like by just looking at them. The old saying 'don't judge a book by it's cover' went completely ignored by him. How else would you know if you liked a book if it didn't have an interesting cover?
The boy with the messy black hair, who had sat himself in the back, would probably be the most trouble. He was making the most noise and had most of the people in the class paying attention to him. All the students, minus those wondering where the teacher was because the teenager at the front of the room couldn't possibly be the teacher, were looking at him, watching what he did and listening to what he said. He was obviously one of the popular kids.
The last of the stragglers ran in, and Rodney got up to close the door. Pulling his keys out of his pocket, he locked the door and closed it. No latecomers to his class, if you weren't there before the door was closed you weren't getting in. They'd learn that fast enough, he wouldn't stand for tardiness. That done, he walked to the center front of the room and stood there in his casual yet dressy outfit of a dress shirt, tie, and dressy but comfortable pants. Old and tattered sneakers finished off and clashed horribly with the outfit. He stood there and waited for their attention to be given to him and slowly but surely the students in front of him realized that yes, indeed, this kid was in fact their new math teacher. None wanted to believe that someone younger than them was able to be a teacher, but they didn't know him.
"I am Dr. Rodney McKay. I may only be sixteen but I am in fact your teacher and have complete control over whether you pass or fail. For some of you that also means I control whether you graduate or not. So I suggest shutting up and listening to what I have to say!" Rodney stalked over to the teenager that had given Rodney one look and continued talking to his neighbor, who was actually trying to listen to what Rodney had to say.
Grabbing the disruptive boy by the ear and dragging him to the front of the class, Rodney wrote an equation that none of them could ever hope of finishing until the very end of the year onto the blackboard. Handing the chalk to the teen Rodney stepped back.
"You apparently think you're smarter than me so go ahead and tell the class how to do this problem." Rodney told the boy dismissively. The teen looked from the question to Rodney before actually turning and giving the problem a go. Rodney almost cried at how wrong it was, and the teen obviously knew it because he slammed the chalk back into Rodney's hand before turning to him angrily.
"It's impossible! Not even you could get the answer!" The teen barked. Rodney laughed and shook his head.
"Oh I could get it in my sleep. However disruptive little peabrains can't, because they don't pay attention long enough to know that this-" Rodney paused to point at the question, "-style of question won't be coming up until the very end of the year." Rodney crossed his arms and gave the teen a look that clearly stated 'I'm smarter than you so back down'. The teen didn't like it, but quietly went back to his seat.
The first few months passed quite smoothly. There were a few more incidents of students not believing that a sixteen-year-old was teaching one of the Math12 classes but revolts were quickly squashed with insults hidden in embarrassing situations. The first teen, named John Sheppard Rodney found out, was the worst. He seemed to live for making Rodney's classes as hard to get through as possible, and all because of the embarrassment that Rodney had put him through on the first day.
While the rest of the teachers allowed water and all types of juice (as long as it was in bottles and not cans) in class so that the students didn't dehydrate Rodney quickly established a 'no citrus' rule. No explanation was given other than he was the teacher so they had to do what he said. John was the worst for disobeying the rule, and while the other teachers didn't like it they didn't say anything when John was given detentions every single time Rodney found John with a drink with citrus in it. The teachers knew why Rodney had made the rule but specifically kept silent about it at Rodney's request.
John, however, was getting sick of it. He had accumulated twelve detentions, and it was seriously cutting into the time he usually spent playing football with his friends, and going on dates with cheerleaders. He had a plan.
Third-period math came around and John's master plan was put into action. He had gotten a few of his friends to occupy the teenage teacher outside the room with questions about the stuff covered in class the day before. John swapped Rodney's water bottle – one that had at one time been filled with mineral water but was now simply filled with tap water – with one that was the exact same only filled with lemonade. It was a simple and harmless prank that wouldn't hurt anyone, but would really piss their teacher off. And no one would rat John Sheppard out, they wouldn't dare. The bottle was tinted blue slightly so the difference was hard to tell unless you were actually looking for it. The label covered a majority of the bottle and hid the little floating bits of lemon.
John ran to his seat when the bell suddenly rung. The second water bottle was stuffed into his bag and hidden beneath papers and a binder. Rodney walked into the room, John's friends in tow, still trying to explain the answer to the question that was asked of him in as simple a terms as he could. Once at his desk he shooed the boys away to their desks, collecting his keys from a drawer so that he could lock the door. John had only once been locked outside the door for being late, and he hadn't liked it. No one needed to look around the room to know that everyone that wanted to be in class was already there.
The first thing Rodney did was start writing equations on the blackboard. They had just started a new chapter in the book and many people were having trouble with it, so much so that they were behind the other classes. Rodney was determined to have them catch up and surpass the other class, and all the geeks in the class agreed. John silently agreed with them also, many of his friends were in the other classes and he didn't like the idea of being behind them.
