Name: Max Jones
Age: 16
Picture:

Name: Matthew Elenn [Eh-len] "Mr. Elenn"
Age: Twenty-three
Status: English Teacher
Image:

Max woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. He blinked a few times before sitting up and turning it off. When he looked over and noticed the time, he bolted out of bed, and got dressed in a flash. "Late!? How could I be late!? I set the alarm for-" He stopped talking to himself when he remembered hitting the 'snooze' button multiple times. He groaned and zoomed down the stairs. "I'm off to school, mom! See you later!" He yelled, grabbing his messenger bag and slamming the door behind him. He hopped onto his bike and peddled like the wind, reaching the school in a matter of minutes. He quickly parked his bike, not having time to lock it to the bars, and ran into the building. While on the run, he pulled out his schedule and groaned. "But that class is all the way on the other side of school..." He skidded to a stop and turned around, running in the opposite direction. When he found the class he needed, he bolted into the room. He looked around seeing all the students in seats already. Oh, great... He thought to himself, wishing he could roll his eyes at himself. He didn't even have the guts to look the teacher in the face. He just stood there by the door, huffing and puffing from all of the running.

Nine o'clock. The school bell began to ring, signalling the final warning for students to reach their classes. Matthew Elenn stared at the two hands of the clock on the wall. His grey orbs eyes stationary on the tall 12 at the top as the seconds ticked on. One ring of the bell... two... three... four...
Teenagers leaked into the classroom like a weak streaming river. Their hair was done up nice and clean, their clothes all new and stainless. Children and their urge to look the best... He would never understand it.
Finally the school bell finished ringing. Mr. Elenn lowered his head and turned his attention to the sea of students. They were chattering amongst themselves, their voices but a mere hum in his ears. He cleared his throat and tapped the clipboard in his hand on the only empty desk in the room, right at the front where he stood.
"Welcome back," he greeted. Some of the girls off to the left by the board giggled and whispered, pointing at him. He ignored it. "Grade eleven, you should be proud you lasted so long."
A whoop of joy from one boy in the back. His friends joined in and soon a wave of laughter crashed over the room.
"Yes, very exciting," Mr. Elenn mused. He waited a few seconds until the quiet settled back in then he looked down to his clipboard. "Attendance time: Alex Alstad?"
A boy with a mess of curly dark hair, sitting in the far right corner, raised his hand. "Here."
"Priscilla Alhrep?"
"Here."
And on went the list. Mr. Elenn had reached the F's when suddenly his classroom door was swung open and a boy appeared, as if from nowhere, in the doorway.
He was a small little thing. Lavender hair, soft ruby eyes. A thin sheet of perspiration showed on his brow and Mr. Elenn had a hard time holding back his lips from twitching into a smile. Late on the first day back from the Summer holidays? That would not do. No, not at all.
"Did you ran all the way here?" He asked the student. He saw the rest of the class turn their heads out of the corner of his eye. "You certainly sweat enough for it to be true." A ripple of snickers among his students.
Whoever said he was the nice teacher?

Max blushed softly when he was spoken to. God, could this get any more embarrassing?... He asked himself. When he looked at the teacher, he blushed an even deeper red, making it a bit more noticeable. His heart skipped a beat and he held onto the door handle for support, suddenly feeling light-headed for some reason.
He nodded quickly when he was asked if he ran the entire way, using the sleeve of his sweater to wipe his brow when he was told he was sweating.
"I-I'm sorry, sir..." He apologized, and looked around awkwardly. He quickly took the nearest empty seat, which wasn't really near at all, and remained silent, hoping that people would forget about this soon. He ended up sitting in the very last row, in the center column of the class. He noticed how students were still looking at him and smirking at him as if they were better than him, which didn't help him quit blushing at all.

