|
|
Post by Phoebe Goodwin on Jun 13, 2009 11:59:12 GMT -5
Phoebe was chilling the teacher's longue doing her planning block. It was the block where she had no class and so she used it to get caught up with paper work. She had the stereo up and listening to The Ting Tings. At the moment it was playing, "That's Not My Name."[/u]. Her feet was tapping to the beat and her head was bobbing. On the table in front of her, she had her planner out with some of the activies she was planning for the school. There was a field trip listed and, of course, prom. She was trying to come up with some themes for prom.
As the chorus of song kicked up, she couldn't help but sing along with it.
They call me 'quiet'
But I'm a riot
Mary-Jo-Lisa
Always the same
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
Are you calling me darling?
Are you calling me bird?
Are you calling me darling?
Are you calling me bird?
Phoebe had an pretty and soft voice but she would never sing out loud in public. She was only singing now cause she was alone in the teacher's lounge. As the beat picked up, she even did a little dance in her chair. It was just a fun song and she loved it.
|
|
|
|
Post by William Demonte on Jun 13, 2009 14:31:02 GMT -5
It had been such a long day and it wasn't even halfway done yet. Mr. Demonte was very glad that his free period was next, so he could relax for some time. He made his way round the corner and down the hallway to the lounge. Normally he wouldn't bother going to the lounge and instead would go to the coffee shop around the corner. The other teachers in the school weren't much company to him. But today he needed to get a few things done, such as grading papers and thinking up plan's for final exams.
A thumping, upbeat bass could be heard just outside of the door that read Staff Only. He rolled his eyes, dreading to go in and wishing that he went to the coffee place instead. Mr. Demonte let out a sigh as he cracked open the door and slid inside the room. The history teacher, Miss Goodwin was sitting at the table bobbing and dancing to some techno pop song. He wasn't sure if she noticed him enter. "I see you're getting a lot of work done," he said with a smirk. His suitcase was set on the table across from her, and before he sat down he went to grab some coffee at the refreshment area in the corner. Going back to his seat, he kept his eyes diverted from her though still smirking to himself.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phoebe Goodwin on Jun 13, 2009 14:40:07 GMT -5
"I see you're getting a lot of work done,"
Phoebe jumped out of her seat,not expecting someone to catch her, singing and dancing in the teacher's lounge. A warm laugh came out of her as she quickly turned down the music.
"Okay, okay you got me." She raised her hands up in surrender while still laughing. She finally looked up to see who had walked in, Mr. Demonte. She was quite surpised to see him in here since she often oped to go outside of the school on his break. She always got the vibe that he didn't like the school much. Her on the other hand loved the school and her students.
She sat back down and organized her papers to give him room at the table.
"So what brings you to our lovely lounge today?" She smiled warmly at him as she tried to make small talk with him
|
|
|
|
Post by William Demonte on Jun 13, 2009 14:57:58 GMT -5
"So what brings you to our lovely lounge today?" she asked him
Mr. Demonte opened up his suitcase, grabbing a portfolio of papers and setting it on the table beside him. He glanced up at her with a cocked eyebrow before continuing looking through his things. Small talk, he hated it. "I have much to do," he sighed with a hint of annoyance. He then took out a small case which held his pens and pencils. For a man, he was oddly organized and almost obsessive-compulsive about it. He picked his red pen which he used for grading and set it on top of the portfolio, then closed his suitcase and set it on the floor beside him.
Opening his portfolio, there sat a stack of essays which needed to be read through. He sighed, running a hand through his hair before leaning his head on his hand and beginning to read the essay which sat on top. I have thoroly argued that this idea is not which I think to believe of the naritive story of which we have read almost inkwisitivly. Mr. Demonte read on the paper. He took his pen and crossed out the entire sentence and wrote a question mark above it. This entire paper is bullshit. Horrible spelling for one, and makes no sense what so ever, he thought to himself. He set his pen on the table and rubbed his forehead dejectedly.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phoebe Goodwin on Jun 13, 2009 15:14:19 GMT -5
"I have much to do," Phoebe got the tone from his voice right away. It was the same tone she often got from Mr. Demonte which was that he wanted to be left alone.
"Okay then..." She rolled her eyes and went back to looking at her planner. She was writing in a purple pen about some notes on the upcoming field trip. She had left her music playing very softly in the background, it wasn't as much fun as it was before. Phoebe was trying to concentrate on her word but as soon as her eyes looked over across the table, she found it much more entertaining to watch Mr. Demonte work.
For one thing,he was a neat freak. She compared their two areas. Mr. D had a case for his pens, Phoebe had it at the bottom of her bag. All of his papers were in neat files, Phoebe's papers were all stuffed in her organizer. Phoebe watched, spinning her pen in between her fingers as Mr. Demonte graded his papers. He seemed so unhappy.
