AN~ It has come to my attention that this story needs an edit. I'm working on that, slowly. And noticing how many stupid and pointless ANs I had...
Sabrina stood with the other thirty or so students in Ms. Smirt's first period Teacher Certification class, waiting to be assigned a seat, watching as the other students were called on and seated. After a few minutes, though, she got bored turned away to whisper with Puck.
Ms. Smirt continued to drone off names. The only interesting part was how the students replied. Instead of the basic 'here,' it had become sort of a competition to see who could come up with the most interesting, coolest, or funniest way to announce themselves. The greetings ranged from 'yo' to 'whassup' to a two-fingered salute to a nod.
"Sabrina Grimm." Ms. Smirt called out suddenly.
"Huh?" Sabrina asked, swinging her head around.
The class erupted into quiet laughter and some muffled applause.
"Sit there, please." Ms. Smirt said tightly.
Sabrina, her face turning red, took the seat directly behind Puck.
"That was probably the winner." Puck whispered as roll call resumed. "Why are you embarrassed?"
"Because I didn't mean it to be funny!" Sabrina whispered back. "I just wasn't paying attention."
"Well it was funny anyway." Puck said. "Rule of life number one: even if it wasn't on purpose, pretend it was, and nobody will no better. Saves face a lot."
"Thanks." Sabrina said. "I'll remember that."
"No problem." Puck replied.
"Sh!" Sabrina said. "She's on Xavier."
"Well, now that that's done, we can get on with it." Ms. Smirt said. "Don't expect me to know your names unless you get into trouble often. You're only here for a marking period, and I am not going to learn over two hundred names for less than three months."
"Of course, if we forget her name, we'll get a detention." Sabrina said dryly to Puck, who snickered.
Ms. Smirt continued, "The last month of class, each of you will teach for one day in this classroom and one day in another class. That will serve as your final. Before then, we will study the art of successfully instructing a group on a topic, starting tomorrow, as we are running short of time today. I expect you all to file into your seats quietly and stay there while I call roll and instruct you. I will not put up with any misbehavior. No drinking, no eating, no bathroom passes, no talking while I talk, no asking a question without raising your hand, or speaking unless I call on you, no lateness, no exceptions. If you break a rule, you get one warning, then you get a lunch detention. After that come after school detentions, then Saturday-"
The bell rang then, and Sabrina heaved a sigh of relief as she picked up her bag and headed out of the room to her next class. She arrived in the gym with a few seconds to spare, then found Bella, nodding for Puck to follow her.
"There you are!" Bella called. "I completely lost you."
"Poor Bella." Sabrina said. "All by yourself in Ms. Smirt's class. I weep for you."
"I laugh at you." Puck said. "But that's just me."
"Actually, it'll probably make it easier for you to not get in trouble. This way you won't be tempted to talk during class." Daphne said, coming up to them, pulling Red behind her. "Oh, and don't look now, but guess who's in our gym class?"
Sabrina turned, and immediately wished she hadn't. "Great." She muttered. "First Smirt, then Moth, what next?"
"Toby and Natalie." Bella said in horror.
"Uh-oh." Sabrina said. "And it looks like they have friends."
"So do we." Puck pointed out. "Mustardseed and Art are here. So is Renee, and Jonas, but Renee's not happy with me, and you can never be sure about Jonas..."
"There's a lot more people in this class than in the last one." Sabrina said. "I'd say at least fifty."
"Gym classes are usually bigger." Bella said. "I don't know why."
"Probably because it's not just our grade." Red said quietly. "There's probably just one or two classes for each of the other grade levels."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Sabrina said. "'Course, that means most of our classes are going to have the same people."
"Listen up!" A deep voice bellowed. "I'm gonna call roll now, and if you're not here, we will have a problem!"
Their teacher proceeded to do so, and all the students listened meekly for their names.
"Right." The bellower, otherwise known as The Beast, continued. "I'll learn your names soon, and we won't have to go through this anymore. Now, my job is to teach you all the required curriculum, then get on to physical training. I know some of you are in the Scarlet Hand, and you may think that gets you ahead in this class, but I treat all of you equally! Get that, Natalie? Equal."
Natalie winced as her father roared in her face.
"We're going to start with health." The Beast continued levelly. "You can call me Sir, probably should have said that at the start. We are going to sit over there, go through the health book, and do everything you can. Let's go, people!"
