I do not own Vampire Diaries
Anastasia had gone home to put Liana to sleep, after which she was completely bored to death. She had spent a while writing the songs she remembered she had written during her time with James in her song journal, but she had no inspiration to write another one so she was sitting there doing nothing, not even playing her favourite guitar appealed to her, it was a birthday gift from her brother before he died, the day would always haunt her mind, she could never forget it no matter how much she tried to. She shook her head to dispel the thought before she had a sudden idea but she needed to leave the house so she made sure her father, who was home because his job didn't require him to go to work today, knew that Liana needed to be taken care of before going out.
She realised that even with part time, she was going to be really bored, since she was only going from Monday to Wednesday from 7-11 which meant she had so that meant she had in total 5 days off every 2 weeks. She really didn't want to spend that time at home because she had already gotten Liana enrolled in the nearest nursery so she would literally be doing absolutely nothing whilst she was gone and that did not appeal to her at all because she knew that she would most likely spend the entire time thinking about James and she didn't want to do that. So she thought she might find something else to do, she was skilled in doing that because she had done her PGcert, basically a masters degree, alongside being a doctor, and with the entire hectic situation at home so doing another small part time job would be fine for her. She didn't want to be full time doctor, that was just too stressful right now, she remembered how it was before.
She walked around town for a while before finding a high school, maybe she could be a part time teacher, or even an assistant, she had experience in teaching before when she was younger. During her high school, she did some work experience where she taught children in college so this wouldn't be so different. She's got the certificate in her resume so it shouldn't be so hard to get a job here, since she only wanted part time. She walked in thankful that she had worn something professional today, she had a long black string tied around her neck loosely that fell down her chest covered by a loose white shirt tucked into a knee length black fitted skirt and a black blazer on top. She was also wearing the same bracelet she had on yesterday and an empty silver heart shaped locket of hers she had found with a few charms around it like a smaller heart with her first initial on it, and put her mother and brother's picture inside, which she vowed never to take off, it fell right under where the black ribbon knotted.
[At Mystic Falls High School]
She walked inside the school and asked the nearest person where the office was before she followed his directions knowing full well where his eyes were when she walked away. She hated men looking at her, there were many women in this world, why couldn't they stare at someone else honestly, she wasn't even that pretty, James had ruined that. Speaking of him, she remembered that she needed to clean her stitches and put another bandage on top, hopefully she had some with her or she'll have to get it from the hospital, where she hoped she didn't have to explain why. That would not be a fun story.
She finally found the office so she knocked on the door and after she was called in, she made her way inside shutting the door behind her. Around 10 minutes later, she came outside with a bright smile on her face, the lady had looked through her resume and said that despite her experience in teaching, since it was quite a while ago, she should refresh her memory a bit. She was skilled in many different areas so instead of assigning her to one subject teacher, she instead assigned her as a teaching assistant of all the classes in the Junior year and she was given a schedule, the first class was with someone called Mr Tanner. She was going to work here from Monday to Wednesday 11:30 till 3:30 after her hospital shift and also Thursday and Friday full days from 9:00 till 3:30. Her father's job apparently was more sit at home since he was one of the higher ups of the business so he could do everything from home therefore Liana would be taken care of after coming back from the nursery. She really didn't want to spend time away from her daughter but she couldn't afford to rely on anyone, especially her father, he had given her many reasons not to so she needed to get money for herself and her daughter so they never had to live like they had before.
She was knocked out of her thoughts when the lady told her how to get to Mr Tanner's room before wishing her good luck with a strange look on her face as if she felt sorry for her and she was confused, why would she be sorry for her, she got her answer the second she stepped into his classroom.
A little while before...
"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?" The annoying voice that every child in the school despised droned on.
"Um...a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot." Bonnie answered as everyone covered their snorts not wanting his wrath to befall on them.
"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett." Mr Tanner insulted as Bonnie shrunk in her seat embarrassed.
"Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?" He then picked on another student to insult.
"It's okay, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it" Matt replied leaning back in his seat like he had absolutely no care in the world as the children laughed around him.
"Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?" As he asked this, he didn't know that Anastasia had opened the door to his room, catching the eye of some of the class, mainly the boys as they turned to stare at her with their mouths open.
