Baldi's Basics In Education And Learning - "Teaching The Teacher"

Chapter 2: Recovery

 It's been about 7 hours. The Principal Of The Thing kept himself busy by reading some of the books in the drawers and the character descriptions on the walls. News spread across the internet that the game was bugging out, causing The Principal to not appear. Soon, less people would try and play the game. That is, until The Principal became well enough to stand.

Baldi walks into the Detention Room,focusing both on the well-being of The Principal, and what the walls were saying to him.

"SEE? MURDER IS EASY. WALK AWAY. LEAVE HIM. HE WILL BEGIN TO WALK SOON ENOUGH. STOP RIGHT NOW AND WALK AWAY. WALK AWAY. LEAVE HIM."

The Principal looks up at Baldi. He can tell that he's distressed. The Principal attempts to stand again, just like he did every time. And every time Baldi would push him back down onto the floor. After a while, The Principal came to the realization that Baldi wasn't trying to hurt him, but trying to make him rest and recover quicker.

This time, though, Baldi just watches. The Principal pauses, looking at Baldi.

"You can do it."

Baldi, with his monotone nasally voice, seems to be encouraging The Principal. Apparently he's healed enough to stand. The Principal smiles, then continues. He hasn't been standing upright since the day Baldi beat him. All the other times Baldi pushed him down at about chair level.

"Ow," The Principal winces. His legs are still scarred, and one wound begins to bleed again. Baldi rushes over to the drawer and pulls out the rag. He slides down and puts pressure on it.

Well, this is an awkward position.

The Principal turns away. Why does Baldi have to do this for him? It's just a little blood. He could have walked over to the drawer and gotten the rag himself. And this position? Oh, no. The fangirls would scream. Baldi doesn't understand how awkward this is, as he's so focused on the wound that The Principal can't even get his attention.

"Um... Baldi. I can do this myself now--"

"Sit back down."

Baldi stands back up, adjusting his pixelated shirt. The Principal hesitantly sits back down, confused. Baldi then walks over to the drawer again and puts the rag away. He then walks back to The Principal, glitches into a sitting position in front of him.

"Why'd you let me stand?" The Principal Of The Thing blurts. He covered his face quickly, blocking Baldi from view. Baldi doesn't like people who blurt out things.

Baldi cocks his head to the side. "You're the principal. You need to walk. I'll help you. But first you must stand." He acts as though this is a normal occurrence. Which, for him, it's normal to beat up his fellow staff members. But he had never tended for someone as he does with The Principal.

He tore out Playtime's eyes, for goodness sake.

The Principal nods. "Yes, that is true. I need to be in the game or people think something's wrong with it. However, you are aware that this is your fault, right?"

Baldi gives The Principal a look. A look that he recognizes to mean 'shut your mouth or I won't hesitate to hurt you'. The Principal looks down.

"Okay, now stand up." Baldi glitches himself into a standing position. With The Principal Of The Thing sitting, Baldi towers over him. He feels a little threatened. But he listens to Baldi. After all, Baldi does own the schoolhouse and everything in it.

The Principal pushes himself upright. Now he's taller than Baldi again, and he feels much safer. Baldi backs up, as if to make room for something. The Principal looks at him. "Should I..." Should he walk? Towards Baldi? Something about this feels very... Odd.

"NO. LET HIM FALL. HE ISN'T WORTH YOUR TIME. THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE TO CORRECT. THE PRINCIPAL CAN HEAL HIMSELF."

The walls scream. Louder and louder, every day. Baldi is lucky that he doesn't feel pain, and the others are lucky that they can't hear the walls.

"Walk towards me," Baldi says. He holds out his hands like he's going to catch The Principal. The Principal turns away slightly. "Is he going to hurt me if I fall..."

The Principal had a hard time standing without leaning on a desk. Baldi moves closer, prepared to protect him. The Principal felt awkward throughout the whole process. He dreaded having Playtime or 1st Prize walk into the room. They wouldn't let him hear the end of this day.

Walking hurt him at first, but soon The Principal got the hang of it. Baldi doesn't leave his side, making sure that he won't fall onto the floor. The Principal stumbles a little, and almost falls, but other than that he does fine. As they're finishing up, he looks over at Baldi. A smile begins to creep up on Baldi's face when they look at each other. A genuine smile, The Principal can tell. It isn't fake. He'd seen the fake smile too many times.

"You're smiling," The Principal Of The Thing states. Baldi stops, the smile gone. The Principal stops as well, keeping his balance by leaning on a table.

"What?"

"You were smiling. Why?" The Principal chuckles. "Now I know it was genuine." Baldi takes a step back.

"This doesn't make  sense... I was not smiling genuinely," Baldi straightens his posture, as if to try and appear taller and more powerful. "I was not smiling at all."

The Principal shrugs, then stops talking. He knows Baldi's going to be stubborn. That was what he always was. He sits down on the floor again, sighing. Baldi quickly sits down across from him. "Thanks, Baldi," The Principal says. "For not being evil."

Baldi nods, then stares at The Principal. Expressionless, he feels nothing. However, Baldi seems to be reverting back to his old self. Stubborn, friendly, short tempered... The Principal misses that. Now that smile, that one genuine expression, is the last bit of hope that The Principal needs to be happy in the terrible world they live in.

Baldi then tenses up. He looks behind him, at the wall. They Founders are talking again.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? HELPING THIS WORTHLESS BEING. BEAT HIM. BEAT HIM. BEAT HIM. YOU HAVE NO CHOICE THIS TIME. HE SHOULDN'T TRUST YOU."

The Principal Of The Thing looks at Baldi, worried. "Professor Baldi? Are... Are you okay?"

Baldi turns back around, tuning out the screaming and crying of the walls.

"I'm fine."