Chapter Text
*Dani’s POV*
The second I walk into my ninth period History class, I swear I feel my heart stop beating as soon as my eyes fall on the very attractive red-haired woman sitting at the teacher’s desk, staring intently at the piece of paper in front of her.
I pull out my phone to check the time. Ninth period doesn’t start for another couple minutes, but I’m here now because I left eighth period Lunch early. What’s the point of staying if I’m done eating? The woman is still unaware of my presence. Tugging at the collar of my polo shirt, which rubs uncomfortably against my neck, I clear my throat to alert her that I’m standing there.
It’s only the first day, and this new school uniform is already seriously pissing me off. Whichever asshole on the school board decided to make uniforms mandatory, I wish them the worst. But at least it’s my senior year. If I had to wear a uniform for the entirety of high school, I’d lose my damn mind.
The woman finally looks up from her paper, a warm smile crossing her lips when she sees me. “Good afternoon, you’re a little early. The bell doesn’t ring for another few minutes.” She greets me with a soft, angelic voice.
“Uh… s-sorry, Miss. It was my lunch period and they let us out early. Can I come in or should I just wait outside ‘til the bell rings?” I ask her. Whoa, why did I just stutter? And why am I being polite?
‘The hell’s going on with you, Dani? You’re never nice to your teachers, get your shit together.’ I scold myself internally.
“Of course, come in. I haven’t made a seating chart yet, so you can sit wherever you’d like for now.” She replies with another kind smile. As I enter the room, I take a closer look at the woman. She’s beautiful. Her hair is tied back in a loose braid, and her dark brown eyes shine behind her glasses. She looks younger than most of the other teachers, early-to-mid thirties if I had to guess.
I sit down at the desk in the back right corner. I look over at the woman and notice she has a smirk across her lips. “So, you must be Rebel Richards.” She says.
“Uh, sure, if that’s what you wanna call me.” I mumble, picking at a small hole in my black pants. I’ve had a lot of nicknames in my life, but Rebel Richards? That’s a new one.
“I’ve been told about you.” She says, standing up and walking to the white board next to her desk, writing the date and her name down for the class. ‘Ms. Simmons.’ Once she finishes, she places the marker down and turns to look at me.
“I’m going to ask you this now. Are you going to cause problems for me?”
“Problems?” I scoff and lean back in my chair. “Please, what makes you think I’d ever cause problems?” I can’t help how cocky my voice sounds.
“Don’t get smart with me, Danielle. Your trigonometry teacher came up to me during lunch and warned me about you, and I did a bit of asking around with your other teachers as well. You cause problems in just about every class you have, and you’ve already been sent to the principal’s office once today.” She walks over to my desk and leans on it, one hand supporting her. She’s still wearing that smirk, but there’s a stern look in her eyes now. “Now, I’ll ask you once more. Are you going to cause problems for me?”
I can’t help but cringe when she calls me by my full name. Everyone in this place knows me as Dani. The only time I’ll respond to someone calling me Danielle is if it’s my family, all my teachers figured that out pretty quickly. This may be the first time I’m ever seeing this woman, but it’s pretty clear she’s not playing around.
“Nope. No problem from me, Ms. Simmons.” I finally reply. She seems satisfied with my answer and stands up straight.
“Good, I expect you to keep your word. Now, the bell’s going to ring shortly. Hand those notebooks out for me, would you?” She points to a stack of new notebooks piled atop one of the desks in the front row. I raise an eyebrow at her, but don’t bother trying to argue. I’ve never had any of my teachers ask me to hand stuff out before. They probably just assumed I’d say no. Which I would’ve.
Alright. So far, I like this teacher. I suppose it won’t kill me to behave for once, even if it’s just for one period.
The bell rings, echoing throughout the room, and people gradually walk in and pick their seats, throwing in the occasional comment about Ms. Simmons since she’s a new teacher, or about me since no one’s ever seen me being helpful in a classroom. First time for everything, I suppose.
As the bell rings again and the last few students rush in, Ms. Simmons closes the door and turns to the class with a welcoming smile. “Good afternoon, everyone. Now, I understand you’re still adjusting to the routine of being back in school, and since this is the last period of the day, I won’t be giving you any proper classwork for the next few days. Since I’m a new teacher here, I’d like to get to know you all a little. When I point to you, you will tell me your name and three school-appropriate facts about yourself.” She announces cheerfully to her audience of sleep-deprived seniors.
