Another Day Older [open]

[rollo forde]

At the end of the day, Rollo thought, there wasn't much to be optimistic about. It wasn't that he disliked his situation, at least not anymore than the students who actually attended his class, it was just that he felt a certain level of discontent for how futile things could be. He'd come to class, try his damnedest to teach the students something, and then go home to ponder over the various problems and obstacles he ran into in regards to his students.

He knew that the majority of the students were attending the academy because of some past discrepancy, but he didn't focus on this as he tried to teach them. Judging them for bad behavior would be the pot calling the kettle black, really. Who was he to single out a student because they talked back in class, when Rollo had done exactly the same thing for his entire life? His hatred for authority had gotten him into so much trouble in the past that he was shocked that he hadn't been sent to some reform school a thousand miles away from his parents, who would rather he be out of sight and out of mind than they have to deal with his problems.

Even so, it got really tiring to have to deal with students who refused to pay even the slightest bit of attention when he spoke. They didn't seem to realize the importance of history or, as Rollo suspected, they were simply not geeky enough to comprehend why he gushed so readily about Alexander the Great, or the Han Dynasty, or Egyptian mummification. Rollo took such great joy in talking about history that he hardly considered it a job. However, dealing with loud and annoying teenagers was definitely a job. Actually, it was more like one of the twelve labors of Heracles, except with a lot less glory at the end.

The history teacher sighed and rested his forehead on the cool wooden surface of his desk. In another ten minutes or less, his next class would start. Currently, it was his "planning period", where he was supposed to organize for his next class. All Rollo had been "planning" to do was shoot himself in the head with a nail gun, because he figured that would dull the pain and humiliation of not being able to fend for himself against twenty loud-mouthed kids. He sighed again and didn't rise from his position. Maybe he still had time to take a quick snooze before the next horde of students clamored in to greet him with their obnoxiousness....

"Zzzzzz..."

[lou billings]

A soft beeping caused Lou to sit up straight in his small, twin sized bed and look around. It was only his first full day at Red Sky Academy, and he actually had classes. Lou actually loved classes and going to school, but since most of the other kids who where here hated it, that just meant that Lou would be surrounded by obnoxious snoring, spit balls, passed notes, and the constant sound of whispers and muttering. Sighing to himself, Lou kicked his covers to the end of the bed, stretched, and stood up. The floor was cold, and the carpet was rough against his callused feet.

Lou went towards his dresser, grabbing the first pieces or matching clothes he could find. Not bothering to shower, Lou undressed quickly and threw on the clothes he had pulled out. Once his clothes were on, he grabbed the deodorant he kept on top of his dresser and applied a nice amount to his underarms. Checking the time, Lou counted how many minutes he had until he needed to be to class. Luckily for him, he was able to sleep in later than most of the other students because he had a free first period.

Next Lou hit the start button on his mini coffee pot and searched the mini-fridge for some breakfast. He managed to find an apple and enough milk to make himself a bowl of cereal. Lou ate quickly and fixed his coffee in a travel mug. He grabbed a light coat, his school bag, and his mug, and he headed to his first class. History was Lou's first subject of the day which made him very happy; history in general was Lou's favorite class and he always managed to enjoy himself.

He found the building where his class should be and managed to find the correct number. He was obviously early because no one was in the hall, which meant that they were still in class or not in class at all. Shrugging his shoulders, Lou turned the door knob and walked through the threshold. All the lights were on, but the classroom was empty. Except, the teacher was at his desk snoring lightly. Lou wasn't sure what he should do, so he checked the clock and saw that the bell was due to ring in about two minutes.

He decided to wake the teacher by gently knocking on the top of the desk, and say, "Excuse me, Sir." quite loudly and repeatedly.

[rollo forde]

Dreaming came very easily to Rollo, and this time was no exception. He was in such a heavy state of restfulness that he forgot entirely where he was, and couldn't hear the sounds from the hallway outside or the voice that was now trying to reach him, at least at first. His dream was an odd one, anyway. Rollo's slight reverie about Hercules had caused him to now dream of heroes and legends. It was rather strange to see the misshapen forms of mythological monsters dueling with ancient heroes, especially since Rollo himself was trying desperately, in his dream form, to dodge the many crashing boulders, falling trees, raging waves and so on that passed back and forth between the monsters and heroes.

Like many of these sort of dreams he had, Rollo found it very difficult to escape from it. And another facet of these dreams was that noise and feelings from the outside world only integrated itself into the dreams, instead of making themselves known as sounds and feelings completely unrelated to the dream he was having. So, the feeling of the cool surface of his desk became the feeling of a cool rock outcropping in his dream, and the sound of footsteps and shuffling outside the class became the scurrying of beasts and people alike in his fantasy.

Excuse me, Sir. The voice, after having repeated itself numerous times, finally reached Rollo's more conscious mind. The teacher twitched unsteadily, his fingers curling on the edge of the desk anxiously. "I'm up! I'm up!" he gasped suddenly, sitting bolt upright in surprise. It looked as if he was not quite awake, as his eyes were blinking in confusion and his expression showed an obvious daze. Rollo ran a hand through his haphazard hair, and then finally glanced at the one who had woken him up.

"Oh. Hello," Rollo greeted the student with a certain level of embarrassment. To be found lazing about in his own classroom, five minutes before a class was about to begin, was not something Rollo wanted to be remembered for. It was something he would scold a student for, actually: falling asleep in class. Having done it himself now, Rollo would never feel right about scolding someone for it ever again. "You're here for the class?" Rollo asked the student before him. An obvious question, perhaps, but Rollo didn't know what else to say.

[lou billings]

The teacher was deep in sleep, and was twitching slightly as Lou was trying to wake him up. Eventually he began stirring and when he sat up quickly, Lou nearly jumped. The teacher looked surprised to see a student standing in his room, trying to wake him up, especially when the student was five minutes early. When the teacher had finally awaken fully, he turned to Lou and greeted him, and then asked, with a slightly puzzled expression, if he was in the room for a class. "Yes sir, I am." He responded.

"My name is Lou Billings, I'm new here and I wanted to introduce myself to you." Lou stuck out his hand to the older man, getting ready to firmly shake it. "History is my favorite subject and I'm looking very forward to your class; I'm hoping that the other students won't be too obnoxious during class?" He asked the teacher. Lou did want to learn and appreciate what he was learning and if his classmates kept him from doing this, he would be very upset.

Lou looked around the classroom, and looked up and down at his new teacher. The room was fairly large, and if you looked out the window you would see open land. A great way to day dream; but Lou would be too busy dreaming about different time periods, like the Versailles palace in the seventeen hundreds, and the trench warfare in World War One and Two, and the Japanese meeting Europeans for the first time. All of these things would consume most of his thoughts for the hour long block, and he couldn't wait to get started.

ooc; eek that was a gross post, lol, sorry