Mr. Elenn watched the boy scuffle down the aisles between the desk and take his seat. The single spot in front of Mr. Elenn. His lips quirked upwards. "Grade eleven, and you allow yourself to be tardy..." Mr. Elenn gripped the edges of the boy's desks, leaning his face in closer. "Not. Impressive."
As quickly as he closed the gap between them, he made it grow larger again. Mr. Elenn snatched back up his clipboard and continued on with the attendance. There were at least twenty more students to go through, the boy--he found out--was named Max Jones. Jones. That sounded oddly familiar...
When Mr. Elenn called out Max's name he enjoyed the embarrassed response he got as the class stopped to give the child a narrowed stare. However, the effect was ruined when one of the girls, Georgia Smith, giggled and chirped a high-pitched, "Present!" at her name. God, Mr. Elenn hated students like her. Girls who thought far too highly of themselves, wore too low cut shirts, too short skirts, and took far more time needed to fix their hair and make-up.
No wonder he was gay. He could hardly stand most women.
"As you know, grade ten was all about learning to write essays. Well, grade eleven is about writing them. Properly. For the first couple of days, we're going to be going over review of last year. Then, we will begin writing."
He continued talking, handing out a stack of white sheets to the front of each row of desks. He passed by Max, handing them over slowly. The boy reached out to take them and Mr. Elenn leaned down again, grey eyes gleaming behind his glasses.
"Try not to get any sweat on them."

Max frowned when his name was called, he almost didn't want to say 'present' because he most certainly didn't want to be 'present'. But he did anyways, trying his best to ignore the narrow stares as he did so. When the girl nearly squealed her 'present', Max held his breath so he wouldn't giggle at how silly she sounded. Girls, to him, still had coodies and he didn't understand why nearly all of the girls he had known since kindergarten had all become so... stuck up. He remembered Allison, his first friend, who used to shove dirt down his pants. Now, she had died-blond hair, wore way too much make-up and never gave him the time of day anymore. He didn't really care.
He was snapped out of his memories of the past when he couldn't hear the words of Mr. Elenn anymore. It seemed he was handing out a worksheet of some kind. When he reached Max's desk, and told him to try not to get any sweat on them, he blushed again. He heard a few girls within hearing-range giggle.
Oh god... What did I do!?... He asked himself, not looking into the teacher's eyes and taking the papers with his slim hands. He took the first paper from the top, and handed the rest back to the others, noticing that the boy behind him was smiling wide when they were given to him. He shook his head, wanting to disappear... or at least make the teacher disappear. He looked back at the sheet and frowned, looking up at the teacher and waiting for directions, trying to listen.

"This is a review test," Mr. Elenn explained. Cue the groans and cries of anguish. "Yes, yes, how horrible. However, it's not for marks--"
"HALLELUJAH!" The boy, Kyle Horseman, who "whooped" in the beginning of class, all but screamed.
"--Thank you, Mr. Horseman... As I was saying, I simply need to know where your memory lies to see what point in the grade ten English review we need to go over tomorrow. Since classes are short today, simply to have you become used to your 'new classes'--" Mr. Elenn made quotation marks with his fingers. He was anything but new to the school, having been teaching there for almost three years. Most staff members stayed for a year, sometimes less. The principal was a jerk if you didn't have a special technique to handle him.
Thankfully, Matthew did.
"--by the time you finish the test you should be moving onto your next class. If you finish early, suck it up and wait it out. Hand them in here." He tapped Max's desk loudly, gaining everyone's attention.
Glancing down, his eyes met with the younger male's, and he twisted the corner of his lips upwards.
"You may begin now. I'll see you all first thing tomorrow morning."