"I'm sorry, I-I don't know." Elena stuttered embarrassed she had been too busy thinking about the fact that this was her first day back in school after the crash and her parents wouldn't be home to greet her as they usually would, to even consider paying attention to the class.
"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break." Mr Tanner said bluntly and the fury that encompassed Anastasia's face made more than few people lean back in their seats, she actually looked scary.
Anastasia couldn't believe that he was even qualified to be a teacher, how could he say that to her. She knew what had happened to Elena's parents since it had come up whilst they were talking in the grill yesterday and she knew better than most that the loss of a loved one never stopped hurting, her mother, brother and firstborn were examples of that.
So she had no control over her mouth because as soon as he had said it, she was on a roll, "How dare you have the gall to say that to her! You have absolutely no right! Honestly I have never met someone so insensitive before. You're a teacher, not some bloody guidance counsellor, though you'll be a pretty shitty one, so I suggest you stay in your blasted place. How the hell can you tell a teenager that 'yeah you know what, you lost your parents, get over it, big deal.' Do you know how insensitive that sounds, I mean, seriously, grief doesn't work that way you obnoxious fool, you can't hurry grief to fit your own blasted timeline because in some form (there is a quote about this but I forgot the entire quote and who wrote it) or another it will always hurt for however long you are alive. Have you ever lost someone? Do you know the pain of losing someone you loved? If you had, you wouldn't have even dared to say that. Grief doesn't have a bloody timeline because if it did, it would be never ending. The pain will never end. You know what, he's a piece of advice maybe you should try speaking like a civilised human being, you know, when the words you want to say are actually processed through your brain first, or is that too hard for someone as thoughtless like you?" Anastasia was breathing a little heavily as she finished her rant, the students were staring slack jawed, no one had ever talked to their teacher like that so they were beyond impressed but some of them like Stefan and Bonnie had noticed that there was a slight break in her voice when she emphasised the part that the pain will never end and they knew that there had to be a story behind there.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Mr Tanner asked annoyed that someone had called him out on his shit.
"Oh right, my bad, I'm Anastasia Williams, your new teaching assistant, and I would say that it's nice to meet you but that would honestly be a lie and since I know you're going to ask for proof, here you go Mr Tinman." Anastasia purposefully said his name wrong as she showed him the signed documents that clearly stated she was his part time assistant as the other students covered their mouths from the laughter that threatened to burst forth.
"It's Mr Tanner." He said annoyed at her mispronunciation and the fact that the documents were authentic, he didn't want her to be here though he had to admit as his eyes roamed her body that she wasn't bad to look at, in fact, she was quite beautiful.
"That's exactly what I said Mr Tannyboy." She said casually as if she hadn't just insulted him.
"Mr Tanner." He repeated through gritted teeth.
"I don't know why you keep repeating your name, should I use your first name instead, William, is it, wait can I call you Willy?" Anastasia began rambling, it was quite fun to see his face become red in anger and embarrassment as the children couldn't control their laughter anymore. She knew his name because of the board she had read in the office with the teacher's names on it.
"No you may not. It's Mr Tanner now would you let me teach my class." He said through his clenched teeth, he was literally controlling himself from lashing out at the women because he knew that wouldn't end well as she wasn't a student.
"You mean our class Mr Tarzan, and by all means do continue, I'll just sit over here." Anastasia said as she sat in a spare stool which she pulled to the front of the class, who were once again stifling their chuckles at the ridiculous names she was giving him. It was then that she noticed 3 familiar faces and her eyes widened, oh so this was the school they went to, she had completely forgotten. She smiled at them all, subtly waving at them, and they smiled back at her, Elena's smile was more grateful since she had defended her so she nodded back at her to show that it was no problem.
"Now can someone answer the previous question before we were interrupted." He said pointedly as he looked at her whilst she just cheekily smiled at him from her seat.
"There were 346 casualties. Unless you're counting local civilians." Stefan answered before Mr Tanner could pick on someone else.
"That's correct. Mister...?" He waited for his name since he was a new student.
