Alice chewed her lower lip as she looked up at the clock on the side of the small brick Academy. 15 minutes. She changed her focus back to the Veldt.
"Hey, Alice."
Screeching, Alice sharply turned.
Eric took a step backward, expression shocked. "What?"
"Geez," she hissed. "Don't do that!"
"Do what? I said 'hi'."
She shook her head, turning back to the Veldt. "Oh never mind. Shouldn't you go to class? It'll be starting soon."
"Shouldn't you? You're always 20 minutes early." He stood beside her to stare out onto the Veldt too, trying to follow her gaze. "What's with you? You've been staring out there for, like, 10 minutes already. What're you looking for?"
Alice scowled at him. "Now you're spying on me?"
He raised his hands in defense. "Cool off, Alice. I didn't mean anything by it."
The frown slowly disappeared. She wiped at her forehead. "Sorry, Eric. Nerves."
"For what? You'd think there was a test or something."
You have no idea, she thought to herself. She took in another breath. I guess he's not coming. Oh well. She turned, taking hold of Eric's arm. "Come on. Let's get to class."
Eric smiled. "Good idea." He looked over his shoulder toward the Veldt as they headed toward the school. "So, what were you looking for?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it."
"The way you're acting... What did you do?"
"I told you. Don't worry about it."
Eric stopped. So did Alice. He crossed his arms. "You might as well tell me."
She faced him. "Tell you what?"
"The joke. Who's the victim? What should I expect?"
Alice's face showed disbelief. "A joke? You think I'm planning a joke?"
"Why else would you be jumpier than a--"
"Gau!" Alice exclaimed as she took a startled step backward.
Eric's face twisted with confusion before he absently glanced over his shoulder. Then he gave a strangled shout and turned, tripping over his own feet to fall onto his backside.
Gau had dressed in a charcoal suit and tie. His golden hair had been carefully pulled back out of his face and tied with a new piece of leather string, his face washed, and his hands and nails spotless. He also wore scuffed black shoes.
Tugging at the dark gray jacket, he smiled at Alice. "See? No skin. Look good."
Alice hid a smile behind her hand. He looked better than the suit, which had definitely seen better years. It had multitudes of wrinkles and streaks of dirt where he hadn't given it enough of a rinse. But even though the cuffs of his pale shirt and the hem on his dark trousers was tattered, Alice could tell it had been a real nice suit once. It's probably just the only one he has.
"Me ready. We go school and learn," Gau told her, gaze sparkling with excitement.
"We?" Eric struggled to his feet and brushed the dirt off his trousers. "We?" he asked between glances. "What's it talking about, Alice?"
The feral-like smiling gaze shifted from Alice to Eric. "Me learn with them. With you. Alice and me trade knowledge. Veldt for school. Good trade."
Eric pointed at Gau as he moved his incredulous green gaze to Alice. "It thinks it's going to school with us? Are you nuts?"
Alice frowned. "Don't be a jerk-wad, Eric. He's just as old as you and me, and he has as much right to be in school as we do."
Eric's mouth dropped open as he continued to ignore Gau's smiling face. "What? There's a reason the teachers don't let it come to class. It's too stupid--"
Alice punched Eric in the arm.
"Ow!" he yelped. He brought a hand up to his arm as he glared at her. "What'd you do that for?"
Alice stuck a finger in his face so fast he leaned back from her. "If you say 'it' or 'stupid' one more time, Eric..."
Eric pressed his lips together. "Alice, I know your paper is really important, but this? Come on."
Alice continued to glare at him. "Since you still haven't given me a good reason why Gau shouldn't be enrolled in class..." She turned to Gau to give him a sweet smile, taking hold of his hand to lead him toward the brick building. "Come on, Gau. I'll introduce you to everyone."
"Wait." Gau pulled his hand from her grasp to turn toward Eric. "Me Gau. What you called?"
Eric took in a deep breath as he adjusted his crossed arms. "Eric."
"Eric." Gau performed the same intensive study of Eric's features that he'd done to Alice the day before. Then he smiled. "We be good friend. We do lots. Fish. Hunt. Me teach you Veldt. You teach me town. Good trade."
Alice gave Eric a meaningful look. "Eric..." she warned.
Gau focused his innocent smile on Alice. "We be friend. You see. We go class now."
"Yes." Alice gave a firm tug on his arm to lead him toward the building. "Don't mind Eric, Gau. He takes a little getting used to."
Gau's smile remained firm. "Eric much like Rhinox. Grumpy when first meet, then become more happy. Take time."
Alice chuckled. "You can say that again."
"Why? You no hear?"
She laughed outright. "No. It's a figure of speech. It means that what you said is so true it's worth saying again."
Gau's face twisted in concentration before he smiled. "Understand."
They paused on the top step of the landing to the Academy. Alice took in a deep breath and turned toward Gau, absently straightening his poorly knotted tie as he looked down at her with a quirky smile. "Okay. Now. It's going to be rough in there, Gau. Just be patient and take what they say with a grain of salt."
Gau's smile disappeared. "Salt? Me not know bring. Me bad?"
