My Sister's Teacher

Alarms

I woke up and already felt like something was wrong. The sun was too far in the sky. "Shit I slept through my alarm!" I yelled shooting straight up. Bad idea. Pain shot through my body. It wasn't as bad as yesterday, but just the shock of it was enough to freeze me in place. I took a deep breath and moved slowly. I moved as fast as I could without putting myself into pain. It looked like I was halfway between normal speed and slow motion.

"Mikasa," I called out. I had made her late to school. I slept through my alarm and she must have slept through hers.

I put my hand on my nightstand and felt a piece of paper that wasn't there last night. I picked it up and started to read the handwritten note.

"Hey Eren, don't freak out too much when you wake up. You didn't miss your alarm, I shut it off. I got one of my friends to take me to school. I thought you could use the rest. Text me if you don't think you can make it to the conference. I'll explain to Erwin and the rest of the teachers what happened and try to reschedule with them. I'll have Jean forward me the pictures so they can see that I'm not lying. Hope you take it easy today. Love Mikasa."

I let out a sigh of relief and texted her. "I can make it to the conference I'm feeling a lot better." I sent her the message and she immediately responded.

"Are you sure? If so that's great! If not then don't lie just so you can attend the meeting and get it over with."

She knows me so well. However, I wouldn't call it lying. I am actually feeling better, just not fully better. As long as I take it slow I should be fine.

I texted her back, "I'm really feeling better I'll just take it easy but I'll be okay."

She sent back, "I'm glad you're feeling better."

I sent one last message to her, "me too." I knew she was in the middle of class, but I just shrugged it off. I can't really complain that she's on her phone in class for a multitude of reasons.

One: I texted her first. Two: she's an A student. Three: I'm always on my phone at work. Four: all throughout high school I was always on my phone. Five: she wouldn't listen even if I did complain.

I know I've called her out a few different times for it and each time she says okay I'll put it away only to see her active on a social media app. I'm not an idiot I know she won't listen, but I should at least try and act responsible right? Well, today I wasn't going to. We both have enough stuff on our minds.

I just laid back down and decided to just relax and take it easy until I had to get ready for the meeting. I set an alarm for an hour before I would have to leave so I would have time to get up, shower, get ready, eat, and still have plenty of time to make it to the meeting.

Mikasa, as well as Levi and Hanji, had told me how this meeting would go. There's a few different tables and different parents and students at each. The students would talk about their grades to their parents before each teacher would come over introduce themselves usually talk for 2 minutes and then the principal would introduce himself and shake your head before heading over to a different parent. Hanji said she usually doesn't participate, but she does sit in the room watching to make sure everything is running smoothly. She usually helps people to their seats and knows the routine.

I seemed less worried about it now especially since Levi said we would be fine. I just laid back down to get some more sleep I was still rather exhausted and didn't really care to have bags under my eyes for the meeting. I knew I would have to wear a jacket to cover my arms and my neck so I wouldn't worry anyone there. I really didn't feel like explaining everything especially to a bunch of strangers.

I tried to find a comfortable spot where my muscles weren't all screaming at me as I tried to get comfortable. When I finally found a comfortable spot I heard my phone start to ring. I groaned and just reached my arm over grabbing the phone.

"Hello," I mumbled.

"Hey babe, how are you?"

"Levi!" I sat up quickly. Bad move, pain shot through me. I readjusted and sat leaning on the pillows to take the strain off my back.

"Sorry did I wake you, you sound tired?" He asked probably talking about how I was mumbling when I first answered.

"No, I was already awake. I was thinking about laying back down in a little bit."

"Oh, should I let you go?"

"No, I'd much rather talk to you," I said smiling.

"Oh, alright," he laughed a little. "I wanted to know how you're feeling?"

"Better than yesterday, but still suffering," I joked and made it obvious that I was joking.

"Well, it's good you're feeling a little better. Are you up to the meeting today? I can say Mikasa came to me and asked to switch with good reason if you want?"

"No, I'll be okay. It's only a 30-45 minute meeting I should be okay for that time."

"Well, let me know if you change your mind," he said.

We started talking about simple little things. How Levi's day was going, Hanji's shenanigans, and some of the student's actions that weren't the smartest. We just talked until lunch ended and he had to get back to work. I laid back down and this time I didn't have to fight for a comfortable position. I instantly felt comfortable and let my eyes close.

I'm not going to lie I was still a little panicked about the meeting. Especially since Eren is still a little hurt. I care about him a lot and honestly, I'd rather he wouldn't come if he was hurt since I might actually blow our plan if I see him in pain. I can't stand seeing him hurting physically mentally. It doesn't matter if he's in pain I want to be there for him to help him feel better. I don't want to sit by and pretend I don't even know him.

I just took a deep breath as my students started walking in. "Good afternoon Mr. Ackerman." I heard one girl greet me as she came in and sat down. People don't usually greet me it was a pleasant surprise.

"Good afternoon," I said back giving her a little smile before clearing my throat and wiping the smile from my face. I stood up and greeted the class.

After I had finished with the lesson I gave the kids time to work on their homework assignments while I just sat at my desk trying to think of ways tonight my go. So far my thoughts of the meeting weren't going well I took a breath and tried to switch my negative thoughts into more positive ones. It worked... for a moment. The negative thoughts kept flooding back in.

I just decided to walk around the class checking on all the kids seeing if they needed help and how far they made it on their assignments. Most were just slacking off, some had already trashed their packets. I think I saw only three students actually working on their assignments. I saw two more put the packets in their backpacks. So much for that. I thought giving them time in class might help, but of course not they still refuse to even try.

I just sighed and made my way to the trash bins and grabbed the papers off the top. I wasn't going to let them waste paper. I'll give it to the math teacher so they can use it as scrap paper on tests and such. I knew only printing out about 30 assignments for a little over 80 students would work. I would still have tons of extra packets by the time of the last class.

However, after meetings for like a week, I need to print out a lot because more students start "trying" after getting yelled out by their parents. That lasts for like a week and they go right back to not caring. I guess a week is as long as it takes for parents to forget their kids don't try.

Class ended and I had to stop myself from getting frustrated there were only a few more classes and I still couldn't shake these negative thoughts. I just sighed and greeted the next class following the same routine as the previous ones. I tried to push the thoughts out of my head. It nearly worked until Mikasa's class came in and I could tell she looked just as nervous as I felt. This so wasn't going to end well.