Max held in a groan of complaint when his desk was tapped, marking the place to put papers when finished. It seemed that English would not be his favorite class this year.
He looked down at the paper then sighed. At least he remembered most of what was on the sheet. He smiled to himself, glad that things were starting to look up. He grabbed his pencil, marking his name on the sheet, and continuing to the first question. However, when he began to write, the led on his pencil snapped, and he bit his bottom lip.
No, this isn't happening... he thought, as he checked his bag for another pencil or even a pen, but found none. He put his face down on the desk, covering his head and not holding back a low groan of dismay.
He just sat at his desk, watching as one by one, student after student walked to his desk and put their papers right in front of him. Nobody helped him, but everyone saw he had no writing utensil.
When the bell rang for class to end, he looked at his sheet. It had his name on it, and nothing else. Before he left, he put his paper at the bottom of the pile, so that he would have awhile before he was 'officially' dead.
Before giving Mr. Elenn a second to even think of saying something to Max, he had his messenger bag over his shoulder, and was out of the class in a zoom.
~~~
During lunch, Max sighed. All of his other classes were going great. He remembered everything from the year before, and his teachers all liked him for the most part. First period, though.
Max buried his face in his sweater. What did he do!? It wasn't like he was the first student to ever be late for class!
He looked up from his sweater and picked an apple from the tree he sat under. He took a big bite and rubbed his eyes, feeling tired. He leaned against the trunk of the tree, getting more comfortable, and decided that resting his eyes wouldn't hurt anybody.

The bell rang for the first break of the day and Matthew swivelled in his chair to face the class. He watched them all leave, their papers slowly stacking on Max's desk. Something seemed off though and Mr. Elenn squinted his eyes to try and see it. Before he could pin-point whatever the problem was, Max stood from his desk and walked off, the last of the students to leave the classroom.
Matthew twisted in his chair a moment longer. He hated not being able to see what was going on. The thick wall of fog that kept him from understanding the truth... He despised it as much as any man possibly could.
Figuring he had wasted enough time pondering, he stood and walked around his desk to pick up to the stack of tests. Emily Kammerle was at the top.
Matthew frowned. Max was the last to leave. He was the last to put his test in the pile and the last to push away from his desk. Turning the mound of papers upside down, Mr. Elenn saw the empty test underneath and tugged it free. "Aha," he mumbled.
There was not a single answer written on the sheet. Only Max's name scrawled at the top of the paper told him it had even been touched. Why did he bother putting his name down if he wasn't going to answer anything? Mr. Elenn though, walking back over to his desk. He leaned into his seat, twirling a pen between his fingers. The bell rang in the hallway and students began moving to their second class. He had a spare. Whoop-dee-do. After lunch were the grade twelves, and fourth period he had tenth graders. He was a teacher of senior English, not little grade eight and nine. He was far above their academic levels.
Then again, he was smarter than the rest of the grades too, but they at least treated a teacher like their own and not some god-like being. Although, girls like Georgia he would need to watch out for...
Thinking about Miss Smith made a memory flash through his mind. Strawberry blonde hair, large brown eyes and a freckled face. She was his top student. His favourite. Even when he told himself to never put one child above another. It was his first year teaching at the high school and she was only thirteen. Thirteen years old.
He remembered the day it happened. She was wearing a grey skirt and a white blouse with dark leggings and boots. Always modest with her appearance, never showing off too much skin, yet she was eccentric and quirky. He had commented on her sense of style and then...
Matthew rubbed between his eyes, forcing the memory away. His glasses lay on his desk, forgotten. When had he taken them off? When did reminiscing start to make him feel so damn old?
The bell rang again. No more warning. No more extra time. Second period had begun. Matthew put his glasses back on and blinked away the blurriness from rubbing at his eyes. He had papers to look over, groups to make, plans to create. If he wanted spare time at lunch he had to start working now.
Purple pen in hand, he tugged a notebook up beside him, wrote a few titles at the top of the page, then reached over to the pile of tests and started from the top.
He worked straight through lunch and only stopped when he heard the third period bell ring. So much for spare time.

Max hadn't realized it, but he hadn't taken a nap... He had fallen asleep. He was woken by a fellow student. How he was woken up wasn't so nice, however. A clean kick to the chest and Max's eyes were wide open.
"There you are, Maxy." A voice chuckled. Max looked up, coughing, to find Alex Chesterfield. His personal Bully since age nine. "Awh, look guys. I think he remembers me." He chuckled again. God, did Max find it annoying.
"Guys, I'm not in the mood. Let me get to class." He groaned, standing up and rubbing his abdomen.
"Wait... To class? You want to go to class even after school is over? Jeez, Maxy. I knew you were a nerd, but this is new." Alex smugly said, running a hand through his short blond hair and smirking at Max.
Max looked confused. "Wait. What?" He asked, looking at his watch and catching the time. "Oh my god! 3:49!? School's been out for awhile!" He gasped, grabbing his bag. I've gotta get home...
"Where do you think your going, Maxy?" Alex asked him, just as he had taken his first step towards the bike racks. "We were just starting to play." Alex cooed, waltzing over and wrapping an arm around his shoulder in a not-so-friendly manner.
