Here's a new one-shot story , this one takes place with Schooled! So I hope you enjoy, thanks for reading.
The first day of school had been a long one and it really hadn't even started yet. Due to his own laziness, Chandler had forgotten to sign up for the homeroom he wanted for 6th grade, and instead ended up in the classroom of the grossest teacher at Royal Woods Middle School. Not only that, but the classroom was also hot, like boiling, what was it set to? 100 degrees?
"This is just great, new school, and I'm going to be trapped in this lame classroom, none of my friends are in here," he thought.
The girl that Lance liked had ended up in the class as well, Brianna, Lance would be heart broken, he thought. He pulled out a pudding cup and the empty seat in front of him tempted him. Some poor sap would walk in the classroom and end up sitting on a pudding cup, the idea seemed like a fun thing to do, a funny, easy prank on the first day of school. He set the cup carefully down in the empty chair in front of him.
"Ugh, I hate this hot, it's like summer again," he thought.
There was the sound of siren outside, followed by a thud. Then the door opened, Chandler hadn't been paying attention to who it was, he is looking for something to fan himself with. He heard an ugh, the person who had come in had sat down in the seat in front him.
"Hm I wondered where my pudding cup had gone, thanks for…" he didn't finish that sentence, he realized who it was. He gulped.
"Ugh, Chandler," she said.
"Linka, I uh…" before he could finish, there was a screech at the chalk board. The teacher must have liked Jaws.
"OK, listen up. The name's Bolhofner, and yes, I've heard every joke about my name. I didn't spend fifteen years in the military followed by two months of being stranded inside an active volcano, surviving on lizards to be pushed around by of chuckleheads," the man said.
Chandler wasn't expecting Linka to be in that seat, he didn't expect her to be a victim of a prank, it was supposed to be some lame-o. not her. He wanted to apologize, but Bolhofner was like a shark, he wasn't one to let talking happen in his class at all. It was lunchtime, he saw Linka's friends there, but not Linka. Trent called him over to the table he, Richie, Lance, and Brianna were sitting at.
"Hey, heard you got Bolhfoner's class," Trent said.
"Yeah, it's lame," he said.
"I told you to sign up for Mrs. Salter early," Richie said.
The red head scowled.
"I signed up for her class, but apparently, I was too late, if I had known the room was going to be hotter than the sun, I would have brought water," Brianna said.
"Yeah, too bad we aren't in the same class this year," Lance said.
"So, is he as crazy as they said he was?" Trent asked.
"Huh?" Chandler asked.
The boy had been scouting the door to see if Linka was going to walk in, but to no aval, she hadn't.
"I was talking about the Hoff," Trent said.
"He's gross looking, like he probably wears that same shirt every day," Brianna replied.
"He scrapped the chalkboard with his fingernails," Chandler said.
"Ouch, wait that room still chalk?" Lance asked.
"Yeah," Chandler said.
"Oh, I saw Linka, she was in Salter's class but found out she didn't sign the form on time, and I think she's in class with you, Chandler." Richie said.
"Yeah, she sits in front of me," Chandler murmured.
The pudding incident ran through his mind on a loop, he didn't mean to do it. He didn't get his chance to find Linka. After lunch, he had different classes than her, apparently. As much as he wanted to find her and apologize, he couldn't find her and calling her felt wrong. He wanted to do it in person.
After school, he and Richie went to the drugstore, Richie had to pick up something for his mother and Chandler was the only one agreed to come with him.
"Alright, dude, you seem a little off today, what happened?" Richie asked him,
"What? Nothing," Chandler lied.
"I know you, Chandler, I mean, I'm surprised on a day you get to be in a classroom with Linka you aren't smiling like an idiot," Richie said.
"Fine, I puddinged her," he admitted.
"What?"
"I was going to do the first prank to get the start of the year off right, I placed the pudding cup on the empty seat in front of me, and my luck, it was Linka, who sat on it."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"I mean, how can someone just sit in a chair without checking what's on it first? Like, that's the first thing you are supposed to do."
"You aren't helping, Dude."
"Then apologize to her."
"I tried, but she's been hard to find today, and in class, it was hard to talk to her, Bolhoffner didn't…"
"What? Chandler McCann going soft. What do you care about more? Linka or getting in trouble?"
"Hmm, you're right, now did you find your mom's cream, so we can go?"
The classroom felt hotter the second day. The room didn't smell that good either, it must have been a mixture of collective sweat and whatever was on Bolhoffner's shirt.
"I can't believe you are wearing that shirt," Brianna said to Chandler.
"What?" the red head asked.
"Long sleeves, in this room it's like 100 degrees in here," she said.
