Danny and Maggie
The two sat opposite each other. One donned in professional garb, and one donned in what could only be called "black rags". Neither uttered a word, instead opting to stare at one another. The silence was comfortable to both as this was almost, save weeks and vacations [and one day last year], a daily occurance.
"Miss Gelbart, Why did you take the lock out of the Chemistry's labs door."
"I didn't lock it. I jammed it."
"With what?"
"Gum. Chewed."
"Lovely." Waller glanced down at a paper on his desk before scribbing on it. "That little stunt of yours has earned you a three day pass in detention". Maggie Gelbart scoffed at the authoritive tone of his voice, and he glanced up at her.
"Do you want to make that five?"
She glared. "We'll see what happens between now and Monday."
"We probably will." Waller stood up, holding a manila folder in both hands and tapping it lightly on the desk to push the papers that were jutting out of it's yellow-y hold back inside. She also stood and they stared at each other for a few moments before she exited.
It was 2:47 when Maggie walked into the classroom. By day, it served its purpose a History room- for Freshman's, she beleived- but as soon as the clock ticked to 2:45 it metamorpized into detention. She took her usual seat in the back, by the window, and dropped her bag onto the top of the desk. This was her time. There were all sorts of options. Read, listen to music, stalk Waller. She prefered the later, the more dangerous one, the one were he would catch her and through his ackwardness do nothing about it. Sure, he'd tell her to go back to detention, or quite possibly issue yet another, but after she got him into conversation he would let her do as she willed. That's how she found out all these little facts about Waller.
The times he leaves the room, goes to his office, does a routine check of the school, reorganizes his PDA, exercises on the stabilty ball, sees if the lunch room floors have been waxed, and checks back on the room for a head count. She knows exactally how tall
he is- 5'11"- and his shoe size [men's 10].
The door swung open. Speak of the devil. Waller quickly checked in to validate whether or not Maggie was still in the room or out looking for him.
"Ah, I see you're still content in the room."
"Hey, you reminded me. I need to go get a drink." It was a lie, and both parties knew it.
"If I remind you of anything, it is that this is detention and in detention you stay in the detention room-" Waller's rant was stopped short by Maggie pushing past him and into the room. He protested no further, and Maggie smiled to herself. The only reason she received detention in the first place was that she purposely went against the rules and Waller, in effort not to appear lenient in front of the rest of the school, was forced to give her a detention.
"So, Wally, did Radio Free Roscoe come on yet?"
"Did you just call me 'Wally' again?"
"I don't know. Deal."
They both walked down the hall, both towards his office, in silence. The same as before, content and casual. Waller stopped to tear down a poster proclaiming that there would be a party on Friday night.
"You know, Waller, I usually have no major qualms with your censorship but that was dealing with the emotional well being of the students."
"It's the job of an adminstrative official to be concerned with the educational aspect of the students lives, not the social."
"And that's why you're out to distroy RFR?"
"I'm pretty sure the pestering of a teacher warrents a friday detention."
"You mean adminstrative official, right?"
He shot a blank glance at her before unlocking the door. Waller pushed open the door to reveal a rather small, but organized, office.
"You know, you should really contact one of those home decorating shows. God knows you need it."
"I am rather fond of my office, thank you." Waller walked over to his desk to turn on a radio. Suddenly Question Mark's voice echoed into the room, complaining about the quality of the lunch room food. The principal glanced at the radio for a few moments before mumbling about his fondness of the food served in the cafeteria.
"Glad to hear that, sir."
"What?"
"Nothing." Maggie sat down on a chair opposite Waller's desk as he ranted to himself about how nobody had enough respect for the hardwork put into making those fries. The goth girl rolled her eyes and promptly picked a rather plain snowglobe off the desk. Waller immediately stopped and turned towards Maggie. She nodded slightly and placed it back on the desk.
"Oh!" He exclaimed suddenly, walking over to a stack of papers. "I forgot to tell you...." He shifted through papers. "That Mrs. Seposkia sent me another.....note.... er, yesterday to inform me....of your...grades. Apparently, It looks like... you might not pass... and...." Suddenly, the bottom of the stack gave way, sprewing papers all throughout the room.