"Salvatore." Stefan answered, his annoyance with the man growing, he didn't like the fact that his words had not only hurt Elena but it had clearly brought some foul memories back for Ana, it was clear from her words that she had experienced grief in some way, she only talked about her father last night and when they asked about her mother, she made an excuse that she had to go the bathroom and only he had seen through the lie. Maybe the person she was talking about was her mother, it would make sense.
"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?" Mr Tanner's voice ripped him out of his thoughts.
"Distant." Stefan answered shortly though he knew that was a lie, he had been one of the original settlers, alongside his brother.
"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle." Mr Tanner said with a triumphant smile on his face as if getting one up on his students was a very high achievement when instead it was petty in Anastasia's opinion, though she found it even more funny because of the fact that he was wrong.
"Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr. Tanner." Stefan replied with snark he didn't often use but he reckoned that the sorry excuse for a teacher definitely deserved it and looking at the amused smile on Ana's face was definitely worth it.
"Hmm." Mr Tanner said clearly embarrassed for the second time today as the bell rang and everyone quickly vacated their seats though as Anastasia was about to leave he called her back inside.
Once the kids left, Anastasia stood by the door looking at him with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow waiting for whatever he had to say.
"I just wanted to say that what happened today cannot happen again if you're going to be my assistant. I don't need a woman destroying my authority in my classroom." Mr Tanner said sternly though he still couldn't help but look her up and down in admiration at her beauty.
Anastasia felt her hackles raise at the way his eyes roamed her figure, it was beyond creepy and she really just wanted to get out of here but she still refused to be the same docile woman she was with James so she lifted her chin in defiance as she said, "It won't if you don't piss me off, what you said was callous on so many levels and I just responded like any human should and besides it's not only your classroom it's ours now though I am only coming part time. I will work here every Monday to Wednesday from 11:30 till 3:30 and Thursday and Friday from 9:00 till 3:30 and also what's wrong with being a woman? You said it as if it was an insult, I hope you don't have a problem with my gender because otherwise what happened today will carry on happening because I don't tolerate sexist people." Anastasia said firmly she hated men that treated women as if they are inferior to them just because they were born a girl, James being a prime example.
"No I don't have a problem with woman, I just don't need one to assist me with my class." Mr Tanner said trying to be civil, he didn't need her complaining to anyone else after all, that would ruin his reputation.
"Well now you have an assistant, so deal with it, and again, it's not only your class because I will be helping too." Anastasia said, she wanted to get it through to him that she was not going to sit on the sidelines and observe, she was going to actually participate and help wherever possible.
"Hmm. You may go now." He said and as she turned around to leave, he looked up and stared at her as she went, she was beautiful and he couldn't help himself, he wanted her.
Just as Anastasia went outside, she was met with Stefan and Elena who had apparently waited for her.
"Oh hi guys." Anastasia said cheerfully now that she was out of the room.
"Hey Anastasia. I just wanted to thank you in person for defending me. I really appreciate it." Elena said as she smiled gratefully at her.
"No problem Elena." Anastasia replied as she smiled back at her.
"Yes I have to admit that was incredible." Stefan complimented her with a smile on his face.
"Thanks Steffie." Anastasia said playfully before she checked her watch to see the time and realised that her baby would be awake soon so she told the two in front of her to wait a second so that she could message her father to get the food and the milk she prepared and give them to Liana because she wouldn't be home for a while. After a few seconds a message popped up and she sighed in relief, her father had agreed to do it which she was thankful for, despite him being emotionally unavailable, in other things, he did have a few moments where he truly delivered.
"Is something wrong?" Stefan asked concerned.
Anastasia looked up confused before she said, "No nothing's wrong. I just had to make sure Liana had her food and milk now because adding the rest of the school day and the long walk home, I will obviously not be on time."
"Where do you live?" Elena asked curiously as they began making their way to the next class after Anastasia confirmed that their schedule was basically the same.
"Oh I don't really know the address but I remember that it was only a 2 minute drive after we saw the sign of Mystic Falls." Anastasia replied as she tried to remember the address but came up blank.
"Oh that's actually a little farther than where I live and I live a while away." Stefan said making conversation, he found it refreshing talking with her, she was like a younger sister to him even though they had only met a few times. They talked some more until they entered their next class where Anastasia introduced herself as their new assistant. In this class, Caroline was there too so she got to say hi to her, she was actually happy with this class, the teacher was very nice to her and guided her with which students needed more help and which were more independent so she had a hang of things. It was clear to her that the few who needed help didn't give a damn about learning so she tried teaching them a different way, she asked the teacher if she could teach them separately and she allowed her to because she had literally given up on them.
