Val Meets the New Teacher
I don't own Girl Meets World!
It was time for English, one of Val's favorite subjects. Not only was she an avid reader but she loved poetry too.
The class was waiting in silence for Mr. Garaboski, their teacher.
Maya spoke up "Where's Garaboski?"
"Uh-oh." Lucas muttered.
"Did we do it?" Riley whispered.
"Did we finally break him?" Farkle asked.
"I hope so." Annie smiled "He hates kids, why'd he become a teacher anyway?"
"Ya broke him." Cory announced, coming into the room.
This announcement was met with wild cheers and whoops from the students.
"Quiet!" Cory shouted "Mr. Garaboski retired yesterday." More cheers "Quiet! The guy survives Vietnam and Mrs. Garaboski, and he can't get past you. Now he left a letter here that expressed his feelings. 'Dear you little-' Okay, I can't read this." Cory closed the letter.
"I can!" Annie offered.
"Annie!" Val scolded "I think I know what it says and you're not reading it."
"Aw, boo."
"He always talked about the good old days before 1985." Lucas laughed.
"What happened in 1985?" Riley asked.
"That was the year the New York Board of Education said you couldn't hit a kid with a ruler." Farkle answered.
"Never stopped him." Val muttered thinking of the times Garaboski had smacked her and her friend's hands with the wooden stick.
"'Bored' of education?" Maya asked "I do believe I am."
"Well, now you're gonna need a new English teacher." Cory told them.
"That's okay, thanks."
"Uh, I don't know, Maya." Lucas said, looking out the window "You may want to consider this one."
An Asian woman with her black hair in a bun on top of her head and wearing a leather jacket was walking towards the classroom.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, Ms. Harper Burgess." Cory announced.
Ms. Burgess came in carrying a motorcycle helmet with flames on it and set it on the desk.
"You got a bike that goes with that outfit?" Lucas joked.
"1800 CC twin cam fat bob fuel tank wide glide." Ms. Burgess retorted "What do you ride?"
"Her rode a sheep." Riley said, trying to be helpful.
Maya giggled "62-pound quad hoof white fleece, kind you count before you fall asleep. Baa baa."
"Wanna race?" Ms. Burgess challenged.
"No."
"Ms. Burgess is here to teach you about great books and great ideas." Cory told the kids "Please give her the same respect that you give me."
"Oh, we can do better than that." Riley scoffed.
Cory gasped, hurt, then turned around and marched out of the classroom.
Ms. Burgess pulled out a stack of books and put them on Maya's desk "Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns." She said.
"This is Batman." Farkle said, excitedly.
"Holy Musical Batman!" Val sang softly.
"A future Batman." Ms. Burgess corrected.
"What's the difference?" Lucas asked.
"This story is the continuation based on an original series of characters. Do you guys know what that means?"
"Yeah." The class responded.
Riley raised her hand "Um, aren't you supposed to be teaching us the important books?"
"Mmm, this graphic novel was as important to its style of literature as any book you can think of." Ms. Burgess told them.
"What's it about?" Farkle asked.
"It's about a world that's become so tough that Batman fights Superman." Ms. Burgess looked at the class "You will tell me why he does that."
"You're gonna start by teaching us a comic book, Miss Motorcycle?" Lucas questioned.
"Don't complain." Val said "I think I get where she's going with this."
"You must be Valencia."
"Val, please, Ms. Burgess."
"Alright, Val, don't spoil my lesson." Ms. Burgess joked "And you're gonna start by not calling me Ms. Anything. You can call me Harper."
Farkle raised his hand "Harper?"
"Yes?"
"I just wanted to see if it would work." Farkle shrugged.
"Farkle?"
"You know my name, Harper?"
"I know all of your names." Harper smiled "Mr. Matthews told me all about you."
Riley looked up from her planner "When is this due, please?"
"Hi, Riley." Harper gave a little wave.
"Hi." Riley waved back.
"How do you like having him here?" Harper asked.
