Chapter Two – Teaching Aspects
She knew right away that it had happened again. She knew, just like she knew who waked in the door by the sound their shoes made. And since she knew everyone's shoes, whenever she heard an unfamiliar footfall, she'd glance up. And she did, even though it was unnecessary. She knew it was Duo, because she knew the difference between sneakers and lace up steel-toe army boots. She just did.
She also knew what the other teachers said about her. They said she was heartless, didn't give a rat's ass about her students, and didn't know a thing about them. They were wrong, of course, but the only person that could back her up was the science teacher, and nobody really paid attention to Prof. Treize when they didn't have to. They figured he was crazy, and only he knew the truth about her.
The truth was, she was heartless. She didn't exactly care about her students either, but she knew everything about them. All of them.
She knew the full name of who sat in desk #12 in fourth period, their eye color, their parents, whether or not they had pets… everything. Prof. Treize said a normal person would call her obsessive. They'd laughed and sipped their tea, continuing on with their conversation.
Her brown eyes narrowed behind her glasses. Heero's gym sneakers meant Duo lost another pair of shoes, and she sighed mentally. She knew who did it; she knew everything. She didn't care, though. Caring was for that fool Noin in Guidance, or the school's nurse, Sally. She was just a teacher, and wasn't required to care about her student's well-being. Besides, she didn't know how.
She also noticed Duo was sporting a rather nice Letter Jacket from the Varsity basketball team. The name Yuy was scripted on the sleeve near the shoulder, and her eyes fell on the blue-eyed boy to whom that name belonged. That boy always had extra clothes for his braided friend, and it was obvious he cared greatly for him, though his face told otherwise. The mask he wore, the one that said he was cold and heartless, was not unlike her own. The difference was he was able to feel, and she wasn't.
"Ms. Une?"
A tentative voice snapped her from her thoughts. She glanced sharply at the student who'd spoken – Quatre Winner, she recited. She saw him jump visibly and immediately softened her gaze. "Yes, Quatre?"
"Uh…" the boy stalled, glancing back for support that wasn't there. "The bell rang five minutes ago, Ms. Une.
She smiled softly. "Thank you, Quatre."
The young blonde smiled brightly and returned to his seat next to the stoic brunette. The one with the strange haircut, she mused, as one emerald eye watched the blonde sit and then swivel back to her. The other eye was hidden behind a large bang of brown hair. Trowa Barton was his name, and he was also on the basketball team, though he barely ever wore his jacket. It was an odd thing, really. Duo Maxwell wore Yuy's jacket more often than any member of the team members wore their own. She stopped her drifting thoughts and focused on teaching.
The class was still talking as she got up from behind her desk and stood in front of the room. Some continued even after she cleared her throat loudly. There was silence, however, when the deafening slam of a meter stick colliding with a wooden desk echoed through the room. Well, there was almost silence.
"Good morning, class. I'm glad to see I have your attention. Mr. Maxwell," Une's voice took a warning tone as she spoke, and said braided American spun in his chair and gazed up at her innocently. She also noticed a smirk on the student seated behind him, Heero Yuy, before it disappeared behind another mask.
She smiled inwardly – it was going to be an interesting day. She just knew these things.
"Ms. Une."
The woman's head shot up, frowning at the intercom. "Yes, Mr. Peacecraft?"
Duo frowned. It was 9:47 AM, and that meant a nice visit with his favorite faculty member – Lucrezia Noin. He really liked Ms. Noin, especially since she was really AUNT Noin, but he didn't like being pulled out of class every day to "visit" her.
"Please send Duo Maxwell…"
"Yes, sir." Ms. Une interrupted him, making Duo grin. He stood abruptly, gathering his books, and stalked to the door. He turned around and looked at Quatre.
"Q, if I don't make it to second period, tell them the dogs got me. Okay?" Quatre rolled his eyes and nodded. Duo waved to the room, blew a kiss at Ms. Une, and disappeared through the doorway.
"…Thank you, Ms. Une."
"Not a problem, sir."
Duo pulled open Heero's locker, stashing his binder inside. Before the stench of his sneakers could attack him, he slammed the locker door closed. He clipped the lock into place and spun on his heel, heading towards Ms. Noin's office.
Thankfully, she didn't have much to say, so he was allowed to leave in less than five minutes. A routine check-up, making sure he hadn't gotten the crap kicked out of him again. Duo frowned. It had only happened once. Besides, they'd surprised him.
