xS2 Chapter 23 - To Be A Better Teacher

"How do you relate to the students?" Amnestor asks.

Hearing that Ray goes, "Wait, you being serious or?"

"Yes," Amnestor sighs, "A student of mine told me my lessons are 'boring' and 'even the dinosaurs would have thought it was prehistoric'."

"That student was me," X claims as he finishes his apple juice, "Just wanted to make that clear."

"Relax Amnestor," Zesti Champion says as she hands Penningberg a latte, "if you wanna be hip and cool with the kids, there's no one better to talk to than us."

"I don't know if that's true," Penningberg says, "But we're more than happy to give you a hand."

Seeing them all chat, Wilsten Jefferson scoffs before he walks out of the room. Confused as to why he left, Jolyne goes to talk to Jefferson.

"Alright." Amnestor says as he asks the three teachers, "Tell me what I need to do."

ATTEMPT NO. 1 ~ THE ZESTI WAY

In Amnestor's classroom, the miracle clinic is in the midst of another meeting. Elizabeth & Sammy are chatting to each other, much to the surprise of Ronnie, Alex is doing some wall sits, and Marcus is doing some homework. Sitting at two desks are Randy & Selina, who are both about to play a game of rock, paper, scissors.

"Rock…" Randy says.

"Paper…" Selina says.

"Scissors…" the two begin to say before shouting, "SHOOT!"

Randy goes for scissors, Selina goes for rock.

"OH COME ON!" Randy pouts.

"Let's go, three wins in a row!" Selina chants while she pumps her fist in the air.

"NO FAIR, YOU MUST BE CHEATING!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yuh uh!"

"NUH UH!"

"YUH UH!"

"NUH U"--

The door to the classroom opens as Amnestor walks in with Zesti Champion next to him. Zesti is holding up a boombox while Amnestor is wearing a bowling shirt, a fuzzy pink headband, and black sweatpants.

"What in the-" Alex begins to say before Zesti stops the boombox.

"Yo yo yo, it's yo boi Amny back at it with another EPIC lesson!" Amnestor says as he throws up some peace signs.

Marcus stares blankly at Amnestor.

Alex & Elizabeth are laughing hysterically.

Randy & Selina are too stunned to speak.

Ronnie just kinda doesn't care.

And Sammy is impressed with the outfit.

Seeing the awkward tension in the room, Zesti slowly lowers the boombox down to the ground, but Amnestor keeps going.

"Who wants to learn about HISTORY?!" Amnestor shouts.

"But we're in a club meeting?" Ronnie says.

"That's rad, but you wanna know what's radder?" Amnestor questions.

"Going on a field trip?" Alex offers.

"No!" Amnestor says, "It's learning about The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand!!!"

Alex & Elizabeth are still laughing while the others in the room just stare at him blankly. Finally catching on, Amnestor walks out of the room defeated.

ATTEMPT FAILED

ATTEMPT NO. 2 - THE PENNINGBERG WAY

The Miracle Clinic is once again hosting a meeting at Amnestor's classroom. Ronnie is trying, and failing to remember how he knows Sammy from his past, Marcus and Selina are discussing how they'll get back home today, Elizabeth is writing down some notes, and Randy is in the midst of a battle of rock-paper-scissors with Alex.

"Rock…" Randy says.

"Paper…" Alex says.

"Scissors…" the two begin to say before shouting, "SHOOT!"

Randy goes for scissors, Alex goes for rock.

"SCREW THIS GAME!" Randy shouts as he slams his foot on the ground.

"You gonna run away on your scooter?" Alex teases.

"My scooter is ten times better than your pink tricycle-" Randy begins to say before he hears the doors to the classroom open.

To the complete shock of everyone there, Amnestor enters in a full goth outfit, bedazzled belt, black nails, heavy eyeliner, and everything else. While Sam Penningberg also walks in with his usual plain button-up.

"Sup," Amnestor groans, "Today's a horrible day huh?"

"Actually today's been great for me," Ronnie remarks.

"Yeah, I learned how to play the tuba!" Marcus announced.

"All in one day?!" Elizabeth questions.

"Oh- uh- that's good that you're having a great day," Amnestor says sincerely before looking over at Penningberg and realizing he's out of character, "Uh- I mean, pfft, whatever."

"Everything okay Amnestor?" Alex questions, "Did you get laid off?"

"No don't tell me!" Sammy gasps as she places her hand by her mouth, "Your wife's cheating on you?!"

"No that's not-" Amnestor tries to say.

"IS YOUR SON ENGAGED TO A BLUE WHALE?!" Selina shouts.

"What? No! I don't even have a-" Amnestor tries to say to no avail.

"YOU'RE PREGNANT?!" Randy bellows out.

Everyone looks at Randy.

"What? Nobody had an issue with Selina saying his kid was marrying a whale but the second I bring up male pregnancy THAT'S where we all have issues?" Randy rants, "Shame on you."

ATTEMPT FAILED

As the room falls silent, Amnestor says, "I'm doing well students, though I appreciate the concern."

"Then how come you're being so weird?" Ronnie questions.

"Well uh-" Amnestor begins to say before he looks out into the hall to see Ray there.

He's there holding up a sign that says, 'Just be honest.'

After seeing that, Amnestor decides it's time…time for him to try.

ATTEMPT NO. 3 - THE RAY WAY

Taking a deep breath, Amnestor answers truthfully, "I was worried that my way of teaching got stale, so I wanted to try and find a way to make it so you would be able to enjoy my class more and connect with it."

"Amnestor," Ronnie begins to say, "You don't need to worry about that, you're our favorite teacher!"

"Yeah, I think if we had anybody else hosting the club, we'd get kicked out a long time ago," Alex states bluntly.

"You always look out for us, especially when we need it most," Marcus says.

"I don't really know you too well but I like the decor," Sammy awkwardly says.

"You have nice hair," Selina says awkwardly.

"If you were to ever leave this school, the whole place would fall to shambles," Elizabeth adds.

"Your classroom's windows are facing away from where the sun rises so I can get some extra sleep in," Randy says.

Amnestor turns his back from the students and faces the whiteboard.

"RANDY!" Selina says

"What? I'm being honest!" Randy says.

Though as the group continues to argue, Amnestor still looks at the whiteboard, tears falling down his face after hearing those compliments. Ray and Sam go to see if Amnestor's okay but Amnestor wipes the tears out of his eyes before he turns to his students.

"Thank you," Amnestor says, "I'm going to go grab some papers from the break room, I'll be right back."

SUCCESS!

The class nods as Amnestor then leaves the classroom and starts to walk down the hall, his mind drifting back to the one thought that's been slowly eating him alive these past few weeks; that this is his final year as a teacher.

The principal said it was for 'budget costs', but really it's just because he's been looking into things they want to keep buried. And he was fine with it at first, he had been teaching for a long time so of course eventually he had to step down… 

But after today? He can't deny it anymore. He wants to keep on teaching, guiding the next generation to their full potential… if only he had more time. As he returns back to the classroom, he wonders if he should announce his departure, but ultimately decides to wait and tell them another day. 

Since for now at least, they all still have plenty of time before the day his teaching career comes to an end.

See You Next Chapter!~