The rest of the class passed by in a blur of music and snoring. Riku fell asleep as soon as the movie started and one girl covered her eyes every time there was a change in lighting or scenery. Axel guessed that she wasn't used to the idea that musicals could be kind of creepy. Sora hardly blinked and Kairi kept trying to grab his hand. The brunette responded with a shocked look and by edging his hand away slowly but surely.
As Axel tried to gauge the reactions of the class, he began to wonder how the other teachers were getting along. No doubt Roxas was having fun. He loved dance! He had been teaching ballet and jazz dance since he was eighteen. They were now twenty-four and twenty-five. Axel, of course, was the older one. Demyx was probably loving his job as music teacher. Xemnas was the Principal, so no doubt he'd be meeting Riku in the near future! Saïx taught P.E class. Luxord taught Literature and his girlfriend Larxene taught Math. Xion was the student teacher in Marluxia's History class and Vexen taught Science. Xaldin was the head of the kitchen and Xigbar was busy being Vice Principal. Axel wasn't quite sure whether or not Zexion was teaching. He thought he'd heard that he was teaching Visual Arts and Lexaeus was teaching some form of self-defense. Axel, of course, was going to be the director for the school plays from here on out. Great.
In the moments following the bell, the classroom was empty. Axel sank into his desk chair with a sigh. The door creaked and he heard soft, graceful footsteps. Moments later, he heard Roxas's voice.
"How was your first class?" asked the blond. Axel groaned.
"None of these kids even give a shit about Theatre. They all just want to pass notes and pass out on their desks. One kid even pulled out his phone to look something up."
"Riku Yukimura?" Roxas guessed. "He's in my dance class third period. I've heard he's a piece of work."
"Oh, come on, Roxas! You're beaming! How was your first class?"
Roxas gave a tired laugh and sat down across from Axel. "Not bad, not bad," he admitted. There was this one girl who was really into it! I think her name was Yuffie or something."
"Oh yeah?" Axel tried not to sound so tired. "What was she good at?"
"Jazz dance," Roxas answered without missing a beat. "Which is great because everyone else was into ballet and party dancing."
"Party dancing?" Axel laughed sourly. "That's a thing?"
"You bet it is!" said the blond. "Damn annoying too! They just hop around and put their fists above their heads."
In spite of the misery of his first class, Axel let himself go and gave a real, honest smile. Roxas didn't miss it. He leaned down and whispered.
"Good luck next period, honey. I've got to run." And with that, he exited the classroom and returned to the dance studio down the hall. Axel blinked, realizing for the first time that Roxas was wearing the ring Axel had bought him for Christmas. The thought made him smile, but the sound of the bell wiped the smile off his face as soon as it had appeared.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
As soon as the day was over, Axel sat at his desk and buried his face in his hands. Why was teaching so difficult? He thought he'd just have to show up and throw a bunch of papers at kids and they'd read them! There was nothing in the instructions manual about actually having to answer any questions or actually having to read anything out loud. Instead, the students all wanted to be read to and all had a million questions that boiled down to "Why can't we use this class as nap time?" At the end of the day, it made Axel feel terrible.
"Hey," Demyx called from the doorway in that nasal whine of his. Axel turned, hoping that somehow he was just hearing things. He wasn't. The mulleted blond was leaning against the doorframe, grinning like it was his birthday. "How was class?"
Axel gasped. "You just gave me this class so you could teach music!"
Demyx laughed in what Axel assumed was meant to be an evil fashion. "You bet I did! A couple of years ago I taught a theatre class… to get my degree in teaching. It was pretty rough. The kids didn't give a sh—darn."
Of course, Axel thought. What a jerk. But he didn't really mean it. He knew that Demyx was a bit childish, and he knew that he probably wouldn't have done much better. Maybe it would get better anyways. Maybe the kids would start appreciating the material. Probably not. He already had the first round of in-class essays from his third period class and they weren't looking too good. He'd heard from Xion that Marluxia's History class wasn't much better. At lunch, Larxene had done nothing but complain about how she needed to get an Assistant Teacher and was thinking of hiring Naminé. Naminé reminded her that she was busy teaching Art. Luxord's class had gone smoothly. Everyone seemed to like Literature class. Naturally, the first story had only been a few paragraphs long. Xemnas had caught a couple of kids kissing by the lockers and Vexen had nearly exploded the Lab.
"You know what?" Axel said, desperate to get out into the fresh air. "I've got to run. I'll finish grading these at home… See ya!"
One day down, he mused as he wandered through the door of his apartment building. How many left to go?
A/N: To anyone who is actually reading this!
I'm thinking of switching Points of View. What do you think? So far, I'm not too happy with this story…
What couples/relationships would you like to see? AkuRoku? SoRiku? Sora/Kairi?
I hope you like it! All reviews are welcome (even bad ones! Those help me learn!).
Signed
OperaGhost666
