"What is it about the trip?" Arthur asked Roderich. "I filled in all the paperwork correctly." He said slightly unsure, hoping he was not in trouble. Roderich smiled.
"It's okay." He wanted the younger to relax. "You filled it in a lot better than a lot of other teachers." He managed a small smile. "May I sit down?"
"Sure." Arthur nodded and offered him the seat. Roderich smiled and took the seat. It was nice to have a polite teacher in his school for once.
"Can I just say one thing before we start about the trip?" Roderich asked, his voice dropping to a serious tone.
"Erm... sure." Arthur replied, fear creeping in again. Roderich saw the reaction in Arthur's body language.
"You are not in trouble. It's just... you probably noticed a few issues between student's and teachers here." Roderich said, wanting him to relax again. Arthur managed to relax some what as he wasn't in trouble, but he knew what Roderich was talking about.
"Is this something around Lovino's behaviour?" Arthur asked. Roderich nodded.
"I guess you have seen his reaction to Antonio." He asked. Arthur nodded.
"Yes I did." He said looking to his table. He thought back to the first lesson he had taught. "Lovino did call him a bastard and hissed at him." Arthur said. "Does Lovino always act like that towards teachers?"
"Has he acted like that to you?" Roderich asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh no. Lovino behaves rather well in my lessons. He may be a bit grumpy at times, but he works well." Arthur said jumping to Lovino's defence. He didn't think Lovino was a bad student. He just didn't like some people... with a passion. Roderich smiled.
"I'm glad you see that as well." Roderich nodded. "Lovino is a troublesome student for some teacher but not others. But he's not a bad student as you see from his latest exam results."
"I was surprised that he got a very high grade in Spanish seeing his dislike for the teacher." Arthur nodded.
"Now I'm here to explain why some of the students seem to be very... what is the word?" Roderich thought. "Hostile towards the staff."
"Hostile?" Arthur pondered, he thought over how his class treated him. Ivan creeped the hell out of him on a regular basis, Natalia had a similar effect. Lovino sulked a bit but worked very hard. Matthew was really quiet but very sweet and kind to him and his other classmates. And then there was Alfred. Arthur didn't know what to think about Alfred at the moment. He just kept zoning out. "The class doesn't come across as hostile toward me. But I've seen them be hostile and disrespectful towards other teachers." Roderich nodded. Just as he had thought. Arthur was a new teacher and so they treated him with respect. He also didn't seem to have any hidden agendas which they could become hostile towards.
"As you have probably realised... some of the other staff are a bit..." Roderich sighed trying to find the correct word.
"Shady?" Arthur said. Roderich nodded.
"Shady." He agreed. "And it's for this reason I feel sorry about informing you that you will need to take one of the other staff with you on this trip." Roderich said. "You can pick who it is, but you will need to take someone for health and safety reasons."
"I understand. I was hoping to talk to you about that." Arthur said. He knew his class and didn't want to take a teacher that would make his class uncontrollable. "Who would you suggest?"
"I'm unsure who to suggest. They can all be as bad as each other." Roderich said regrettably. "But I know one person who must not go."
"Who would that be?" Arthur asked. He suspected one defiant no. He just wanted to check his hunch was correct.
"Antonio cannot go on this trip." Roderich said clearly. "With Lovino's personality and actions towards him. It's clear he cannot go."
"I understand." Arthur nodded. "So it's between Francis and Gilbert. I can't take Ludwig with me at all?" Arthur asked hopefully. But he knew it was a long shot.
"Ludwig needs to stay here with me. He's the only person who keeps those three in line." Roderich explained. "I'll need him."
"It's okay. I know it was a long shot." Arthur said. "I think I'll leave you with Gilbert. I think Ludwig will be able to help you more with him than Francis."
"You are going to take Francis?" Roderich asked in slight horror. He knew they were all bad choices but he did worry for the student teacher. Francis was the ring leader of the group. It would make it easier to deal with the other two with Francis missing. But he didn't know if Arthur would be alright. Arthur nodded.
"I'm sure we could work on the trip together." Arthur paused for a moment not wanting another Lovino incident. "Who does Francis teach?" Roderich thought for a moment. He wasn't sure how many people went to French or Food.
"Can I do a check on your computer for registers?" Roderich asked. Arthur nodded and let him log on. Roderich pulled up the registers for French.
"It seems that Ivan, Natalia and Matthew take French. Though it looks like Ivan and Natalia never seem to attend lessons. Only Matthew seems to be going to the after school lessons. So I would say he only really teaches Matthew. And none of them are in his Food class." Roderich said, starting to worry for Matthews sake.
"Well I'm sure Matthew won't kick off about him. Matthews not that kind of student." Arthur said smiling. "So it looks like he's the best bet." Roderich nodded. On paper he was going to be fine. But he still didn't trust Francis.
"Right I'll leave you to ask him." Roderich said standing up to go. Just as he reached the door there were sounds of a fight breaking out in the corridor. The two teachers quickkly ran to see what was a normal occurrence in the school day.
"Break it up!" Ludwig shouted as he man handled a student back. Gilbert was pulled to his feet by Francis and Antonio and restrained. Roderich only sighed as Arthur looked at the event with wide eyes.
"He just went for me!" Gilbert cried out in his defence as he saw Roderich. Arthur looked to the student being restrained by Ludwig. The blond with short hair was kicking out in all directions.
"Vash! How many times do I have to do this?" Ludwig growled as he pinned the student to the wall. Another student spoke up.
"Sir. Mr G. Beilschmidt was saying inappropriate things to me." She said in a meek voice. "He was only defending me." Everyone just looked at Gilbert who was brushing himself down.
"I was checking what she had learnt in German." He said rather innocently.
"I know what you were 'checking'!" Vash shouted from the wall. Roderich sighed.
"Vash." He said looking at the struggling youth. "Take Lilly to her next lesson and come to my office after lunch." He looked over to Gilbert. "You in my office now!" He shouted. Gilbert tried to play it cool as he followed Roderich like a scolded child. Ludwig released Vash and watched him walk off with Lily to their next lesson. Antonio wander off to his next class as Ludwig departed. Arthur ran his hand though his hair. They didn't teach him that at university. He sighed as he turned to go back inside his office.
As he walked inside his office, he dropped back into his seat. Trying to come to terms with what had just happened. He heard the door click shut.
"Are you alright?" A voice asked. Arthur jolted in his seat to find Francis smiling down at him. "You look rather tense."