Just A Girl (TVD)

History Repeating - Part 1

The next morning I take the bus to school with Elena and Caroline. Caroline keeps ranting about Bonnie stealing her necklace the whole time. I think I should've just ridden my bike. Looks like we've got history first period. We sit down and wait for the substitute teacher. Stefan isn't here for some reason. Bonnie walks into class just as the bell rings and someone else follows close behind. A man with dirty blonde hair and stubble sits at the teacher's desk. Hmm... he's not our usual substitute. "Good morning everyone!" He sets his things down and grabs the chalk from the chalkboard. "Alrighty..." He starts writing his name on the board. "Alaric Saltzman. It's a mouthful, I know. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue."

Is he our new teacher? He actually seems pretty cool. I raise my hand. "Does that name originate in Germany?" I ask.

"Yes, actually. Miss..."

"Gilbert. Nora Gilbert." I say.

"Ah, the school told me about you. The prodigy." He points out, which was kind of embarrassing. "But, yes. Saltzman is of German origins. My family emigrated here in 1755 to Texas. I, however, was born and raised in Boston." He says. "Now, the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great grandfather I will never be able to thank enough." The class snickers. "You'll probably wanna pronounce it Ala-ric but it's actually A-lar-ic. Okay? So you can call me Ric." He said. "I'm your new history teacher." Okay, I like this guy. He seems like a cool teacher. Like one of those cool teachers who don't 'try' to be cool, they just have a good personality.

After class as I'm leaving he gets my attention. "Hey. Would you mind coming by at lunch? I need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, sure." I say. I walk to my next classes. At lunch, I eat quickly then go to the history classroom where Jeremy is walking out. "So, you said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Right." He said, sitting down at his desk. "So as you probably gathered, I just talked to your brother about his grades, but don't worry you're doing fine."

"Okay..." I sit down in the chair in front of his desk.

"So, your former teacher kept files on people. And you just happen to be in one of them labeled 'class smartasses'. I mean, it's literally on the label." I sigh. I know Tanner was a bad teacher but I will admit I was pretty difficult sometimes. But that's only because Mr. Tanner thought he was above everyone else. "So, I was going to ask you about your past behavior..." and here it comes... "but then I realized that many students have complained about Mr. Tanner being a-"

"Tight-ass?" I put my hand over my mouth when I realized I just cursed in front of a teacher.

"Yes, actually. And don't worry about foul language, just try to keep it out of class, for the sake of my job." He said. I internally sighed. "Anyway, what I'm saying is, I'm willing to look past the smartass file and start over. But that means you have to start over and try not to..." he looked into the file and laughed. "You called him a dick?"

I rolled my eyes but wasn't able to hold in a grin. "He deserved it... that time..."

"Okay... just, get to class." He said, throwing the file in the trash.

I nodded and left. Okay... note to self; be less blunt and brutally honest. That'll definitely be easy. I walk out into the hallway to get to my next class. After school, I'm walking out and overhead and arguing between Caroline and Matt. "... and I do not let guys mess with my head anymore!" You go, girl... I guess. I have no idea what the context of that argument is but Matt is really in for it. I walk a little further and see Elena and Stefan talking. That's weird. He wasn't in class today. I didn't hear what they said, but Stefan walked away, leaving Elena with an angry look on her face.