A few nod, while others struggle to stay awake and keep their heads from falling onto their desks. Of course, Ms. Simmons points to me. “Rebel Richards. Since I’ve already spoken to you, I think it’s fair that you go first.”
I hear a few snickers at the nickname. This woman is really testing me. But I think I know what she’s doing, she’s seeing if I’ll actually stick to our little agreement and behave myself. I’ve got a choice: I could either be good and do as I was asked, or I could turn the conversation around and ask her to share three facts about herself. The second option is pretty tempting, and I know from experience that, for some reason, teachers don’t take too kindly to students asking them shit about themselves.
She holds her gaze on me, patiently waiting for my response. Fine, guess I’ll play nice. First option, it is.
“Okay, well, I’m Dani, most of y’all know me. I play bass, I have a younger brother, he’s kind of a dumbass but I still love him. I work for my family at this diner in town, which really means I get paid to sit on my ass all day and occasionally clean the tables. Simple shit.” I announce to the class. A few people giggle at my response.
Looking back up at Ms. Simmons, I see disappointment in her features as she sighs and shakes her head. “Outside.” She says softly, motioning towards the door. Wow, class just started and I’m already in trouble? That has to be a new record.
It’s because I cursed, isn’t it? Yeah, probably. I know cursing isn’t generally appreciated in school, but she seemed like the kind of teacher who wouldn’t be too bothered by it. Well, shit…
I sigh and trudge out of the classroom. I can feel everyone’s eyes following me until I close the door.
I lean against the wall. All this because I said “shit” and “ass”? That’s a little much. I can see her approach through the small window in the door. She says something to the class that I can’t make out, and steps outside.
“I’m disappointed in you, Dani. You promised me you would behave, and I chose to believe you. I don’t tolerate swearing in my classroom for any reason. What do you have to say for yourself?”
Her voice is completely calm, but the look in her eyes is sharp. She’s really serious about this shit, huh?
“I was behaving, though.” I protest, crossing my arms. “Little dramatic to kick me out over that. Don’t act like you haven’t heard worse.”
She doesn’t say anything, just gives me another one of those looks. Just like when I was a kid and got in trouble with my parents. Feels weird to have a teacher give me that look. Okay, fine, guess I should be nice and apologize. I’d rather not get sent to the principal’s office twice in one day.
“Fine, fine. Didn’t think it was gonna be an issue. If I knew it would be, maybe I wouldn’t have said anything. So… yeah. My bad.” I say, picking at my nails. Ms. Simmons’s expression softens slightly when I finish.
“I want you to do a good job in my class, Dani. I’ve seen your past grades, and even if you don’t think you do, you’ve got a lot of potential. You have a C average, and that’s without doing most of the work. Imagine what you could achieve if you behaved and paid attention. I suppose in your defense, I didn’t go over my rules for the class, so I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and believe you when you say you didn’t know you were messing up, but I won’t be so forgiving next time. Now, promise me that this won’t be a repeated incident and you’ll follow the rules, and we can pretend this never happened.” She offers, holding her hand out for me to shake.
“Yeah, got it. Thanks.” I say gratefully, letting go of her hand. She turns and starts to walk back towards the classroom.
“If it makes you feel better… do you think you could, like, go over the rules with me sometime? Just so I know what not to do and how not to screw up again?” I ask.
Ms. Simmons grins at me. She seems to think she’s already making a difference in me. Maybe she actually is. Of course, that difference won’t be seen anywhere outside of her class, and the reason behind that is purely because she’s fucking stunning, but nonetheless she might be causing just a little bit of improvement. “I would be happy to. When are you free?” She asks me kindly as she slowly pulls the handle down to open the door. I shrug, my way of letting her know I'm free whenever.
“How about after school today?” She keeps her voice low so the rest of the class doesn’t hear. Even though this is our first meeting, she seems to have already figured out that I have a reputation to uphold. I smile and nod silently, then walk in behind her and return to my desk.
