CALLING THIRTEEN

1

A Day in Haskell High

The class chattered noisily as the school bell rang, not that they noticed. They didn't even notice the gaunt, pale figure glide into the room, walking carefully towards the teacher's desk. Dr. Collins gave a sly grin at the fact of their ignorance and slammed his book hard on the smooth surface. The room went silent as many jumped at the noise. "Thank you," he began calmly. "It's nice to know that you are all awake and ready but-"

"Hey, Teach?" a voice called out from the back. Dr. Collins stood tall and noticed the young man in a tattered jean vest. "I think she's asleep." The youth pointed to the red head in front, his long hair covering his face. Dr. Collins frowned and rolled his eyes as he stepped closer until he right in front of the desk, his shadow looming over the young man before him. He bent down and waited, his face just inches above the sleeping teen. The boy awoke, merely opening his eyes in curiosity, to the chill going down his spine as if he was being watched, and his bright green eyes peered up at his teachers. He leapt with a start and began to laugh at his own sudden embarrassment along with the rest of the class. "Sorry, Doc."

The teacher stepped back up and placed his hands on his hips. As it wasn't the first time he'd caught the boy sleeping, he wasn't all that annoyed. He actually found it amusing most of the time. "For heavens sake, Alex, it's after twelve!" The boy's smile faded but the teacher grinned broadly and patted him on the back. "I don't mind you sleeping, sleeping is wonderful, just don't do it in my class." He then addressed the rest of the class, brushing his caramel colored bangs out of his eyes, "Can any one tell me why we don't sleep in my class? Real quick, pop quiz from day one. Yes, no, no one?" Several of the students shook their heads others just stared back blankly, until a girl decided to be brave and raised her hand. "Yes, Kim, why don't we sleep in my class?"

She giggled sheepishly as she answered, "You'll thwack us in the head with your teachers' book?"

Dr. Collins glanced at the large chemistry book on desk and chuckled softly along with the rest of the class at the response. "No, though I am pretty handy with that thing, I have yet to hit a student with it. Small dogs are always fun, but never a student." The teens giggled even more at the sarcasm in his voice. He had already decided today was going to be a free day and smiled at the thought of everyone trying to distract him. If they'd rather get a fun lesson than talk all hour, he'd just loosen things up a bit. "I bet no one will tell me because you want to go over that again, right?" There were a few "innocent" glances and smiles, nods and snickers, so he stepped up to Alex's table again, stole a piece of paper from the boy's notebook and held it up for the class to see. "You mind if I pick on you today?" Alex shook his head and backed up. "The reason, boys and girls, is because of these nifty little faucet looking things at the end of your tables." he held the page above the faucet and with the tip of his finger turned the knob. Several people gasped jokingly as the page burst into flames in the gush of flames, its ashes falling quickly into the sink below the faucets. "Now you all saw how easy it was to turn it on, right? Just a slight push, by your finger, or a shoulder or maybe even your head, and you end up like the paper." He dropped the rest of the page into the sink, let it smother out, and proceeded to spun the knob harder and watched it turn off the flame then continue to spun off the handle into Alex's lap.

Keisha, one of his sweeter students, raised her hand while he was screwing the knob back onto the faucet. "Yes?"

"Shouldn't they get that fixed? That's really kinda scary."

The doctor knew exactly why but he hadn't planned on telling the students. It was still a rather touch subject with most of the faculty but he couldn't just say he didn't know. 'A few of the students already know anyway so what's a few more?' he sat on the edge of the table and gave it a long though before starting. "Good question. Why is it so easy to turn on?" Some of the boys in the back were still talking but the seriousness of the subject caught most of the others attention. "We all know about the strange attacks going on around the country, right? The local government of ours got a bright idea to prepare us for such an act and so the school here had to make some cut back on just about everything so they could fit this high tech security system into the budget. We're not cheap; exactly, just… the board members aren't exactly the brightest people, in my opinion. Let's just say, I'm not too happy with all this. Why not? Well lets see:" he stood up, taking a heroic stance then said with malicious tone, 'Its perfectly fine if a student gets fried, or trips through the stairs or falls victim to one of the other dozen work hazards around the building, but the mere chance that we may be attacked, we can't have that! Sacrifice the kid! We are aiming for the greater good of the population!'" This time he got a few laughs, both happy and nervous. He smiled to let the rest know that he was only joking and explained, "Okay, so no one actually said that, I tend to exaggerate these things, but at times it's almost that bad."

He began to head back to his own desk saying with a false grin, "So anyways, there, don't go to sleep. You can sleep next hour, just don't tell your teachers I said that."

The boy from before spoke up again with a snide remark, only proving he hadn't been fully listening to the teacher's speech. "Yeah, Alexia, don't go to sleep or you may come out lookin' like Teach here."

