Steph7085 – Thanks for the review, I love Janet and Laura too and they just seem like the type to be friends. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Fyd818 – I'm glad you liked the shopping trip and the back story for Jack and Janet, they seem like the type to cause trouble in their younger years. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Dreamer22 – Yep Laura is Laura Cadman, I love her character and I could pass up the opportunity to write her as an eighteen year old. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

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Chapter 4

John was walking along the corridor next to Teyla with Elizabeth and Jack slightly behind them. He'd had to endure yet more introductory stuff in his first History lesson and he was sure there'd be more to come over the course of the day.

They arrived outside the defence classroom for their first lesson with Professor Mathos. Janet and Laura's story about him being a creep was currently running circles in John's head and he and Jack had insisted they all but sprint to the classroom in order to ensure they got seats at the back. They were first to arrive at the classroom and went straight in heading immediately to the back row.

Professor Mathos watched them enter, his jet black hair was gelled back and his blue eyes followed them as they took their seats. Actually they were following Elizabeth and Teyla which was all the confirmation John needed that this guy really was a creep. Teyla was about to sit on the end of the row when Jack manoeuvred her into the middle before he took the seat at the end. Elizabeth sat down next to Teyla and John sat down beside her.

John looked up at Mathos who eyed the girls appreciatively before turning his attention to the group of students currently walking through the door. He once again focused on the girls some of whom moved as far back in the room as they could whilst others smiled to him and sat at the front.

"He is good looking, I'll give him that," Teyla stated with a heavy sigh as she watched one of the girls giggle as she introduced herself to her teacher.

"Definitely good looking," Elizabeth replied "But he has creep written all over him."

More students filed through the door and took their seats, all of the girls seemed to be judged by Mathos as they entered. Finally the class was full and Mathos closed the door before beginning their lesson.

"Welcome to Defence, I am Professor Mathos, now we're going to go through the introductory stuff for the first half an hour and then we'll get into the real stuff," he told them before picking up a blue box from behind his desk and beginning to walk around the classroom handing text books out. "You'll each need one of these books, you'll need it for the whole year so don't lose it."

John watched as he practically tossed the text books onto the desk in front of the boys and then made a point of carefully placing them in front of the girls. He finally got to the back row and John's text book hit the desk with a small thud. He took another book out of the box and placed it in front of Elizabeth as he leaned down closer to her. She didn't look up at him but instead muttered a thank you as she took the text book. Mathos moved onto Teyla and repeated the same process, Teyla too kept her eyes on the desk and muttered 'thank you' as he passed. He dropped the final book in front of Jack with another small thud before making his way to the front of the classroom again.

"Now, defensive magic is one of the most important courses you'll do at this school. What you learn in this lesson has the potential of saving your life one day. Those of you wishing to pursue careers in any part of law enforcement or protection should take these classes very seriously and don't miss them if it can be avoided," he instructed.

"Great, I just had to pick a career in law enforcement and protection," Teyla muttered under her breath as Mathos continued to blabber on about the importance of his lesson. He finally got to the point and started talking about what they would be learning over the course of the year.

When he finally got through the introduction stuff John found he actually enjoyed what he was being taught. If it weren't for the fact that his teacher was a jerk he would actually be able to enjoy the lesson.

- - -

"He was leering at half the girls in the class throughout the entire lesson," Elizabeth stated in frustration.

"I can't believe those girls in the front row were actually enjoying the attention, they're all pretty girls, surely they don't need attention from someone like Mathos," Teyla replied sounding equally as exasperated with their Defence teacher.

"I felt like I was being judged, given marks out of ten," Elizabeth exclaimed and John grimaced inwardly. He was fairly sure that was exactly what Mathos had been doing, except maybe for the marks out of ten part. It was like he was using the first lesson to figure out which girls he liked the most and which ones would be most receptive to his attentions.

"When's our next Defence lesson anyway?" Jack questioned as the small cafeteria queue moved forward a little. They had a free period now before lunch so there weren't too many students around and no rush to find a table.

"Friday afternoon," Teyla responded immediately and John wondered not for the first time how she had learnt her schedule so quickly. He still had to fish his out of his beg every period.

"Well at least we get a break from him tomorrow then," Elizabeth said as she reached the counter and selected her meal from the steaming trays and dishes in front of them. They were however blocked from student hands by the glass screen so she informed the cafeteria woman of her choice and a minute later received a plate with the requested meal. She moved away to allow Teyla access and went to sit at their usual table near one of the large windows that ran down three sides of the room.

Teyla arrived right behind her and John and Jack were a few minutes behind her arguing about Jack's indecisiveness. A quick glare from Elizabeth and Teyla shut them both up as they sat down.

"Do we have Spell Casting after lunch?" John questioned as he shuffled a fork full of pasta into his mouth and Elizabeth nodded her head after a moments thought.

"And then we have our first potions lesson," she told him.

"You might want to take a pillow in there with you, I assure you it'll be far more comfortable than the desk," Jack stated and Elizabeth shook her head at him.

"Surely he can't be that bad."

"I have to agree with Jack on this one, his voice is just so lifeless and… boring," Teyla contributed.