“Sorry about that, where were we? Right, how about you?” Ms. Simmons resumes the introductions, pointing to some blond guy sitting in the front row.
~
I wait until all of the buses have left the parking lot, and start walking back to Ms. Simmons’s room. A part of me was tempted to go home and pretend like I forgot about the meeting when I got to class the next day, but I shut that idea down pretty fast. I don’t want to disappoint my new favorite teacher again.
As I enter the classroom, she has her back turned to the door, putting the chairs on top of the desks to make the cleaning easier for the janitors. Huh, never seen any of the other teachers do that. How kind of her.
“Nice of you to show up, Rebel Richards.” She greets me. Is she ever going to call me by my actual name? Whatever, as long as the other teachers don’t get a hold of it, I’ll let it slide.
I want to keep up my good behavior streak for her, so I begin helping her put the chairs up on the opposite side of the room, working my way towards the middle. Ms. Simmons gives me a polite smile. “Thank you.” She mumbles as our eyes lock for a split second. She walks over to her desk and gestures for me to pull up a chair and sit next to her.
“So, first off, thanks for actually asking about my rules, rather than just assuming they’re the same as your other teachers. Although I’m sure they’re not too different.” She begins, lacing her fingers together and resting her hands on the desk.
“My rules should be easy to understand. I don’t like swearing, simple as that. I’ll give a pass for certain words, but if a sentence you’re saying is just nothing but you swearing, I’ll write you up. Having your phones out during class is a no-go, too. If you’re in here before the bell, or if it’s the last few minutes of class and I’m not teaching, then I won’t do anything, but the second the bell rings, I want the phones turned off and put away. If I see you on your phone while I’m teaching, I’ll take it unless you have a valid reason to have it out, such as a family emergency. If I see any bullying, or hear discussions of… um… sexual activities, or any other topics that would be considered inappropriate for school, I’ll write you up. Keep at it, and I’ll give you a detention.”
Damn, those are some strict rules. But surprisingly, I think I can work with it.
“Works for me, anything else?” I ask her, glancing up at the clock. It’s almost three. I’ve got to get home, change, and get to the diner.
“Nope, that’s all. I understand that you’re used to going against the rules, and I know it’s going to take a while for you to adjust to them.” She continues as she also looks up at the clock. “Oh dear, I need to leave now, I have somewhere to be. You should go too, I wouldn’t want you to be late to work.”
She picks up her bag from the floor, and I mirror the action and toss my backpack over my shoulder, knocking it against a bruise I got a few days ago and flinching slightly from the pain.
“Are you alright?” Ms. Simmons, concern filling her voice as she places her hand on my shoulder.
Even through the fabric of my shirt, the contact makes my skin tingle. I nod as I exit the classroom and hold the door open for her. “Yeah, all good. Got a nasty bruise when I was skating with some buddies, hurt like a… it hurt.” I say, quickly changing my word choice so I didn’t say “bitch”. Silence falls between us as we walk side by side towards the parking lot.
“Thanks for the talk, Miss. I think I’m gonna like this class.” I say once we reach the parking lot. I can’t remember a single point in my life where I’ve ever said that to a teacher.
Ms. Simmons smiles at my words. “I’m glad to hear that. I know History is boring to some people, but I try to make my classes as enjoyable for everyone as I can. I’m sorry our talk got cut a bit short. Maybe one of these days, my daughter will learn to not accidentally lock her keys in her car.” Ms. Simmons replies as she unlocks her car and opens the door.
That catches me by surprise. I figured she might have a kid, but not one around my age.
“You have a daughter old enough to be driving? Wow. I mean, no offense, but when I first saw you, I thought you were, like, really young.” I tell her honestly as she rolls down the window to continue speaking. She chuckles loudly at my words and I swear I see her face turn a light shade of pink.
“You flatter me, Richards. But no, I’m turning thirty nine this year, and she’ll be eighteen in about two months. Time really does fly. I’ll see you tomorrow, have a nice evening, dear.” She gives me a small wave as she starts the engine and drives off. I stand for a bit, watching as she exits the parking lot before turning around and heading to my own car.
For what might be the first time in my life, I’m actually looking forward to going to school tomorrow. History this year is going to be very interesting.