Do you know how sad it is to be a man alone?
I feel so solitary being in my home
Without you, don't know what to do
And I don't know where you are
I can see my life is meant to fall apart some day
Just to be a simple man who sadly lost his way
Got no girl so I got no world
And I got no words left to say
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
Come, make me happy
Like I've never known before
Say, say, say, say, say
Have you ever known no heart
Who need anymore?
Where are you?
What's that sound around my heart I feel?
Something new
I'm sure your love you've given must be real
I know now
And I'm sure of how
I can be the man I feel
I can be the man I feel
- Blues From an Airplane by Jefferson Airplane
"In the spirit of Halloween, I brought something to pass out," Professor Winkler announced as he wrapped up his lecture on mechatronics. An excited energy came over the room as students began quietly speculating with their neighbors what it might be.
"You only wish it was candy," Winkler said loudly, taking back control of the room. "I'm handing back your mid-terms. For many of you, this is not a treat." His announcements was greeted by groans from almost every student. Ignoring their sounds of protest he continued, "Today is also the last day to submit next semester's schedule request forms. I recommend you carefully consider your grade on this test when deciding which classes to select, especially if you are a sophomore planning on declaring a Mechanical Engineering Major."
Wallace, who was sitting in the middle of the classroom, remained quiet. There was a lot riding on this grade. For starters, there was the basketball scholarship. He had almost lost it last year while taking Winkler's Intro to Mechanical Engineering class. He needed a C to play and he had barely gotten by with a B-; in order to do that well, he had been forced to give up his chance to be on the starting line-up for more study time. Of course it hadn't helped that he had been caught cheating on his first exam for that class, but at least Winkler had just given him a zero on the exam instead of insisting he be expelled. Despite all that drama, he signed up to take the follow-up course with Winkler this year; it hadn't been any easier and this time he couldn't pass up being a starter and the extra practice time that came with it, at least not if he wanted to keep his scholarship.
In addition to its impact on basketball, this was also the class that would determine his future. For as long as Wallace could remember he had wanted to be an engineer. His dad Hank had been an engineer, and growing up Wallace had always wanted to be like him. The day he found out that Hank wasn't his biological father had thrown him into an identity crisis, but the dream of becoming an engineer had remained constant. It wasn't until he actually started taking engineering classes that Wallace began to question if this was the right path for him.
Before the exam, Wallace had determined that based on the first couple of quizzes they had taken he would need at least a B on the mid-term to put him in good-standing for the final exam. He just wasn't sure if he would be able to get that B. He had spent hours and hours studying for the test, driving his roommates Mac and Piz crazy with so many requests for absolute silence. They finally demanded he leave their off-campus apartment and study in the library until his test was over. So that's what he did.
By the time he got to the exam, he was sure he knew the material cold, but afterwards he couldn't help but call Veronica up in Washington DC and say, "Hey, V. I just failed engineering."
"Well, hello to you too," Veronica replied slightly out of breath. Wallace heard people talking in the background as well as cars driving past. He was about to say something when the sound of a siren came blaring through.
"Is everything alright, Veronica?" Wallace asked as the siren faded away. Suddenly everything on Veronica's end became muffled. Wallace tried to make out what she was saying, but it was nearly impossible. Finally, Veronica's voice came back.
"Sorry about that, Papa Bear. I was just walking back to the dorms with some friends. Ignore the sirens, I live just a few blocks from the hospital."
Wallace was caught a little off-guard when Veronica mentioned her friends. A year ago he would have known exactly who she was talking about – Mac and Logan, possibly Parker or Piz. Now that she was at George Washington University he had no idea who her friends were or where she hung out. She really hadn't told him much about her life there yet. He wondered what they talked about; if she asked them for favors when sleuthing; or if she made them snickerdoodles when they were having a bad day. It felt unsettling not really knowing; but then he realized that must have been what she felt when he ran off to Chicago.
"Mars to Fennel? Come in,Wallace," Wallace heard Veronica say.
"My mind's a little scattered today. Sorry," he apologized.
"That's ok," Veronica said sounding concerned. "So what's this about a failed test?"
Wallace tried to play it casual. "It's nothing, just my engineering mid-term."