"No, its... okay... I should probably just leave you guys and go-" He was cut off with a sharp uppercut to his gut. Max coughed and tried to run, but was restrained by Alex. Apparently, his buddy buddy attitude had improved over the summer...
"C'mon guys, let me-" A punch to the face. "You can't just-" A kick to his crotch. He was down for the count, and he didn't even know it.
"Alex! Teachers! C'mon, lets get outta here!" One of his buddies called. In a matter of seconds, the entire group was out of sight, leaving Max groaning in pain on the grass. When he managed to gain enough strength to sit up, he pulled his messenger bag on, and wiped his face.
In that moment, he had the strangest thought. He was glad he didn't wear glasses. He'd hate having to come up with tons of reasons a week why he needed a new pair. His mother had enough to worry about already.
He stood up, checking himself over to make sure nothing was missing or broken, and when he passed his inspection, he walked over to the bike racks.
"Wheres my-" He stopped, finding a sticky note when he parked his bike that morning.

'Needed to borrow your bike.
--A'

"Shit!" He cursed, kicking the bike rack stupidly, which only put him in more pain. He hopped on one foot for awhile in the classic comical fashion, hating himself for letting Alex do whatever he wanted. He decided to just calm himself, taking a deep breath and just taking the walk home, even if it was a little over a mile, and he was a slow walker.

Matthew closed the top of his briefcase and latched it with a SNAP. Those grade ten's... He sighed. They were either mature or immature. Never in between. Why did he have to be assigned the most immature group? The only mature person was a boy by the name of Jerrod and he was... well, Matthew didn't want to be judgemental or rude, but Jerrod was a total nerd. He could only be classified as 'mature' because he didn't scream the entire class about partying during the summer like every other baby grade in high school did. What was with teenagers and needing to get drunk to be cool nowadays?
"When I was in school," he muttered to himself, grasping his briefcase handle and snatching up his coat from the back of his chair. "we used to be cool by wearing those horrid tracksuits and tube tops. Now you need to drink and party and wear your pants so low your practically mooning everyone."
He closed his classroom door behind him, not bothering to lock it for the janitors. Did they even clean up on the first day? Oh well, who cared? He got to go home, that's the important thing.
A few more teachers were doing the same as him. He passed by Mrs. Weeth in the main hallway and lifted his hand in a brief, silent 'hello'. Neither of them were friendly. She was, undoubtedly, the only teacher he could stand being around long enough to have an actual conversation. The rest were old geezers who complained about their lives or modern-aged cougars constantly rubbing up against him and trying to 'flirt'.
More like molest, but who cared about technicalities?
Weaving through the crowd of teenagers, Mr. Elenn found his way to the side doors of the school and pushed free into the open air. He sucked in the freshness until his lungs began to burn. Then finally he released his breath and looked around.
Well, well.
"Shit!" Max cursed. In obvious rage he kicked at the bike rack, only to hurt his toe and begin bouncing up and down like a rabbit.
Matthew's mouth cracked into a sneer. "Language, Mr. Jones. Must I remind you we are still on school grounds?" He waltzed over to the boy, enjoying the look of surprise on the younger one's face.

Max rolled his eyes when he heard his favorite teacher's voice. When he turned around to face Mr. Elenn, he crumbled up the sticky note and shoved it deep down his pocket.
"My apologies, Mr. Elenn..." He grumbled, nothing but surprise apparent on his face. He blushed and tried his best to keep out of viewing-distance so that his bloody black eye wouldn't be noticeable. He backed up, turning around quickly, and pulled his hood over his head. "See you tomorrow, Mr. Elenn." He shrugged, waving from behind him and walking out of the school gates.

(( Going to bed. I'll catch up with ya' later!~ ^^ ))

(( Got'cha! See ya! Have fun on your road trip! ))


Well that was very odd.
Matthew touched a finger to his bottom lip, stroking it in thought. Max's reaction wasn't at all what he thought it would be. He pictured the boy to start stuttering and blubbering and making up some kind of excuse or explanation to what he was doing abusing school property. But this... this wasn't what Matthew imagined.
In fact, he thought he saw a wound on the teen's face...
He wondered whether or not to intervene. This was none of his business, and by Max's quick leave he didn't want to have attention draw to whatever it was that happened. Then again, Max was a student, and if he was being beaten up it was a teacher's job to help him.
Let's see, lose his calm demeanour and poke his nose where it doesn't belong, easily making him the subject of the first juicy hate rumours for the grade eleven year, or act as if he saw nothing and continue living life the way he always has?
Rumour material, or perfectly ordinary adult?
Matthew's finger's shifted his briefcase in his hand. This wasn't normal. He wasn't supposed to meddle in teenager's lives. He was no counsellor or shrink. He wasn't like the Art teacher Mrs. Rob who swept across the room, asking you how your home life is and if you have any problems. He was Mr. Elenn, the hard ass in room 118 who taught a damn good English course and never lost his composer doing it once.
Screw it. He could be nosey and still act like he always does. If any grade eleven decided to bash him for it behind his back because it wasn't acting 'cool', they could deal with an F for the rest of the semester.
"Mr. Jones." Matthew stalked over to the teen, cutting his walking path off. "Do you make it a habit to be extremely slow at everything? I was starting a conversation and you completely brushed me off." He paused, grey eyes narrowing behind his glasses. Max was about a head shorter than him, and much smaller in width. Matthew himself stood at 6'2" with broad shoulders. He wasn't muscular, but he weighed a lot thanks to his height, and he knew how to throw it around.
