CHAPTER 10: FOR HER

a teacher AU because why the hell not

Just one more year.

One more year and his teaching post in King's Landing High would finally expire. He cannot even remember the reason why he accepted a teaching post from the school in the first place. Right now, his only priority was to find a school as far away as possible, hells, he would apply to a school in bloody Eastgate if he had to, just to get away from the horseshit that is KLH. Though everybody would most likely disagree with his opinion of the institution, seeing as it was viewed as the most prestigious school in all of Westeros, well they clearly did not know that all of it was just a facade. A beautiful facade crafted to fool people into thinking that KLH is a dream school every parent would wish for their child to study in.

Everything in it, everyone in it drips of bribery, lies, corruption and old money. Jaime was sick of it all. Just one more year, my contract will finally end, and I'll be gone, he thought to himself.

Boy, was he so wrong.

The first day of the school term, Jaime found himself ruminating on which institutions he should apply in by the next school year when he heard that Professor Catelyn Stark's replacement finally arrived and that she was very tall, ugly too, and that the woman did not look like a woman at all. What they did not tell him was that the woman, Professor Tarth, possessed eyes so blue, so deep and calm that Jaime found himself gaping the first time they were introduced.

The new professor must have thought that he was gaping due to her height and bulk because she flashed him an annoyed looked but still shook hands with him.

"Professor Lannister, a pleasure to meet you." She said through gritted teeth. Jaime could not form the words for the customary reply, so he just blinked, still cannot believe that a person could possess such blue eyes, like sapphires, he observed.

Even though they were from different departments—he's from math while Tarth was from science—he still can't help observing her from afar. As the school term went on, his interest in her piqued. She was fascinating to watch. The way she acted in and out of the classroom was so different—outside the classroom everything about her was shy and awkward, from her gait to her manner of speaking. She stuttered and blushed so much that one could hardly believe that she was a professor, teaching Chemistry to forty or so students. But when he passes by her classroom, and he sees her doing her lecture, he could tell that she really knows her stuff, from the way she talks and walks around her classroom, strong and sure, to the way she confidently holds a test tube over a Bunsen burner for her demonstrations.

Another thing that he observed from her was that she was young, give or take ten years his junior. He could tell by the way she acts around her colleagues. She was always silent, just keeping to herself, engaging in their conversations just a handful of times. Well, it would only be natural, seeing that her co-science teachers consist of mostly old people. She does not have colleagues in her department that's in the same age group as herself.

Sometimes he sees her having coffee with Arya Stark, daughter of the professor that she replaced and also the basketball coach at KLH. He also sees her with Renly Baratheon, brother of the school principal and also the school's guidance counselor. She talks and laughs with them as is customary when having conversations though her laughs, he noticed, does not quite reach her eyes. Whenever she thinks that she's alone and nobody looks at her, an air of sadness seems to hang over her like a cloud. Her eyes, her blue, blue eyes, has this look of resignation in it, he can't quite describe it—it's as if she already knew of her fate, that it would be sad and full of disappointments.

Jaime knows that his interest on her is bordering on obsession. But he can't help himself. He also couldn't find it in himself to befriend nor approach her because he's afraid that he would only taint her— she does look so innocent and pure to him— with his cynicism.

One day, near the end of the school term, as he was on his way to the principal's office to discuss his contract with KLH, he heard raised voices coming from the office. He immediately recognized Professor Tarth's voice and another's—was it Tarly? Jaime stopped in his tracks, his right hand poised to open the doorknob. He paused and decided to eavesdrop, he only felt some slight guilt, seeing as the conversation was bordering on a shouting match and anyone passing in the corridor going to the principal's office would definitely hear them.

As he eavesdropped, he found out that Tarly—yes, he knew it now to be Tarly's voice—was outraged by Professor Tarth's method of teaching.

"—definitely impractical, and does not completely follow the syllabus at all!"

Jaime heard Tarth's carefully composed voice, though he knew she was beyond frustrated right now "Professor Tarly, we are now in the 21st century, of course our method of teaching must go along with how today's generation thinks. Students need a different approach so that they could learn efficiently and could actually comprehe—"

However, Tarly didn't let her finish though, "you, you big bitch! You think you are so smart. Just because you were chosen by Catelyn herself to be her replacement does not mean that you could just simply employ your own methods without consulting us, your co-science teachers! You could have disrupted the whole —!"

Hearing those words, and knowing that Tarly's arguments are now going personal, Jaime decided to make his presence known. As he entered the principal's office, all parties froze and turned to look at him. Tarly looked like he was ready to punch somebody—hopefully not Tarth who was so red either from shame, humiliation or anger, he could not tell—his gnarled hands balled into tight fists while Robert Baratheon, the school principal looked ready to flee himself and was relieved when he saw Jaime enter. The argument clearly had been going on for quite some time.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked with faux innocence.

