Stars (Logicality) - Completed

Chapter 2

Monday

Trudging into his next class, Virgil wasn't expecting anything different.

The yellow-tinted lights in the ceiling cast the classroom in a dreary glow, not helping his mood at all. This was his last class of the day, and he just needed to get through it, and he'd be home free.

He tried to ignore the loud students already in the room as he walked past the teacher's desk, wanting to get to his seat quickly.

"Good afternoon, Virgil," a voice said.

Virgil's head snapped up, finding himself face-to-face with a man. He was on the younger side, possibly in his thirties like Virgil's father. He wore a black dress shirt and blue tie, and he peered at Virgil behind his black glasses. "That is your name, correct? I am still learning names." He waved a little seating chart for emphasis, showing tiny pictures of each student, along with their name.

"Uh, yeah, I'm Virgil . . ." he replied quietly, shuffling to his desk in the back of the room just as the bell rang.

Virgil slumped down in his desk as he usually did, and watched as the new teacher started to write on the whiteboard. His handwriting was neat, and Virgil noticed he was left-handed like himself.

The teacher turned towards the class. "Good afternoon, everyone. I am Mr. Stone. Your previous teacher had a family incident, and due to this, I have been transferred, and I will be your long-term substitute for the rest of the year."

Murmurs rose from the large class. Virgil caught snippets of the hushed comments, and most kids, he noticed, were making fun of the new teacher. Others said they were glad their old teacher was gone, and that they wished he could be gone even longer. Virgil shuddered slightly. It scared him how cruel his classmates could be. He hadn't liked the previous teacher either, but he didn't wish he was dead like the student a row over from him.

"Settle down, class," Mr. Stone said. His voice was louder and almost strict, though it held a sort of gentleness. The students were caught off guard by the tone, and they slowly listened to him, going silent. Mr. Stone smirked a bit, then started writing on the board.

A teacher Virgil's obnoxious classmates actually listened to? This was new.

Virgil smiled slightly. He was starting to like this new teacher.

*

Logan was there again.

Patton watched the teacher from a distance, leaning against the counter.

"Patt? Patton?" a voice said, waving a hand in front of the barista's face.

Patton snapped to attention, recognizing the voice. It was his co-worker and friend, Joan. He turned to look at them, face going red.

"Sorry . . ."

Joan laughed slightly. "It's alright," they said. "It's just . . . you zoned out for five minutes, and you look like a lovesick puppy. Care to explain?"

Patton's gaze shifted back to Logan, who was grading papers, tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration. Patton sighed.

Joan followed Patton's gaze. "Ahhh, so that's the man?"

The barista nodded, looking back at Joan. It was a particularly slow work day, and Patton had pulled a stool behind the counter earlier, and hadn't got up since. "His name is Logan, and he's a teacher . . ." Patton said. "He works at Virge's high school."

Joan nodded along. "Why don't you go talk to him, Patt?" they suggested.

Patton gave them a little pout. "But what if he doesn't want to talk to me? I embarrassed myself so much last time . . ." Patton cringed a bit, remembering. "I don't know what to do. I've never felt this way about someone, and none of this has happened before . . ." Patton buried his face in his hands.

Joan placed their hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up. "Patton, if you don't talk to him now and take your chance, then it's going to take forever for him to see how amazing you are. You can do it."

"I can do it  . . ." Patton echoed, standing up and coming out from behind the counter. He kept repeating this phrase to himself as he walked over to Logan's table, which was the same as before.

The teacher heard footsteps and looked up. "Oh, hello, Patton." He gave the barista a small smile.

Patton felt butterflies in his stomach. Logan remembered his name.

Logan remembered his name . . .

Patton glanced at Joan, who gave Patton an encouraging thumbs up. He gave them a slight nod, then he asked Logan, "May I sit down?"

Logan looked at him for a few moments, surprise and something else crossing his face. But he quickly hid these emotions and said, "Sure."

Patton's heart was pounding as he carefully pulled out a chair, sitting across from Logan who pushed his glasses up with the end of his pen.

"You have more work," Patton observed, gesturing to a rather tall stack of papers, graded with red pen.

Logan nodded. "Indeed. One of the teachers had to take a long-term leave, and since I'm the only other person trained to handle the subject he taught, they transferred me."

Patton nodded along, resting his head on his hand.

There was an awkward silence and Logan went back to grading papers. Patton's eyes wandered to the graded stack, and one problem caught his eye.

"You marked that as incorrect," Patton said.

Logan lifted his head, tilting his head slightly like a puppy. "Pardon?"

Patton's face dusted red. "Oh, uh . . ." He pointed to one problem on the top paper. "You marked this as incorrect," he repeated, "but this is actually correct. If you look closely, they spelled that right, their hand writing is just a bit messy."

The teacher turned the paper, looking closely as instructed. His eyes widened, realizing he had, indeed, made a mistake. "Nikola Tesla! Thank you, Patton!" Logan said, quickly marking the question as right.

Patton giggled, loosening up the more he talked to Logan. "No problem."

Logan's eyes locked on Patton's, and the barista felt like he would melt like chocolate in the sun. He smiled wide at Logan, feeling some newfound confidence, and for once, Logan gave him a full smile.

*
Chapter 2!!