"Okay. This is a series of simple equations. I assume you all took notes on my three explanations of how these work so I'm assuming that you can work through these. If you have any questions come up to my desk and ask them." Rodney said loudly before going to his desk. Despite being very hard to get along with and rarely giving out compliments, every one of his students liked being in his class. Because when he finally did give out a compliment it meant more. Other teachers softened their reprimends on what you did wrong, Rodney didn't. He told you exactly what he thought and many a student respected him for it.
Five minutes of silence passed as everyone wrote down the equations in their binders. Rodney was writing something on paper himself, though god only knew what. John silently pretended that Rodney was writing a letter home, to his parents and two younger siblings. A younger brother and sister, who he loved more than life itself and was only trying to set a good example for them. John had always wanted an older brother like that, except got stuck with two older brothers that couldn't care less about what happened to John.
John grinned behind his books as Rodney grabbed the water bottle. No one in the class laughed, knew that it would arouse the suspicion of their extremely paranoid teacher. The cap was slowly unscrewed as Rodney re-read what he had been writing. The bottle was brought up to Rodney's mouth and tipped so that the refreshing liquid inside it would fall into Rodney's mouth...
And was just as quickly spat back out. All over The books, papers, and yet-to-be-graded homework that covered his desk. His chair was knocked backwards and Rodney's eyes were wide as dinner plates. He clutched his neck and dropped onto his knees to a drawer in his desk close to the floor. It had a lock on it, to keep students from stealing anything in it. Fumbling with his keys Rodney tried to find the proper one but wasn't able.
More than a few students were standing and trying to figure out what was going on. They had all seen John swap their teacher's bottle for another one. The colour their teacher's face was turning couldn't possibly be good and John was starting to get really scared. He recognized the reaction, had watched his oldest brother go through the exact same situation only because of peanut butter. He realized too late just what was going on, just as their teacher passed out from John could only guess was either lack of air or low blood pressure.
John jumped up and ran to Rodney's side. His friends, who had been in on the prank, ran with him. John immediately checked on Rodney's pulse, praying that he found one. He instantly wished that he had payed more attention in health class.
One of John's friends bypassed John and Rodney and immediately grabbed the keys their teacher had been trying to sort out. He tried a few different ones before finally opening the drawer and pulled out what they all guessed their teacher was trying to get to. An epi-pen.
"Go get Mr. Ruben!" John shouted to no one in particular. The girl that was sitting closest to the door shot out of her seat and out the door, not closing it behind her. John grabbed the epi-pen from his friend and injected it just as he had been shown by a doctor when he had gone to see if his brother was okay. The girl returned quickly with Mr. Ruben, the history teacher in the classroom across the hall.
"What happened?" Mr. Ruben demanded quickly. A wave of relief at having an adult in the room visibly went through the students.
"It was a joke, I swear. I swapped his water bottle with one filled with lemonade, I didn't know he was allergic. I thought he just didn't like the stuff!" John said quickly. Fear gripped every part of him. Mr. Ruben nodded quickly. "Noah got the epi-pen out of his desk and I stuck Dr. McKay with it." John explained as Mr. Ruben picked Rodney up easily. Mr. Ruben was also the football coach, coupled with how skinny Rodney was made it easy for the man to lift the sixteen year old.
"I know, John. You should know better, though, to do stuff like that. Doesn't your eldest brother have a severe allergy?" Mr. Ruben reprimanded. John nodded guiltily as he followed the teacher out of the classroom, head hung low. He was in trouble, he knew it. He was going to be suspended. He just knew it, and Rodney was going to die because of him.
- Twenty-two years later -
Rodney and John sat in the commissary, eating lunch. John had drug Rodney away from the lab, where he had been torturing the scientists. Rodney was drinking water out of a water bottle and John couldn't help himself.
"You sure that's water in there?" John asked. Teyla and Ronon looked at John, not understanding why John would ask Rodney something like that. Rodney threw John a dirty look.
"Yes. It hasn't left my sight since I got it, I made sure not to leave it unattended with you around. God only knows what you'll put in it next time." Rodney said irritably. "Next time you'll probably put something in it that'll actually kill me as soon as I drink it." Rodney continued. John grinned.
"You know you had fun getting out of work early." John grinned. Rodney rolled his eyes.
"Yes. Tons of fun having you hanging around my deathbed while I tried to sleep, going on about how sorry you were and that it'd never happen again. Begging me to forgive you for doing something so stupid." Rodney returned. Teyla and Ronon were as confused as ever as John started laughing.
"I had to stay out of school somehow. Annoying you was the best way to have it happen." John laughed. Rodney huffed and crossed his arms, looking very annoyed but not saying anything.