"It's terrible." Riley sighed.
"It's wonderful. My father gave me my love of books." Harper told them.
"He did?" Riley quirked her head to the side.
"He's why I became a teacher. It's why he named me Harper."
"Oh, like-!" Val began but was interrupted.
"Don't ruin my lesson plan." Harper warned.
"Okay."
The rest of the class looked on, confused.
"You figure it out." Harper ordered.
"Riley, stop me right now." Maya said.
"From what?"
"I can't like a teacher, I'm Maya."
"It's a good day, Maya." Riley grinned "School got better and nothing bad is ever going to happen again."
"That's not gonna last." Val sighed, as she spotted the principal outside the door.
"So, I'm passing by your classroom on this, your first day, and I can't help noticing that somebody has a comic book-That everybody has a comic book." The principal said, coming in.
"They're graphic novels." Farkle corrected.
"Pipe down, Farkle."
"Hey!" Val said, trying to stand up but Annie pulled her down.
"I think Harper's trying to teach us something important." Farkle continued.
"Oh, Harper is? Hmm? Well, she's not. It isn't literature, it's comic books. Which are against school policy, Ms. Burgess."
"That's a form of literature." Val pointed out.
"Quiet, Valencia. And so is calling Ms. Burgess by her first name." The principal grabbed the book from Riley's desk "You will gather these up, and you will teach something important." He noticed a book on Harper's desk "To Kill a Mockingbird? Are you familiar with this?"
"I know the book." Harper nodded.
"Then teach it, Ms. Burgess." He pushed the book into her hands and left.
"So...The Dark Knight Returns. Read it tonight, and tomorrow we will learn something important."
The class started cheering.
"Ah, stop it." Harper said, pointing to Maya "You're not supposed to like a teacher. You're Maya."
"Oh, no, what are you doin' to me?" Maya stood up and clapped louder.
That night, at dinner, Riley and Maya were shoveling food into their mouths as fast as they could. Val, had already read the book and was eating more politely.
"Girls, slow down. What is the rush?" Topanga asked.
"Dinner is keeping us from our homework." Maya said, her mouth full and food spilling over her lips.
"Gross." Val groaned "Don't talk with your mouth full."
"The new English teacher wants us to read this." Riley pulled the graphic novel out of her bag and showed it to her mother.
"Well, this looks like a comic book."
"Yes." Cory nodded.
"Didn't we have a teacher who taught us-"
"Yes."
Topanga leaned forward "Tell me more about this new English teacher."
"Motorcycle." Riley said, awe in her eyes.
"Leather jacket." Maya smiled.
"Sounds familiar." Topanga looked at her husband "Weren't you on the committee to hire the new English teacher?"
"Yes."
"Principal Yancy doesn't like her very much." Riley told the table.
"She's a young idealist. You think she's gonna win him over." Topanga concluded, still looking at Cory.
"I'm just looking for a little action." Cory shrugged.
"Not all history repeats, Cory."
"Why, what happened to you guys?" Riley asked.
"You don't know this story?" Val was shocked "I love this story."
"Well, we had a pretty cool teacher once." Topanga explained.
Riley grinned "Feeny!"
"No," Topanga corrected "We actually had one other teacher."
"Did that teacher get along with the principal?" Maya asked.
"Feeny was the principal."
"Feeny taught you every year and was also your principal?" Auggie asked in amazement.
"Yes." Cory nodded.
"That would never happen today." Auggie said, turning to Val "Right?"
"We'll have to wait and see." Val shrugged.
"Our principal won't let her teach us this." Maya said, pulling out the book.
"But she is anyway?" Topanga asked.
"It's a more complicated world now." Cory tried to explain "Heroes and villains aren't as easily recognized. Maybe its takes different teaching methods to tell them apart. She thinks this will help, and I like that she believes in something."
"But Cory, the world isn't so different that the principal doesn't still make the final decision." Topanga pointed out.
