Faculty Meeting (Friday after classes)

[bigdamnprincipal]

After the student council cleared out, Zoe got the council room set up for yet another meeting, hoping all the teachers had gotten her handwavey email. Sure, classes had only been in session for a week, but she figured it was a good idea to check the new teachers for shell shock early. There were warm food and drinks set out (not the leftovers from the student council... at least, not totally) but nothing alcoholic. If people wanted to go that route, they would have to bring their own this time.

"Hello there, come on in and have a seat if you'd like," she said. "I thought it might be good for everyone to have a chance to get together without students around, and be inside where it's warm. I hope everyone's had a good first week. If you haven't, well, now you have a room full of people to vent to." It was the little things that helped make this job better.

[Open to all staff and OCD free!]

Comments

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"You could always give them different names each week," Irene suggested. "Don't bother to learn anyone's name. Just call 'em all Sparky one week, Clyde the next, something like that."

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"That isn't a terrible idea," he said, tapping his chin. "I might have to nick that idea. I've only been able to have fun in this place once before -- "

And he hadn't even been there, just written something.

" -- so I figure I get my fill now."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Wait, when were you up here before?" Irene asked, pouting at him. "If you guest-lectured for someone else, I'm going to be very put out. I was going to have you in to talk about hats this term but now I'm not so sure I shall."

Nothing like jumping to conclusions.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

Hatter tilted his head, looking amused. But, he tended to look amused a lot.

"No, I haven't done any guest lecturing," he assured her, shaking his head. "You really don't know, do you? Hilarious. I thought you would have figured it out, clever girl that you are."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"...what did you hide in my office?"

No, she hadn't figured it out. But now she was eyeing him suspiciously and vaguely worried that there was something explosive or messy hidden in her office that she simply hadn't come across yet.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"I don't even know which office is yours," Hatter told her, shaking his head. "You're falling down on the job, Irene. Too bad. I suppose you'll never know."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Give me a hint," she tried, frowning sternly at him. "I'd like to give you credit, at least, for whatever you did. I've probably been blaming a student all this time. You're not the one who stole all the dental dams, are you?"

She hadn't tried all that hard to track them down, no. Dental dams were still sort of creepy.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"Dental dams?" He made a face at her. "You've already been given a hint in that it does have to do with you. That's a rather large hint if I do say so myself."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

Irene went quiet for a moment, thinking back. Either it was something she hadn't discovered, or it had happened earlier in the fall, and she'd just assumed it was teenagers being teenagers, or the island being the island. This week had been quiet, but the last term hadn't.

Presumably he hadn't had a role in The Great Pornography Debate of 2014 (as she had mentally termed it), nor had he had any responsibility for the water that was dumped over her head.

She looked over sharply, suddenly. "Did you put something in my question box?" That didn't narrow it down much, all things considered, because that question box had been about forty percent actual questions, and sixty percent insanity.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"You had a question box?" he asked, feigning innocence this time. And he couldn't quite keep a smirk from crossing his face briefly either.

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"You did! I have been blaming Johnny Storm and Barry Ween for every ridiculous thing I had to read out of that thing last term, and here I find out it was you!" Irene said, waving a finger accusingly.

Don't worry, Irene. It was still mostly Johnny and Barry, anyway.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"How many things do you think I wrote?" Hatter asked, putting a hand to his chest. "I haven't been that hurting for things to do that I've stuffed your question box every single week!"

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Mmm, but you admit to doing it at least once," Irene said triumphantly. "Which means it must've been a good one. Were you the novel about being in love with a monster, or the one about how eHarmony makes you answer questions about your favorite schoolteacher?"

Both had been memorable, though the former was far more ridiculous, and she couldn't believe she hadn't figured this out sooner.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure I remember which one I wrote," he said, rubbing his chin. "But, I don't know what an eHarmony is so it's probably not that one. What was the monster one?"

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Oh, there was one where the slip of paper and the question box were being smutty together, too. That might've been you," Irene recalled, eyeing him. "The monster one was something about him having green hair and large feet, and how he...honked my horn -- "

She paused. "Oh. Maybe it was meant to be a clown, not a monster." At the time, she'd really just wanted to get through the reading part, since she read them all verbatim, which he obviously knew. "But it was quite longer than I usually see in my students' questions," she added, suspiciously.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"He honked someone's horn?" Hatter laughed, finding the words (his words, let's be real) hilarious. "That's quite clever!"

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"You are an idiot," Irene said, rolling her eyes. "I read that out to the whole class, you know."

Of course he knew, Irene. That's why he did it.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"Why do you think I did it?" he asked, continuing to laugh. "I hope they all enjoyed it! I quite liked writing it. It gave me a chance to stretch my creative muscles."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Well, sorry to disappoint, but I don't have a box like that this time around," Irene said, making a face at him. "Teenagers are much more likely to put their hands up and ask questions about scarves than they are about wet dreams, so I didn't think it'd be necessary. So I hope your creative muscles are stretched enough for the time being."

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"How sad," Hatter said, frowning. "How is your class looking this go around? Lots of fun children?"

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Oh, sure," she sighed, leaning back in her chair a bit. She'd forgive him for the question box thing, but she wasn't going to forget either. "Smaller group than last time, but I've got a couple girls in skirts out to here -- " She gestured to her sides, making a face. "It's my goal to get 'em both in trousers before semester's end. Wish me luck."

Please note how Irene herself almost never wore pants, but still.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"What's so wrong about their skirts?" he had to wonder. "You never wear pants!"

Yes, he'd noticed.

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"I wear pants sometimes," she argued. "I wore pants the day I hugged you back from the dark side!"

Because she had been sick all night and it was a miracle she'd gotten out of bed at all, but still.

"I'll still consider it a victory if I get them to wear skirts at the knee," she decided. "Above the knee might be too much to hope for."

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"Well, if anyone can convince them, I'm sure you can," Hatter told her confidently. "And if you want me to come in and speak about hats, I will. I'm an expert and all."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"I know," Irene said, reaching out to steal his hat. It'd been awhile! "I'll do tradesies with you, if you want. Could do something on self-promotion or something for your kiddos."