"So, you're wearing a skirt and short-sleeves are you cooler?" he asked.
She clamped down on her lip, he was right in a way. He figured she was getting grumpy from the heat. There was another thing he had to …" Alright, get to your seats!" Dang it.
Linka was sitting in her chair and Chandler had to get her attention. Some people whisperer, a crafty person would send a text, an old fashioned thinker would send a note, an idiot would kick the back of a chair.
"Dang it, Chandler, stop kicking!" Linka yelled.
"But…" he started to say.
"Oh, a talker, huh?" Bolhoffner said, he had a grin on his face that made it look like he was about to steal Christmas. He leaned in closer to Linka, she grimaced at the smell of his breath. "Well, Ms. Blabber Lips, you'll be spending your lunch with me."
Chandler realized he had screwed up the second day in the row, he had gotten Linka in trouble. He wanted to admit it was his fault, that he was wrong, he did something stupid, take him, not her, but he it was like he wasn't programmed to do something admirable like admit that he did something stupid to a teacher. Usually if he did something wrong, the teacher would have to catch him, not just him admitting it.
The next day, he didn't get a chance to talk to her because she wasn't on time. In fact, she entered the classroom late, and she seemed miserable. She pleaded her case to Bolhoffner something about her brother stuffing her in a locker, all he did was say that she was going to be spending lunch with him again. Then she took her seat, but the chair fell apart, it wasn't a good day. Chandler wasn't going to try and talk to her to make things worse.
The room was extremely hot, and Bolhoffner's talking was somehow soothing, but what he was talking about was boring. Chandler had gone to sleep, his head curled up into his arms like a cat would curl up with its tail. He missed what had happened. He had woken up just in time to hear the lunch bell.
"Wow look at them," Richie said.
"Did they get attacked by wolves?" Trent asked.
The boys had noticed Linka's friends sitting at a table looking like they had been in a fight. Though it kind of was, dodgeball is a fight. Chandler was focused on wondering where Linka was, then he remembered she was supposed to have lunch with the teacher.
"Let me guess, you did something stupid again, and got her trouble?" Trent asked.
Chandler rolled his eyes, "No, not this time, she was late because of her stupid brother, so she has to have lunch with Hoff again," he explained.
"Oh, that's right, you were sleeping in class, she went to the nurse," Brianna said.
"Linka's sick? Was it heat exhaustion?!" Chandler asked.
"That's a good one, I think I'm about to get that," Brianna said, "No, she apparently got bit by Hank."
"Oh no! Are they going to have to remove a finger?" Chandler asked.
"Maybe you should stop sleeping in class," Richie said.
The boy growled at his friend.
"Now that the Chandler Report is over, how about you guys, how was your day so far?" Brianna asked.
The next day, it was an opportunity, he was going to find Linka and tell her he was sorry before class even started. He had been earlier to school than normal and looked around for the white-haired girl. He thought it really should have been easy to find the only white-haired student in the entire school. Then he felt something tap his shoulder. Looking behind himself, it was Lynn Loud.
"What are you doing, punk?" the boy asked.
"I'm looking for someone," Chandler answered.
"Oh, likely story, you know there's no loitering in the halls, right, Punk?" he asked.
He drove his finger into Chandler's chest.
"Actually, you are loitering now, I'm just trying to get to class," Chandler said.
"You, talking back?"
"No, but I'm sure being late to class is against the rules, and since mine is far, I really need to get there."
He knew Linka's brother was slightly high strung and knew that the Loud boy was boastful and proud. That gave him an idea to get out of this situation.
"I'm just saying that I'm not as quick as you and I need to get to my class before I'm late and Bolhoffner makes me have lunch with him."
"You're right, you aren't as fast as me, and I don't want you to run in my halls, get going, punk."
Well, he got out of that, but he couldn't find Linka still. Apparently, this time she made it to the classroom on time before him, but he had made it just in time for the bell to ring and class to start.
"Linka Loud, please report to the principal's office" , the voice on the intercom said.
Everyone in the class oohed.
"What now?" Linka said.
She grabbed her stuff and walked out of the room. To Chandler this was like a divine force was messing him from the start. Like he had the girl he liked in the class with him, but from the start it's been nothing but mishap after mishap. She probably hated him now, and everything they had done together before was for not. Sixth grade had turned out to be the worse. It was about to get worse.
Since going to school early didn't work, he thought he wait at the same bus stop that Linka would go to. Normally, his mom or dad would give him a ride, but he insisted that he wanted to see Linka before school. He noticed Zach, Rusty, Clyde, Liam, and Stella chasing after the bus. He had missed it too. So, they all ended up walking to school. He stopped them before they could enter.