"Yeah, that's interesting, isn't it?" Cory asked "Yancy has a lot of power. He's like...Who's a guy with a lot of power, girls?"
"Superman." Riley realized.
"Whoa." Maya gasped.
Riley's eyes widened "Then Harper's like-"
"Batman!" Maya shouted.
"Whoa!" Riley yelled.
"What's the difference between the two?" Topanga asked.
"Well, one has superpowers and one doesn't." Cory explained.
"Well how can that be a fair fight?" Topanga questioned "I mean, that's like a fight between you and me."
"I know." Cory agreed.
"You know, I don't want Harper..." Riley began.
"Batman." Maya interjected.
"...to lose."
"Well, maybe you should do your homework and find out what happens next." Cory suggested.
Riley and Maya looked at each other, eyes wide.
Topanga laughed "Yeah, like they're gonna run-"
She was interrupted by Riley and Maya racing out of the kitchen with their books.
"Huh." She paused "Val, aren't you going with them?"
"I read the book during my free period." Val shrugged "And I promised I'd help Annie with her math after dinner."
"What did you think of the book?" Cory asked.
"It was interesting. I like how the characters aren't all black and white." Val shrugged "It's not my favorite, but it's a good story, with a good message."
"Hmm." Topanga hummed.
The next day in Harper's class, Harper was walking around the room with the book in hand.
"Can good change?" She asked.
"Good is good." Riley answered.
"Can evil change?"
"It seems like just when we've seen the worst that there can be, somebody comes up with something." Lucas shrugged.
"Why do you suppose that is?" Harper asked.
"Because it's evil that fascinates us." Maya responded.
"Butt doesn't good have to win in the end?" Lucas protested.
"Does it?"
"So I'm passing by your classroom, on this, your second day," Principal Yancy said, coming in "And I see no Mockingbird. But I still see comic books."
"Yes, we're studying the nature of good and evil." Harper nodded.
Principal Yancy gasped sarcastically "I don't care. Class dismissed."
"Excuse me?" Harper asked.
"Study hall, all of you!" Yancy shouted "Except Farkle and Valencia. You...go sit in some garbage cans."
"Yay!" Farkle grinned.
"Yeah, not a chance." Val scowled.
"Leave now." Yancy ordered.
The class remained in their seats.
"Go." Harper told them.
Slowly everyone got up and left the classroom.
"Riley." Maya asked.
"Yes." Riley agreed.
"Val?"
"On it."
The girls rushed out of the room and down the hall to the twins' father's classroom.
"Dad!" Riley and Val shouted, as they burst into the room.
"Ahh!" Cory shrieked, startled "Oh, it's you. What's wrong?"
"Yancy came into our English class." Val said quickly.
"It doesn't look good." Riley cried.
"Wanna give us a hand, Matthews?" Maya asked.
"Okay, class dismissed, go to study hall!" Cory told his current class "Let's go, girls."
He allowed them to pull him down the hallway back to Harper's class.
"Uh, what's going on here?" Cory asked, as he was pushed into the room.
"I've been fired." Harper told him "I wanna thank you for believing in me."
"You're welcome. Oh, wait. That hasn't changed. Uh, how can you possibly fire someone like her, Yancy?"
"Go back to your class, Matthews."
"You're right, this isn't history, this is English, but...You know what history has in common with great books? It turns out there are heroes and villains. All through them. And the villains will always cause trouble. But there's always gonna be heroes to fight back."
"You ruined my entire lesson." Harper teased.
"She was hired to teach literature, but she's not." Yancy protested "She rides a motorcycle and she teaches comic books. How is that a teacher?"
"That can be a great teacher." Cory sighed "A passionate teacher who doesn't believe that kids just come and go. And if you let her go, then...You have to be prepared to let me go as well."
"Let you go?" Yancy asked "Well, I wasn't prepared for that at all. Just Gove me a second-Okay, I'm good. You're fired too."
"You can't do that!" Val shouted and Lucas and Annie quickly dragged her off to the library to cool down.
