Day 4

Disclaimer: Don't own FFVII or any of the books the class is reading. Or Loveless. Or the concept of ninjas. But I do have a mastered blizzard materia which shall be used to put out any flames of revenge.

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It was Tuesday morning and I surprised myself by being eager to get to school, not just to see my friends but to go to the class which was decidedly my least favorite. I came downstairs to find my mom looking through my backpack. "You're reading Dracula again?"

"Yes. You got a problem with that?" I retorted amiably, snatching the book and brushing my hair at the same time. "It is for an experiment."

"Ooooh, an experiment?" she said, obviously mocking my Jenova-Project-induced phobia of human experimentation.

"Yes, an experiment. On my English teacher." I grinned at my mother's perplexed and worried expression as I stepped out the door and walked the short distance to the school.

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I walked into class just slightly late. "Hiya, Nicole!" Yuffie chirped, "You're the one who came up with this, right?"

I smiled, noticing that she was brandishing a copy of Bunnicula. "Yah, I came up with it, did everyone get books?" There were general nods and murmurs from most of the class. "Good. Now don't let Randal see them until she tells us to read. It'll be more of a shock if it's all at once. "

All but one person put away their Vampire books. I walked around her desk and looked at the cover of the book. Lucrecia made a face at me and put the book in her lap so I couldn't see it.

Unfortunately I had already seen the title. "Realistic Theories behind Marie Shelley's 'Frankenstein'?"

"Yes, so?"

I shook my head and sat down. She was two-thirds finished with the book already. "Just don't let Randal see it first, or you're dead…"

Lucrecia put the book away once again. And only moments before the teacher entered with her usual flourish.

Randal strode to her desk and took from it a stack of papers. This time I wasn't recruited for pass-out duty.

"Brent!"

But I swear, this teacher loves to bark my name.

"Your paper was far too one-tracked. Vary your topics." She put the paper on my desk in a scathing gesture.

"Crescent." The teacher glared at Lucrecia, apparently angry about not having anything to bluntly criticize.

"Gainsborough, you hadn't the faintest clue what you were talking about, did you?"

Aerith looked ashamed.

"Highwind." Cid glared, as though daring her to insult him. "I am not familiar with the play 'Loveless'." Cid turned a slightly reddish hue.

"Kisaragi…"

The teacher continued to dish criticism to the entire class. Her cutting words made each member of the class, no matter how little they cared, feel like they had disgraced themselves. What she had said to me did not bother me, mostly because I had been bullied by these types throughout my entire school life. What made me angry was how much this teacher had hurt the characters whom I feared and respected so much. The look of self disgrace Sephiroth had. Yuffie nearly starting to cry.

Any of the cheery excitement I had at the beginning of the period was gone, replaced with a desire for revenge.

My theory on the teacher's phobia of the undead had changed in my mind from an innocent prank, to a devious plot.

"This assignment will be due at the beginning of the period tomorrow."

I ended up passing it out.

"After you complete the assignment you are to read the novel you got yesterday."

I resisted glancing around to see the reactions of the rest of the class. I started the assignment. It was a review of sentence diagramming, most of which we had, of course, never even seen. The energy in the room was strangely tense; everyone hoped that someone would be able to finish, to make the Randal angry.

I had nearly finished the double-sided worksheet, I was the only one who was likely to have had recent experience with this content.

The bell rang. I wasn't the only one disappointed, based on the looks on the faces of the people behind me.

The moment we got out of the classroom everyone started talking, most were angry that the assignment had taken so long. Yuffie was still heartbroken about having her essay failed due to vague references to the secret ways of the Ninja.

"Lucrecia!" She looked up from her book and Vincent used this as an opportunity to nonchalantly reach around her and take the book. "Don't finish that before tomorrow, okay?"

Lucrecia snatched the book back from Vincent. "Nicole, I don't think this is such a good idea… I mean, going against Mrs. Randal is suicide."

I looked at her in mild sarcastic amazement.

"What?"

"You, of all people, lecturing about suicide."

She made a "Hmph" noise and walked away, ignoring me.

I shook my head and went to my next class, smiling, but still internally fuming about the fact that my revenge had been delayed…

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Author's Note: My apologies that this is later than I inteanded, also an apology that I am using suspense as a weapon against you.