Principal Barkin x Y/N

chapter 2: first day disaster

It's the night before the first day of school, and you've just finished decorating your classroom.

With so little time to decorate the room, you had to make the best of what you brought with you. On each table sit small buckets of art supplies: pencils, glue sticks, scissors, etc. You've hung up copies of your favorite paintings and put up posters of some of the most prolific artists in history. Rainbow streamers hang from the ceiling like they're coming down from the skies. Mentally, you pat yourself on the back for a job well done. 

As you exit, you catch sight of the little sign outside your classroom: "ART TEACHER: MX. L/N". You smile to yourself, remembering all the hard work you accomplished to get here. Yes, everything is going to be fine.

--

Everything is not going to be fine.

On the outside, you are perfectly calm. You're pretending like it's perfectly normal for a car to be blocking the entrance to Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy. On the inside, though, you're panicking. Who could have done this dastardly deed? You look at all the students, trying in vain to find the troublemaker. But it's not like they're wearing a neon sign above their head saying "I PRANKED THE SCHOOL". 

That's when Principal Barkin climbs to the top of the car, using his strong legs to propel himself upwards. He says some stuff but honestly you're just admiring the way his lips curve around every syllable. How his double chin moves with every word. How he spits a little bit when he pronounces the letter "p". 

You clamber into the car to get to the entrance. Principal Barkin says nothing to you, but you feel his eyes looking you up and down. You smirk to yourself. Maybe things will turn out alright after all.

--

"Good morning, students," you say. Twenty faces look back at you. "I'm Mx. L/N. I'm your art teacher. I will now take role call by reverse alphabetical order." You check your list. "Bella Williams?"

"Here," Abby says.

"Aiden Taylor?"

"Here."

"Neil Clarks?"

A blonde kid raises his hand. "Actually, my name's-"

"Holly Rash?" And so on and so forth. You reach the B's and stop.

"Josh Barkin?" you say. "Is your father the principal?"

"Yeah," Josh says. 

Wait, you think. But that means... he isn't single?

You feel the world turn upside down. Bile rises in your throat. You throw up into a nearby trash can and run out the door, ignoring the reactions of your students. You barely make it to the bathroom before you collapse. You're sick with heartache. All you want to do is go home. And then, suddenly, a large hand squeezes your shoulder.

It's Principal Barkin.