Author's Note:
As I've said for the last few parts, this is only labeled under Mario because the story started off as a Mario fic. There will not be any Mario characters showing up in this story this time though. There's a Summary of previous parts in my profile if you need to get up to date on things
"Ok, deep breaths...You can do this." A young woman grabs onto the inner folds of her green sleeveless vest and makes sure it's on right.
She then raises a finger to her oval lens glasses and straightens them up. The excitement is making them a fuss to deal with. The rocky road she's riding on doesn't help much either.
It's been a long morning of scheduled taxi and bus rides. Everything's accounted for in her bag, from books, to new pens, and her trusty phone.
Showing a few years of age on the casing, she pulls it out and with a click of the button, a grainy screenshot projects out of the glass.
She sees herself in a white shirt and blue jean overalls, her short silver-purple hair a mess, and her skin patched with dirt and stains of oil.
Next to her is her senpai, a really cool looking girl with knee-length purple hair, similar but thinner rimmed glasses, complete with an oversized white lab coat, sleeveless white buttoned shirt, and purple shorts.
Her senpai's giving her a heart pat on the back, and just like in the past, the girl's cheeks now blush pink as she smiles.
The bus then hits a bump and sends her phone out of her hand, causing her to flail around trying to secure it, where she clutches it against her chest tightly and gulps.
"Whew..." She tucked the phone away into her bag and laid her hands on her knees, perking back up with a smile as she turned her head back to the windows.
A bit of mold covered the pane, but she clearly saw these familiar roads and suburbs passing her by, surrounded by towering healthy evergreens.
"Twenty years of living, and this town has barely changed a peep." But as the bus stopped at the four-way intersection, she noticed a new ice cream shop had been built beside the strip mall on the corner of Everett and Arnold St.
"Huh, gonna have to try that out later." She logged away in her mental notebook.
The bus was nearing her destination, all it had to do was drive down a small hill and make a couple turns.
She grabbed onto the inner folds of her vest and made sure it was on right, nudged her glasses back into place, and checked her bag a second time.
"I better not have forgotten anything I swear to GOD if...!" Her raise in pitch drew enough attention from the few other passengers for her to pinch her lips and tuck her hands between her legs.
Her head went droopy with a sigh, "Control yourself. You want to set a good example on your first day..."
She then turned back to the window and far off in the distance she could barely make out a lone two-story house sitting atop a hill, making her smile warm and longing, "...Maybe I should've stopped by and said hello before coming to work. Well..."
She then faced forward and lifted her head high, "I'll be fine! Yeah! I'm ready!"
Her voice dribbled down in volume as the bus came to a stop with a creak in the wheels. She unbuckled her seat, hoisted the bag over her shoulder, and was on her way out with one foot feeling light as a feather and the other trying to drag her down like concrete.
The bus driver stopped her with a gesture of confusion, "You're getting off here too? This is a high school, kid."
The girl furrowed her brows slightly and pretended she didn't recognize the condescending tone, "Yeah? This is where I'm starting my new job."
The bus driver raised a brow and the girl reached into her vest pocket with a sigh, pulling out a thin card that she raised in front of a flash scanner.
With the payment secured she trotted out the door and dryly remarked, "Have a good day thanks for the ride."
The bus drove off and she turned around to face the entrance of the school on the other side of the street.
It had a few buildings, the largest being two-stories tall full of classrooms and other facilities such as the expected library and gym. It came equipped with a track, a sports field, and even a pool. Fittingly, the plaque over the front gates had this to say:
"Bluegreen High: 'Where we have everything our future prospects need to accel!'" The girl then nudged her glasses up with a hint of smug in her voice, "Well...NOW you do."
It was still early enough in the morning that the students hadn't started to roll in yet. She made her way inside the building and followed her itinerary to the principal's office, where the secretary was hard at work at her desk filing away the last few documents to start off the school year.
Standing a fair distance away from the desk for visibility sake, the girl let out a couple coughs and asked, "Excuse me, I'm here to submit the final applications for my new job?"
The secretary glanced away from her files for a moment, then glanced at the girl again with that always telling look of disbelief.
"You're the new teacher?" She remarked in a flagrant display of rudeness.
The girl furrowed her brows again but reined herself in, wanting to set good precedence for her future relationship with the staff here.
She reached into her bag and presented a well-organized vanilla folder with a smile, "Yes ma'am! As you can see, everything here is accounted for! My diploma, my references, etc etc I'm sure you're used to this by now."
The secretary leaned over and took the file. After a delayed attempt to read through the documents, she patted them back into alignment and laid the folder down.
"Alright, everything's in order," She said, using the same lack of belief in her tone, "You remember where you've been assigned?"
"And I also know how to get there!" The girl proclaimed triumphantly, pumping her fist against her chest.
"...Well, good luck to you."
The girl raised a brow as she turned and walked away, "Thanks?"
