A Rebel's History

[Juneberry]

Joseph was known well for his style of teaching- that is, for his abundant energy of the subject that seemed to be far too much to be natural. Normal people didn't tend to like history. Even among the teachers, this was generally the case. However, Joseph seemed to have a strong love of it to the point of his energy overflowing for the topic. That day was no exception.

The young man was no more than twenty-two years old. He was about average height for a man, perhaps a bit on the short side. His muscle tone was mild, his body itself lean and generally athletic. His brown hair was always a mess, often falling into his brown eyes as he paced near the blackboard while reading from the text book. However, every so often his eyes held a molten excitement that seemed clearly to glaze his vision and coat his mild, tenor voice. He was currently in one of those modes.

"And when the enemy began to strike," He read with a loud excitement, "The war raged on much more rigorously." Placing the book down on his desk, he turned to the board and began to write on the board. "Today, your assignment is to write out your own version of the battle. You can make up names for soldiers not mentioned or use ones that were. You can make them pixies if that's what you need to make it your own...But what you're to do is rewrite the battle so that while the major points are the same, it shows a bit of your own interest. You have until next Monday to write it and research anything you feel a need to include, so make it count." After he wrote the guidelines, he turned to smile at the class. "I look forward to seeing what you come up with."

He soon began writing something in a notebook on the side of his desk as the students began to scribble reluctantly for their papers. Write instructions for absent students, including: Marianne Collins; Ryder Yanovski. ​

 

[Keagaaan]

"...And if we catch you smoking on school grounds again, we will not hesitate to suspend you. Your parents will be notified of your behavior. Now get to class."

"Whatever." Ryder said while rolling his eyes and taking his leave. He gave a passive aggressive sigh before he shut the principal's door behind him, "What a pain in the ass. Fuckin' bitch." He was tempted to light up right then and there. God knows he needed one. At least they didn't confiscate his lighter and carton of cigarettes this time, but he also learned from last time to not hide them in his jeans. Still, he did not feel like hearing his adoptive parents scream at him. His mother would cry tonight, begging him to clean up his act while his father would yell what a disappointment he was, to which he would reply, "Good thing I'm not your kid."

But that was all in the near future, and the soap opera that was his life was troublesome enough to get caught smoking a second time in the same day. Maybe he'd entertain the history teacher a bit. The guy was new to the school, overenthusiastic about his subject, and all too eager to see the good in his students. Ryder liked those teachers best. They were all too naive to realize he was beyond help.

Ryder swung the classroom door open, book bag slung over his shoulder, and scoured the room for an empty seat in the back of the room. Of course they would all be taken seeing as it was the middle of class, but he could dream. The only available seat, however, was in the 2nd row in front of the teacher's desk. Whatever, he'd take it. After navigating to the desk, Ryder dropped his bag on the ground, took his seat, and put his head down to take a nap and to assure the teacher that no fucks would be given that day.

 

[Juneberry]

While he was busy writing his note down for himself, he was surprised to hear the whiz of the door's quick movement, causing him to look up towards it. "Ah, Mister Yanovski. Good to see you're well." He smiled easily, not phased by the boy's clear disinterest in class. The boy was there- that meant Joe now had to edit his memo and his attendance book. However, this was easily done, and by the time the young man sat down, Joe was already heading towards his desk.

"The assignment is on the board," He mused easily. "I look forward to seeing what you'll write. It's fine for you to nap today...It might give you ideas. They say we often get the best ideas in our dreams. There are rumors that many of the best leaders got their battle plans in their sleep." He had the clear signs of a simpleton written all over his face, his mind clearly working overtime to mull over his own words. As he pat the desk a bit to show he was finished, he walked to his desk again, only to see someone at the door. "Class, I'm leaving for a moment." He watched the students momentarily before being taken out by one of his senior teachers.

"Mr. Koizumi, the brat is in your class now, isn't he?"

"What are you talking about?" Joe replied. "The kids are all good kids." He was soon laughed at for his words. "I don't see what's so funny."

"Ryder Yanovski? Good? Wow, you're really in the gutter with that head of yours. Is history really all you think about?" Joseph watched the speaking senior with confusion. "You can't help him."

"I didn't think he needed help," Joe replied, walking to the door. "The more you try to push someone, the more they'll try to push back. Napoleon snapped because he became mad with power, but he became mad with power because the power was pushed too much. People are people, not pawns in chess." He smiled over his shoulder. "Thank you for your concern, but during my class period, Mr. Yanovski is in my care, along with the rest of my students. And right now, my students are busy working. School rules dictate I stay with them during that time. If you want to chat, we'll do so during lunch, when there are no students to watch."

Entering the classroom again, he took a seat and smiled, writing down a sheet with information on the current subject and what the assignment was. He wrote a rubric and a memo for the absent student, also writing a memo for himself to make copies of it in case anyone forgot. He kept looking at the students once in a while, but mostly kept his eyes on his work. He smiled as he thought back on his recent speech. Even a teacher is a student...When there's a revolt, it's best to let it die down before you fight it, lest you want to add fuel to the fire of the war.

 

[Keagaaan]

Ryder paid no mind to his eccentric history teacher. He was always like that, obnoxious and overly optimistic. Mr. Koizumi reminded Ryder of a children's television show star. So sweet and naive, yet so revolting. People with so much enthusiasm for life gave Ryder metaphorical diabetes. It wasn't like he hated life, however. If anything, he was indifferent toward it. He just hated people who were like saran wrap; clingy, transparent, and manufactured straight from the personality factory.

He made no effort to give Mr. Koizumi any sort of acknowledgement. Ryder's long black hair covered his face and swooshed down onto the plastic desk with a faux wood finish. As usual, he made no effort to look more presentable in class. Why should he? Teacher's would pass him through his final year of high school like they had done his entire life despite the fact he never did anything even remotely productive in class. History would be no exception.

The bell rang and Ryder jolted awake. Somewhere along the lines of class time, he drifted off into a shallow sleep. He surveyed his surroundings for a brief moment before stretching and standing up. Without bothering ask what he missed, or even checking the board for the homework assignment, he grabbed his beat up bookbag off the floor and began walking toward the door without giving a damn about anything.

 

[Juneberry]

Joseph kept a slight eye on Ryder as he had left, a sigh escaping him. He'd hoped that Ryder would at least pay notice enough to look at the board, but had realized quite quickly in fact that it wasn't happening. As he sat at his desk silently, he began to write something in his ledger. He wrote briskly, adding to the attendance book as well, under the often ignored 'notes' section.

Ryder Yanovski - Came in towards end of period; No participation; Didn't even look at board.

He had to write down notes each day, as well as a marking in his ledger for grades. For Ryder, it was failure across the board. Joseph may have been upbeat, but he was always exact and proper with grading. He wasn't one of the teachers that would let you go by without working. Since it was still early, not many students quite realized that. However, grade expectencies were due, and he already had a bad taste in his mouth as he looked at the paper. Ryder was the only one in this class who would be failing with extremely low marks. The other students were mediocre at best, with one or two sky-high on the grade scale. However, Joseph was particularly worried about Ryder. And thinking on it, he decided to make an unusual move for himself, and left his classroom, following Ryder and tapping his shoulder.

"Come see me when you have a free period. If you don't have one, come after school. But we need to talk...Unless you don't mind that you're below F on your average and letting it stay that way." Joseph wouldn't believe that Ryder didn't care at all. Indifference wasn't lack of caring completely, and that meant there had to be at least a hint of caring somewhere. Joseph wanted to find it- find it and mold it, so that Ryder would at least get a D.