Dreams That Do Not Matter (gmw fanfiction)

Girl Meets New Teacher

Verity's POV

We are waiting for our English class to start and for Mr. Garaboski to come, but he is late today. Or maybe he won't come at all.

After waiting long enough, I hear Maya ask, "Where's Garaboski?"

"Did we finally break him?" Farkle adds.

Just as he says this, Mr. Matthews walks into the classroom with words, "You broke him."

Everyone starts cheering, but me and Missy just look at each other with a frown. So maybe he isn't the best teacher we have ever had, but I still think he at least deserves some basic human respect for trying to teach us things, even though he probably wasn't that successful in most of the cases.

"Quiet! Mr. Garaboski retired yesterday." More cheering, just great.

"Quiet! The guy survives Vietnam and Mrs. Garaboski, and he can't get past you." This statement makes me frown more. I know that maybe he was grumpy sometimes and not always the nicest, but haven't we all been shaped by what happened to us in one way or another? After all he must have gone through, I am surprised that he wasn't influenced in a worse way.

"Well, now you're gonna need a new English teacher," Mr. Matthews states.

"So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Ms. Harper Burgess," he announces. Upon hearing this and seeing who walks in, my eyes widen in surprise and all I'm able to do is let out a shocked whisper, "Ms. Harper?" I hear Missy do the same.

"Ms. Burgess is here to teach you about great books and great ideas. Please, give her the same respect that you give me," Mr. Matthews continues.

After he leaves the classroom, Ms. Harper scans the faces when finally, her eyes land on me and Missy and stop there for a bit. I see slight disbelief flashing through them, but atfer that she looks away and I'm not sure if she recognized us, if she still remembers. After all, it's been years.

After that, Ms. Harper starts passing us comic books, otherwise known as graphic novels. The cover reads 'Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns'. I must admit that I'm not at all surprised. This seems like something Ms. Harper would do.

"This is Batman." Farkle looks at the graphic novel surprised.

"A future Batman," Ms. Harper corrects him.

"Is there a difference?" Farkle wonders.

Ms. Harper goes on to explain, "Yeah, it's about a world that's become so tough that Batman fights Superman. You will tell me why he does that."

"You're gonna start by teaching us a comic book, Ms. Motorcycle?" Lucas looks at her questioningly.

"Yeah, and you're gonna start by not calling me Ms. anything." Too late for that when it comes to me and Missy. "You can call me Harper."

Suddenly, Principal Yancey enters the classroom, looking angry. "So, I'm passing by your classroom on this, your first day, and I can't help noticing that somebody has a comic book, that everybody has a comic book."

"But I think Harper is trying to teach us something important," Riley interrupts him.

"Oh, Harper is? Hm? Well, she's not. It isn't literature, it's comic books. Which are against school policy, Ms. Burgess. And so is calling Ms. Burgess by her first name. You will gather these up and you will teach something important."

After Principal Yancey leaves, Ms. Harper concludes the lesson with, "So, The Dark Knight Returns. Read it tonight and tomorrow we will learn something important."

After the class is over, me and Missy gather our things and start to leave the classroom, but then Ms. Harper stops us.

"Wait, is this just my imagination, or are you Verity and Missy Bradford?" she turns to us.