Because of their size differences, and the fact Max's hoodie was pulled right over his face, Matthew couldn't see anything. He frowned and reached out to grab the annoying hood. "Why do you have this up?"

(( Haha, thanks. Turns out we're leaving till' tomorrow, so I have one more free day to RP as I please. ^^ ))

Max gasped when Mr. Elenn cut through, and stood in front of him. When he was about to open his mouth and start saying how he was fine, and was just going home, he felt the hood being pulled down, revealing his bruised face. Max backed up even further away from the teacher and covered his eye, in an attempt to keep it from being seen, if even for a few more moments.
This was Max's problem, nor Mr. Elenn's. He could handle it himself, and with no help from any teachers. Although he didn't quiet expect Mr. Elenn to be the type to be concerned with student lives, he wasn't surprised that someone had finally found out. It had been a good six or seven years now, but Alex knew when to scatter out his little 'confrontations' to where Max could come up with reasons why he was bruised and sore for days.
Alex and Max's relationship was a bit odd in some ways. When they were little, he remembered them beig best friends. It was just the one day that he...
Max shook his head, taking his small hand off of his eye, revealing it to Mr. Elenn. He looked Mr. Elenn straight in the face, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"I apologize... again... for- for- for whatever I did this time, but I'd really like to get home soon, so if you don't mind..." He sighed, hiding his face behind his stone-colored hair and starting to walk again. "But I'll see you tomorrow. Have a nice day." He murmured as he brushed past him, heart sinking and eyes tearing up.

(( xD Awesome!! I have to go out for the night though, so I won't be able to RP tonight or tomorrow morning ): But I'll be back on tomorrow night for sure to reply! I'm just stealing a quick post before I head out, lol. ))

Understanding he was not wanted, Matthew side-stepped and allowed Max to walk past him. That eye... It most definitely wasn't an accident, he thought. So the boy was being bullied. Abused too. Matthew stroked his bottom lip, a habit he inherited from his father. It used to drive his mother crazy. She hated repetitive actions.
Matthew shifted and walked towards the staff parking lot. Max wasn't going to say anymore and that was fine. Matthew would be defensive too. He didn't exactly care about the child or his problems, he simply was nosey and wanted to find something new to use against him. Any of his old students knew the first people to make a bad impression on him were the ones to be his main subject of torment and humiliation for the entire year. Sometimes they won his respect. Normally they didn't.
I should make the seating arrangement permanent, he thought with a twisted grin. Wouldn't that piss Jones off...
He unlocked his car, a nice periwinkle Honda Civic, and climbed into the driver's seat. A lot of the staff teased him about having such a feminine car. Of course the older ladies loved it. Thought it was him being a 'laid-back, gentleman'. Unafraid to show his less-masculine side'. Really he just enjoyed Honda's the best. As expensive as they were, he didn't need big trucks like what Ford and Dodge came out with. And anything from Toyota... ugh. Even the name made him feel like a trucker.
Besides, he was gay. He was supposed to drive a girly car.
Half-way down the main highway his phone rang. Matthew glanced at the caller ID. Allison. Great, just what he needed. His annoying sister ranting in his ear about her newborn child. If there was anything worse than that, it was having his mother whimper and whine about him never visiting home.
He pressed the 'Ignore' button on the screen, then tossed his phone onto the passenger seat. She'd get the hint after three more calls.

(( Okie-Dokie than, dude. ^^ RP with ya' laterrr~ ))

Max sighed in relief when Mr. Elenn walked away. He really didn't like that guy... He wiped the tears forming in his eyes, and pulled his hood up again, continuing to walk home. It would take him awhile, but since he left his cell phone at home, he had no choice.
~~~
When he finally made it home, it was nearing five o'clock. He sighed and took off his messenger bag, setting it on the hardwood floor in his bedroom.
"Max? Is that you, hun?" He heard his mother calling up to him.
"Yeah, its me." He lazily yelled back down to her. He was in no way surprised when she walked up the stairs and entered his room. It was her thing after every first day of school. Kind of a tradition, in a way.
"I got a call from school today." She said, making Max raise his eyebrows. "Yeah, they said that you didn't attend any of your classes after lunch." Max opened his mouth, ready to explain everything. "Oh my god! Your eye, sweetie!" She exclaimed, walking over and cupping his face in her hands. "What the hell happened!?"
Max sighed, using his quick wit against his mother. "I crashed my bike on my way home." He said. "Knocked into a pole face first." He shrugged, wiping a bit of the swelling part. "My bike's horribly damaged. I threw it out." He said.
"Oh, Max. That's so bad. You know, you've always been a clumsy boy." She said, nodding her head.
"Moooooom~" Max complained, making her smile.
"I know, I know. I'll leave you be. But I don't want any more phone calls about you missing classes, young man." She warned.
When she was out of his room, he locked the door behind her and went back to his desk. He pulled out a few of his notebooks, looking over all of his doodles from before lunch when he fell asleep. He yawned tiredly, moving to set his alarm for an hour before usual, making sure that he wouldn't be late for Mr. Elenn's class, and took off all of his clothes except his marvel comic boxers that he adored. He dodged under his covers and before long, was asleep.