He quickly opened his shared locker, and grabbed his Science binder. He shut the locker, locking it, and spun on his heel. Not glancing in front of him before moving, he almost ran straight into a pristine basketball jersey. He got a sinking feeling in his stomach, and glancing upwards, he saw that it was indeed one of his muggers. Great, he sighed inwardly.
"Well hello there, Maxwell." The senior bent down a bit, so he wasn't completely towering over Duo. Duo didn't like consideration from assholes.
"Mueller," he acknowledged the senior, and moved to walk around him. Mueller stepped to the side and blocked his path.
"And where might you be going?"
Duo's eyes narrowed. "Well gee, I figured I'd go shopping. How the hell is it your business?"
"It's my business because you're wearing a basketball jersey. Why are you wearing one, Maxwell? You're certainly not on the team," Mueller spat, poking Duo in the chest. "And I'm pretty sure you don't own a jacket…" Duo's eyes narrowed, left hand clenching into a fist.
"Hey!" A shout sounded down the hallway, and Duo let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. He didn't need to be expelled for kicking the shit out of a senior. Not to mention get attacked for the rest of his school career by GROUPS of seniors.
Glancing around Mueller's bulky form, he saw an unfamiliar Chinese boy with jet-black hair stalking towards them. He wore wiry glasses, and his hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. Duo clutched the end of his loose braid, wondering how this guy could possibly wear his hair that tight.
"Hi!" Duo waved at the newcomer, trying to act as normal and friendly as possible. This new guy wasn't too thick, but Duo could see the muscles on his arms, and they almost reminded him of Heero.
The Asian's eyes narrowed, and he glanced at Mueller with sharp onyx eyes. "I'm looking for Science with Professor Treize, period two," he informed Duo, shifting his gaze between them both. Duo grinned.
"What a coincidence, that happens to be my class. Excuse me, buddy," Duo said, sweetly as possible. "But we'll have to finish this conversation later." Duo's gaze shifted to the new guy. "C'mon, let's go."
He nodded, following Duo and leaving Mueller alone in the hallway. And since he was alone, no one heard him reply, "you bet we will."
"Problems with the team?" the Asian boy questioned. Duo shot him a confused look, but then remembered the jacket.
Duo chuckled. "I dunno, maybe they are. This isn't my jacket."
"So I'm to assume that your last name is not 'Yuy', then?"
Duo grinned. "Right, I'm Duo. Duo Maxwell." The raven-haired youth nodded, halting and bowing to Duo.
"I am Chang Wufei." Straightening to his normal height, not much taller than Duo, his lips curved ever-so slightly. "You may call me Wufei, if you wish."
"Cool. Nice to meet you, 'Fei." Duo stuck his hand out, shaking Wufei's roughly.
"No, no," Wufei started. "It is WUfei, not 'Fei'"
"Ah, right. C'mon, Wu-man." Duo gave him a push on the shoulder, and pulled a classroom door open. "HEY, PROFESSOR!" he called, making Wufei wince. A chuckle sounded from the classroom, and when Wufei stepped inside, he saw a ginger-haired man in a labcoat nodding to Duo.
"Prof., I brought you a new student. I'll let him introduce himself, though, because I don't really have a reason to do it for him. It's not like he was lost in the hallways or something..-YEOW! Heero!"
Onyx eyes had shifted to watch Duo's speech, and had seen the hand reach up from behind Duo and pull on his braid. Connecting hand to face, he saw that it was a Japanese youth that had done it - one with the sharpest blue eyes he'd ever seen.
"Cut it out, guys. Duo, thank you and please take a seat." The ginger-haired man looked at him, smile plastered on his face. "Hi, and welcome to OFHS. I was informed there would be two of you - did the other one get lost?"
Wufei blinked, surprised at the question. "…No. She will be arriving after lunch."
The professor frowned. "Well that's too bad. I was interested in meeting her. Well, feel free to sit anywhere you like." Wufei nodded, and moved to find a seat when he heard a hissing noise. Surveying the room quickly, he saw that it had been Duo.
"Pssssst! Introduce youself!" Duo flashed him a thumbs-up, and Wufei resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"Of course, my apologies." He turned to the class, bowing deeply. "My name is Chang Wufei."
"But you may call him Wufei!" Duo chimed, grinning at the Chinese boy. Wufei smirked.
"Yes, you may."
End Chapter 2 – Teaching Aspects
