Old Cassettes, And Pencil Shavings

(17) in which she's cranky and he's fishy

"Should I switch French out, and just teach Math first period? Or no? Crap! I still have to start teaching Science though."

Megan Tibbitts pondered over her thoughts as she sat quietly at her desk, one frigid school morning. The weather outside had gotten ridiculously cold, ridiculously fast.

She reached for her coffee tumbler. But once she grasped it, it appeared lighter than it should've been. Megan sighed. "I swear I filled it up this morning,". She groaned. Perhaps she could go to the staff room to fill her cup. "Am I really going to go down 3 flights of stairs for a cup of coffee? .... Ugh. Of course I am."

She got up to leave, grabbing her lanyard; which had her keys, and teacher ID.

And just as she grabbed her tumbler, she heard a voice from outside.

"Morning Megan!" greeted Cesar, as he walked into the class.

Megan rolled her eyes. "Aren't you early for tomorrow, eh?"

"School doesn't start till half an hour!"

"But staff are expected to be in the building 45 minutes early." She stated. "Anyway, what's in the cardboard box." Megan asked, pointing.

Cesar carefully placed it down on Megan's desk.

Megan raised an eyebrow. "It better not be another box full of ethologies. After the Bradford Hangings mystery, I don't think I'll be able to look at an ethology the same way again." She said, shuddering. "Ooh! Speaking of which, we need to organize another meeting for the Classics Club. It's been a while since our last one. Okay Cesar? .... Cesar? Are you even listening to me?"

Cesar nodded, chuckling. "Did you have an extra cup of coffee or something? Cause you don't seem like the Megan that I usually meet in the mornings."

Megan groaned. "Ugh. Don't remind me. I haven't had any coffee yet." She said. "But seriously, what's in the box."

Cesar drew in a deep breath, and slowly opened the tiny cardboard box. After carefully rummaging through its contents he brought up a small plastic bag.

A small plastic bag that had a fish.

Cesar gave a sheepish grin, and he held up the bag for his partner to see.

Megan stared at it, dumbfounded. "...."

Cesar gulped. "Well," he said slowly. "Say something."

Megan drew in a sharp breath. "That's a fish."

Cesar nodded. "Yeah, it is."

"An alive fish."

Cesar nodded again, hesitantly. "Uh... yes."

"Does my classroom look like a zoo to you?"

Cesar bit his lip. "Wait... so does that mean we can't keep him?"

Megan sighed. "OF COURSE NOT!"

Cesar winced at the sudden change in volume. "But Megan!" he whined. "It's not like Vert's going to do anything!"

"Vert?"

"Yeah. His name is Vert."

Megan shook her head. "No. It's going to be distracting for the kids, for myself, and for you. I don't need a fish in my class."

Cesar groaned. "But just look at him, isn't he a cutie?"

He brought the plastic bag closer to Megan, so she could see. Megan made an attempt to smack Cesar's hand away. But she missed.

Instead, accidentally smacking the plastic bag out of Cesar's hand. Apparently, the knot Cesar had tied on the bag wasn't as strong as she had expected. Because as soon as the bag hit the ground, all its content spilled out.

Which meant poor Vert was the classroom floor.

"AGGGH! VERT!"

"AAAAH! THE FISH!!" exclaimed Megan. "DO SOMETHING?!?"

"WHAT DO I DO?!" Countered Cesar.

Suddenly Megan ran towards the sink at the back of the class, and filled her tumbler up with water.

She raced back to Cesar, who was trying to put Vert in his mouth. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"SAVING HIS LIFE!" Cesar blurted.

Megan gave herself a mental facepalm. She took Cesar's hand and directed it over her tumbler. Cesar let go, and Vert dived into the cup.

Megan placed the tumbler down, flopped down in the nearest chair. She felt herself beginning to calm down, as her adrenaline rush began to subside.

Cesar rummaged through the cardboard box, and took out a fish bowl. He went over to the sink and filled it up, slowly making his way to teacher's desk and placing it down.

He then opened up Megan's tumbler, and slowly picked Vert up. Dropping him into the fish bowl.

Megan groaned., as she looked down at the floor. "You're cleaning up this mess."

Cesar nodded. "Okay I will! But can we keep him?"

Megan sighed. "Do I really have a choice at this point?"

Cesar grinned. "You're the best you know that Meg? Absolutely amazing! The greatest teacher in school!"

Megan gave a small smile. "Calm down Cesar! You butter me up any further, I might just get cholesterol."

She grabbed her tumbler, and took a sip.

Cesar raised an eyebrow. "You do know that-?"

Megan instantly spit whatever she had in her mouth out. She brought up her sleeve, trying to clean her tongue against the sleeve of her shirt. "Ugh. I desperately need caffeine."

"You have about 20 minutes till school starts. I'd get that dose of coffee if I were you."

"You sure? You don't wanna come with me?"

Cesar shook his head. "No no. Vert and I can finally have guy talk."

Megan couldn't help but laugh. "Whatever you say Doc."

And as she walked down the hallway, she couldn't help but wonder;

What if Vert is a girl?

A/N: Plot twist- the staff room didn't have coffee in the first place ;) I'll just let you imagine Megan raging now.