Alice caught his gaze. "What? Oh." She reluctantly smiled. "No. It's another figure of speech. It means to... well... You know that a grain of salt is small. Right?" Gau nodded. "Okay, well, that's all the attention you should give what they say."
"What if what them say be good for me learn?"
Alice opened her mouth for a reply, but then she shook her head. "I've no idea. I guess you take it as it comes."
Gau's smile returned full-force. He nodded. "That Gau life."
"Alright." She gave the lapels of his suit a tug to straighten them as she sent him a quick peek. "You ready?"
Gau vigorously nodded.
Her lips quirked in a smile as she turned to open the door. "Here we go," she breathed.
The door creaked open, giving a slow and deep whine that made every pair of eyes and every child's head turn. That turn of heads seemed a wave of motion, giving Alice the distinct impression that everything was being performed super slow. Thrill. It wasn't exactly a moment she wanted to live in slow-motion. Alice cleared her throat and lowered her gaze to the floor, hurrying toward her normal wooden desk with the right-handed table positioned at the head of the classroom.
Gau followed, smiling and nodding to each wide-eyed and slack-jawed gaze as he introduced himself as "Me Gau. What you called?" Then he would take in their descriptions with the same photographic gaze of earlier before moving to the next person. Pretty/plain, air-head/smart, tall/short, it didn't matter to Gau. Each person got the same amount of attention.
The wave of faces followed Gau as if they were one being, focusing on him as he stood in the center of the classroom. He looked from where Alice sat to the full seats that surrounded her and then crouched on the floor beside her desk with his arms folded across his knees. His eyes focused on the teacher's empty desk, the smile never leaving his face.
Alice watched his expression with a small smile. Talk about expectation and excitement. He's so ready for learning that he's liable to terrify the teacher. Alice shook her head, focusing on her notebook on her desk to absently fiddle with the corner. Her smile slowly disappeared. She hated to think that he hadn't been coming to school because of something a bad teacher had said. Everyone deserved a chance to learn, especially when they wanted to learn.
Alice frowned. I knew I didn't like that teacher, always looking down his nose at us and thinking we're stupid. She scoffed, sending Gau an encouraging smile when he looked over at her with a quizzical glance.
Then the door on the front right of the classroom opened and the teacher entered. Alice straightened, sending another glance toward Gau as his picture-catching gaze zoomed in. In his late 40s, Mr. Schultz had a rounding belly that was getting harder to fit into his dark brown pants. He also had a quick mind under his mop of peppered black hair, and a quicker wit behind his hazel-green eyes and leathery face.
His white shirt had several stains on the front, but everyone knew he didn't have the money to buy new ones. They didn't really care, either. The kids liked him and his stories of life before Kefka. He made learning fun. I wonder what Gau will think of him. After all, he's lived what Mr. Schultz only talks about.
"Good morning, people."
When the expected chorus of voices didn't respond, Mr. Schultz didn't take the time to set his tattered brown briefcase onto the table. He looked up, immediately noticing the dozens of pairs of eyes focused on one specific point in the room. Mr. Schultz stood on tiptoes to peer over the desk. His jaw dropped.
Gau straightened his torso within his crouch as his mouth opened in a grin. "Morning, teacher. Me Gau. What you called?"
Mr. Schultz did more stuttering than speaking, so Alice leaned over toward Gau. "Mr. Schultz," she whispered.
Gau's eyes zeroed on hers with a speed that startled her back into her seat. "Mr. Shulz?"
Alice glanced around the room as she cleared her throat. "Almost. Schultz. There's a 't' before the 'z'."
Gau nodded brusquely and faced the teacher again. "Hello, Mr. Shultz. Me called Gau."
Mr. Schultz composed himself with a fidgeting hand to his faded tie and a quick swipe of his full head of hair. "Good morning, Gau, but the proper way of introducing oneself would be 'my name is Gau.' We'll be working on pronouns today with the younger set, in fact." He gestured toward the younger members of the class. "Perhaps you should take your seat over there?"
Gau moved his sharp gaze to the variety of bright faces, standing in the same moment. "Okay."
A flutter of chatter broke out as the pairs of eyes turned in amongst friends and study-partners. When Gau moved to the group of middle graders, a large portion of the chatter faded as the eyes once again focused on the walking legend. He grinned as he sat in the absolute center of the kids. They continued to stare.
"Now." Mr. Schultz set his briefcase onto the table to begin pulling out reams of paper, tattered textbooks, and readers.
None of the faces focused on him, so he cleared his throat and tapped on the desk with a corner of one of the books. A gasp echoed around the room, immediately followed by the creaks and groans of the desks as the kids turned to face the teacher.
"It seems we have a new student--" The door opened and Eric trudged in. "Nice of you to decide to join us, Eric. Take your seat."
Eric grumbled something unintelligible as he made his way to sit in the desk behind Carol, who happened to be sitting beside Alice, who happened to be sitting in front of two of 'the girls' from the pub, who all happened to be staring at Gau. Eric slumped into the chair and crossed his arms.
Mr. Schultz turned to the chipped chalkboard. "Alright, class. Let's get started."
Gau's eyes twinkled.