Little Ghouls | Glee

24 | Body Language

24 | Body Language

WOOF Academy, New York

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The halls lingered with students as they took their time heading home after the bell softly alerted them of their day's end.

Grace sipped the warm tea Brittany dropped off to her as she passed the dance studio. She smiled, watching Santana clap through warm-ups with a few of their advanced students for their extra hour of lessons toward auditions. Her attention flicked between Santana and the woman's sore knee, knowing she had an upcoming appointment with a specialist.

She had warned Santana how an intense tour would affect her knee directly after working through filming and working with Mercedes on a few music videos. Although the woman's inability to slow down annoyed Grace, she was thankful Santana was willing to accept the appointment made for her to work through her soreness.

"Miss Grace!" a voice called from down the hall, followed by quick footsteps. "Miss Grace!"

Grace turned and raised a brow when she noticed a boy rushing to catch up with her. She stepped off from the studio so she wouldn't distract the class and offered her student a smile.

"Xander, what can I do for you?" She asked, slowly walking down the hallway beside the taller boy.

"I was hoping I could talk to you about my last critique." Xander fumbled inside his bag and pulled out a leather-bound sketchbook, flipping it open.

"Sure." Grace glanced at her watch. "But I'd have more time during my office hours. I'm about to pick up my kids from school."

"Your office hours are kinda hard to keep up with." Xander shrugged, unbothered by Grace's side-eye. "I noticed you didn't really like my submission."

"Didn't like it?" Grace chuckled. "No, I liked it. I thought your work was great."

Xander frowned deeply, flipping through the sketchbook until he found last week's assignment. "Then why did I get such a low grade and hard ass feedback if you liked my work? That doesn't make any sense."

"Well—" Grace stopped in the middle of the hallway and stole the sketchbook from Xander, pulling the pencil behind her ear out from its place. "Your submission was beautiful. I loved the way you worked with your shadings and captured a great angle for your character."

Xander stood tall and grinned. "Tha—"

"But you didn't follow my assignment, so I had no choice but to give you minimum points for filing your thoughts with your peers and taking part in the group discussions for the week."

"But... But you liked it?" Xander scoffed. "I can't fail the week just because the assignment was unclear."

"I gave you all week." Grace handed the sketchbook back to Xander after writing a note on the top of his page to check his class binder and online portal. "You also got the assignment three days earlier because of football. There was plenty of time for you to ask my questions."

"But I had football." Xander said, not bothering to look at the note as he motioned to his drawing. "I worked hard on this and deserve a better grade. How could I find time around my life to ask questions when the assignment was unclear on paper?"

"Pay attention in class then."

"But—"

"Mr. Holsten." Grace took a small step back and looked up at the boy in warning. She took a deep breath, not allowing his feverish body language to affect her. "You didn't follow the assignment. Therefore, you failed. I was nice enough to give you the points for participation despite you not fully committing to this advanced program and selection process. I am setting you up for the real world, but the real world can rip you out of this school before that. Are we clear?"