"How was everybody's day today?" Topanga asked at dinner that evening.
"It was a good day." Auggie smiled "And then my friends treated me nicely and then my teacher measured me, and I'm growing and then Jenny Lewis loves me."
"I thought you were with Ava?" Val asked.
"I am, but that doesn't stop Jenny Lewis."
"Wait a minute, this already happened." Topanga realized.
"Yeah, I'm out of stuff." Auggie shrugged.
"He's right." Cory lied "Nothing new happened at all."
"Dad got fired today." Riley and Val said together.
Topanga raised her eyebrows as she looked at her daughters.
Cory laughed awkwardly "Well, there's that. You know how you thought there might be trouble between Yancy and the new teacher?"
"The young idealist who was gonna win him over?"
"She didn't...so much." Cory groaned.
"But you defended her?"
"I did."
"So Yancy fired you?"
"So much." Cory shook his head.
"Yancy can't fire you." Topanga told him.
"That's what I'm saying!" Val sighed.
"According to statue 3028, teacher dismissals have to come from the state." Topanga explained.
"Mom, do you know everything?" Riley asked.
"Yeah."
"So Mr. Matthews is safe?" Maya checked.
"Aww, Maya...you care?" Cory grinned.
"No," Maya shrugged "I just haven't spoken yet."
"I've met Principal Yancy." Topanga muttered "He can be pretty stubborn."
"Yeah, he's gonna pursue this." Cory nodded.
"Good, then he'll get what's coming to him." Val crossed her arms.
"What will we do next?" Riley asked.
"Well, he has to take it to his boss." Topanga explained "He has to take it to the Superintendent of Schools." She grinned widely.
"Doesn't that make you guys nervous?" Riley shook her head in disbelief at her parents and sister's chill attitude.
"Um, they don't seem nervous." Maya whispered.
"We're not." Val smiled.
On the board in Cory's classroom were written the words "You're Fired!" Yancy was teaching them today.
"Today's lesson." He said, punctuating each word by underlining what was on the board.
He turned around to face Cory and Harper who were sitting in the front row.
"Okay. So I've learned it's more difficult to get rid of rabble rousers than I thought. Too bad for you, I've got a great relationship with the Superintendent of Schools." Yancy chuckled "How's your relationship, Matthews?"
The door opened and Jon Turner walked in. Cory hid a smile.
"Okay, so why do I have to do anything?" Mr. Turner asked.
"Mr. Turner and I go back a bit." Cory nodded.
"So, I hear you wanna dismiss a couple of educators, Yancy?"
"She's here one day, and she's teaching comic books!" Yancy shouted.
"Yeah?" Mr. Turner smirked "My first day I taught The X-Men."
Yancy laughed "That's funny." When he saw Mr. Turner's stony face he groaned "Oh, no."
"Now, why would I do that, I wonder?"
Cory raised his hand.
"Matthews."
"Well," Cory began "You took the characters we already loved to show us that good and evil wasn't always so back and white."
"How come?"
"So we'd understand it better when you taught us real books."
"Cory," Mr. Turner smiled "You were listening."
"How could I not? I mean you wore a leather jacket to work every day. You taught comic books and you rode to work on a motorcycle."
Yancy slapped his hands to his head.
"Right up until the day the bike and I both got totaled." Mr. Turner confirmed "But things happen for a reason. I married my nurse."
"Aw." Yancy cooed "You fell in love with her?"
"Nah, in case it ever happens again."
"I-" Yancy spluttered.
"There's a pretty cool bike parked next to your sensible sedan." Mr. Turner told Cory "What did you buy that from Feeny?"
"Well, it only had four miles on it." Cory defended "The roll-up windows are a real workout."
"Hey, Burgess, you be careful on that bike, okay?"
"Thank you, sir." Harper nodded.
"Jon, I just want her to teach To Kill a Mockingbird." Yancy begged.
"Your Mom or your Dad?" Jon asked taking the book.
"My Dad." Harper nodded.