"Is this the test Mac was telling me about yesterday? I think her words were 'it's turning Wallace into a soul-sucking zombie'."
"That would be the one," Wallace confirmed.
"Pretty fast turn-around on the grading considering you finished maybe…half an hour ago." When Veronica paused Wallace pictured her checking her watch.
"Technically, it was 15 minutes ago; and they haven't actually been graded yet," he admitted.
"Ah, the truth emerges," Veronica said, followed by a muffled, "Thanks. Hey there. Just give me five minutes."
"Did I catch you at a bad time, Veronica?"
"Not at all. It's 7:45 and the line for the cafeteria closes in 15, but I still have a few minutes to talk to my BFF before I have to grab some grub," Veronica insisted, her voice coming out much clearer. Wallace guessed that the lack of background interference meant that she had reached her dorm and gone inside. "You don't actually know that you failed this test. You just think you did." Veronica pointed out.
Wallace sighed, "Yeah, I guess. I do know that if I don't pass this test then I'm not going to pass this course, and I can't be an engineer without that credit."
"Why are you so sure you failed? Don't tell me you got a copy of the test from Max and then it was a different test," Veronica asked.
"No, way!." Wallace scoffed, but then confessed, "Max offered to sell me the study guide again when he was over to see Mac the other day, but I told him no thanks. I learned that lesson."
"Good boy," Veronica replied, sounding relieved. "From what I've heard, you've been studying your ass off. I'm sure that you passed."
"Yeah," Wallace said, "but…"
"What if this isn't about the test? What if this is about choosing a major?" Veronica cut him off.
"How did you know it's major decision time?"
"Have you forgotten who you're talking to? I have my sources," Veronica playfully reminded him. "And maybe the Registrar's Office forgot to take me off of their mailing list and sent a 'Pick your major' reminder to Dad's apartment."
Wallace chuckled. "They just didn't want to see you to leave Hearst."
"Well, they're going to have to accept that I'm an East Coast girl now. Speaking of leaves, you should see…"
"Veronica, they're getting ready to close the cafeteria line," a masculine voice came through the background on Veronica's end of the line. He sounded like he was standing really close to her, intimately close. At that same moment Wallace looked up and saw Logan striding toward the student union. As if he could sense another man was talking to Veronica, Logan turned and looked directly at Wallace. For a moment Wallace worried that Logan was going to come over, but thankfully Logan just gave him a small wave and headed on his way.
"Wallace, I'm sorry but I think I'm going to have to go," Veronica apologized.
Worried that Logan might turn around Wallace answered quickly, "That's ok."
He must have answered too quickly because she asked, "Is everything ok over there?"
"Yeah, I just saw this girl. She was super fine," Wallace lied, hoping he didn't trip Veronica's bullshit meter.
There was an awkward moment of silence and Wallace was afraid that she was going to call him out, but instead she finally laughed, "Of course you did. Like I said before, Wallace, you big stud, I'm sure you passed your test; but maybe you want to consider looking at other majors, you know – as a plan B. Not that you'll need to use it."
"Thanks. I'll think about it," Wallace agreed.
"I miss you, Wallace. I'll email you later."
Before Wallace had the chance to respond, the line went dead.
Wallace couldn't help but bounce his knee as he waited for Winkler to hand him his test. He was one of the last students still in the classroom when the Professor finally came over to his seat and dropped his exam face down on the desk top.
"Good job, Fennel," Winkler said before moving on.
Wallace scrambled to flip his test over. When he finally turned it right side up he let his eyes quickly scan the top of the exam. Scrawled in red ink was a "B+".
Wallace sighed with relief, but for some reason his feeling of unease wouldn't go away. Wallace opened his notebook and pulled out his semester schedule form. He had gone ahead and filled it out with the mechanical engineering courses he would need, but for some reason it just felt wrong.
Winkler finished handing out all the exams, gathered up the rest of his materials, and started to leave. As he walked past Wallace he stopped.
"What's wrong, Fennel?"
Wallace looked at his teacher and then said, "I always wanted to build planes - real versions of the models that my dad and I put together when I was a kid."
Winkler set his bag on the floor and sat on the desk top across from Wallace's seat. "A lot of students start out in mechanical engineering for that same reason."