"Why do you do this to yourself?" She asked bluntly with a smile on her face.
"You seem so unhappy all of the time. You are going to look and feel like you are 40 by next year if you don't start to loosen up. Come on those papers can't be that bad." She eyed the papers in front of him and wondered what her students were up to. She knew they weren't the greatests writers in the world but their papers wont cause you pain.
|
|
|
|
Post by William Demonte on Jun 13, 2009 15:32:28 GMT -5
"Why do you do this to yourself?" She asked bluntly with a smile on her face. Mr. Demonte stopped rubbing his head and looked up at her, shocked by her audacious statment. Both of his eyebrowns were raised at her, waiting for her to speak again. He was in no mood to explain himself. "You seem so unhappy all of the time. You are going to look and feel like you are 40 by next year if you don't start to loosen up. Come on, those papers can't be that bad."
He gave a sarcastic chuckle and shook his head at her. Picking up the paper he read aloud to her, "Ken Follett is British which means that he likes to write about British people and then when he does he likes to drink tea and eat krimpets." He set the paper down and looked up at her with a disgruntled look on his face. "I've met bricks smarter than half of these kids. He's not even writing about the right author, let alone anything about the story that was supposed to be read." His tone of voice was dryly sarcastic, with a hint of bitterness. Yes he loved teaching, but he hated his students.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phoebe Goodwin on Jun 13, 2009 15:41:54 GMT -5
Phoebe listened to the explain and made a face at it. The paper did sound horrible but then again she wanted to have faith in her students.
"Okay so maybe not everyone is a writer." She tried to think of something to add so it didn't seem like we would win this debate.
"Have you tried other mediums for the students to explore besides essay writing? You know like a video presentation? Or you know....something else?" Phoebe was only trying to be helpful, she didn't want to seem like she was stepping on his toes to tell him how to run his own class.
"I just mean...you don't seemed entertained by these papers and probably your students feel the same." She wasn't sure if she was getting to him. She always felt that Mr. Demonte had a brick wall around him; a very intimindating man.
"You know what I'll shut up." She held up her hands in surrender again and went back to looking down at her planner.
|
|
|
|
Post by William Demonte on Jun 13, 2009 16:02:46 GMT -5
Mr. Demonte stared at her, well more like stared right passed her, as she rambled on. Every other teacher there liked to critique his teaching styles, and suddenly he remembered why he hated being in the lounge so much. There isn't much else he could do with an English and Literature class. The students are expected to read the material and they discuss it in class. Okay its more like he lectures them, but that's because no one ever has anything to say or they haven't read the night before. He sighed, annoyed.
"You know what I'll shut up."
"Maybe you should," he grumbled. The bad essay sat half marked in front of him. He tapped his pen as he tried to read through the rest of it. Once he was finished, there was more red ink on the paper than black. On top he wrote an "F" and then slid it into the Period 3: Graded Assignments compartment of his portfolio. The next essay awaited him menacingly. He started to read it but then stopped and looked up at her. "Look," he began, "It's just been a long day, and I don't mean to take it out on you." Mr. Demonte felt a tinge on nausea; apologizing was not his forte.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phoebe Goodwin on Jun 13, 2009 16:18:17 GMT -5
"Maybe you should," Phoebe honestly didn't expect that to be his reply. Most people would at least try and be friendly, but apparently not Mr. Demonte. Phoebe sat there for a moment with her mouth open and gave him a glaring look almost like she had just been slapped. Finally her mind jumped started again and she looked back down at her work in front of her. She started writing down random notes that weren't even necessary.
"Look." Phoebe didn't look up from her notes. She just kept writing away.
"It's just been a long day, and I don't mean to take it out on you."
Phoebe paused from her work for a moment and took a deep breathe before replying.
"Apology accepted though I dont think you need to apologize since you are like this every day that I've seen you. You can't really apologize for who you really are." She looked up from her papers and gave him a small smile. She kinda felt sorry for him. She just shrugged and when back to writing stuff down.
|
|
|
|
Post by William Demonte on Jun 13, 2009 16:40:06 GMT -5
"Apology accepted though I dont think you need to apologize since you are like this every day that I've seen you. You can't really apologize for who you really are."
Mr. Demonte clenched his fists and let out an aggrivated breath. His temper was equivalent to a violent hailstorm in upstate New York: cold, nasty, and painful. He gave her an icy glare as he slammed his portfolio closed and stood up from the table. "I say no more than three words to you, even less, on a daily basis, yet you seem to have me all figured out don't you. All the way to the fine print. I'll have you know, Miss Goodwin, that this is the reason I steer clear of this lounge because of people like you."
