To be quite honest, Jinx wasn't sure why in the world she kept returning back to this job- she liked physics, sure, but the high school kids sure could be infuriating in their bored "I-just-need-an-A" attitude. Even though every end of the school year she practically vowed to never return to this torture chamber called her classroom, she always ended up back in it, facing a whole new batch of students. Why she even bothered to care about those random (yet infuriating all the same) students, nobody would be able to figure out.
Well, can't help it that I'm already here, she sighed to herself. It was a new year once more, and she'd done it again: become a physics teacher, sure to suffer for the rest of the year. Perhaps those kids have a charm I don't see but feel somehow, she mused, surveying her neatly cleaned classroom. She imagined said kids making a mess out of this beautifully cleaned classroom, and winced. Or, she continued on dryly, maybe I'm just crazy. That seemed way more probable.
"Miss J?" She snapped out of her thoughts and whirled around.
"Oh, Mr. Grayson!" Oh shoots, the uptight principal. She forced a smile onto her lips. "Good morning, sir!"
He gave her a look, because both of them knew that grimace she had on her face wasn't fooling anyone. "I've known you for a few years already, Miss J. No need to exert yourself so much." Ah, typical dry remark from Sir Robin- he always had to stick to formalities, though he never called her Miss J outside of school.
Moving on to business, he said, "I just wanted to check if everything was alright."
"All good, all good, sir." He gave her another look at her "sir"s but hey, two can play the game. "Nothing to worry about, sir. I'm just about ready, at this wonderful time of dawn at 6 AM, to accept my new students with open arms, sir." This time, he chuckled dryly, the sarcasm of her sentence not lost on anyone.
"I'll take your word for it." He paused just a bit, as if remembering something, and then asked (in a not-so-natural way, though it was obvious he was trying to be conspicuous), "Oh, and do you know whether Miss Anders is here yet?"
Ah. So that was the real reason why he'd randomly checked up on her. "Wouldn't you like to know, sir," she smirked. Ignoring his red-faced glare, she continued. "No, I haven't seen her, if that's what you mean. In fact, I'm not even sure if she's awake. After all," with a pointed sigh towards the principal, "it is such an ungodly hour to be at school."
Robin sighed and said offhandedly, "Regulations, I'm sure you remember from the teacher seminar"- that boring seminar she'd dozed all the way through, hidden behind some newer teachers? Oh, she remembered it all right- "so that we can accommodate the newer students and the problems of the old." Yeah, yeah, she thought. Too bad not everyone was like Robin- Mr. Grayson, she had to call him- who probably woke the rooster up to crow every day so that everyone else could be on schedule.
"But if you haven't seen her," he went on with a swallow, "I'll be taking my leave now. I hope everything works out today."
"Unlikely, knowing how it's been for my whole teaching career, but I suppose hoping is the least I could do," she sighed in return. She bit back a snide remark about finding Kori, only his most obvious crush Jinx had ever seen (second only to Kori's own, she supposed). As tempting as it was, it really couldn't be wise to start off a new year on his wrong side. Who knows what he might do in the name of principal?
Jinx let Robin walk away, and sat down at her desk. She observed her classroom once more, enjoying the quiet that she knew wouldn't last long, especially once the students started to occupy the place regularly. She still had a good hour before the earliest stragglers usually came in, so she locked up her classroom to take a small stroll.
She popped into the class next door- Raven Roth's literature class- to see if "Miss Roth" wanted to join in, but the English teacher was fast asleep on her desk. I don't blame her, she thought, smiling slightly. Jinx turned away, ready to go on silently as to not disturb her, when she caught sight of the cardigan that was covering Raven. It wasn't a particularly strange one, for sure, except for one thing: it wasn't black, blue, purple, or even white. It was green, and Raven wouldn't be caught dead wearing green in public, especially not where she had chances of coming across a certain vegetarian biology teacher- Oh. A slow smile crept up her face, and she left without another thought.
She passed the auto-mechanics shop, where her good friend Victor Stone was in charge of, and she called out a greeting to which she received a reply. Kori Anders's room was still closed, so she guessed that the foreign languages teacher hadn't reached school yet. Frankly, Jinx didn't blame her either.