"I just don't know if I feel that way anymore," Wallace confessed.
Winkler nodded before asking, "Why is that?"
Wallace sat and thought for a moment. Finally he said, "I don't know if I would be happy just being an engineer." Winkler raised both eyebrows, a move that all his students knew meant "elaborate further," so Wallace carried on.
"I spent part of last summer in Uganda, volunteering with Invisible Children at one of the rehabilitation centers for children rescued from Kony's army. I mostly taught them how to play basketball, letting them play like kids should. It was amazing to see the joy on their faces when they figured out how to dribble or when they made their first basket. When I compare the fulfillment I felt watching those kids learn compared to what I feel when I fly a model plane that I've built from the ground up for the first time, well the planes pale in comparison."
"I see." Winkler paused a moment and then said, "I'm going to be honest with you, Wallace. When you came to my class last year, I was sure you were going to wash out; but your tenacity to stick it out has made you one of my favorite students."
"Thank you, Professor Winkler," Wallace replied.
Winkler nodded and then continued, "One of the reasons I often call on you to answer questions in class, even when you don't volunteer, is that you somehow manage to word your responses in a way that helps your classmates understand the concepts better. I think you have the potential to be a very good engineer, but I think you have the potential to be an excellent teacher."
Wallace thought for a moment. When Veronica had mentioned picking another major, he had considered math or physics; education hadn't even crossed his mind. Wallace liked engineering because he liked the process of discovery, but not just for himself - for other people too. He liked helping other people figure out how things worked; it was why he didn't mind helping Veronica with her mysteries, even when he didn't care about the drama surrounding them. Slowly Wallace began to see himself as a teacher, but still one question remained. Would Wallace be happy as a teacher?
Wallace thought back to a picture one of the Invisible Children volunteers had taken of him helping a kid with their layups. When he had shown it to his mom, Alicia, she told Wallace that he reminded her of Hank. To prove her point, she pulled out a photo she had taken of Wallace and Hank building one of their model airplanes. The smile Wallace wore in the first photo matched the smile Hank was wearing in the second. Thinking about that moment, Wallace realized that Hank wasn't happy because he was building a plane – he was happy because he was seeing Wallace learn how to build a plane.
For the first time since he finished his exam, Wallace felt the knot in his stomach go away.
"Let me see that schedule," Winkler said, not really asking for permission. Wallace picked it up and handed it to his professor. He spent a minute going over it and then handed it back to Wallace. "Why don't you come back with me to my office so we can look at the school catalog and figure out a better schedule for you next semester?"
"That'd be great," Wallace agreed. He picked up his stuff and followed his professor out of the classroom.
It took Wallace and Professor Winkler an hour to hammer out what would best suit Wallace's needs. Hearst had an Education program, but students could only minor in it. At first Wallace thought of sticking with the Mechanical Engineering major and adding the Education minor, but Winkler thought that work load might be too much given his basketball schedule. Instead, he recommended that Wallace take on a more general interest major that would complement education, like Psychology. It seemed reasonable to Wallace, especially since he had already taken the Intro to Psych course his freshman year.
It was 4:45 by the time Wallace left Professor Winkler's office with his new schedule in hand. He had two options: he could try to make it to the Registrar's Office in Michael Hall before it closed in 15 minutes or he could turn the form in late the next day. Turning it in late meant he had no guarantee that he would get into any of his requested classes, all of which were necessary for his new academic program. Wallace decided to run for it. He kept focused on making it to the Michael Hall, yelling "coming through" and running through groups of people who didn't get out of the way. He ignored classmates who shouted "Hey, Wallace!" or "Good luck at the game!" as he sprinted past them. Just as he reached his destination, he crossed paths with Mac.
"Hey Wallace! Did you get your mid-term back?" she greeted him with a smile.
"Can't talk now, Mac," he yelled as he yanked open the door and went running down the hallway, leaving the now-concerned computer hacker behind him.