I'll shine up the old brown shoes, put on a brand-new shirt.
I'll get home early from work if you say that you love me.

Matthew's eyelids broke open at six in the morning. The light of dawn was streaming through his window, creating lines of gold on his crimson comforter. He lay in bed listening to the sound of Robin Zander's voice before rolling onto his belly and shutting off the alarm clock.
Never in a million years had he enjoyed Cheap Trick's music. He grew up with it around him, along with Journey, ACDC, Deff Leppard, Poison, KISS, Van Halen, Rush, and all those other good bands his parents enjoyed blasting in the house. He was raised with the lyrics in his head, the melodies sticking to his mind. When he left after high school, he felt free from all that.
Yet now he couldn't help himself. He had to hear them. Every night he came home from work, dusted off an old CD, and played it through his stereo.
Was music supposed to screw with your mind so much?
Thirty minutes later he stood in front of his bathroom mirror, adjusting his tie. Most found them overrated. A simple dress-shirt and slacks were good enough nowadays. But Matthew enjoyed feeling the tie around his neck. It gave him something to focus on when teaching. A rope around his throat. Tight and controlling.
Did that make him sound sadistic? His fingers pushed one of the two buttons on his cuff through the small hole, securing it. To inflict total control over himself and everything around him. To pressure those around him, forcing them to bend to his every will.
Easily manipulated little drones.
Yes, he was a bit twisted. Matthew's lips curved into a smirk. He'll admit he had a control problem, but what teacher didn't? Wasn't that why they choice to take such a low-paying, obviously stressful job? Someone had to make those little hooligans do work.
Matthew smoothed his hair out of his eyes. Did it look better slicked back or in his face? He always had it hanging down and the last time he pushed his bangs away all the girls couldn't keep their eyes off him. Some women really needed to grab a gay-dar... It got annoying after the tenth giggle and blushing teenager accidentally brushed against him in the hallway, or called on him in class for help on a question they already knew the answer to.
Not bothering to do the extra work, Matthew grabbed his jacket and briefcase and left the room. After locking up his apartment he descended the stairs two at a time, skipping the last three with a large hop. He passed by Nathaniel, the young eighteen year old last year graduate with moved in this summer and nodded with a short 'hello' of passing.
"Oh, by the way, Mr. Elenn..."
Matthew paused in his step and turned to face the younger male. Nathaniel was smaller than him, maybe reaching his shoulders, with a mop of sandy blonde hair. His eyes were shining green and they sparkled even without any light.
Matthew felt his insides squirm with want at the sight of the teen. "Nathaniel, I'm not your teacher anymore. You don't have to call me that."
"And you don't have to call me Nathaniel anymore. It's Nate." Natha--Nate, replied with a brilliant grin.
Matthew clicked his tongue. Cheeky child. But not untameable.
"Anyways, I got your mail again. Damn postal guy can't ever get it right..."
Good. Matthew enjoyed having an excuse to visit Nathaniel. Err, Nate. "Thank you. I'll pick it up after work, is that okay?"
Nate smiled that ninety-watt smile of his. "Yeah, no prob'. See you then."
Matthew raised his hand as they parted, and started walking towards his car. He was stopped again by Nate's voice though.
"Don't work too hard, Matthew."
The English teacher could hardly remember driving to school he was so giddy. When the first bell rang and his grade eleven English class started filing into the room, he stood at the front of the class, hands behind his back. He ignored the girls who sighed and giggled at the sight of him [like normal] and greeted the teenagers with a brief twitch of his lips. "Good morning!"

