When The Dead Arise

Chapter 45

Being a teacher's assistant is exhausting! You're expected to remember the names of everyone, get along and always smile, and never need to use the bathroom! Seriously! When do they expect you to go? Before?

You were going through several packets that the students had turned in. The teacher you were assigned to assist, for today, left to go on a meeting and asked you to grade all the packets. It's not that it was hard, rather it was boring. Seeing the same thing over and over with some doodles or terrible answers thrown in the mix.

It was exhausting but you did see the benefits. It was easy to get in and out of campus with little to no trouble. It allowed you to be anywhere and everywhere. It also let you meet a few of the teachers. There were many more that you didn't know, but it was a first step.

"Have you finished them yet?" The teacher you were currently helping entered the room, dressed professionally and holding two cups of coffee.

"Close, just a few more." You responded, the teacher handing you one of the cups of coffee and taking a sip.

"Let me know once you're done, I'll get started on putting them into the grade book. Also, some other teacher needs your help."

You really needed more coffee, "What for?"

"Moving textbooks. Apparently they need all of them in a room across campus, and he could use some help."

You sighed and hurried to finish grading. So that you could get to work on moving the textbooks. Which would probably be tiring and physically demanding.

Not that you weren't already fit. You were much healthier than many teachers here in the school. It's simply that anyone would get tired, or at least annoyed, from carrying several textbooks across a college campus.

You finished shortly after and the teacher scribble down the classroom number on a piece of paper. You thanked her and chugged the coffee as you walked.

You spent this time alone to think about Japan and G.I.Joe. You found it strange that you were the only one of your team assigned to be undercover. Will assured you that it wasn't for any particular reason, he just felt you would be best.

Team Beta was apparently off looking for traces of Storm Shadow and Azure. Team Alpha had been tasked with finding and hints or clues as to where Destro was and was planning.

You thought about Japan, and how you missed it. Being here on campus was nicer than Hone Base, having flowers and trees around instead of concrete walls soothes you. But you would get lonely remembering that there were not the same trees. Those flowers weren't the right ones. This grass wasn't the one you had walked on for months.

You shook it off, forcing yourself to not think about it, and kept walking. You err alert, always making sure to seem polite and casual. A nice person with a few friends blends in better than a mean one with no friends.

You went over what your report would include today. Every day, before bed, you send an email to Will, updating him on anything that's happened. Most reports are plain, maybe a few names to look into. It had been a little over a week and you were getting a little frustrated with the lack of productivity.

"At least I can grade 200 tests in an hour." You mumbled to yourself as you threw away the now empty cup of coffee.

Moving the textbooks took the rest of the school day, marvelous. Your back was annoying you, and you decided to do some stretching once you got back to your temporary housing.

"Thank you so much, you've been a great deal of help." The teacher thanked you as you both shook hands.

You gave him a fake smile, "My pleasure, if you ever need my help again please don't hesitate to ask." Please don't ask at all.

The teacher pondered for a moment, "The band director has been pretty busy. Actually, when are they not?" He chuckled at his own joke and you fake laughed along with him.

"If anyone could use some extra hands it's her. The marching band is going to start practicing soon actually, you could speak to the director."

You would've said no, but Will did advise you to meet as many people as possible, "I'll make sure to pay them a visit."

You two waved each other off and you wandered around the school. You visited some friendly teachers, trying to open them up a bit and see if they were anyone suspicious. Then talk to a few students, since they could very well be involved.

Some time later you heard the sound of a band playing, and followed it. You arrived at a football field, one that contained several students as they marching along the grass.

"Can I help you?" A woman who you assumed was the band director walked up to you. The band continued to play, being guided by three students who were along the sidelines conducting.

"I was told that the band director needed some extra help?" You quirked an eyebrow at her.

She gave a small smile, "That would be wonderful. Would you like to help me now?"

Before you could answer one of the students who had been conducting called out to the band director, "Do I give them a break?"

The band director nodded to him and returned her attention to you, "Let me show you were my office is. You can grade their dynamics test."

"I'm happy to help!" You lied, now having grown a deep hatred towards grading papers. But you couldn't show that. You had to be nice and patient.

You tried to get the band director to open up, maybe give some clues. But she was too busy and thinking of several things at once that you soon gave up.

That night you gave another boring report back to Will.