The Beginning

Cody Balfour carefully parked his horribly out-of-place and beat up car in the already full parking lot. His spot was nearly as far as possible from his destination, but he hardly minded - after all, the rest of the lot was lined with crisp and expensive looking vehicles that put his humble 1990s Chevrolet to shame. Sitting motionless, hands still gripping the wheel, Cody began to psych himself up.

"Alright, stud. You can do this. You can do this! Even Shawn Brumder - or was it Shane Brainer..? - doesn't matter- even HE couldn't get this job. The only one who is qualified for this position is you! " Cody had just winked devilishly in the mirror at himself to finish his mantra, when he heard a rough, airy laugh from a distance. Standing on the sidewalk just outside of the parking lot, a handsome but short looking young man with black hair was staring straight through Cody's windshield, and into his face. Could this kid have heard what he was saying to himself? He was standing pretty far away… there's no way, right? Before Cody could make any move to save face, the kid smirked at him and turned forward to continue ahead.

Cody put his face in his hands, burning from the embarrassment. After a few moments, he began to mumble to himself in a voice he was sure no one would hear.

"It's fine! It's totally cool. You're chill, Balfour. After all, that kid was at least 15 feet away. There's no way he could hear you! He was probably just laughing that I was talking to myself, but everyone does that. Besides, as handsome as he was, I'll probably -hopefully- never see that guy again!"

Finally, and with an ancient determination, Cody creaked out of his near-fetal position. He gathered his papers in the passenger seat and straightened them out with deliberation, then set them in his briefcase. He checked his hair in the mirror, glanced at his watch (not a second early, as usual), straightened his tie, tested his breath, and took a large gulp of air. At long last, Cody stepped out of the car. Opening the back door, he fished out the briefcase, and gathered three boxes filled with books - precariously balancing them one on top the other. Guestimating where the door was, he slammed it shut with his foot, and stood forward with faux confidence.

Cody squinted at the imposing building before him. It was a brick laid boarding school for boys that had been standing for over a century. Shrouded in tradition and a posh atmosphere, the picturesque architecture seemed to egotistically announce that this was a school for the elite. Despite the modern day and age Cody belonged to, he secretly hoped for a timeless and edifying place of higher learning that engaged diligent students who took their work seriously.

Boy, he could not have been more wrong.

Standing before a class of about 20 apathetic high school senior boys, Cody tried to conceal his nervousness. He began, "Hello everyone! My name's-" but before he could finish his sentence- he heard a small airy chuckle from the back of the classroom.

The same young man from before was staring at him, laughter in his eyes. Cody's mind went blank for a half a second- the only remaining thought being 'Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god.' After the brief silence, he smiled as hard as he could and continued, relying on autopilot with the introduction he had practiced over and over for the past week.

"My name is Cody Balfour", Cody turned to the chalkboard behind him and wrote 'MR. BALFOUR' in large and slightly sloppy letters. "I'm a student teacher. I'm going to be your main instructor in this classroom starting tomorrow, and for the remainder of this school year. Your regular teacher, Mr. Adkins, will be supervising, so you won't have to say goodbye to dear old Chad just yet." A few of the boys laughed at his joke. Reassured, Cody chuckled and continued. "I look forward to getting to know you all." He smiled and directed a mental addition to the boy in the back, 'except for you, handsome-but-short squirt. Leave me be'.

Most of the boys nodded or grunted a welcome, and Cody gave a short, respectful bow. He then retreated to the empty desk that was his. Chad Adkins, his new co-worker and boss, began the arduous task of filling glassy eyed boys with literature. Cody began to set up his workspace, allowing for his heart to return to a normal rate. If it hadn't been for that bumpy start in the car, he would be a little less nervous. 'It's going to be totally fine though,' he thought with a smug grin, 'you've been a great student teacher everywhere else so far, and this is your last semester before you can become a full-time teacher! Plus, if those whispered conversations in the hallways were any indicator, you're not bad with the high school girl's, are you? Not that's any reason to be proud…' He shook his head- 'anyway, this will be totally great!'

Task completed, Cody snuggled back into his chair and picked up one of his numerous pieces of literature he had brought with him and dove in. He was in the midst of taking notes and preparing for his first lesson when the shuffling of feet and bags indicated that the class was over. Cody smiled charmingly as the boys filed past him, and a few smiled back. The last one out of the classroom was the young man from earlier. Before Cody could look away or otherwise busy himself, the boy smirked at him and flicked a crumpled up scrap of yellow paper square between Cody's eyes.

"Hey!-" Cody began, standing up. The boy stuck his tongue out and escaped through the classroom door, running and laughing as he caught up with his friend who left before him - a boy with white hair and an eyepatch.

"That'd be Nicolas Brown." Chad said with a smile in his voice. "Him and Worick Arcangelo… you better watch out for those two. They like to give people the go around."

"I can already tell he's a brat…" Cody said, rubbing the spot between his eyes. "What do you mean, 'the go around'?" He looked yellow paper in hand.

"Oh you know, teasing and pranks. Mostly harmless. You just gotta be heavy handed is all." Chad said, ruffling Cody's hair. 'Rude.', Cody thought. 'You may be old enough to be my dad, but I'm still an adult. A 22 year old adult.'

"Heavy-handed?" Cody grimaced. Usually his charm and teaching skills were enough to gain respect from anyone who was willing to learn. He's never had to be heavy-handed before.

"Eh, I wouldn't worry about it." Chad said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. "What you should worry about, are these." Chad plopped a mountain of papers onto Cody's desk. "These all need to be graded, like, yesterday. I'm going out early to eat dinner with my dear wife. Enjoy yourself!" Smiling, Chad grabbed his bag and wasted no time escaping, leaving Cody dumbfounded.

"Dammit, old-man!" Cody said as he looked through the papers. Some of the assignments were dated from months ago. "Surely Chad hasn't been waiting for me to arrive just to avoid grading… right? Besides, this is just the start of the semester… these really should have been entered, like, yesterday!" Cody crumpled and uncrumpled the yellow note in agitation. He was just about to begin grading his mountain of papers, when he realized there was something written on the note from Nicolas. In an untidy cursive-esque scrawl, Nic had written:

"I saw what you said this morning in your car. Cute."

Cody sat in confusion and annoyance. "Is this harassment?" Throwing the note away promptly, he couldn't manage to shake the feeling that this was only the beginning of an exhausting semester at St. Reginalds.