"What about him?" Yancy questioned.
"He named her Harper Lee Burgess." Jon showed the idiotic principal the book "I figure she'll get around to it."
"Isn't this the one about understanding that people turn out pretty good if you give them a chance?" Harper asked.
"Don't ask me, I read comic books." Jon smiled "Look, Yancy, I'll observe Harper's class, I'll make my decision then. I already made my decision on Matthews long ago. I hired him, you know."
Yancy's face crumpled "I did not know that. I withdraw my objection."
"Too late for that." Jon muttered "Too important. What a kid is taught is what a kid becomes. That's the job we have. You ask me to see if it's being done, and I will." He walked over to the board "Hmm. Interesting lesson. Let's see what comes of it."
Jon walked to the door and opened it, only for Val, Annie, and Eric to fall through.
"Hi, Uncle Jon." Val smiled sheepishly.
"Valencia!" Yancy shouted "Detention!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Uncle Jon put his hand out to stop the red faced principal "I don't think its a crime for a girl to worry about her father. And why are you only giving her detention when she's got two friends with her?"
"Becuase...because...um."
"That's what I thought. Come on, Val, up you get." Uncle Jon helped the kids up "Don't let me catch you spying again, got it?"
"Got it." Annie and Eric nodded.
"Sure, I won't...let you catch me." Val smirked.
"That's my girl."
The next day, Harper stood in front of her class with Cory, Jon, and Yancy in the back.
"We have some special guests in our classroom. Please behave as you normally would." Harper asked.
Riley stood up "Hi."
"Hi." Uncle Jon greeted.
"We love Harper." Riley told him "Do you understand, Uncle Jon?"
"Real Uncle, or do you just call him that?" Yancy asked quickly.
"He comes over like a million times a week." Riley smiled.
"I withdraw my complaint."
Val stood up and pulled Riley gently back to her chair "Go on, Harper."
"You got them calling you by your first name?" Jon asked.
"Yes, I wanted them to put together the Mockingbird thing to see how much I care about what I'll be teaching."
"Who's got it so far?"
"As far as I know, only Val."
"Good for you. And you haven't told anybody?"
"Not a soul." Val sealed her lips and smirked.
"All right, does anybody else understand the significance if Harper's name in regards to the author of To Kill a Mockingbird?" Uncle Jon asked.
"Harper's first name is Charles Twain!" Maya shouted.
Val smacked her hand to her forehead.
"You're doing a bang up job with her, Matthews." Uncle Jon laughed.
Cory shrugged.
"Look," Maya spoke up "She was told by the principal not to teach us something, but she did anyways. That's gotta mean something."
"Psst, will you stop helping us?" Cory hissed.
"Yeah, it means something." Uncle Jon agreed "Now may I see what you've learned? Because that's what means everything."
Farkle jumped up "Farkle goes first, Farkle always goes first!"
"Stuart Minkus' kid?"
"Yeah."
"Super genius?"
"Outer space."
"Real human boy?"
"We're not sure yet."
"Yes, we are." Val groaned "He's human."
"Sit down." Uncle Jon told the genius.
"I'll make the presentation." Lucas said, standing up.
"You like this teacher?"
"I like both of these teachers."
"Are you familiar with the material?"
"Me? No, I never saw this thing before. I never saw this thing before in my life." Lucas turned around "Yeah, I read it. I read it, actually, a lot."
"Thanks for telling the truth."
"Yeah, I can't help myself." Lucas sighed.
"Now, I prefer someone who is unfamiliar with the material." Uncle Jon mused "Someone who is notoriously unteachable." He looked at Maya.
"How you doin'?" Maya asked.
Uncle Jon waved her up to the front of the classroom and Maya and Riley stood up.
"Not you, Riley." Cory sighed.
"I only looked at the pictures." Maya told them.
"I read the words." Riley smiled.
"It's a duet." Cory laughed.
"I hope you learned something" Harper grinned.
"I learn something all the time." Riley said.