The students filed meekly to the desks and chairs, which Sabrina could have sworn weren't there before, and each of them sat down. The Beast went around the rows, marking names off on a seating chart and passing out papers.
"You sit there for the rest of the marking period, kiddos!" The Beast said. "You sealed your fate! Nope!" He shouted, as a girl got up to change her seat. "You stay put! Now, the papers I passed out are tests of what you have to cover in health class for all of time! You have tonight to study and answer what you can! The stuff you all know we won't cover. I'd suggest studying in groups so we can move on faster. The less we have to learn at the start, the more time we have to review for the final, which will look exactly like this!"
"Does his voice get hoarse from all that shouting?" Bella whispered to Sabrina.
Sabrina shrugged as the Beast continued to bellow.
"The other paper is a list of games! You will, at the beginning of next marking period, have a chance to tell me you know the rules of those games. The ones you all know we won't have to study. We'll spend one day on all of those games, unless I believe it will help you survive the war. Because, kiddies, my job is to make you all get out of this alive. If you die, you fail! Get it?"
Puck snickered.
"Once we get through all the games and this marking period, then we get on to the fun part! Training! You will learn to wield a sword, ride a horse, shoot a bow, punch, shoot a gun, kick, use knives, use clubs, and any other weapon I can think of! Those of you with magic powers will learn to control them and use them more efficiently! If I have to bring in a specialist on your talent, I will, because it's my job to make you all the best fighters you can be! Now get studying!"
The rest of the class was spent marking off answers one or another of the students knew, forming three study guides. There were the Scarlet Hand children, about twenty of the students, one one side of the room, the Grimm-supporters, maybe fifteen kids in the opposite corner, and another fifteen or so in the center of the room, the undecided.
"We have to get them on our side." Daphne said, looking at the neutrals on the way to their next classes.
Sabrina made a face. "Great. I'm not good at that whole socialization thing."
"We'll help you." Bella said. "And Red."
"See you!" Daphne shouted, turning down the hall with Red in one direction as Sabrina, Bella, and Puck went the other.
When they entered the English classroom, Sabrina heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of Snow sitting behind the teacher's desk. At last, a teacher she liked!
"Hello, you three!" Snow said cheerfully.
"Hi, Snow." Sabrina said. "Can we sit anywhere?"
"Sure." She grinned. "But you'll have to stay there, so I suggest sitting together."
The three took seats to the left side of the room. Sabrina marveled at the fact that no other students seemed to be there yet, but decided to take advantage of the moment.
"Snow?" She asked. "Why are there so many classrooms where there are less than ten teachers?"
"Because I'm hoping we'll get a lot more teachers soon." Snow said. "A lot of adults said they'd come next marking period for the Teacher Certification or to catch up on what they don't know since schooling wasn't what it is when they were kids."
"Like night school." Bella said.
"Exactly." Snow said, smiling, as a few other students walked in. "Hello! Take a seat, but choose carefully, you're stuck there at least until next marking period!"
Once the bells rang signifying the start of class, and Snow had waited a little more time to make sure that there were no stragglers, she got up and walked around, carrying a stack of papers, leaving a second one on her desk. She asked each student their name, then ruffled through the stack until she found the correct paper, working her way around the room until she had finished the stack. Then she simply passed out stacks of papers, having each student pass them back to the kid(s) behind them until they were all gone.
"What you have in front of you," Snow said afterwards, "Is the equivalent of your course syllabus. I have a copy, too, but it will effect your grade if you lose it and have to ask me for a copy. The first paper is the list of what you need to read. Each of you have an individualized copy of that. Mark off what you've read once you finish it- next year's syllabus will consist of what you didn't read this year."
Sabrina looked at her paper. It was double-sided, with very small print. Of course, it was all the required reading she would need to complete through twelfth grade.
"The other sheet is a list of projects you need to do. If it has a number next to it, it implies that you must complete that number of projects of that type." Snow continued. "I expect at least half of them to be group projects, though the group size may vary between two and six. Not all with the same people, mind you."
There was a collective groan from the class.
Snow ignored the groan and continued, "Now, I know compared to some of your other classes, this will seem unimportant, but the sooner we get through the very minimum of required state reading, we can get on to the more important work that will actually affect you- a study of fairy tales. I suggest you look through your list and pick out a book to begin with."
Sabrina, Bella, and Puck spent the rest of their class time doing exactly that, finding books none of them had read to start out with, to get at least one of the group projects out of the way. When the bell rang, Bella headed in one direction while Sabrina and Puck went another. They made their way to history, which was taught by ex-principal Hamiln.
