09-12-2018, 06:48 PM
[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 55%; line-height:115%; text-align: justify;font-family: calibri;"]Des had never enjoyed school when he was a kid. He had been a drop out only two years into his high school career, with life experience tucked into his belt that earned him a name out on the streets in nothing short of two months since he had decided the schoolbooks weren't the calling for him. He never had someone to care much for him and his education, and without a steady backbone to keep him up... the kid he used to be faltered and crumbled under the pressure, until there seemed to be little hope left.
It was ironic, now, that he was back in high school not as a student but rather as one of the educators. He was hardly one of the important ones, guitar in hand with a group of around thirty students out of the hundreds he taught that actually gave two damns about the music... but that wasn't really why he was there. He didn't want the kids turning out like he had, with no hope or direction beyond the chaos that they were presented with. He didn't teach music so much as he taught life lessons, hoping that at least something he threw at the teenagers who barely understood how they functioned let alone the world eventually would stick. He had been threatened with being fired multiple times already, with claims spanning that he wasn't reaching expectations that had been set for him... but he had garnered enough support from the students to be kept around.
No one wanted a group of pissed off teenagers rioting outside their streets because the only teacher who gave a damn about teaching them actual life lessons was gone because the system cared more about preparing them for tests than a happy life.
Still, he could understand the sentiments. He was also the teacher you wanted to catch you skipping classes, who would invite you over to his (hopefully empty) classroom and offer you whatever candy he had on hand at the given moment. It wasn't right to be encouraging students to actively break the rules... but he had a rebellious streak in him as well, and if he could spend an hour engaged with kids who thought that there was nothing left for them to do but sit in hallways and lie to their parents that they were in class, then it was worthwhile. What was the point in sending them back into a place they wouldn't care about anyways?
It was why, as the bell rang and the students filtered out, Des didn't seem to mind much that a group of them was still lingering, obviously hesitant to head out to their respective rooms. Some of them he didn't recognize (maybe they were the students who chose art over band and vocal or just new) but a few he did know, and he shot them all an easy grin as he walked over, clearly the opposite of the usual 'angry teacher about to send you to the principal because you were cutting.'
"Everything alright here?" of course there probably wasn't, if Moon's face was anything to go by and if he already knew of the bullying problem that plagued the school's halls. But he wasn't about to pry, knowing very well that some kids just simply wouldn't talk about it... and he was more than willing to give them enough space to show they were safe, but also be close enough there to be a net to fall back on. "You guys got somewhere to go? Or is this a free period for you?" those who knew him would pick up on the signal instantly, a free invitation to say 'yes' and get a one way ticket free of charge to his room for pizza. Some kids, the newer ones usually, excused themselves and went back to where they needed to go... but the older ones knew how he worked.
It was ironic, now, that he was back in high school not as a student but rather as one of the educators. He was hardly one of the important ones, guitar in hand with a group of around thirty students out of the hundreds he taught that actually gave two damns about the music... but that wasn't really why he was there. He didn't want the kids turning out like he had, with no hope or direction beyond the chaos that they were presented with. He didn't teach music so much as he taught life lessons, hoping that at least something he threw at the teenagers who barely understood how they functioned let alone the world eventually would stick. He had been threatened with being fired multiple times already, with claims spanning that he wasn't reaching expectations that had been set for him... but he had garnered enough support from the students to be kept around.
No one wanted a group of pissed off teenagers rioting outside their streets because the only teacher who gave a damn about teaching them actual life lessons was gone because the system cared more about preparing them for tests than a happy life.
Still, he could understand the sentiments. He was also the teacher you wanted to catch you skipping classes, who would invite you over to his (hopefully empty) classroom and offer you whatever candy he had on hand at the given moment. It wasn't right to be encouraging students to actively break the rules... but he had a rebellious streak in him as well, and if he could spend an hour engaged with kids who thought that there was nothing left for them to do but sit in hallways and lie to their parents that they were in class, then it was worthwhile. What was the point in sending them back into a place they wouldn't care about anyways?
It was why, as the bell rang and the students filtered out, Des didn't seem to mind much that a group of them was still lingering, obviously hesitant to head out to their respective rooms. Some of them he didn't recognize (maybe they were the students who chose art over band and vocal or just new) but a few he did know, and he shot them all an easy grin as he walked over, clearly the opposite of the usual 'angry teacher about to send you to the principal because you were cutting.'
"Everything alright here?" of course there probably wasn't, if Moon's face was anything to go by and if he already knew of the bullying problem that plagued the school's halls. But he wasn't about to pry, knowing very well that some kids just simply wouldn't talk about it... and he was more than willing to give them enough space to show they were safe, but also be close enough there to be a net to fall back on. "You guys got somewhere to go? Or is this a free period for you?" those who knew him would pick up on the signal instantly, a free invitation to say 'yes' and get a one way ticket free of charge to his room for pizza. Some kids, the newer ones usually, excused themselves and went back to where they needed to go... but the older ones knew how he worked.
♔ — I want brimstone in my garden