"I come here because my apartment leaks." Maya did a little dance.
"Come here." Harper beckoned the blonde towards her.
"Yes...?" Maya asked.
"I know you just say this stuff. I know you're a lot smarter than you want us to know."
"Shh!"
"We got this." Riley told her best friend.
"I hope so." Cory murmured "Our future's in your hands."
Riley and Maya turned to face the class "In Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns the keyword is dark. He doesn't write heroes or villains that you are used to. You have to really think about what's right and what's wrong."
"The pictures make you work too." Maya continued "You have to look up, down, across, and sideways, but I believe he's trying to get us to look at what our own world has become. Up, down, across, and sideways."
"Heroes that should be friends with a common goal, fight each other instead." Riley told the class.
Farkle stood up "One hero was trying to inspire his old friend to take a look at the world, and realized that it's changed. So he needed to change too." Farkle sat back down.
But he wouldn't," Lucas joined in "So he fought against him. Which was hard to look at. Because the world is dark enough and heroes are supposed to bring light."
"Everyone in this room knows that someone with real power doesn't need to hit a kid with a ruler to get the kid to want to learn."
"Because this is a new world, and we don't do that here." Maya spread her arms "Frank Miller turned a comic book into-what's the word?"
"You know the word." Harper told her.
"Literature." Maya mumbled "And Harper here, is named after someone who gave us a great story."
Riley walked overt to Cory "Which her father taught her to appreciate, and it means everything to her that her father taught her that. She's taught me so much already."
"You did that in two days?" Uncle Jon asked, shocked.
Harper laughed "They're smarter than they want us to know."
"She did that in two days! Shape up, Matthews."
"Yes, sir."
"Jon, comic books are against school policy." Yancy said, coming forward.
"Yeah, and you can hit a kid with a ruler in 19 states."
Yancy sighed, knowing he was beaten, and left the classroom.
"Hey, Matthews," Uncle Jon said "I know it was you that chose Harper for these kids. Is that because maybe she, uh...reminded you of someone?"
Cory quickly shook his head "No."
"Okay."
Val sat in her room that evening after dinner. She was re-reading a Harry Potter book when Auggie knocked on her door.
"Hi, Auggie, come on in." Val put her bookmark in the book and held out her arms for her little bother.
"Val, what's your favorite book?" Auggie asked, settling in next to Val on the bed.
"Well, Augs, there are a lot of good books."
"But which one's your favorite?"
"It's hard to just pick one, but if I had to choose, I think I would say the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson series'." Val paused "Why do you ask?"
"Riley said she wanted to start me on the road to good books." Auggie smiled "I wanna know which ones to read first."
"Well, these might be a little hard for you to read right now." Val said kindly.
"Then would you read them to me, Val?" Auggie stuck out his lower lip pleadingly.
"Of course I will." Val got up and went over to her bookshelf to grab the first books in each series "Which do you want to start with?"
"What are they about?"
"Well, Harry Potter is about magic and wizards. Percy Jackson is about heroes and Gods and monsters." Val explained.
"Let's start with the wizards!" Auggie bounced up.
"Harry Potter it is." Val laughed as she sat down on the bed.
Auggie snuggled up to her as she opened the book to the first page.
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four Privet Drive were happy to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much..." Val read.
Riley walked past the door and paused as she heard her sister reading aloud. She poked her head around the doorframe and saw Val and Auggie sitting on the bed, Val had a book in her hand and Auggie was smiling cheerfully as he listened to the oldest Matthews sibling read the story.
Riley sighed and continued on her way downstairs. She'd wanted to be the one to introduce Auggie to books, although she didn't know what book they were reading, she was still slightly bitter that Auggie had gone to Val instead of her. Riley knew she shouldn't be upset, it wasn't like she'd told Val that she wanted to teach Auggie about books. But still...
Word count: 4272 words
Please don't forget to comment, vote, and add to your reading lists! And stay home, stay healthy, and stay safe!
Love,
The Author