It was 7:15 on a bright and early American morning, and the students of a certain high school were busy bustling to their first period class and seeking out their friends. They had no idea how much of an impact this day would make on their lives. All some of them had heard was that a teacher was sick, a substitute was coming, rumors, blah blah blah.
The sophomores and freshmen who had gym first period were already getting changed.
"I hear we have a substitute teacher today," a cautious, skeptical Chinese girl named Amy Yang told her Canadian friend Elena Sima.
"Good. I didn't want to do that adventure unit thing today," Elena sighed back. She was a serious and studious girl who always had a pensive expression on her face.
The two, accompanied by their kind, calm, Polish-rooted friend Gwyn, made their way out of the locker room towards the gym and got an eyeful of the rumored substitute. He had his back to them, but Elena, Amy, and Gwyn could tell that he had messy, ashy blond hair and seemed rather young. He was wearing blue-and-white Nikes, red sweatpants, and a white shirt with the number 50 on the back.
"Excuse me, sir?" Amy asked hesitantly. The man turned. He had a wide, slightly nervous smile, glasses, and big blue eyes. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, maybe even younger.
"Hey! Are you guys part of the 1B frosh-soph class?"
Elena nodded.
"Awesome, dudes! Is, uh..." the man picked up a Coca-Cola bottle from the ground and took a swig. "Is this all of you?"
Gwyn shook her head. "Nah, there's a lot more coming."
"Is that them?" He pointed at the door, where the rest of Gwyn, Amy, and Elena's class was beginning to file in.
"Yeah," the three girls said unanimously.
"Awesome!" He said again. "Okay, everyone sit down and I'll tell you what we're doing today!"
Slowly, the group of around 25 or so freshmen and sophomores took their seats on the basketball court. The man's grin grew wider.
"Hey, high school dudes! I... am gonna be your substitute gym teacher for today. Cool, huh? Anyway, my name is..." He held a clipboard in his hand, punctuating each part of his name with a smack on the clipboard. "Alfred... F... Jones." He shrugged. "Stupid name, I know." The class laughed. Although America didn't know it, that was good news for him. "Call me Coach Jones, 'kay? Okay, so today we're gonna play an awesome game of dodgeball!" The class cheered.
"O-kay! I am gonna be choosing your teams!" America smiled at all the little Americans. He wondered why some looked like they were from China's house. Others looked like they were from Poland's or Germany's houses. America gave a mental shrug. They were all American, like him.
After he finished divvying up the teams, one boy raised his hand.
"Yeah, cool dude with the Livestrong bracelet?"
The boy smiled. He looked like he was from Italy's house. "Hey... uh, Coach Jones, these teams are really unequal."
It was plain to see that he was right. His team was considerably smaller and seemed to contain more unathletic kids than the other.
"Well, of course, dude! I made 'em that way so Icould play!" With that, America tossed his clipboard aside and grabbed a couple of dodgeballs. "Who's ready?"
A huge cheer came up, with the team America had joined being loudest.
"You any good at sports?" America asked Elena, who looked displeased.
Elena shook her head.
America chuckled. "Just watch and learn! 'Cause I'm the hero!"
The kids looked at him with question marks in their eyes. He responded with a wider grin.
"Ready...! Set...! GO!"
The kids and their peppy teacher rushed forwards and grabbed as many balls (yeah,haha,that'swhatshesaid)as they could and started chucking them at each other. America may have been rail thin, but he was strong and never missed his target. Pretty soon, the smaller team with the unathletic kids was winning by a lot. Elena, who was basically running away and trying not to get hit, was impressed by the slightly odd teacher's performance.
The game was over pretty quickly. America's team won by miles.
"Coach Jones?" An annoying girl named Julia Snide said, raising her hand. "I, like, think it's super unfair that you played. The coach shouldn't play in the game."
"You know what? Screw you! I'm the hero, andyour teacher! Drop and gimme ten!"
Julia's mouth fell open as the other students struggled to contain their laughter.
"I meant drop to the ground and then push up ten times, not drop open your mouth! Ten push-ups! Go!"
Whining and muttering curses, Julia slumped to the ground, did ten of the lamest, wimpiest push-ups ever, and then pouted.
"Plus..." the weird-yet-cheerful coach said as he dragged an enormous duffel bag towards the class. "You're getting last pick! Your burger's gonna be all squished!"
Before the class could react, the food-loving American unzipped his duffel bag and revealed dozens of individually wrapped McDonald's hamburgers.
"Dig in, guys!" The class had no trouble in obliging.
"Thanks so much, Coach Jones!" Gwyn said cheerfully as she unwrapped her burger.
America, who had already unwrapped two and was happily munching away, grinned. "You're welcome! Every American should have at least one hamburger a day in myopinion. Eat up!"
Pretty soon, the coach saw someone who wasn't eating.
"Hey! You! Eat up, I said! What's wrong with you?"
All eyes moved to Elena, who looked sour.
"For one thing, I don't like hamburgers," she said with a little embarrassed smile. "And for another thing, I'm Canadian."
"Ah... what? Oh... oh yeah! Haha! You're from Canadia? So's my twin brother, uh..." the ashy-blond-haired teacher looked like he was trying to remember something. "Yeah! My twin brother!" He grinned nervously. "Anyways... moving on! How much time is left in this class, anyway?"
"Twenty minutes," Gwyn said helpfully.
"Okay! For the next twenty minutes... we will all..." America looked at the ceiling. "Canadian person!" He pointed at Elena. "What do you want to do?"
"Uh..." Elena thought for a minute. "Do... nothing! And... talk!"
A big cheer went up.
"C'mon, Coach Jones, just let us eat and talk!" The Italian-looking boy pleaded.
Coach America smiled. "Hahahahaha! Of course you can! And since you're all American... you're all heroes! Even you, Canadian person!"
"My name's Elena." Elena sounded nonplussed as she brushed off her shorts.
"Right! Elena!"
...
"Well, that was pretty much the weirdest guy I've ever seen," Elena muttered as she changed back into her school clothes.
"Very... all-American," Gwyn said with a strange smile.
"He so singled you out!" Amy laughed.
"I know," Elena groaned. Then, perkily and thoughtfully: "But he had a Canadian brother. That's cool.
"Now the rest of the day is gonna seem pretty normal in comparison," Elena said as they left for homeroom.
Oh, how wrong Elena was. How very, very wrong.
But unaware, she chatted easily with her Romanian friend Ioana as they entered their homeroom class.
Both completely ignored the quiet, blond-haired young man standing outside their homeroom classroom.
"Always," he sighed defeatedly, adjusting his glasses.
FORESHADOWING! XD Anyway... how would you want Coach America for a gym teacher, eh? Leave any questions, comments, pie (mmm... pie) in the reviews, please!