Wallace glanced at the clock on the wall just as he approached the door to the Registrar's office; it read 4:55 – he had made it with five minutes to spare. Wallace reached for the door knob and twisted, only to find it wouldn't move. The door was locked.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Wallace yelled to no one in particular. He spun around and looked at some of the other offices around him. All their doors were closed and very few had lights on behind them. It suddenly hit Wallace that he was the only one in the hall. It looked like all the Admin Offices were closed. With a groan, Wallace leaned against the Registrar's door, sunk to the floor, and closed his eyes.
Wallace wasn't sure how much time had passed when he first heard heavy footsteps accompanied by the jingling of a key chain coming towards him from down the hall. He hoped that the person would walk on by, but just his luck whoever it was stopped right in front of him.
"Wallace?" came a deep voice that sounded like Weevil Navarro.
Wallace looked up and sure enough the former PCHer was standing in front of him, wearing his workman blues and carrying a mop in one hand.
"Hey, Weevil," Wallace greeted him.
"You do know that this building is closed now? They sent everyone home early so they could take their kids Trick-or-Treating," Weevil said as he extended a hand to help Wallace up.
Wallace grimaced for a moment. Not only was he late dropping of his schedule form, he was now going to be late taking his brother Darrell Trick-or-Treating like he promised his Mom he would do. He accepted Weevil's hand and pushed himself up from the floor as Weevil pulled.
"Thanks, man. I'll get out of your way," Wallace said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed dejectedly towards the exit. His left hand was still holding the semester schedule form.
"Did you need something in there?"
Wallace had only taken a few steps when he heard the question. He turned around and looked at Weevil. "I just needed to drop this off. The deadline was today at 5. Guess I missed it."
Weevil scratched the side of his face, causing his eyes to squint. After a second he stopped and said "Look, I know we didn't get off to a good start in high school, with me taping you to a flagpole and everything."
"Thanks for the reminder," Wallace replied a little sarcastically.
Weevil frowned at Wallace before asking, "Can I finish?" Wallace just nodded his head.
"What I was going to say, I know that you helped Veronica on some of those things she did for me. Maybe this one time I could unlock this door for you so you can turn in your form thing. Of course, if you don't want my help…"
"I'll take it!" Wallace blurted out, instantly feeling guilty about taking advantage of Weevil. In a much more polite tone, Wallace added, "I mean, it would be awesome if you'd do that for me."
Without saying a word, Weevil leaned the mop against the wall and pulled his key chain away from his waist. He spent a few moments shifting through keys, and when he was satisfied that he found the right one he placed it into the keyhole. The sound of the lock opening echoed through the hallway and Wallace wasn't sure he had ever heard a better sound. Weevil turned the door knob and then pushed open the door.
Wallace grinned big as he skipped passed Weevil and into the office. It only took him a moment to spot the box to hand in schedule forms so he dropped his in before practically dancing his way out of there.
With a sigh of relief, Wallace looked at Weevil who was already relocking the door. "Thanks, Weevil. I really appreciate you doing that for me. If there is anything I can do for you…"
Weevil waved him off before saying, "If you talk to Veronica, tell her hi from me." He then picked up the mop and headed back on down the hallway.
Wallace made it to his mom's house just in time to take Darrell around the neighborhood Trick or Treating. Afterwards his mom insisted that he stay for dinner.
Wallace was about to put a forkful of mash potatoes in his mouth when Alicia asked, "Didn't you mention on the phone last week that you had an engineering test? Do you know how you did yet?"
Wallace nodded. "Yup, B+."
"That's excellent, Wallace." Alicia took a sip of her water and then smiled. "Hank would be so proud of you," she added.
Wallace purposefully took the bite of mash potatoes so he wouldn't have to answer. He still wasn't sure how to talk to his mom about his dads. She tolerated the fact that he was getting to know his biological father, Nathan Woods; but he couldn't help noticing that whenever his name came up she would come back with at least two stories featuring his adopted dad, Hank Fennel. It was like she was afraid Wallace was going to forget Hank because he now had Nathan. Thankfully, Darrell used the break in conversation to start talking about his Halloween party at school.
After dinner Wallace volunteered to do dishes while Alicia put Darrell to bed. He was almost done when she came back in, carrying a cardboard box full of things.