Waller glanced down at the floor before uttering one small simple word- "Damn."
"Oh my gosh! You actually are human!" Maggie widened her eyes and appeared shocked and surprised for effect. She noticed a bright yellow post-it note by her boot that addressed "Danny" in big red sharpie marker. Picking it up, Maggie noticed it was the note from her Math teacher.
"Here you go, Waller." She held it out so he could take it from her, and he did so blankly. "So, I'll probably fail Math?"
"And science."
"But not English or History."
"No."
Maggie shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. I'll still graduate."
"You don't have plans for college?" Waller bent down to pick up some of the numerous sheets of paper.
"No. I think I'm going to become a artist."
"There's always art school."
"It's not for me." She noticed that Waller would probably spend days picking up the papers on his own, so she knelt down to help.
"There's not a lot of job security as an artist."
"I know, but it's my passion."
"Where are your friends going to college?"
Maggie grinned. "Well, accusming I had any, they probably would be in jail by know."
Waller glanced at her a second from the other side of the desk. "Are you saying that you don't have friends?" He asked slowly, not wanting to upset her.
"Not really, and it doesn't bother me either. It seems like I don't need any."
"Of course you need friends, Margeret."
"I hate being called that. It's Maggie." He dismissed her protest with a wave.
She looked up at him. "Do you have any? Friends, I mean."
"Yes." Waller said indignatly. "Collieges."
"No, I mean real 'hang out and talk 'til 3 O clock in the morning friends."
"That's not exactally a priority for people who need to get up at 5 in the morning."
They contuined pick up pieces of papers and putting them in small piles, and by the looks of it, they were making progress. Maggie had actually passed up an oppertunity to look through Kim Carlies records, placing it two piles back. Why had she done that? It didn't matter, she'd be out of school at the end of this year. She'd never have to see any of them again. Was that the case with Waller? He wanted to get away only to come back four years later to be the principal.
"What did you want to be when you grew up?"
The question took him by surprise. "Eh, what?"
"What did you aspire to be? Certainly not the principal of Roscoe High, right?"
He chuckled. "No. Certainly not."
"So what did you want to be?"
"A baseball player."
"A baseball player?" Maggie asked incrediablity.
"I know it's hard to believe now, but I used to be quite the athlete in my day."
"What happened?"
"I got a full scholarship to the University of Fairbanks, and so I picked Education as a major. It didn't matter, I was going to be picked in a draft. The draft came, and I wasn't picked. So I decided to fall back on the major, and since I used to be a student of Henry Roscoe high...." Waller stood up, finished with the final pile. "I became the Principal."
"That must suck. Finally getting away from your high school, only to come back four years later to run it."
"It's not bad. You feel like you've impacted someone's life. Of course, only about 2% of the students."
"Well, that's enough. If I've ever impacted somebodys life, notify me when Hell freezes over."
"You have the potential to."
"Uh huh, sure I do. I'll have a picture hanging on the wall of a gallery next to 400 others just to be looked over."
"I'm no art "consearge", but I know that art is not all about impressing others. Some times it's just about inspiring others." He looked at her knowingly. She knelt down to try to put
the piles together. "Ah, Leave it. I'll get them tommorrow. Let's go, gotta get back to detention, you know."
Both walked to the door, and into the hallway. Maggie looked up at him suddenly with a wiry grin on her face.
"Wait a minute, you just suggested that I become an art teacher."
"Perhaps I did, Margeret. You may think its 'Lame'," He held up both hands in a shape that resembled moving quotations. "To be a teacher, but I personally think it's a far better
thing to inspire rather then just create."
"Wow, that was sort of deep." Maggie looked at him. "Waller, you actually gave me an idea. I'm really going to consider it."
He smiled, a real smile. Not one formed after catching a student with headphones, or coming this close to the culprets who put on that Radio Station. He smiled because he inspired a student, and she returned it knowing that one day she might be able to do the same.
"Anyway, I gotta get back to detention. You know, to start planning my future career." She began walking down the hall, but turned around shortly there after. "Bye Danny."
He stood there in the hallway, watching the girl walk down the hall, and he knew she'd be back four years later. "Bye Maggie."