Anastasia called the few students who she had noticed needed help and after moving a few people to the empty seats where they sat she pushed a few tables together and made them all sit around her. After introducing herself, she first got to know them all and it was fun to say the least, she first wanted to build some trust between them because otherwise they wouldn't listen. The teacher thankfully let her be as they continued to joke around and laugh before she thought it was a good time to get serious. She knew that math was a very hated subject but if learnt the right way it could be fun so instead of lecturing them, she began making the most weirdest scenarios to fit the question causing them to laugh as they listened to her with their full attention. She also uppdr her game by using paper to make origami things to make it more visual to the children, until they understood the question. She loved origami, art and music were her favourite past times in her childhood and it always would be.
The entire lesson she spent explaining the questions on a previous exam that she had gotten from the teacher, that they all had done horribly in, and a few minutes before the end she gave them all a similar question to the one she had explained and as they all got to work she wrote an entire page of different questions similar to the rest of the ones she had done. She hadn't been able to complete the entire paper but with the ones that she had, it looked like they had gotten it so she was really pleased especially with the small debate they had as they considered the answer to one of her questions. They all got along wonderfully, it had been slightly rocky at first but during the lesson they had clicked and she smiled at the thought as she got up to ask the teacher where she could photocopy the paper. She took it from her with a smile as said she'd do it, so she went back to her table and saw that they all had finished so she took their pages and smiled brighter at the tick on each one, they all got it right.
"Well done guys. I'm so proud." Anastasia said as she smiled at them, they all beamed at her, for the first time in ages, they actually loved the lesson so when the bell rang, they were actually disappointed. Though they did groan slightly at the page of questions that she handed with a smirk on her face as if she knew what reaction it was going to get. What they all didn't realise was that most of the class had been staring jealously at their table, wondering why they couldn't be taught by her too.
"Thanks Miss Williams." They all said as they took the paper and left the classroom, she grabbed her bag smiling before she waited for Stefan, Elena and Bonnie because they went to the same class as her and she had no idea where to go. As they all walked outside the class, they all asked how the hell she had gotten the children who never worked at all to actually do something, she didn't know how to answer that so she just shrugged slightly with a blush on her face at their praise. She didn't know that Stefan had heard exactly how she had taught the children and he admired her even more, she was so talented, she had them all engaged the entire time. if he was an actual high school student he would have loved to be taught by her, she just made it fun and really interesting, even to him, despite the fact that he already knew all of it.
Every lesson after that went the same way, thankfully the other teachers were as nice as Miss Louise, the math teacher, and had let her do what she did in her class. Funnily enough, it was the same students slacking in english that she had just taught in math so she again did the same thing. She first talked about the different plays, all their likes and dislikes before going back to the actual play they were doing and using origami to create the scenes in the play to help refresh their memory. She described a little of the scene and then they jumped on and described what happened next, all of them pitching in. She had them all cut their pages into the shapes of flash cards before making them write anything they remembered from the particular scene she had created in the middle, whether it was quotes, character descriptions, setting, themes etc, which she also pitched in and after a few minutes she stopped them before she told them that they had to look at the entire scene, and all the cards scattered around them for a total of 15 seconds before she would gather it all up in a bag and they had to write as much as they could remember from the scene.
This is how it went until the bell rang, whenever they started writing whatever they could remember, she started making the next scene so as she looked at all their work, they started annotating the scene, all of them talking to each other, giving each other ideas, telling each other if something is in the wrong place or praising someone else's idea. It was all in all a great lesson so as the bell rang she told them that as homework, from the scenes they had looked over, they had to create one of them from memory only, in whatever they wanted, like modelling clay, paper, cardboard, etc and for those who said they weren't good at art, she said that they could either create one part of the scene, like a character, for example, which they could choose to draw too or they could look online and learn origami so that next time they could help when she made the scene, it would help them memorise it more if they made it themselves so they agreed and left the room.