She nodded a quick 'hello' to a multitude of other teachers that she saw on her stroll, then finally reached her favorite spot on the campus: a shady area under a tree towards the back of the school. Not even students ventured out here often, so most of the time this place was empty and serene. Well, that had been the case four years ago, since thenceforth she wasn't quite alone because of a certain red-headed teacher that always got on her case and-
She blinked. She'd reached her favorite place, but there was nobody there. "Strange," she said aloud. Well, if he wasn't here, all the better for her. A smile graced her lips, and she moved to take a seat when a flash of red and green stopped her.
A rose.
The smile that had been on her lips became a bit bigger before her whole face scrunched up into a scowl. "Typical." She picked it up and, despite her intentions of holding on to her distaste, smiled softly. She sat down, twirling the flower in her hands. West was the only other physics teacher in the big school, simultaneously the track-and-field coach that could outrun pretty much everyone. (There were some rumors that he'd almost competed nationally in, say, the Olympics, but he'd been cheated out of it somehow, but that's another story altogether.) Jinx didn't really like it, but since they were teaching the same subject to usually the same grade, the two teachers and their classes were often pitted against each other.
The kids in her class liked to defend their spunky teacher, while the kids in the other class were all for their laid-back and easygoing teacher. Not only that, but West had been, for the lack of a better word, barging in on her privacy for the past four years that he'd been here. He gave her these flowers, appeared out of nowhere, gave her random pieces of advice that she didn't even ask for, persisted throughout her barbed insults, stayed even during her worst tempers, and-
"Enjoying the view?"
Jinx rolled her eyes. "I should've known you wouldn't have left it at the rose."
Wally West popped into view. "Can't leave you disappointed, can I?" His cheeky smile was met with a bored look.
"Try be more original, West. You've given me a single red rose for who-knows-how-long."
He now sat beside her, stretching his legs out onto the grass, and he chuckled. "I'm hurt, Jinx. I thought you liked it when I gave you red roses."
"Well, think again."
The two physics teachers stayed like that for a little bit longer, letting the silence engulf them into a peaceful time. It was a while before the quiet was broken.
"Ready for the new year?"
"Hardly, if not not at all."
He laughed, and looked at her. "Why do you continue to be a teacher when you always detest the school and the students?"
"Honestly? Even I don't know." Jinx shrugged, feeling civil for once. "Maybe the kids are growing on me. Maybe Robin's too scary to not sign the contract thing. Maybe I've grown attached. Or, the likeliest of them all, maybe I'm just too lazy to find a new job."
It was a nice conversation, Jinx decided. They weren't fighting, he wasn't teasing her, and everything seemed to be very peaceful and, well, nice.
"Or maybe you just love me too much to leave me?" West's cheeky grin was back.
After Jinx elbowed him in the side and gave him a glare for a good measure, she decided also that she'd spoken too soon.
She checked the watch on her wrist and abruptly stood up. "We'd better get back soon before Robin calls us out after class for slacking or something like that."
He was up and next to her before she'd even finished that sentence, leaning towards her just a bit. "You said 'we.'"
Jinx stared at him, backing away a bit to get him out of her private space. "And the big deal is?"
Obviously happy now, West shrugged carelessly and put his hands behind his head. "I just like the sound of it, I guess."
She huffed in incredulity and started to walk away from the now-whistling teacher. "Cut it, West. I just don't want us to get into trouble, okay?"
"'Us' as in you and me, huh?"
Jinx didn't need to look back to know that her fellow physics teacher had a wide smile on his face. "Will you get over that?"
"It's a good day when you realize someone cares for you as much as you do," he commented. Ignoring Jinx's sidelong glare, he continued, "I mean, would you want someone that you like to get into trouble with someone as scary as Robin? No!" He laughed to himself, and Jinx groaned. Leave it to him to make things all complicated with a few pronouns.
"I'm not even going to say anything. This is way too under my intelligence level."
"Your insults were always your best guards, Jinx."
She stopped and turned to stare at him. "What in the world are you talking about?"
West chuckled. "I'll restate that." He started to flutter his eyelashes and said, in a high-pitched falsetto, "It's simply adorable when you try to hide your embarrassment, dear Jinx."
Oh man, if I'd known that I'd have to deal with THIS before it's even seven in the morning, I wouldn't have followed Robin's "protocols" and "regulations" and just stayed home. With that thought, she made a face at West and walked off.
He jogged up to her fast pace. "What, you're not going to deny it?"
Jinx blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Deny what? That you're a fool? Oh no, I'd never deny that as long as I live."
"Aww, are you saying in a backhanded way that you'll never be without me for the rest of your life?"