"This is for you, Wallace," Alicia said, setting the box on the table. Wallace pulled his hands out of the soapy water and wiped them on a dishtowel before coming over to the table. He glanced in the box, only to find various things from his room at home: his Neptune High yearbook, his mortarboard from graduation, and a framed photo of him, Mac, and Veronica was on top.
"Your brother asked if he could have your old room since it was bigger and I told him to go ahead," Alicia explained. "We went through and moved most of your things to Darell's old room, but these things seemed more personal; although I'm not even going to ask what's up with you having an envelope labeled 'evidence'. Anyways, I thought you might want to keep them with you at your apartment."
Wallace started rifling through the contents of the box. He smiled as the memories attached to each article came flooding back, but then stopped when he got to a hard hat. He pulled it out and turned it over so he could look inside. Along the rim was a piece of faded and cracked masking tape that had "Hank Fennel" written across it.
"Your father would have wanted you to have that," Alicia said.
A knot began to form in Wallace's stomach again. Carefully he placed the hat back into the box. "About that, Mom," he began, his voice uncertain.
Alicia's features immediately stiffened, "Wallace Henry Fennel, what have you done?"
"Nothing bad, I promise," Wallace immediately answered.
"Please don't tell me you decided to follow Veronica to Washington D.C. I know she's your best friend, but..."
"No, Mom. I'm staying right here in Neptune," Wallace cut her off. He could tell that this conversation was going bad fast so he blurted out, "I'm not going to be an engineer."
A surprised look came over Alicia. There was a second of silence before she said, "Excuse me? What did you say?" The look on her face clearly read, "You better rethink that idea."
Wallace straightened his spine and said confidently, "I don't want to be an engineer anymore so I'm changing majors."
"If you aren't going to be an engineer, what do you plan on doing?" Alicia enunciated every word carefully.
"I'm thinking teaching," Wallace kept his response simple.
Alicia's body immediately relaxed. She let out a loud breath and then sighed, "Thank God!"
"What do you mean, 'Thank God,'?" Wallace asked surprised.
Alicia looked Wallace in the eye, "For a moment there, I thought you were going to tell me that you were dropping out of school to go into law enforcement, like Nathan."
Wallace gave his mom the side eye before admitting, "I've done more than my fair share of mystery solving in this lifetime."
Neither one of them said anything for a second, but then suddenly Alicia let out a small chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Wallace asked.
"Did I ever tell you," she began, "that when I met Hank, he was a teacher?"
Wallace leaned back in his chair. "No, I never heard this story."
Alicia smiled and her eyes focused on some point in the distance, "One of my girlfriends was teaching at this high school and they needed extra adults to chaperone a dance. I had left Nathan two months earlier and had just found out I was pregnant. My friend thought that I needed to get out and have some fun so she roped me into coming, promising to introduce me to their 'new, hot, single principal'. Instead of hitting it off with him, I ended up going out for burgers after the dance with the quiet shop teacher, Hank Fennel."
"Dad was a shop teacher?"
"He was. He taught while finishing up his engineering degree at night school." Alicia's eyes focused back on Wallace, "He'd be so proud of you choosing to be an educator."
It was 9:00 by the time Wallace left his old house. He tossed the box his mom had given him onto the front passenger seat of his car and then sat down in the driver's seat. As he turned the ignition key, he turned his head and glanced at the box. A tiny sliver of yellow caught his eye so he reached over and fished it out.
He found himself holding the yellow envelope his mom had spoken about earlier. The word "Evidence" was spelled out in large, black, block letters along the top; just below that someone had scribbled the words "Sac-N-Pac Security Camera, Sept. 7, 2004." Wallace laughed as he realized what he was holding. He had forgotten that he even had it.
Instead of heading back to his place, Wallace drove over to the Pacific Palms Apartments, a low-rent apartment building in the 07 zip code. He had heard Veronica once mention that Weevil lived there and he hoped that he still did.
Wallace parked his car under a street lamp outside the gates of the apartment complex, grabbed the Evidence envelope, and headed over to the mailboxes. Fortunately each mailbox was labeled with both the apartment number and the last name of the resident. Wallace quickly scanned each mailbox until he spotted "Navarro" on box 117.