"Hey… wait…" he coughed, "I have something to…."
"Chandler, what is it?" Stella asked.
"Where's Linka?" he asked.
"You didn't hear?" Liam asked.
"Hear what? If I heard something, would I have killed myself, running after you guys?" he asked.
"Linka got transferred to Canada," Clyde said, with a tear running down his face.
Chandler knew it was true, if Clyde was saying it, Clyde had no capacity to lie.
"Oh, I didn't know that thanks" he said, slightly choking up.
He walked away, downcast. It was a sluggish, sad walk to the classroom. "It's my fault, she hated me so much that she changed countries," he thought. He walked into the classroom, the chair she s sat in was fixed, but she wasn't going to be there. It was more noticeable when class started, and an hour had passed, and she didn't show up. "Stupid, Chandler, why didn't I look at where I placed my pudding?" he thought. The heat didn't make him feel better either, he wiped some tears from his face, and hoped others thought he was just trying to wipe sweat.
Later at lunch.
"What's wrong with you?" Lance asked Brianna.
"Ugh, I'm tired, that room just drains energy," she said.
"And what's wrong with you?" Lance asked Chandler.
"I screwed up, now Linka's in Canada," he said.
"Ah Canada, I wish I was there, it's cool in Canada," Brianna murmured.
"Canada, the country?" Trent asked.
"No, Canada, the state," Richie said sarcastically.
"I'm sure she didn't get transferred because you," Brianna said.
"Huh?" the boys asked.
"I mean, changing schools because of pudding would be a weak move; now, changing a school because of unfair conditions… that'd make more sense, she probably got tired of sweating all day," Brianna explained.
"I think that room is messing with both your heads," Lance said, "I'm sure, knowing Linka, she found a way to change classes, and you misheard Canada."
"I heard it from her friends," Chandler replied.
Lance got up and went to see Linka's friends he was trying to prove a point. He came back looking like he lost all his lunch money.
"Well?" Richie asked.
"Shut up, "Lance said.
At home, Chandler lied in his bed; he felt like he was emptied out, like he'd never see hope again. He just wanted to see her one more time, just for her to know he was sorry. He was sorry, this one time he understood that one of his dumb pranks would cause so much harm. Linka hated him. He jumped up, "No way!" There had to be something he could do, anything.
"Mom, I want to go to Canada," he requested.
It was dinner time; the McCann family were sitting around the table.
"Sure, next weekend, we can go to Canada," his mother said.
"But I need to go tomorrow," he said.
"What's the urgent need to go to Canada?" his father asked.
It gave him a second to realize that he didn't think through his plan.
"Ugh, never mind," he said.
"Well, if you change your mind, we can go next weekend," his mother said.
"Yeah, maybe."
The fan was useless, it didn't bring any relief; maybe he deserved it. This was like his own personal hell. Just then, the door opened.
"Hello, you beautiful classroom!" Linka shouted.
Chandler couldn't believe his eyes; it was the heat- yeah, the heat. That wasn't Linka.
"Hank, how's my favorite pet?" the girl said.
Then she walked up to Chandler and touched his arm.
"Chandler, good to see ya, my man!" she said.
She offered a high five, but Chandler was stunned, or delusional. Linka ended up high fiving herself.
"Missed each and everyone of you, and Mr.B missed you the most," Linka replied.
"How lovely for us. Now zip it!" Mr. Bolhofner said.
"Absolutely. But, uh, Mr. Bolhofner, sir? Is there any way you can down the temp in here? I got kind used to the cold," Linka said.
There was a gasp in the room.
"Turn the down temp?" The teacher said as he broke a piece of chalk in his hand. He looked over the thermostat, which read 95, "Heh, nobody ever asked before, sure." He turned the temperature down.
There was cheering in the classroom, as Linka took her seat.
"Linka," Chandler whispered.
"Huh?" she questioned, looking back at Chandler.
"I'm sorry for earlier," he replied.
"Oh, missing the high five? It's alright, you looked all hot and confused.
"No, I mean the pudding thing; I wasn't trying to prank you, and later the chair kicking, I was just trying to get your attention to say I was sorry and, well I made things worse."
Linka smiled, and reached her hand out and said, "Oh, I didn't even remember that."
"Wait, but you went to Canada, wasn't that because you were mad at me?"
She started to chuckle, "I'm sorry, I was so worried about being separated from my friends."
"Oh," he said slightly dejected.
"But I'm happy we are in a class together, it's great to see you." she said.
"Same," he squeaked.
Maybe it was going to be a good year after all.