Max woke up to the sounds of birds chirping outside of his second story window. He dreamily opened his eyes, and let his eyes slowly adjust to the vast amounts of sunlight filling his room. Wait... Birds chirping? Sunlight? His eyes grew the size of dinner plates and he turned around in his bed to look a the time.
9:00am. When school starts at 9:15 and Mr. Elenn's class starts at 9:20.
"SHIT!!!!" He screams at the top of his lungs, throwing the stupid alarm clock out his window and to the hard concrete sidewalk below.
"Language, Max!" He could hear his mother yell.
Wait! Mom!
He tousled his hair lazily, but seeing as it only made his bed head worse, he left it alone for it to stick out in every direction. He ran to his closet, throwing on a loose pair of jeans and another one of his sweaters, but in black. He slid on his too big pair of black tennis shoes and bolted down the steps and into the kitchen. finding his mother making eggs.
"Mom! I need a ride to school! Now!" He said, seeing the clock was at 9:15 and cursing under his breath so his mother wouldnt hear.
"Max? Is that you? You look like a wild person! Your not going to school like that!" She exclaimed.
Max stormed over, turned off the stove and nodded at her. "I have no choice. Class starts in 5 minutes."
Eventually, she nodded and sighed, starting to lead his to the car, but Max made it first, with his messenger bag in his lap as his mother made it and started driving.
He stepped out of the car at 9:19 and slammed the car door shut. Then, the warning bell rang. He had sixty seconds.
Dammit!
He found the building and ran through the three halls to get to the door.
DRIIIIIING!!! The bell went off, and Max groaned, finally putting his hand on the door handle.
He paused before entering the classroom, wiping off any sweat, but was still breathing heavily when he walked in as quietly as he could, trying his best not to interrupt Mr. Elenn seeing how he was in the middle of a sentence.
Slowly, Max creeped to his desk in the front and sat down, avoiding eye-contact with Mr. Elenn and just waiting to be yelled at for being late two times in a row... on the first two days of school...

Matthew sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at Max with a blazing gaze. Max's eye was still dark, but the boy had a mark around those orbs of his regardless of how hard he had tried to keep it hidden. "Mr. Jones, you really are setting the bar this time for yourself. And not very high, might I add. I think both a letter home and, of course, the typical staying my class after school shall suit you fine."

Matthew leaned on the student's desk, placing his face almost inches away. His eyes narrowed behind his glasses, dark hair falling smoothly into his face. "Be reminded that if you don't show up for this detention, I will personally come to your house and make it ten times worse."