"Ah, Jaime just in time for your appointment." Principal Baratheon said, looking pointedly at his wristwatch. In truth, Jaime was late, but due to his eavesdropping, he had not realized the time. Baratheon turned his head toward the two professors glaring daggers at each other and continued speaking, "Brienne, Randyll, I'm afraid we have to cut this meeting short. I have a scheduled meeting with Professor Lannister. The two of you could continue discussing this outside and only come back to me when you reach an agreement. Am I clear?"

Tarly gave the principal a terse nod and stormed outside the office while Tarth stuttered a "y-yes sir" and quickly followed Tarly outside. Jaime age her an encouraging smile as she passed by him. She returned it with a confused look.

Seating himself in the chair facing the principal, he asked, "What was that all about?"

Robert sighed. "Brienne is very idealistic, she believes that students learn best when they do it themselves. While I agree with her approach seeing as her students are performing well, Randyll does not. He sees her approach as impractical and reckless especially since she is teaching chemistry. Randyll, is already old and is very, shall we say traditional with his way of teaching. He believes that the instruction should be completely teacher-centered as to avoid and accidents in the classroom. But enough of that, we are here to discuss your contract with the school, not about their dispute. Now, as you very well know.."

Jaime tuned the principal out, he already knew what Baratheon was going to say, and so he let his thoughts drift towards Professor Tarth. He completely agrees with her approach, he already tried it himself in fact, and found the method very promising. However, her approach would definitely cause an uproar amongst her co-science teachers, since most of them were from the Jurassic era—he snickered to himself—which means that most of them are traditionalists. Jaime sighed, she definitely needs some back-up, someone who had influence over those idiots so that she wouldn't be shunned completely by her colleagues. With a jolt, he realized that it was him. With enough charm and a lot of sucking up, he could convince them to consider Professor Tarth's method.

Unfortunately, he was already itching to be free of KLH. Maybe she could find someone else to do that for her. He completely doubts it though, poor girl, Jaime sighed again.

"—so, Jaime do you want to extend your contract? I would be perfectly happy to—"

Jaime interrupted Baratheon before he could finish that thought, and said a polite "no, thank you". The Principal visibly deflated.

"Well, if that is all, Mr. Principal, I would like to get going." Jaime said as he stood up and shook hands with the large man in front of him.

"It was a pleasure working with you Mr. Lannister." With that, he exited the office.

Outside, Jaime saw Professor Tarth in the hallway, leaning her back on a wall, head bowed, her form looking so dejected and forlorn. He cautiously approached, making his footsteps loud enough so that he wouldn't startle her.

"Professor, are you alright?"

Tarth seemed hesitant to answer him but she still did, polite as ever. Jaime grinned to himself.

"I'm fine." At Jaime's skeptical brow, she continued, "You have probably heard my argument earlier with Professor Tarly." Jaime nodded.

"Well...let's just say, I have no say in the matter since I am still a rookie in their eyes. I—he said that he talked with the other professors and that they had already agreed that if I continue with my misguided method, then they would make a petition to have me replaced." Even though she's taller than him by half an inch, she looked small in her dejected state.

Jaime laid a hand on her shoulders and squeezed. She seem to not realize that Jaime was touching her because she did not react or anything. Jaime's heart ached seeing her so down that for once, just this once, he gave in to his instinct to comfort her and gathered her into his arms. That action seemed to finally pull Tarth out of her thoughts because she froze but eventually gave in to the comfort offered to her, wrapping her arms around his torso giving it a squeeze.

Jaime marveled at how she fits perfectly in his arms, even though she's slightly taller than him and her shoulders broader than his. They stayed like that for minutes, hours, Jaime could not tell.

When they pulled out of their embrace, he noticed that Tarth was blushing—red, what a stark contrast against the blue of her eyes—adorably so.

Jaime grinned at her, and she turned a deeper shade of red, he decided that he rather liked it.

"Do you want to grab some coffee? I-I mean, I could accompany you, that is, so you could, sort of, forget y-your problems?" Jaime blushed halfway through his invitation. Why was he stuttering?! Gods, he wasn't a green boy anymore for fuck's sake!

Tarth smiled shyly at him and nodded her head.

"Jaime—I can call you Jaime, right?

"Only if I can call you Brienne."

Tarth blushed again. Seven save him, he was getting addicted to her blushes already. "Sure, you can call me t-that, Jaime. A-and thank you by the way, for the h-hug."

As they were walking towards the school canteen, he thought that maybe he could extend his contract with the school for another year, just one year, so that he could help her with her problem, and so he decided to return to the principal's office tomorrow and update Baratheon of his decision to stay.

However, he did not end up staying for just one year. For every year, he would extend his contract for another term because he was not yet ready to leave her behind just yet.

fin

A\N: this is my longest? i'm not sure haha btw, I am still not satisfied with this. I had difficulty writing from Jaime's POV, its really difficult. oy, this is not betaed btw. please dont judge me hahahaha