Before he could change his mind, Wallace found Apt 117 and rapped on the door. He could hear machine gun fire from a video game coming from behind the door. After waiting a few moments, Wallace knocked on the door again, louder this time. "I'm coming!" a voice boomed, followed by a pause in the machine gun fire. Footsteps approached the door and then stopped just before the light from the key hole dimmed. For a brief moment Wallace worried that he had picked the wrong apartment, but then he heard the slide of a dead bolt. The door opened and Wallace found himself face to face with Weevil.
"You lost or something?" Weevil asked. He had changed out of his blue coveralls and into a pair of grey sweat pants and a white tank, exposing most of his tattoos.
"No," Wallace replied. "I just wanted to thank you again for helping me today."
Weevil furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah, you said that back at school. Did I not say 'you're welcome' or something?"
"What you did for me today was a big deal, like change my future big," Wallace explained. "That form will hopefully get me into the classes I need to become a..." Wallace was about to say teacher, but then paused as he thought if that was the right word. Finally he said, "An educator. And I just wanted to make sure that you knew that whatever our past, we're good now."
Wallace shoved the envelope at Weevil, who accepted it. "What's this?" Weevil asked holding it up but not even bothering to read it.
"It's the video from the Sac-N-Pac," Wallace said matter-of-factly. Weevil continued to look at Wallace as if he were crazy and so he elaborated, "You know, the one that lead you to taping me to that flagpole and misspelling 'snitch' across my chest."
Realization dawned on Weevil's face. After a moment he asked, "What good is this going to do me? It's Hector and Phuong on the video."
"Forget it, man" Wallace said discouraged. He turned away from the door and started walking away.
"Look, maybe I could use this to record WWE Raw," Weevil threw out.
Wallace stopped and shrugged, "Use it however you want."
There was a pause and then Weevil asked, "So Professor, you want to come in and have a beer? Play some XBox? I'm in the middle of Halo."
"Sure," Wallace replied before turning around and following Weevil into the apartment. "Just don't go thinking that because we're good now that I'm going to let you win."
Author's Note
I know I should be writing "Blue Ocean Floor" (which I am); but while rewatching the Veronica Mars Pilot the other day, this small little idea of what would happen if Wallace returned the Sac-N-Pac video to Weevil started growing in my head and wouldn't stop until I wrote it down. As I started writing, it evolved into this piece that dealt with Wallace becoming a teacher. I think a lot of fans were kind of surprised when the movie came out and we found out that Wallace had given up engineering and became a teacher/coach. I kind of fell in love with the idea which is why he remained a teacher in my story "Blue Ocean Floor", which universe this piece is set in (although I think it would hold in the canon universe too, minus the whole Veronica is in DC and possibly Wallace's middle name being Henry - but to be fair I couldn't actually find a recorded middle name for him). We're not really going to get more about Wallace's back story in "Blue Ocean Floor" so it just felt right to make Wallace the leading man of this piece. I've obviously kept in my original story prompt with Weevil. A lot of you guys liked seeing how Logan and Wallace became friends, so here is your chance to see the beginning of the Wallace/Weevil bromance. I feel like this piece could be where this new world order between Veronica's friends begins that Veronica struggles to understand when she comes back to Neptune.
The title of this piece comes from the song "Blues From an Airplane" by Jefferson Airplane. Since this story is in the "Blue Ocean Floor" universe, I felt it right to use another song title with "Blue" in it for the story's title. I first picked this one because there is a strong association between airplanes and Wallace, but then I really started listening to the song. To me, the lyrics are talking about a guy who is struggling with his identity after his girl left him, but at the end realizes that it's ok because someone new is going to come along who will love him while actually letting him be the guy who he really is. For me this resonated with the idea that Wallace has wanted to be an engineer for so long but is struggling now because he's recognizing that may not be the right path for him, and instead is discovering a love for education.
I want to thank my awesome Beta's on this piece: Bondopoulos, LVFangirl, and MarshmallowMore. These gals provided so much invaluable, constructive feedback. I'm really happy with how this story ended up, and a large part of that is due to them.
I hope those of you who are following "Blue Ocean Floor" really like this one shot into Wallace's backstory. If you read and enjoyed this piece but haven't read "Blue Ocean Floor", I encourage you to check that story out.