"Have a seat." Hamlin told them, gesturing at the desks. "I really don't care where, as long as you pay attention."
Sabrina and Puck complied, sitting near Wendell, who was in the back of the room, looking nervous. Renee had joined them by the time class started.
After Hamlin called roll, he sat down on the edge of his desk and looked at them all. "Be good, please. I have to deal with children who look and act as if they were kindergartners right before you, and I could use a break."
The class quiteded, much to Sabrina's surprise.
"Thank you." Hamlin said. "Would one of you be so kind as to go to those books and begin handing them out?" He nodded to a pile of history books and looked at the class expectantly.
Sabrina looked at the unresponsive students and sighed. Hamlin deserved a break. She raised her hand, and Puck gave her an ironic pat on the back as Renee shot her a glare.
"Thank you." Hamelin smiled at her as she began handing out the books. "Kids, I'm not going to make you tell me the number of your book or anything. Just- don't lose it. And bring it back either at the end of the year or once we finish it. We're going to work out way through this book from beginning to end, and that will be all the history you need to graduate. I need another volunteer."
This time, Renee's hand shot up in the air immediately. Sabrina rolled her eyes, still handing out books.
"Thank you." Hamlin handed Renee a stack of papers. "This is rather like your entrance exams, only for history only. Answer what you know, and what everyone knows, we won't cover. After we finish this, we have to do an economics segment, a world history section, and we need to cover government. Once we do all that, we will study the history of everafters. As there is a war coming very soon, we will move very fast. That is why I'm giving you this test. I'm counting on you to answer as many questions as you can so that we can skip things like the revolutionary war and whatnot, because at the moment, we are only covering this because Miss White felt it necessary to employ that Smirt woman, who insists we cover this sort of thing first. I apologize, I'd rather educate you on things you may actually care about at some point in your life. We will cover a section each day, you will have homework each night, and we will do all the work the book assigns. It will be due the next day, and if you do not finish it, I will deduct a point for each day late. If I do not receive it before the end of the marking period, it will be counted as a zero. I will be conducting this class based largely on the honor system, please don't disappoint me. Bring your books to class each day. Now, I suggest you begin answering questions."
They did so, surprisingly. Sabrina noted the fact that people respond as well if not better to responsibility than they do if they are being ordered to do something. When the bell rang and they headed for lunch, more slowly than before because of their history books.
"We have to cart these to and from class every day?" Renee whined on the way to the lunch room.
Sabrina shrugged. "Maybe Snow has lockers that she just forgot to tell us about."
"Daph, you are never getting flown to school." Puck said, sitting next to her at the table. "Not if I have to carry this book, too."
Daphne didn't even look up from her food. "Stop beign a baby. It's only a history book, it can't be that heavy."
"But we might be getting three more." Sabrina said. "Science and math both have textbooks, too. Wendell! Sit with us!"
Wendell came over and sat down nervously. "Are you sure?" He asked.
"Perfectly." Sabrina said, standing back up. "Hold my seat, will you? I'm going to go get some food."
She stood up quickly and headed over to Momma, who was, as promised, serving lunch. She cut through the line, and walked right up to her, saying. "I brought the list. You want to talk it over now, or..."
"Now is good." Momma said. "I'm due for a break, anyway."
They entered the staff room, and Sabrina handed Momma the list. She spent several minutes studying it before speaking.
"This is a lot of pros." Momma said.
"That's the problem." Sabrina said.
"He's a good kid." Momma said mildly.
Sabrina sighed. "Fine you win. Daphne wins. Everyone who ever thought we were together wins. I like Puck, okay?"
"You gonna tell him?" Momma asked.
Sabrina shook her head. "No. Not in a million years."
Momma smiled dryly. "Well, you are only twelve. Things change. Now, go back to lunch before all the food is gone."
Momma snuck back into the lunchroom, grabbed Sabrina food in exchange for $2.50, and Sabrina returned to the table, greeting Bella and Mustardseed, who had arrived while she was out. She thanked Renee silently for taking the seat next to Puck. She wasn't ready to deal with that.
"What took you so long?" Daphne whined.
"Talked to Momma." Sabrina said.
Puck looked up, surprised. "I didn't see her."
Sabrina shrugged, not looking at him. "She was there." She immediately set upon her food, not saying another word until they got to their next class.