The Armor (Prince Harry fanfic #1)

Chapter Three

Lucy wasn't angry at Harry, though he stayed clear of her. He never had a woman talk to him like that, usually he had women share everything, but Lucy didn't even share her favorite color. Well, he could ask her, but he didn't. When they taught, working together, it was fine, but when he was alone with her, he made himself to busy work. Lucy didn't notice or she didn't care.

The students worked around on the work with Lucy and Harry walking around and helping, nicely opposite corners for him. However, she passed him several times, teaching something quickly and the students understood easily, where it took Harry at least two minutes to teach only a single move. She had a simplified way to teach it, like she had done it numerous times before, and Harry was left in the dust. In honesty, Lucy was more of the book smarts while Harry excelled in the street smarts, never caring much for geography or math, but Lucy talked about those things if they were the most exciting topics of life.

When the time hit, the students and Lucy knew it was time for a break, all of them exiting into the hot air, which Harry followed. An almost deflated soccer was kicked around by the students, where it was sometimes passed to Lucy, only for her to kick it ever so lightly back.

"Do you know of football?" He used the British and worldly term with pride, mocking her American life.

"No, never, I have never seen this sport played before in my life. Do you kick the ball?" she asked. It was almost scary how she kept herself so straight, not a joking tone at all.

"You do, with your foot."

"And you try to score.... Is it called a goal?"

"Well, it isn't a touchdown."

"It's like this sport isn't the sport that most of the world plays. We don't have this in America. Never."

Harry hesitated, considering if he should stop mocking her. Lucy wasn't angry, he assumed, and she continued like this was meant to be, easily rolled off the tongue without even thinking of the words. Yes, she was well practiced in sass. Lucy waited for him to continue but he didn't, so she took a step back, thinking that he wasn't interested or used to her way of doing things. She wouldn't want to make him uncomfortable, on his actual first day of work.

"It would be good," she continued, "if you played with them. They have only seen the teacher side of you. Let them see the human side of you."

"I'm human."

"You're their teacher. You boss them around. Let them see the fun side of you."

Harry moved to play but looked back. "You're not going to come?"

"One of us need to wear the facade." She shrugged. "Shred yours for a change." She didn't wait for a response but turned and left him standing there, returning to the schoolhouse. The ball was immediately kicked to him and Harry took it upon himself to make himself human.

Lucy's eyes watched the students and her peer from inside the schoolhouse, critiquing his football skills; he thought he was better than he actually was. Harry continued to try to impress the students with the skills, crossing the ball over, jumping up and down, but none of the students and Lucy were impressed. Harry suddenly caught hers, and he was the first one to look away, a slight redness appearing in his cheeks. After another moment of careful watching, Lucy sat down and corrected some of the work, her least favorite part of teaching; she would make Harry do this.

When the students appeared again, lagging behind was Harry, she looked up and started teaching, beginning with a question. "What do you know about us?" Harry had positioned himself beside Lucy only to take a step back when the question was asked, which none of the students even tried to answer. "Come on, you guys. What do you know about us?"

"Your name is Lucy and his name is Harry."

"You're not wrong," she responded, "but you don't know a lot about us, do you?" No, none of the students knew a lot about them. "Then ask questions." Her wide handwriting lit up the blackboard. "Life is full of curiosity, and you must be willing to ask the questions." She met the eyes of the students. "When we met, I asked your names, you asked mine. I know small facts about you, which is easy. There are questions that lie around you, and you haven't even thought of them yet. They're here. Ask them."

"Like what, ma'am?"

She smiled. "Why is the sky blue? There's a scientific reason, like why does the world turn? But there are deep questions, about history, like how and why. Why did we do this? How did we let this happen? History is full of these questions."

Harry understood where this was going finally; Lucy moved into a history lesson with ease, directing the attention into the main target. He never had a teacher like this either, but he wanted one. He was supposed to teach with her, but here she was, teaching without a problem. Granted, it was his first day and he was supposed to learn from her, but she was what, ten years his junior if not younger.

Lucy let her fingers draw across the board, writing more beautifully crafted lines that chased after one another. She marked her way through history of the world, marking off certain portions from the beginning to the end, the years in hundreds, only going back to zero and not before, whether for religious reasons or not. "Harry, would you like to do the honors?"

He cleared his throat and stepped forward, taking the chalk out of her hands. Little by little, he marked off important events on the timeline. With a pause, he turned to the students. "Can anyone tell me about these events?" he asked, and students shot up their hands.

Harry's eyes met Lucy's and she nodded. He earned her approval.