Chapter Text
Brrring brrring brrring!
Nathan Parker sat in the office, tissue sticking out of his left nostril, face bruised and left cheek swollen.
That fight was probably the most fun he's had all year.
"Mr Parker," the principal's exhausted voice came from his office doorway.
Nathan got up and walked into the principal's office. He sat down in the chair in front of the desk.
The room was painted sage green, decorated with pictures from Principal Hank's "good ol' days". The smell of an ocean breeze candle lingered in the air, probably to cover up the faintest scent of alcohol that clung to Principal Hank.
"Fun bachelor party?" Nathan asked, amusement painting his words.
"That's none of your business," Principal Hank sat down in his seat across from Nathan and looked through some papers. "Second time this month, are you trying to speed-run getting expelled or something?"
"No."
"Fun then?"
Nathan nodded a little, getting a sigh out of the principal.
"Nathan, what exactly is all this about? You seem like a good kid, aside from the fights, and I'd hate to have any blemishes on your record." Seeing that Nathan stayed silent, the principal decided to continue, "you want attention? Because now you have it and lunch detention."
Nathan's eyes widened for a moment before he schooled in his expression. He sat up straighter and leaned in a little closer to the principal, his voice smooth and coated in honey, "don't you think that- ACK!"
He was interrupted by a bright light in his face, he pinched the corners of his eyes to refocus them to see Hank twirling one of those flashlights with the red dot.
"Nice try, Mr Parker. I don't recommend doing that again though."
Nathan's eyes zeroed in on the flashlight before he looked at the principal, “you can't just shine a light into people's eyes! What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Oh you're fine, kid. It's just a little light. ‘sides, you and I both know you were about to use your little convincing ability on me to get off consequence free.”
Nathan sighed and leaned back in his chair, blinking quickly to get them to focus better.
Stupid principal, stupid laser pointer, he thought.
“Now go back to class, yeah? I'm sure Mx Ramirez doesn't want to deal with a late student.”
“‘m already late,” Nathan grumbled as he got up and walked out.
•°•°•°•
He entered the classroom, quietly making his way to his seat. The teacher was at the front of the room, talking about the upcoming career internship assignments.
He took his laptop out of his bag and opened it, doing his best to act like he's been there the entire time. He did notice the side glance the girl to his right gave him….along with the eye roll.
“You should have sent out an email to the places you desire to intern at. If not, I'd suggest you get on that, but this should’ve been done back in August when I handed out the synopsis for the year,” Mx Ramirez said, their hand gesturing as they talked.
Everyone in class nodded along or took notes until the teacher went back to their desk.
Mx Ramirez walked over to his desk though, they leaned over and spoke gently, “do you have a slip from the principal or were you just late, Nate?”
Nathan pulled the pink sticky note out of his pocket and handed it to them.
“Thanks. We’ll have a little talk after class though, okay?”
“Okay…”
And soon enough, the last 50 minutes passed by quicker than Nathan would’ve liked. Sure, he can handle the principal’s disappointment, but Mx Ramirez’s? Fuck…
Who wants to see their favorite teacher upset at them?
After the bell rang to signal the end of class, he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked up to their desk. It's fine, it's totally fine.
They sat at their desk, grading the last test papers from the previous unit and only looked up when they heard him approach. “Hey, kiddo, are you alright?”
Nathan tightened his grip on the strap of his backpack. “Yeah? You asked me to see you after class, so I-”
“I meant in general,” they were gesturing while they talked again. “You recently moved across the country and I want to make sure you're adjusting properly, because frankly, getting into fights and showing up to classes with slips from the principal doesn't scream ‘I’m well adjusted.’ I can see if I can get you a weekly appointment with the guidance counselor every Wednesday, if you like.”
Nathan bit his tongue, “you don't have to.”
“It's in my job description to make sure my students are safe and okay, Nate. It wouldn't be a burden, if that's what you're worried about.”
Nathan nodded and hummed a response, “okay, ‘s that all? I have lunch detention to get to.”
They nodded and leaned back in their chair, “of course.”
Nathan moved to the door, halfway into the hall when Mx Ramirez called to him, “you're a good kid, Nate. Just gotta apply yourself.”
“Thanks…”
•°•°•°•
Lunch was spent in the computer lab, only other people in there were the teacher and another student who was there only for being late too many times.
Nathan ate a sandwich, turkey with pepperoni and romaine lettuce; with a pepsi and some fruit snacks.
He spent most of the time staring at little things around the room. Keyboard diagrams from the first week of the trimester, recent projects in Google Drawings, decor on the wall supports turned shelves.
It was an annoyingly quiet hour.
When the bell rang, he got up and threw whatever trash he had away. He grabbed his bag and made his way to English on the second floor.
Bzz bzz bzzz.
He took out his phone and looked at the notification. It's from his email, probably just for some new book release at the local bookstore.
But looking at the sending address, he realized it was much more important than that.
Superhero Dispatch Network
Interning for a Class Project
Hello, Nathan, we’d be happy to have you on board for the duration of your project (and maybe longer if you feel up to it.) You’ll be interning at the Torrance, California location. We’ll see you next week for your first shift!
Holy shit. He just got accepted for an internship at the freaking SDN.
Him. Nathan Parker. The kid who got into five fights since moving here half a trimester ago.
What did he do to get that lucky?