No Good Deed | Hale - TVD/TO/TW [3]

29 | My Lesson as a Test

As the bell rings, students flood Lexi's class. She leans against her desk with her back to the students with her phone pressed up against her ear. The worried expression on her face catches the attention of each werewolf that comes in, the two knowledgable humans, and the strawberry blonde going out of her mind.

Lexi only sends them nods of acknowledgment, hoping the noise from the other students drowns out her conversation. "Rebekah, you have to understand where he's coming from," she says softly. "and think about it. This information comes from Elena."

"But it was from the cave!" Rebekah sobs. Each break of her voice sends a crack through Lexi's heart. "Nik killed Mother!"

"Think about what she did to us," Lexi says. "She turned her back on him—"

"I don't care. He ripped her heart out!"

Lexi runs a hand down her face. "Bekah, I-I have to go."

"No, please don't."

"I have a class. Listen, I'll call you back as soon as I finish."

Rebekah sniffles. "Please. What if he calls? What am I supposed to say? I need you, Alexis."

Bouncing her leg, Lexi shakes her head. "I'm sorry. You have to stall for an hour. That's all. I'll call you back the moment I finish the activity, ok? I give you my word."

"An hour. I'll hold you to that."

"Thank you, Rebekah. I'll call you back." Lexi hangs up the phone with a sigh, her chest much too tight for comfort. She places it on the table before she turns to her class with a tired expression. "Quiet down, please! We have an activity for today!"

Everyone stands near the edges of the room. In the center, desks are paired up with paper covering the tops; glue is at every station along with pens, pencils, and markers. "So, we've recently been talking about the Enlightenment and the thinkers associated with that time period," Lexi begins, writing the word Enlightenment on the board. "But, most of our primary texts have been from European sources. The Enlightenment thinkers thrived on creating new ideas that startled the world. Today, we are going to go a different route.

"As you can see, each paired table has tissue paper and some pens. The specific instructions are at each desk, but what we are going to do today is visualize how history changes with every new view." Lexi walks up to the nearest desk and holds up a regular piece of paper. "You and your first partner will write a message on your paper and begin to basically make a paper-mâché model of whatever you want.

"When I ring the bell," Lexi holds up a copper bell, shaking it. "You will switch partners. One of you will stay with your original message; the other will take a single colored paper to another desk. You will continue to create your paper-mâché with your new partner. In total, we will have three rounds—each of you gets three different partners. In the end, we will see how our histories have changed. Any questions?"

When she glances around the room, she finds Scott desperately trying to get her attention, Stiles inching towards Lydia, Erica eyeing the poor girl like a rack of lamb, and Isaac staring out the window. "Good. Pair up. Keep in mind, these will only be your partners for three minutes."

The classroom descends into chaos. Lexi simply sighs as she watches students rush to different desks with different people. After a minute of commotion, Scott is the only one left without a seat as he had tried to get to Lexi; instead of listening to him, she says, "Mr. McCall, please take a seat. We don't have much time, so unless you have a question?" She arches an eyebrow.

"No," he mutters as his shoulders slump. When he turns around, he almost growls at the only open seat: right next to Erica.

"Saved it for you," she says as he slides in.