"I can't even fathom where you're getting all these ideas, twisting my words to match your thoughts."
"What can I say? It's my pride and talent."
They kept up the fire until they reached the empty hallways, where Jinx finally turned to him, frustrated with his word games. "Okay, once and for all, just tell me straight up. Why do you keep on bothering me?" she demanded.
West was definitely taken by surprise by this sudden fiery seriousness, but he quickly recovered his easy grin. "First of all, we're both physics teachers-"
"-unfortunately enough-"
"-shh, let me finish answering your question. Second, your pink hair." Seeing Jinx's frown, he laughed outright. "It's not always you see pink hair on a teacher, much less a science teacher."
Jinx rolled her eyes- she should've figured he'd have such a weird reason. "How deep," she drawled sarcastically. She attempted to move on, but West moved in her way, blocking her from continuing on.
To her look of irritation that flashed through her face, he laughed and said, "I have one more reason."
"It better be good."
"How can it be any less when it's coming from the infamous Wally West?" he winked, and Jinx resisted the urge to gag. After all, gagging wasn't very scholarly, and she was a mature person. "The third reason is that everyone knows you came to this high school because of me."
She stayed silent for another while, battling against herself to 1. not sputter and 2. restrain from strangling the smug teacher. Jinx left it at raising an eyebrow, saying, "Must I remind you that I was here, teaching at this school, before you came here?"
He put up a thinking pose. "A very logical back-up, ma'am, but I must say I have the ultimate evidence."
"Which is?"
He paused dramatically. "You told Kori so."
Jinx frowned. Had she ever done such a thing? Why would she tell such a blatant lie to her good friend? "Um, sorry to burst your bubble, but either Kori made that up or you're lying, because I never said anything about that to her or to anyone else. Namely because it isn't true."
"Your sarcasm never fails to amuse."
"How poetic. Maybe you should quit being a physics teacher and become an English one, and you can bother Raven instead."
West pulled a horrified face. "Are you kidding? Gar would kill me. Besides, she doesn't even have pink hair!"
"Figures that would matter to you." Jinx rolled her eyes and blew a tuft of the pink hair in question out of her eyes. "Anyways, where in the world did you hear that I said something of the sort to Kori?"
West shrugged. "I mean, Kori told me that you said 'if it wasn't for West I wouldn't even be here,' and that pretty much means you're here because of me, isn't it?"
Ah, now I remember. "Way to take things out of context, West. I said that when Kori, Garfield, Raven, you, and me all got in trouble with Robin last year. Remember?"
"Oh." West scratched his head. "Yeah, that was kind of a put-down. But still, I bet I am the reason why you picked this school!" He beamed at her smugly.
Jinx scoffed. "Puh-lease. I only came here because it's closest to my house. I didn't even know you existed when I started teaching here."
He laughed. "Fine, fine, you win. Alright, so my third reason isn't a good reason. I admit my defeat." He stepped aside. "Go on, I won't keep you here any longer."
Jinx couldn't help but laugh along at his exaggerated movements, with all that bowing and hand flairs and that goofy grin he had. As the two of them fell into step, Jinx added her own little exaggeration as well, because why not? "Thank you, I've been awaiting this moment. I'd like to thank my good friend Raven for teaching me such high levels of sarcasm, the principal Robin for setting such a good example, and last of all Wally West for not being smart enough to win in the first place."
"Hey!" he protested, but they were both laughing.
In a rare good mood, the two physics teachers walked the hallway, filling the empty space with jokes and snickers, until Jinx reached her class. She turned to him with a comical look and said, "Well, fellow teacher, I wish you luck on the horrendous first day of school."
"It's not that bad," he replied. "The kids are so awkward, it's actually pretty funny."
Jinx had to agree to that. "Good luck anyways," she said, laughing, and she went into her room.
What West didn't know, Jinx thought to herself with a small smile, surveying her class once more, was that he was actually more right than wrong.
She had actually chosen this school because it was nearest, but she stayed for more reasons than that. Though she would never admit this out loud to anyone, much less West himself, he was a good part of why she came back every year. Jinx hadn't been able to become close to the other teachers except Stone, whom she'd known since college but still didn't really talk to (which was why she had tended to stay in the secluded area by herself instead of the teacher's lounge), until West came by and befriended her despite her sharp words.
He had opened the doors to becoming such great friends with the rest of the faculty, and she couldn't thank him enough for what he'd done without a thought. Not that he'd ever need to know that.