The two sat opposite each other. One donned in professional garb, and one donned in what could only be called "black rags". Neither uttered a word, instead opting to stare at one another. The silence was comfortable to both as this was almost, save weeks and vacations [and one day last year], a daily occurance.
"Miss Gelbart, Why did you take the lock out of the Chemistry's labs door."
"I didn't lock it. I jammed it."
"With what?"
"Gum. Chewed."
"Lovely." Waller glanced down at a paper on his desk before scribbing on it. "That little stunt of yours has earned you a three day pass in detention". Maggie Gelbart scoffed at the authoritive tone of his voice, and he glanced up at her.
"Do you want to make that five?"
She glared. "We'll see what happens between now and Monday."
"We probably will." Waller stood up, holding a manila folder in both hands and tapping it lightly on the desk to push the papers that were jutting out of it's yellow-y hold back inside. She also stood and they stared at each other for a few moments before she exited.
It was 2:47 when Maggie walked into the classroom. By day, it served its purpose a History room- for Freshman's, she beleived- but as soon as the clock ticked to 2:45 it metamorpized into detention. She took her usual seat in the back, by the window, and dropped her bag onto the top of the desk. This was her time. There were all sorts of options. Read, listen to music, stalk Waller. She prefered the later, the more dangerous one, the one were he would catch her and through his ackwardness do nothing about it. Sure, he'd tell her to go back to detention, or quite possibly issue yet another, but after she got him into conversation he would let her do as she willed. That's how she found out all these little facts about Waller.
The times he leaves the room, goes to his office, does a routine check of the school, reorganizes his PDA, exercises on the stabilty ball, sees if the lunch room floors have been waxed, and checks back on the room for a head count. She knows exactally how tall
he is- 5'11"- and his shoe size [men's 10].
The door swung open. Speak of the devil. Waller quickly checked in to validate whether or not Maggie was still in the room or out looking for him.
"Ah, I see you're still content in the room."
"Hey, you reminded me. I need to go get a drink." It was a lie, and both parties knew it.
"If I remind you of anything, it is that this is detention and in detention you stay in the detention room-" Waller's rant was stopped short by Maggie pushing past him and into the room. He protested no further, and Maggie smiled to herself. The only reason she received detention in the first place was that she purposely went against the rules and Waller, in effort not to appear lenient in front of the rest of the school, was forced to give her a detention.
"So, Wally, did Radio Free Roscoe come on yet?"
"Did you just call me 'Wally' again?"
"I don't know. Deal."
They both walked down the hall, both towards his office, in silence. The same as before, content and casual. Waller stopped to tear down a poster proclaiming that there would be a party on Friday night.
"You know, Waller, I usually have no major qualms with your censorship but that was dealing with the emotional well being of the students."
"It's the job of an adminstrative official to be concerned with the educational aspect of the students lives, not the social."
"And that's why you're out to distroy RFR?"
"I'm pretty sure the pestering of a teacher warrents a friday detention."
"You mean adminstrative official, right?"
He shot a blank glance at her before unlocking the door. Waller pushed open the door to reveal a rather small, but organized, office.
"You know, you should really contact one of those home decorating shows. God knows you need it."
"I am rather fond of my office, thank you." Waller walked over to his desk to turn on a radio. Suddenly Question Mark's voice echoed into the room, complaining about the quality of the lunch room food. The principal glanced at the radio for a few moments before mumbling about his fondness of the food served in the cafeteria.
"Glad to hear that, sir."
"What?"
"Nothing." Maggie sat down on a chair opposite Waller's desk as he ranted to himself about how nobody had enough respect for the hardwork put into making those fries. The goth girl rolled her eyes and promptly picked a rather plain snowglobe off the desk. Waller immediately stopped and turned towards Maggie. She nodded slightly and placed it back on the desk.
"Oh!" He exclaimed suddenly, walking over to a stack of papers. "I forgot to tell you...." He shifted through papers. "That Mrs. Seposkia sent me another.....note.... er, yesterday to inform me....of your...grades. Apparently, It looks like... you might not pass... and...." Suddenly, the bottom of the stack gave way, sprewing papers all throughout the room.