Dr. Collins tried to brush off the remark as he couldn't let his annoyance get the best of him. That little punk had been a pain since the day they first met. "Thank you, Mullet Head. Now-"

Demy had grown used to that response, which meant he had found just one more thing to get on the man's nerves. Unlike his other teachers he'd found an odd enjoyment in ticking off Dr. Collins. Maybe it was simply because it was so easy. As he had recently found out a fun little tidbit, he wanted to see if he could get a reaction. "You're welcome, Even." He said beaming happily as he waited for the teacher's reaction.

Dr. Collins closed his eyes, rubbed the bridge of his nose, a force of habit from when he wore glasses, and turned around. "One, its Doctor Collins to you, Mr. Swan, and two, my name is pronounced Evan." Being called by that only made him nervous, not to mention it brought back some rather not-so-fond memories.

Demy nudged one of his friends mischievously as he now wanted to see how far he could go. "But it's not Evan." He pointed to the boy sitting beside Kim. "He's Evan. Your name's spelled E-V-E-N. Even, like the number two is even or-"

"Or, someday long after you've graduated, we'll meet and then I can get even, but I'm telling you, it's pronounced Evan, even if it's spelled weird."

His friend leaned over and whispered, "Hey, was that a threat?"

The teen shrugged, but seeing his instructor's hot headedness finally showing he thought he'd continue. "Who names their kid Even?"

Now the boy had crossed the line. Unable to keep his temper much longer, the teacher finally snapped back. "What kinda name is Demitre? I'm not your dad, I don't know, and I could care less. All that I do know is-"

"Friends call me Demy." Demy didn't really like his whole name, especially after hearing the few giggles it brought to some of the other students.

Dr. Collins smiled sweetly though the tone in his voice proved his mood to be quite different. "Ooh, I'm sorry." He began to chuckle softly, "I'm not your friend either, Demitre." He could see the little trouble maker wanted to say something. "Now, I'm gonna move you up here with me if you don't stop interrupting me." He blurted out quickly.

Demy grinned impishly, "What was that last part? I, I don't know what you're talking about." Before the man could say a word the bell rang.

The doctor let out a sigh, letting go of his frustration "Alright then, everyone have a good weekend. Demitre, stay here."

Demy bolted out the door, letting out a whoop as he narrowly avoided being stopped by Dr. Collins. Even hurriedly followed the boy out into the hall, calling him back and noticed the punk knocked down a student carrying all their stuff. Demy didn't even stop to say sorry or help the kid up. Even rushed over to help, "Ienzo, are you alright?" He promptly got down on his knees and began grabbing papers.

"Oh," Ienzo had actually been looking forward to avoiding him all day but it was too late now. "Hi, Dr. Collins, I'm okay, I just guess I didn't see him. You don't have to help, I got everything." The boy looked up and gave a half hearted smile.

The crowd of people slowly disappeared as everyone rushed by to leave the school. Even decided not to say anything, as he tried to organize the scattered mess, until he was sure everyone his whole class was gone. "Please, I've told you to call me Even, and besides, it's really my fault you got hit in the first place."

"I know, I've known you, like, forever but its still weird calling a teacher by their first name."

Even mumbled to himself, "If only all the kids here thought that." He helped the young man off the ground and gently pushed the unusually cut bangs out of his face. "I'm a teacher but not your teacher so it shouldn't count, right? There, all better." He put a comforting arm around Ienzo's shoulder as they began to walk, hoping to get the boy to talk. They hadn't seen each other much all year and Even wanted to catch up. "So how is junior year going?" The boy sighed. "About as well as sophomore year."

The man paused, that wasn't good, "Why, what happened? Is it Demitre, I've already got my eye on him so if he does anything-"

Ienzo shook his head giving a wry grin, "That makes two of us. No, well yeah, Demy and his buddies have always been picking on me, but I don't need you to use your faculty powers to protect me. Jerks like Demy have always been there."

Even frowned, "I just don't like to see you get picked on, that's all. You've slowly slipped into this phase where I have reason to worry."

"What phase?" Ienzo pulled away from his neighbor's comforting grasp and stared hard at him.

It happened to be that exact type of reaction that worried him. "I just do, alright? A boy like you needs a parental figure in his life and since you don't have one, I'd like to help. Now I know that you just happening to attend the school I teach at but I'm sure it's just a coincidence. Now since school is out, why don't I walk you home and we can try to get some ice cream or something along the way. I've actually been meaning to talk to you about…"

The two continued to walk down the now empty halls, Ienzo ignoring him by staring at the colorful posters for upcoming events. He had heard this speech before from his "mom" about how he needed "guidance". Even kept going though he knew he had already lost the kid's attention. It just had to be said.