He picked up his suit case and headed for the door with his portfolio under his arm, not bothering to put it away. Pausing, he turned to face her again. "Don't act like you know me, because you don't." He brought his voice lower and scarily calm. "You have no fucking idea." Mr. Demonte pointed his finger accusingly at her, then reached for the door handle preparing to leave.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phoebe Goodwin on Jun 13, 2009 16:54:38 GMT -5
...that this is the reason I steer clear of this lounge because of people like you." Phoebe took in a sharp inhale and had the expression on her friend that read "did he really say that". She crossed her arms in front of her as a defensive reaction as he pointed his finger at her, which was something she hated even as a kid. Who the hell did this guy think he is? All she did was try to be nice to him but it blew up in her face big time.
"Don't act like you know me, because you don't." Phoebe started to get flushed with anger. She kept her arms crossed and her fists hidden.
""You have no fucking idea." ' As he turned his back to her, Phoebe slowly uncrossed her arms. She took a deep breathe so that her voice wouldn't give away how upset she was.
"Like you really let anyone get close enough to get to know you." She called out to him, managing to keep her voice leveled. She saw him pause at the door, she took the moment to say some more.
"But then again what do I know, right? Why don't you prove me wrong?" She clearly had no idea how that was going to turn out. She held her breathe again for his response.
|
|
|
|
Post by William Demonte on Jun 13, 2009 17:10:49 GMT -5
"Like you really let anyone get close enough to get to know you." she said. Mr. Demonte let go of the door knob and walked slowly closer to her. He set down his things and leaned on the table, his head hanging. "But then again what do I know, right? Why don't you prove me wrong?" she continued. Tilting his face back up towards her, there was a different expression on his face. There was still some anger and resentment, but then there was a small hint of sadness. "Prove you wrong? Let me tell you something," he said angrily, but then got quiet. "Everyone that I was close to ended up dead." He straightened himself up and looked away from her. "So after a while, you kind of just give up."
|
|
|
|
Post by Phoebe Goodwin on Jun 13, 2009 17:29:31 GMT -5
Every ounce of her thought he was just going to storm out and leave her alone but he surprised her but turning around. Phoebe thought she had herself together until he turned around. There was something different about his expression that made her stomach turn to knots. She could feel some much pinned up emotion that he probably kept locked away or so that was what Phoebe believed.
"Prove you wrong? Let me tell you something," Phoebe leaned in as his voice got quiet.
""Everyone that I was close to ended up dead." Phoebe wasn't expecting him to say that. He really was proving to her that she didn't get him. Here she was just thinking he was an asshole but really he had some history behind him that caused him to be like this.
"So after a while, you kind of just give up."
"Oh no you shouldn't think like that." She came around the table next to him and wrapped her arms around him into a hug. She was the hugging type. Her hand rubbed his back like her mother would use to do to her to make her feel better.
"People die all the time and you knowing them is an irrelevant factor." She pulled away from the hug to look up at him.
"Not getting close to anyone just because you are afraid of losing them....well that's not really living is it? Life is a series a moments shared with the people we meet." She hoped she didn't sound too corny.
|
|
|
|
Post by William Demonte on Jun 13, 2009 17:49:10 GMT -5
"Oh no you shouldn't think like that."
Mr. Demonte took a step back as she walked towards him, but he wasn't quick enough. She trapped him in a hug as he just stood there rigidly. As nice as it felt, he still felt extremely out of place. Though he did like the way she smelled. "People die all the time and you knowing them is an irrelevant factor." she said letting go. He stared down at her awkwardly and wished he hadn't said anything. It wasn't a subject he liked to talk about, but something about her just made him say it. "Not getting close to anyone just because you are afraid of losing them....well that's not really living is it? Life is a series a moments shared with the people we meet."
His eyes shifted from side to side, now unable to make eye contact with her. He put his hands in his pockets and sighed heavily. "I'm used to it," he said plainly. "I don't know why I told you that."
|
|
|
|
Post by Phoebe Goodwin on Jun 13, 2009 18:07:35 GMT -5
Phoebe watch him be very uncomfortable. She wasn't use to this side of Mr. Demonte. He was always putting up a strong front. It was kind of funny to see him like this though she tried very hard not to show her amusement cause she knew if she did he would just storm out again and she didn't want that. She wanted him to be open. She liked to help support people.
"I don't know why I told you that." Phoebe smiled, it was her signature warm, glowing smile. She wanted to help put him at ease.
"Do you feel the least bit different after telling me it?' She put her hand over his heart.
"You're still breathing." she took his hand and put it over her heart.
"and im still breathing. So I think we are past the point that I would die from you sharing too much to me."
|
|