The entire day passed much the same, she helped mostly the same kids in each class, though there were a few who weren't in that class and others who were excellent in some classes but not in others so they joined the group too. She taught every lesson to them in a completely different way and she felt beyond happy when their bored faces lightened up as they actually engaged with her and the other students she was teaching. Again, she didn't notice the jealous stares of the other students who were sitting their bored to death as they listened to the teacher's lecture, they all wanted to join her group, they all looked happy over there and the way she was teaching them looked fun.
At 3.00, Anastasia walked out the building with a smile on her face, that was actually fun if she disregarded Tanner's lesson, and she had actually enjoyed herself, the students were wonderful to get along with. She had noticed though that with all the walking around, sitting down and getting up, her stitches were stinging slightly, it was probably a little too much work to do with the stitches so fresh. A sudden thought then entered her mind, she had asked death to be a vampire without bloodlust, so wasn't one of their traits to have instant healing or was the universe she was in hat different that she wouldn't heal as she touched her abdomen where the stitches were.
"Yes, do explain that sister, I was confused about that too." Death said now even more annoyed at his sister, why couldn't she just leave well enough alone.
"Well you see, you gave her an extra gift, to be an animagus, so I thought it fitting to take away something else, be glad I let her be a vampire without the thirst for blood." Life said dismissively.
"Really sister? You had to take away her healing, why couldn't you have taken away something else, like I don't know, not being able to have children."
"Well she couldn't have them anyway so it wouldn't actually do anything."
"Well then what about immortality, I don't think she wants that at all, she clearly had forgotten the other perk of being a vampire. She could never live knowing that she'd outlive her daughter."
"Well she should have thought of that beforehand."
"She had just come out of a traumatising situation, cut her some slack, besides she was excited."
"Ugh fine. Why don't you ask her whether she wants to have children more than she wants to be immortal and then we'll go from there but I am not compromising on the healing." Life said adamantly, it wouldn't be that much fun if she could heal quickly, ok, she could sort of understand why her brother thinks she's a sadist.
"Wait, I can talk to her." Death said surprised.
"Well of course you can you idiot. You are the one who sent her here after all. Now get lost, I've got other universes to control. Bye bye now." Life waved as she mockingly blew a kiss at him before leaving.
"Ugh." Death said annoyed at his sister for not telling him this sooner. He would wait till she was alone to tell her, since he didn't how she'd react.
Anastasia was confused about why she knew about vampires, she hadn't watched any Tv show about it but there had to be a reason why she had chosen it, oh wait she had forgotten that Death had removed her memories of this show which clearly meant that this is the show where she got the vampires from since this was the only show she had forgotten and she hadn't watched any vampire show according to her memory, well, except Twilight, but she was definitely sure she didn't sparkle in the sun, so it definitely had something to do with this universe which meant that there were vampires here. Wonderful. Just wonderful.
Death smiled at that, she was a smart one, he already knew that from watching over her, ever since he had deemed her his favourite. Not many could complete their entire education all the way up to their Phd in the time that she had, especially considering her home life. She was tenacious, one of the many characteristics that caught his attention.
"Hey Ana. Where are you going?" Stefan asked as he caught up to her, Elena and Bonnie had already gone to the party but he had seen Ana leaving so he wanted to say goodbye.
"I'm going to Singapore. Obviously I'm going home Steffanie." Anastasia said, she didn't know why but she had fun messing with people's names, people she didn't like and people she did like and felt comfortable with teasing.
Stefan snorted at her pronunciation of his name as he scowled playfully at her before he said, " I was wondering if you wanted to come with us to the party. Elena and Bonnie are already there."
"I can't, as I said before, I'm not a student so technically I can't go." Anastasia said before she was about to say goodbye and go home.
"And technically you are a part of the school and nowhere did it say, teaching assistants are not allowed." Stefan said as he smirked at her holding out his hand.
Anastasia sighed at that, it was technically true so she placed her hand in his as he led her to where the bonfire was happening. Before she went in, she told him to go on since she had to text her father and tell him she would be home a little later than planned. She wanted to go home to Liana but she also just wanted to let go for a while, she hadn't had the chance to go to a party unless she was going as arm candy for wherever James needed her so this was a one time opportunity, if only she knew the amount of parties this place had.