As he headed out the door she heard the secretary mumble under her breath, "She's not going to last a month."
The girl paused and tightened her grip on her bag strap, then continued walking in a huff, "Different place, same motions..."
The halls were your standard fare, lockers along the walls installed with the latest ID card scanners, good lighting to keep the mood hopeful, and the smell of fresh pinesol in the air.
Since she had a few minutes to burn, she decided to do a quick scan of the other facilities just to make sure the map she downloaded on her phone was up to date.
"Cafeteria, inclusive restrooms, fire extinguishers on every hall...They're definitely living up to the standards they set on the plaque." The girl clicked the phone off and marched up the staircase.
Goosebumps riddled her skin and alone, her childish giggles of excitement had nowhere to go but down the empty halls.
"I couldn't have asked for a better school to start off at!" She remarked.
A few turns and steps later and she was standing right in front of Class 207. Hoping that lucky number punctuating the room was good sign, she went inside and was briefly flashed by the morning sun through the windows.
After readjusting herself she saw 24 student desks, and one larger desk for her. She sized herself up next to it and grumbled, "I told them I needed a shorter one..."
Upon looking to her right she saw an adjustable chair and detoured to elevate it to max height. She then kept walking towards the door beside the chalkboard, her hand freezing on the doorknob as her heart raced and her pupils shrank.
"My first office...!"
After preventing her glasses from slipping off she swung the door open and saw her small, almost barren office. With naught but a desk to her name, she was free to accessorize it however she pleased.
She plopped her bag down on the desk and dug out the books, a cylindrical coffee machine, a picture frame that plays a five second loop of her and her senpai hanging out working on a machine, and a licensed coffee mug for one of her favorite Sentai shows: "Decade Avenger Re:Claim".
She pulls out a small figurine in pristine condition from that show that she picked up during the move back home. With a smile she tucks it back away and remarks, "He's going to love this."
The only thing she had left to worry about was the student roster. With how busy the move's been she didn't really have time to review it in full. All she knew was that she'd been teaching 48 students total, half in the morning, the other half in the afternoon.
With the changes to education over the past few years, a lot of the excess was cut down, thus making it possible to teach more subjects in a single day without overtaxing the students.
Math, grammar, history, science, ESPECIALLY science, and many more, this girl knew them all by heart and excelled so well that she graduated from college with top marks at the age of 20.
And now...
"It's my turn to give back to the younger crowd!" She said, trying to come off as a woman twice her age.
One quick glance at her phone's clock showed that class was about to begin, and indeed, she could hear the door opening and student pouring in.
Her face tensed up and she once more had to fix her glasses.
"Ack...!" She shrieked. Time had gotten the best of her once again!
"Damn it...! Well..." With her hands thrown up in a shrug she sighed and reached back for one the books, "Nothing else to do but do it...!"
Taking one last chance to steady herself, she tucked the book under her arm and locked her hand around the knob.
She had a few more seconds to compose herself as she entered the room because of all the chatter, "Wish me luck senpai!"
But when the students say their teacher marching to her desk, of course there was going to be a stir. Naturally, this was all within her calculations, but nevertheless...! She planned to let actions speak louder than her stature.
"That day was an important one for me. Getting to walk into that room, feeling larger than life, ready to take on the world for a brighter tomorrow!"
"Books in hand, my students ready to learn. I was going to accomplish great things here, and make my senpai proud!"
"My name is Lunalei Whiter. And in this, the twilight of my youth, I-!"
"HEY!" One of the female students shouted merrily without a care, throwing Lunalei's composure off-balance as she stumbled back into the chalkboard.
"T-That voice...!" She muttered. It had been four years, but she could never forget that energetic sound.
A tanned blue-haired tomboy in a sky blue sports jackets. Second row from the back, third seat from the windows, waving her hand in the air and setting the mood for this first day in a spectacularly embarrassing fashion, "It's Loonie Luna! What are you doing here?"
Lunalei readjusted her glasses and quickly pulled out the student roster muttering "No" rapidly under her breath as the grim truth came to light.
"...You've gotta be shittin' me..." She groaned.
"...I was cursed. Yep. As it turned out, a good chunk of my relatives were attending high school. THIS high school."
The rest of the students took advantage of the tomboy's nickname to have a giggle at Lunalei's expense, and thus, burying any chance of her first impression to be anything but an uphill struggle.
With a deep, disgruntled sigh, Lunalei adjusted her glasses one more time and looked at the battleground, the enemy's ranks filled with relatives, strangers and students alike.
"My name...is Lunalei Whiter. Age 20, 4'7", teacher, otaku, and a major fan of all things mechanical and this...is the beginning of the LONGEST year of my life."
CLASH OF THE ELEMENTS PART 7: TRAILS OF FIRE
Prologue: The Girl Who Aims For the Stars
Next: The Burning Blue Tomboy
