Mr. Spender looked down at his coffee mug and thinned his lips. He had paced the club room for hours, well not really hours. He had history to teach after all. The students, as far as he figured, knew nothing of the turmoil in his head, and not the usual turmoil involving two spirits trapped in headspace constantly trying to outwit the other.

He pushed at the coffee mug again. It was cleaned when he returned to the Teacher's Lounge after the walk around the school's halls. Mr. Garcia, according to Ms. Baxter as she was packing up her things, had left a few minutes prior to Mr. Spender's return. He needed to say something…
The kids would be swinging by soon after the afternoon patrol he sent them on. To "show Max the ropes". Nothing too hostile had reared it's face yet. He kind of wished for it. Maybe helping his students pummel a chaotic spirit would ease his mind.

He pushed his sunglasses to his face. Until their return he was alone, left to his devices where he should be figuring out who he saw in the keyhole locket. He pulled open the desk drawer where he stashed the locket. Nothing had appeared since the sudden spirit he saw through the small portal earlier. Or he assumed so. He took a deep and exhaled. His nerves were fried and while he would love to dig deeper into the mysterious keyhole locket, he couldn't focus.

His fingers gripped the edge of the drawer. Why couldn't he think straight? It was just a slip of the tongue for both parties involved. Nothing more, nothing less. He felt the weight of his phone in his left pants pocket. Maybe…calling would settle the bubbling thoughts in his head. Tugging out the phone he stared at the black screen for a moment. Did he even have Garcia's number? He plugged in the password and pulled up his contacts. Yes he did. The number glared at him and would've blinded him too, but because (he's a nerd) of his sunglasses, he couldn't make the excuse.

His hand began to shake. Why was he getting himself worked up over this? It's just Garcia. He had to clear the weight of the words. They didn't mean anything. Garcia was half awake and grateful of the coffee. The words meant nothing.
Spender swallowed and clicked his co-worker's name. The phone rang thrice before he could Garcia's tired voice muttered a, "Hello?"

Spender jumped, "SORRY WRONG NUMBER!" he shouted before chucking his phone to the couch in the middle of the room. He stared at his hand and back to the couch, mentally kicked himself that he could've broken his phone with that stunt, and jogged over to the couch, praying that his phone was all right. He had a teacher's salary after all. No way he could afford a new one.

Spender stared at his miraculously unbroken phone resting face up on the couch. The screen still shining at him. He gingerly picked up the phone and gave a false laugh, hoping to keep Garcia unaware of his nerves. "Sorry about that."

"Did you chuck your phone across the room again?" he asked, his tone suggesting he already knew the answer.

Spender tugged at his collar, "I-um," he coughed, "SO, how are you feeling today? You looked like you were gonna pass out earlier. Feeling better?"

Garcia hummed on the other end, "Ah, yeah thanks for the coffee. It helped."

"I-I'm glad it did," Spender chewed on the insides of his cheeks. He couldn't keep this up much longer. His nerves would fry, "So, um speaking about earlier. Do you remember what you said after I gave you the coffee?"

"Do you remember what you said after?" Spender's lips thinned as he held the phone in front of his face and allowed it to fall from his grip and land back on the couch. He could hear Garcia's muffled, "You dropped your phone again didn't you."

Spender clasped his hands together and held them against his lips. They really needed to drop the weight. Reluctantly, Spender picked up his phone again, "I may have."

"You really should stop doing that. Remember what happened with Ms. Baxter?"

Spender opened and closed his mouth. Oh he remembered. Garcia had slyly taken pictures of that incident. Spender was sure the science teacher still had them. "You and Starchman know I didn't mean to startle her."

"And what happens in the Teacher's Lounge stays in the Teacher's Lounge."

"So we good?"

Garcia grunted in reply.

Spender let out a sigh of relief, just as he heard loud footsteps out in the hall, "Sorry, Garcia, I've got to go, love you." He pushed end call before the words set in. He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a low groan. Ed stood before him grinning, as he drew a heart in the air with his paintbrush tool. Spender frowned, "I didn't mean-"

The grin on Ed's face held as the other three Activity members walked in, "Don't worry Spender I won't say a word." He turned to Isabel, "HEY IZZY! I GOTS SOMETHING TO TELL YOU!"