I'm not even sure what to consider a late update anymore. All well. Apologies if some words aren't spaced in this chapter, my space bar is only working on the left side, so when I need to space, I have to actually think about it. Hopefully that will fix itself. Anyway, next chapter.

"Start talking then." Maria tsked at him lightly, and Erik rolled his eyes. "Please." It was something of a running joke between them from the beginning of the year. Erik rarely said that word, and she had picked up on that, deciding to force him to say it before she answered any of his questions. Really, it was quite annoying. What was the point of wasting breath and saying an extra word that did not add to the question? Exactly. There was none.

"How do I describe what the next week is going to be like?" She paused for a second. "Well, in one word, crazy just about sums it up." Oh! How very descriptive of her! Crazy. Obviously it would not be the slaughter house kind of crazy, given that there were students around, but there were still many other forms of 'crazy' an entire week could be.

"Elaborate." She did not say anything. "Please."

"This year, the other school, Larrisville, or L-ville for short, is coming over here for what amounts to a glorified sports competition. A very glorified sports competition. The rivalry that Arxs and L-ville share is one of the oldest high school football rivalries in the country." Wonderful. A 'football' rivalry. The 'football' thing must be an American sport.

"That is great. A 'football' rivalry. But you still have not told me anything of true informational value."

"I would ask what you want to know, but I already know that you're going to say everything. So I guess I should start with the basics, shouldn't I?" Obviously.

"Like I said, Arxs/Ville week is based off of a football rivalry stretching back a really long time. Don't ask me when it started because I don't know." She was getting better at predicting his next question. "Every other year, we go to their campus for the event, and on the off year they come to ours. This year is an off year, so we'll be welcoming their entire students body including staff, which is about double what we have." Over 1500 people on the campus then. Not bad at all. "Most of the extra people will be over on the far fields, so any one on the main campus here really won't notice too many new people. It'll still be really obvious that they are here, but... you don't really care about that bit, do you?" He shook his head no. That was nothing he could not have put together given the information himself.

"It's one of the students most favorite times of the year. The L-ville day itself is pretty big, but the pep rally on Friday night is normally rather impressive. Quite loud, with a lot of bad singing, but still fun." Did this school have something against singing in tune? It seemed that every time he went to that required chapel thing, everybody was at least half a note off pitch when they sang that days hymn. According to Maria, the only people who ever were partially in tune were in the chorus area at the front by where the speakers speak from. He was very tempted to try being up with them for a day to relieve his ears.

"But before the pep rally, there are five days of dress down, each with a different theme. This year, in order, the days will be until I hear otherwise, Twin day, Goth day," Goth day? As in Gothic? "Throwback, Larrie, and Arxs." Larrie... meaning L-ville. "Larrie day is great. Everybody is in everything red they can find, so long as it looks geeky and tacky. Twin day is a traditional thing too. People go twinning, obviously." Seeing the look in his eye, she continued on hurriedly. "Arxs day people wear school colors and attire, and on Saturday, the last day, anyone not on a sports team wears academic to show that we have more style than they do." They do not have such a strict dress code then. "Our school goes into cheering mode. We pride ourselves on being much louder and more energetic than them. The calm students we have? They're tend to be among the loudest ones." For some reason, it was rather difficult to picture some of his students, namely Anna, screaming her head off for nearly anything.

"The only real problem with the next week is that virtually no-one is going to put much effort into their homework, 'cause they're all pumped up and excited. Their worst nightmare is a test during this time. They just can't concentrate." That would make sense, if this 'Arxs/Ville' week was going to be as... crazy as she was trying to describe it. "Tell me, are you going to be the mean teacher, or the nice teacher?"

"I have not planned a test for them until another fortnight has passed, if that is what you mean."

"Nice teacher then. I'll let you do that. My kids need a test. Especially Gerard. Maybe a bad grade would set him back in place." Indeed. The students' worst nightmare seemed to be a grade below an 80, or as he had heard some of them say, a B. Quite honestly, he did not understand why they panicked so much when they got a grade such as that. In his mind, they did well enough, though he was reasonably sure that he had never received an 80 in his life. Then again, he could not remember ever receiving a grade, or even going to school. Had he even gone to school?

"Erik?"

He must have... but that did not seem right. Perhaps not a formal education? Home taught, then. His parents educated him. There was a nagging bit of doubt in his mind though. Had his parents not taught him then? Did they hire a tutor? Nothing seemed wrong, but nothing seemed right either. Something was wrong though, he knew it. Just what was it? The home-schooled part was correct, at least to some level, and the same was with the tutor. That left the parents. Parents. Parent...

"Erik? Are you with -"