Waller glanced down at the floor before uttering one small simple word- "Damn."
"Oh my gosh! You actually are human!" Maggie widened her eyes and appeared shocked and surprised for effect. She noticed a bright yellow post-it note by her boot that addressed "Danny" in big red sharpie marker. Picking it up, Maggie noticed it was the note from her Math teacher.
"Here you go, Waller." She held it out so he could take it from her, and he did so blankly. "So, I'll probably fail Math?"
"And science."
"But not English or History."
"No."
Maggie shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. I'll still graduate."
"You don't have plans for college?" Waller bent down to pick up some of the numerous sheets of paper.
"No. I think I'm going to become a artist."
"There's always art school."
"It's not for me." She noticed that Waller would probably spend days picking up the papers on his own, so she knelt down to help.
"There's not a lot of job security as an artist."
"I know, but it's my passion."
"Where are your friends going to college?"
Maggie grinned. "Well, accusming I had any, they probably would be in jail by know."
Waller glanced at her a second from the other side of the desk. "Are you saying that you don't have friends?" He asked slowly, not wanting to upset her.
"Not really, and it doesn't bother me either. It seems like I don't need any."
"Of course you need friends, Margeret."
"I hate being called that. It's Maggie." He dismissed her protest with a wave.
She looked up at him. "Do you have any? Friends, I mean."
"Yes." Waller said indignatly. "Collieges."
"No, I mean real 'hang out and talk 'til 3 O clock in the morning friends."
"That's not exactally a priority for people who need to get up at 5 in the morning."
They contuined pick up pieces of papers and putting them in small piles, and by the looks of it, they were making progress. Maggie had actually passed up an oppertunity to look through Kim Carlies records, placing it two piles back. Why had she done that? It didn't matter, she'd be out of school at the end of this year. She'd never have to see any of them again. Was that the case with Waller? He wanted to get away only to come back four years later to be the principal.
"What did you want to be when you grew up?"
The question took him by surprise. "Eh, what?"
"What did you aspire to be? Certainly not the principal of Roscoe High, right?"
He chuckled. "No. Certainly not."
"So what did you want to be?"
"A baseball player."
"A baseball player?" Maggie asked incrediablity.
"I know it's hard to believe now, but I used to be quite the athlete in my day."
"What happened?"
"I got a full scholarship to the University of Fairbanks, and so I picked Education as a major. It didn't matter, I was going to be picked in a draft. The draft came, and I wasn't picked. So I decided to fall back on the major, and since I used to be a student of Henry Roscoe high...." Waller stood up, finished with the final pile. "I became the Principal."
"That must suck. Finally getting away from your high school, only to come back four years later to run it."
"It's not bad. You feel like you've impacted someone's life. Of course, only about 2% of the students."
"Well, that's enough. If I've ever impacted somebodys life, notify me when Hell freezes over."
"You have the potential to."
"Uh huh, sure I do. I'll have a picture hanging on the wall of a gallery next to 400 others just to be looked over."
"I'm no art "consearge", but I know that art is not all about impressing others. Some times it's just about inspiring others." He looked at her knowingly. She knelt down to try to put
the piles together. "Ah, Leave it. I'll get them tommorrow. Let's go, gotta get back to detention, you know."
Both walked to the door, and into the hallway. Maggie looked up at him suddenly with a wiry grin on her face.
"Wait a minute, you just suggested that I become an art teacher."
"Perhaps I did, Margeret. You may think its 'Lame'," He held up both hands in a shape that resembled moving quotations. "To be a teacher, but I personally think it's a far better
thing to inspire rather then just create."
"Wow, that was sort of deep." Maggie looked at him. "Waller, you actually gave me an idea. I'm really going to consider it."
He smiled, a real smile. Not one formed after catching a student with headphones, or coming this close to the culprets who put on that Radio Station. He smiled because he inspired a student, and she returned it knowing that one day she might be able to do the same.
"Anyway, I gotta get back to detention. You know, to start planning my future career." She began walking down the hall, but turned around shortly there after. "Bye Danny."
He stood there in the hallway, watching the girl walk down the hall, and he knew she'd be back four years later. "Bye Maggie."