First Lesson
1085 Words
"Well don't you kids know how to get along."
We all turned to the source of that new voice and saw Terranium standing by the door, an amused expression on her face.
"Professor Greenwood!" we all greeted.
"To your seats now. I may be late, but that does not mean you are all to do as you're pleased."
Some of us let out various agreed responses and took a seat at the tables we sat the last time we were in this classroom.
"Okay. Let me first start off by officially congratulating you all to obtaining that second rank spot," she began. "In all my life of working here, being the homeroom professor of Class F, never was there ever a time when I had seen this class go even above fifth place, much less start off at a high rank. As your homeroom teacher, I am very proud of you. ... And ashamed of myself once more, for giving up on you so easily."
I wasn't sure about everyone else, but I let out a small sigh when she said that, a small smile on my face. It was not as though any of us blamed her for the neglection. At the very least, I didn't. If she worked here for as long as she was insinuating, she must have gotten very tired of seeing the same exact thing happen, of getting her hopes up for each Class F generation, only to be let down by them all in the end. Us reaching that high place did more than give us a good budget for the month and silence the obnoxious fools; it even rekindled our relationship with our professor. Well, not really a 'rekindling', but it did put us in good terms.
"That being said, from this moment on, I will not turn away from you. From any of you. You all brought back my motivation to teach this class, changed everyone's viewpoint of you- even if a little. Now it is time you all take responsibility for your actions. Under normal circumstances, this would be the time to start class. However... considering our situation, I decided to change things up."
"You mean no class today?" Bruce asked.
"Guess we can have that party early then," Leroy said, with a few guys nodding in agreement to the idea.
"Can you guys stop with that? It's kind of rude to talk about such a thing, you know," Dora scolded.
"Especially when we're right in front of the professor," Azalea said, glancing at Terranium nervously.
"And that there, is exactly why I have decided to change up what we're going to do today," Terranium said then, to the surprise of most of us in the room.
"You mean you actually want to have another party?" I asked, hoping she did not mean that.
"No, not that. I am referring to how lax you all became after that," she corrected, to my relief. "As much as I understand how satisfying it is to show those fools who the true losers are, you cannot let that go over your head. Honestly speaking, I am glad you didn't get ranked first. If you're all acting this way over second place, I don't want to imagine how you guys would act if you got the first place spot."
Those words got some of the students' blood boiling.
"Hey! That's uncalled for, don't you think?!" Austin spoke.
"Yeah! Besides, we showed those guys that we are not ones to be looked down upon! That we're pretty much just as strong as they are!" Taurus exclaimed.
"And you really think this alone is enough?" Terranium questioned. "I have worked in this school long before you were even born. I've seen how these nobles act. How low their thoughts are towards those they believe are below them. What you've accomplished, in their eyes, it is but a one-time thing. You got yourselves in that position, you need to prove yourselves worthy of keeping it, or even go beyond it. Otherwise, you'll only be making yourselves bigger laughingstocks, come next month."
As much as I understood what she meant by her words, as much as I agreed with what she said, the way she said it was quite harsh. Surely there were other ways of putting the truth out there. Slapping it in their faces like that?
"How dare you say such a thing?! True, some of us are getting a little too overconfident with the results, but there are some who are keeping a calm head about this!" Ethan shouted, much to my and several other students' surprise.
"Ethan, I'm impressed you're saying that," Lilith said.
"But of course! After all, you have been quite calm about the matter, are you not, my love? Even if she is our professor, for her to put you on the same level as the rest of these incompetent people is plain absurd!" His reason for defending us- rather the truth that he was only defending his fiance with that statement- irked some of us. Sure, we are all aware of how deep his love for Lilith was, but even so...
"I was a fool to think you had a decent reason for saying such a thing..." the Poison Mage muttered with a face-palm.
"Regardless, if you- all of you- truly think I am wrong with my claim, then how about you prove it to me?"
Confusion spread across the room at those words.
"What do you mean 'prove it to you'? Prove it through next month's examination?" Mindy asked. "For someone who went and said all those things to us, you sure are giving us time to prove our worth."
"Except I am not referring to next month's evaluation," our professor corrected. "I believe I said it earlier; I decided to change what we will be doing for today. If I recall, when you were training for the mock exam, you all were at the commoner's dormitory. That is, if I can even call it a 'dorm' at this point. Meet me there for our lesson." With that, she left the room.
All of us were quite confused with that last part. Why would Terranium have us gather at the dorm? She said it was for a 'lesson', though by the sounds of it, it cannot be a normal one. Training session? Doubtful. Besides, if that were the case, she should've had us gather at the training area.
... Something tells me danger is approaching.
- Writer