"I didn't know you guys were free now," a vaguely familiar voice stated before Elizabeth could respond and they all turned to see Laura and Janet approaching the table with another guy in tow.

"Hey," Jack said as they all made room for the new arrivals to join them, thankfully most of the tables were long enough to accommodate several students.

"This," Laura began, gesturing to the guy stood behind them "Is Marcus Lorne, Marcus this is Jack, John, Elizabeth and Teyla," she introduced and Marcus offered them a smile.

"It's nice to meet you all," he greeted as he pulled up a chair and sat down with the meal he'd been carrying.

"Marcus is in all of our lessons," Janet supplied once they'd all settled down again.

"Did you have Defence this morning?" Laura questioned picking up their conversation from yesterday.

"Just had it," Teyla grumbled.

"Ah, he's a jerk isn't he?" she asked receiving several nods in response before the conversation moved on to slightly more cheerful matters. John, Jack and Marcus ended up having a conversation about sport which became more of an argument when it moved on to home teams. John looked at the girls who started discussing, whatever they were talking about but since it had Teyla looking very enthusiastic he assumed it had something to do with shoes, clothes, shopping or all of the above.

Elizabeth didn't seem to be overly involved with the conversation which was something he'd noticed before. She was kind of half listening and offering the occasional comment. He couldn't help but wonder why she always seemed to be so closed off.

- - -

Spell Casting had been more interesting that their first lesson, they'd actually begun to learn something useful. Jack and Teyla had gone to enjoy the wonderful introductory talk that came with their first General Magic lesson. Elizabeth and John were now sitting in the second row of the potions lab. John had insisted that they didn't sit on the front row because it would be too easy for the teacher to catch him sleeping. He'd wanted to sit at the back but when Elizabeth had informed him she'd go to the front without him he'd compromised and sat on the second row with her.

"Good afternoon class and welcome to your first potions lesson," their teacher began once all the students were seated. "Now I want to get lab partners out of the way so everyone please select your partner."

The classroom filled with noise as the students decided among themselves who would be partnered with who. John turned to Elizabeth and gave her a questioning look "Partners?"

"Sure," Elizabeth replied wondering what she was getting herself into, she knew he didn't have the worlds greatest concentration span and she just hoped he didn't accidentally blow them both up. Once the class were settled again and everyone was sitting with their partners the teacher launched into his speech about potion making. It only took a few sentences before Elizabeth decided that Jack and Teyla were right, the teacher really was boring enough to send people to sleep.

John to his credit was actually trying to stay awake though he was making no effort to write down any of what was being said. It didn't really matter since most of what Trel was saying wasn't all that important anyway. He was merely emphasising – as much as anyone with that kind of a monotone voice could emphasise – how many different ways the students could cause deadly accidents in that very room.

Elizabeth really hoped the man livened up somewhat when he started to actually teach them though something told her that wouldn't be the case. His voice was making her agonisingly aware of just how tired she actually was. It had only been three days and she was already exhausted but she supposed she wasn't use to Magic school life yet. High school had started at 10AM and finished at 3PM, magic school started at 9AM and finished at 4PM. She knew she would probably get used the new hours and it wouldn't seem so tiring to her anymore but in the meantime she was just going to have to stick it out.

She was really grateful that her last lesson today was a free period, she wasn't sure she could handle another lesson after this one. A glance to her left told her John's eye lids were drooping and she nudged him gently to keep him from falling asleep. He took a deep breath and sat up straight in his chair in an effort to keep himself awake.

"Jack and Teyla did not do an adequate job of describing just how boring his voice is," he whispered quietly and she nodded in agreement.

"I'm sure it'll be easier when we actually start learning stuff," she replied quietly.

They both managed to stay awake for the remainder of the lesson and when they were finally dismissed the thirty or so half asleep students suddenly found their energy and all but ran out of the room.

"Thank God that's over with," John commented as they walked out of the classroom and toward the cafeteria.

"Yeah, well I think we have potions again tomorrow," Elizabeth informed him as she unfolded her schedule. "We do."

"You just have to ruin my happiness don't you," John stated and Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him as the two of them descended the stairs and exited through the nearest door. The cafeteria was around the corner from the exit they had used and they arrived to find Janet, Laura and Marcus already sat at one of the tables, apparently they were also free for their final lesson.

"Hello Master Sheppard," Laura greeted teasingly only to receive a glare from John in response. Laura and Marcus were apparently from Cadera and since John was the Governor's son they had both taken to teasing him. John seemed to be less than amused by the whole thing but that didn't stop their new friends from having their fun.

"How'd potion go?" Marcus asked as John and Elizabeth sat down.

"Agonisingly slowly," John replied with a tired sigh. "He's just so… unenthusiastic."

"We did warn you," Jack said as he and Teyla joined them at the table and sat down with what looked like bars of chocolate. Elizabeth rolled her eyes as Jack finished off the one in his hand and pulled another out of her pocket. How had she ended up with these people when she hadn't intended to end up with anyone?

TBC

Authors Note: I know TPTB named Lorne Evan but I've been calling him Marcus for so long than Evan just doesn't sound right to me, it's a habit that is proving very difficult to break. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and reviews are loved.