Kim entered the classroom somewhat sheepishly. She was ten minutes late and there were still dark rings under her eyes.
"Ah, you must be Miss Possible!" A young man wearing jeans and a red short sleeved shirt was standing at the front of the room. Almost blond hair had a "newly cut" look, and his eyes were in dark shadow, but shone a pale blue that seemed to be tarnished at the base. As he moved towards Kim it became evident that this was a reflection, and she was still staring at him as they grew red rims from his approach.
"Take a seat. I understand that you were out late last night - Some security matter or other? Mister Barkin told me. I won't hold it against you."
"Thanks." Kim stared at his eyes a moment longer, her own narrowing, but she shook it off and sat down next to Ron. The way he said the full 'Mister', how odd, she thought. Bonnie, sitting in front of them, turned and addressed Kim.
"You got a crush on teach, Kimmy?"
"No," Kim scowled at her, "I didn't realise we had a new teacher...."
"I'm so glad. We couldn't have a cheer captain going out with someone wearing an outfit that dorky. What kind of loser would wear something like that anyway?" she asked, glancing at Ron, who also scowled. She turned her attention back to the class.
"As I was saying, I'll be teaching this class for the rest of the year, and rest assured that I won't be eating any of the cafeteria food." This raised a small laugh, a couple of hissed yeses, and one whispered "Boo-ya!" The teacher was apparently still going through introductions.
"He only arrived himself about five minutes ago," whispered Ron, "Instead of calling the roll, he asked people to stand and say their name. I covered for you!"
"I am so sorry I missed that." Kim replied sarcastically, making Ron grin. She looked up to the name on the top right of the board.
Mr. Leonard James Da Hand, she read, "odd name."
Apparently she had spoken her thought. "Not really," explained Da Hand, "Hand was a small town in what is now Switzerland. Way back, my family was from there - 'Da Hand' means, quite literally, 'from Hand'. Although, I'm more English than Swiss myself."
Although not very English at all, Kim thought, and I can't place his accent.
"It's not normal for a teacher to tell us their given names, though."
"Thank you, Mr. Mankey. I'll take a note of that for future reference." The boy sitting on the other side of Ron from Kim smiled, and then looked over and Kim and winked. It wasn't normal for him to comment in class. He went back to his tic-tac-toe tournament with Ron, who hissed a brief victory celebration. Rufus, sitting on Ron's shoulder, clicked his tongue and shook his head - Ron had just actually just "boo-ya"'d a draw.
"Now can anyone tell me where we're up to?" queried Da Hand.
"We're not little kids...." Bonnie quietly protested.
Monique, on the other hand, was eager to join in on the action. Her hand shot into the air.
"Yes, Monique?"
"We were just about to start work on the Scottish war of independence!" she burst out.
Bonnie, disgusted, cut in. "Talk to Da Hand, suck-up, 'cause- wait, you already did!" The whole room except for Kim, Ron, Josh, and Monique burst out laughing. Monique scowled, Kim raised an eyebrow, and Ron and Josh were too deep into their 30th game. Josh was winning eighteen to one, ten draw. It was soon to be eleven.
"Is that the best you can do?" Da Hand, scowling, his own eyebrow raised, directed at Bonnie in a dry, heavy tone. The whole class shut up, and Josh lost concentration momentarily before Ron, causing Ron to win a second game. Rufus jumped on to Kim's back and looked out nervously from behind a red lock. Pretty much everyone thought Da Hand looked ready to kill.
Da Hand smiled. "Thank you, Monique," he said. "From the top. In 1291..."
The class continued. Only Josh had seen the glint in his eye, and recognised how deep it went. He'd seen it before, in the closest friend of his girlfriend.
