FLO: I Am Not My Father's Son [Zarry Stylik AU]©️

13

The bell rang, telling the students to walk into class. Mr Saunders, the young and energetic Geography teacher waited for the class to pour into the room. He was sitting on the desk, feet dangling and clapping his hands demanding orders.

"Hello. Hello. Yes. Everything is exciting! Come on, everyone to their seats." The students quickly came to their designated seats, while the teacher leapt from the table and closed the door. "Are we all here? Is everyone here? Let's assume we are all present."

A hand was raised and the teacher allowed the student to speak.

"Mr Saunders, why are all the names on the board?"

The teacher looked back at the blackboard. Right there, in his perfect handwriting, were all the names of the students in class in alphabetical order. It had the names listed down, then another column under the name 'points.

"Huh..." The teacher let out as if he hadn't been the one to write the names. Turning back to the class, he walked up to the student and left a piece of candy on his desk - winking at him. "Curious question. Why are your names on the board? Any guesses?"

Another hand shot up and the teacher welcomed it. "Is it...like a scoreboard of some sort?"

The teacher was impressed. He went into his pocket and retrieved a piece of candy.

"Great observation." The teacher tossed the candy to the student who grabbed it. Giggles echoed around the room as the students tried to guess. " Why would we have a scoreboard on our board?"

Another hand shot up and the teacher welcomed the guest "Is it a game?"

The teacher smirked, retrieving another candy. He tossed the candy to the student who grabbed it, in mid-air.

"It is. However...it's also something else."

Poppy's hand came up. The teacher pointed at her. "Our evaluation?"

Mr Saunders tossed her the candy and the girl caught it. It was an orange ball, inside a transparent wrapper.

"Close. Not exactly."

Another hand. "A competition?"

The teacher stopped and pointed at the student. He walked up to the student with a handful of little sweet candies, leaving them on her desk. All with multiple colours.

Now, he had the class's full attention. Mr Saunders walked back slowly to the front.

"Today, my beautiful students, we will have a competition. We will have a battle of knowledge. A war of enlightenment. We will fuel our brains and strive for greatness." The teacher stopped at the front of the class. Then, he turned around showing a smile and a raised chin. "Are we ready?"

The students nodded in excitement and the teacher proceeded.

"In a minute I will hand over a mini-test with 12 questions. Now! Before you all get in distress and begin pulling your hair out, the test will be fairly simple, it will include everything we've ever talked about this year - in broad strokes - and it is meant to help you. Not to mess with you." Mr Saunders continued, walking to the right side of the class. "12 Questions. 30 minutes. I want short answers. I want you all to get to the point. No soliloquies or great debates. In. Out. Simple and direct."

The teacher turned from the window and walked back to the door looking at their students.

"This is supposed to challenge you, but also to be fun. This test will be important: it will show me where you are when it comes to the subjects we have discussed in class and it will tell you how you're doing thus far. The end of the semester is near, my friends. We need to be on our A game."