Disclaimer: Me? Own this spiffiness? –bursts out in hysterical laughter-

"Awake again, I see," Mr. Hall commented the next day. "I'm so glad to see it."

Christine glanced up with a tiny smile. He wasn't a bad guy, for a teacher. He had something of a sense of humor, a rarity in math instructors. And he wasn't as incoherent as she had initially feared. In fact, the only fault she'd found in him thus far was the way he seemed not to notice the sheer rudeness of his class.

They were at it again, and once again Christine was forcing herself to stay silent, even though heart and soul shrieked to defend the shadow at the rear of the room.

"Doesn't he ever speak?" the rude boy from the previous day said loudly.

"I think he's a mime!" a girl giggled. Beside her, a blond laughed as well.

"No, mimes move. He's a statue!"

"A stupid, ugly statue!" someone echoed.

Christine saw Erik's shoulders stiffen slightly at this last comment; he seemed to curl into himself slightly, bringing his face within an inch of the paper he was perusing. She couldn't stop herself from whipping around and glaring furiously at this last cruel person.

"Relax, folks," Hall said placidly, leaning all of his weight on his podium languidly. "Open up your books. Remember what we were going over yesterday? Distance formula…"

"D equals the square root of x2 minus x1 squared plus y2 minus y1 squared," the class chanted tonelessly. Christine thought she saw Erik smirk.

"Good," Mr. Hall told them. "Do problems twelve through forty. I'm here if you have any questions and so is Erik."

Looking back, Christine would realize that this exact moment was what finalized the class' horrible plan. And she would wonder why she hadn't noticed those evil little smiles her peers were shooting at once another. Was she truly that clueless?

It started with a girl asking Hall a complex question. Then another. And another. She couldn't possibly be that dense, Christine thought; if she were, her brain would surely have fallen out by now. Something was up, something that required a distraction.

"Hey, T.A.!" a boy called. "I need help!"

"Ask Mr. Hall," Erik murmured without looking up.

"He's busy," the boy snapped. "Come on, T.A., I don't want homework."

Erik made a little noise of irritation, but he got up and came over to the other boy. "What?"

"It's this one—wait, never mind, I get it now." The boy grinned. "Sorry."

Erik shrugged and sat back down.

"Hey, uh, T.A.?" a girl asked immediately. "Come help me, will you?"

Christine saw his shoulders slump, uttering a brief sigh. Then he got up a second time.

"Which one?"

"This—oh, never mind," the girl told him, making a show of exasperation. "We don't have to do this one."

Clearly irked, he went back again to his seat. Again, a kid called for assistance and again Erik got up, only to be sent back. After the fifth time, his agitation had mounted to the point where his steps grew thick and heavy and his breath became uneven. By the seventh time, he had stopped getting up altogether. This didn't deter the kids, however; they took to tossing balls of paper and pens at him.

Finally, Christine could watch the horrible display no longer. Leaping up, she cried, "Stop it! Stop it now! Leave him alone!"

"Miss Daae!" Mr. Hall exclaimed, finally looking up. "Please, sit down"

Grinding her teeth together, Christine obeyed. The teacher turned his attention to his troubled-looking T.A. Erik's lips were set in an impossibly-thin line and his hands were trembling ever so slightly; Christine's heart ached.

"Erik, what is the problem?" Mr. Hall demanded coldly. The young man pursed his lips, then shook his head.

"Nothing, sir."

"Good, glad to hear it." Hall turned back to the decoy, conveniently missing the way his entire class (minus Christine and Erik) seemed to rear up as one horrible entity and sighed, "Freak…" in Erik's direction. Christine dug her pencil more deeply into her notebook.

A/N: Ok, another shorty for you guys. I promise, they will get better (I'm not too thrilled with the way this one turned out, even after the tweakings I gave it during the transfer from notebook to computer). At this point, however, I'd like to comment on two things. One is Carlotta's accent—for this story, it does not necessarily exist. I know this is irritating, but for it to be here, she would have to be a transfer student of some kind and she just...isn't. I'm very sorry if this irks people.

The second thing I'd like to address is the line in chapter 5, the one that goes, "That was a horribly tune…" It was supposed to be "a horribly average tune…", but my brain shut off midway through typing, I guess. It probably didn't annoy you guys too much, but it was bothering me and I'm too lazy to go back and edit it. –apologetic expression-

Review Replies:

I-LUV-ILC- Glad you're enjoying it. I'll try to keep up the steady updates.

Phantom of the Past-blushes- Well, I don't know about me "ruling", but I thank you for your fantastic enthusiasm.

Pirate Perian- lol, a janitor. That would be such an interesting fic…

StephW- Tanky. –grins-

Chibi Hime- lol, aren't cliffhangers the best?

Fox Xanatos- Merci.

Maeve Of the Nile- Always happy to amuse.

I love you guys! I'm actually getting reviews for once, it makes me so happy! –beams- Ok, now I'm going to go pray that I didn't just jinx myself…