Total Eclipse of the Heart [A Hamish Duke Fanfic]

Philosophy

My iced coffee began to taste watered down, so I decided to head over to building six. My next class was at 12:30pm. The fresh cut blades of grass tugged at the sensors in my nose, but I didn't let myself get distracted. I wasn't going to run into someone this time.

Building six's exterior was completely layered in stone. The interior seemed to be bleached like a doctors office. It looked so clean and smelled like the zest of lemons.

Paperwork telling me where my classes were told me I was meant to be in 1-103. I scanned the plaques installed outside of each door, trying to find my classroom. I finally came across room 1-103, the plaque reading "Room 1-103. Philosophy."

Desks here were much more convenient to sit in. They weren't so cramped and drawn all over. No name was written on the chalkboard, but a question was.

"How could the German people have let the Holocaust happen in World War II?"

Most people would just overlook this question and believe that the Germans were homicidal maniacs. But this is philosophy, we have to use critical thinking. I pulled my notebook out from my bag and began hitting some things down. My notebook was decorated with art I had drawn on in sharpie of speech bubbles surrounding a brain, looking like one noodle endlessly looping around itself.

The door swung open and I immediately looked up, startled. Hamish? What a coincidence that he's in the same class as me.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you all had a good morning, seeing as most of you probably stay up until 4:00am." His eyes skimmed the room, familiarizing himself with the wave of new students. They landed on me after a few seconds and his face seemed... worried?

"I've written this question on the board for you to brainstorm responses to. You'll get into groups of your own choosing and discuss. Designate a single person to be your groups' scribe."

Looking around the room, I see a boy with red hair who looks friendly enough talking to a blonde girl.

"Hey would you guys mind if I joined your group? I can write the response if you want."

The blonde girl raises her head to look at me before giving a quick up and down glance. "Sure, I'm Kalee."

"What's your name? I'm Aiden." The redheaded boy outreached his hand to me and I politely took it in mine.

"Luna. So, what are some possible answers for the response? We have to discuss first, so I hope you have an idea of what you want to put down."

Kalee adjusted in her chair. "Well, the Nazi regime didn't just pop up all of a sudden. They wormed their way into power. The German people thought they could trust their government since Hitler's promises sounded so good."

Our discussion lasted for almost the remainder of the whole class, almost an hour and a half.

"Okay, well I'll turn this in for us. I have to speak to him after class anyway." I waved a small gesture at Aiden and Kalee.

"Thanks, Luna."

"Yeah, no problem. Take care, guys."

The classroom was soon emptied out. I walked to the front of the room where Hamish was erasing the question from the chalkboard.

"So should I call you Professor or...?

Hamish turned around faster than I expected. "In here, call me professor. Anywhere else, I don't mind what you call me. I didn't expect you to be in one of my classes." He seemed disappointed.

"It is kind of weird. We could still hang out outside of the classroom, though. Unless it's too weird for you."

"No. It's not too weird." He flashed a reassuring smile. "Do you have any plans for tomorrow?"

"No. I don't have any classes on Tuesdays. Why?"

"I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go to lunch? Only if you actually want to." His nerves were outpouring into his voice.

"As a date, Hamish?" I raised an eyebrow at him. He didn't seem like the shy type to me.

"Yea. Did you not want it to be a date? Sorry."

"A date with you sounds nice."