Mr. Gardner

New School Better Students, Right?

"Dad! Get up, it's time for college!" Susan's voice booms from outside my door.

"Since when are you up so early?" I ask, slowly getting up, needing coffee to fully function.

"Since I'm going to college! New experiences dad, it's exciting!" Susan explains and I smile. I'm so glad my little girl is growing up and starting to enjoy life like she did when she was a kid. I get dressed in my best suit, which Susan says still doesn't fit me right but it's all I got and I can't afford a better one yet. I go downstairs and am baffled on what I walk into. 

Eggs and bacon were perfectly cooked and placed neatly on the small kitchen table. "Suzzie Q, did you do all this?" I ask, quickly snatching a piece of bacon and tasting it. "Oh my god this is heaven!" She laughs.

"I've been slowly practicing my cooking skills. I figured breakfast was the easiest and safest option to start with." She shrugs, putting some eggs on her plate. I just stare at her in awe and she gives me a weird look. "What?"

"I'm just so proud of you." I smile and force her into a hug. She starts giggling but then tries pulling away.

"Okay dad, I love you too but we need to hurry up if you're gonna be on time!" I reluctantly release her and make my plate.

"Don't you find it weird that your old man has been working at almost every single school you've gone to?" I ask after eating half of my plate and Susan shrugs.

"I think I'm used to it by now. Plus, there are perks to it, y'know?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Perks? Like what?" 

"Well, I rarely ever had to take the bus, which everyone says is a nightmare." I chuckle. "If a teacher was giving me a problem, you were there to resolve it because you had power over them."

"Don't expect that with professors, I'm the rookie now."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I know." She rolls her eyes. A couple more minutes go by and we have both finished our breakfast.

"Thank you for breakfast, Suzzie Q. It was delicious!" I say as I take the plates and start to clean them off.

"Maybe one day I'll be skilled enough to cook dinner so we won't have to order out all the time." I fake gasp.

"Are you saying I am a horrible cook?" 

"I wouldn't know, you don't ever cook!" She chuckles.

"Fair point. Get your supplies and I'll start the car." I say whilst checking my watch.

~

We pull up to the huge campus and I don't even know where to go. "I forgot where Harlen's Hall is..." I mutter, scanning over the intricate map.

"Let me see." Susan snatches the map from my hands and takes a look for herself. "Oh, it's the one next to the big clearing in the center of campus!" She points to the small square on the map. 

"Good eye, Suzzie Q!" I say and start driving towards the building. We find a good parking spot and gather our bags. "You have an amazing first day at college, and I will be right here around four o'clock, okay?" Susan smiles.

"Alright, I'll meet you here. I'm going to try and find Charlie before class starts." She says and gives me a hug. "Have fun on your first day being a professor, dad!" She yells after she steps out of the car. I smile, sling my bag over my shoulder and grab my cup of coffee.

~

I have only taught one class so far today, and it doesn't seem too bad yet. The students are quiet, which I'm definitely not used to, and they even ask intelligent questions! It's weird, but I will get used to it quick. I just hope my other two classes are the same way.

Speaking of, students for my next class should be coming in any minute now.

The door swings open and a whole group of students walk in, laughing obnoxiously loud. It's a mixed group of guys and girls, probably frat and sorority students. Great, this will be fun. 

I internally roll my eyes as the room fills up and the clock reads noon, time for class to start. I get up and try to look as authoritative as possible, not wanting anyone to think I'm a pushover. "Good afternoon, class. My name is Nathan Gardner. You may call me either Professor Gardner or Mr. Gardner, no exceptions. Welcome to United States Civilization. You should all have a syllabus on your desks so you can follow along." I explain in a serious tone, noticing the frat group is whispering amongst themselves. "If you have any questions, you may raise your hand and wait for me to call on you instead of interrupting the class and asking your friends for the answer." I continue, my voice raising so the group will pay attention.

"Bro, chill. It's syllabus week, be a little more relaxed, will ya?" One of the guys speaks up. Did he seriously just call me 'bro'?

"Sorry, I will not be relaxing 'bro'. Maybe some professors take their time in their courses and are lenient, but there's a lot to learn in this course within a couple of months, so unless you want assloads of homework every night, I will not be taking my time during the class period." I rant, not giving a shit about my language. 

"Or, you can shorten the workload of the course all together and make it easier for the rest of us?" He retorts.

"Come on man! This is a gen-ed course, it's supposed to be chill so everyone can pass!" One of the girls from the same group speaks up. I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Let me make something very clear: If you are only taking this course to get an easy A for your general education history credit, I suggest you take a different class. What I am here to do is educate aspiring historians on what they need to know about American Civilization. There are plenty of other history classes, in which I don't teach, that are for students who don't give a flying fuck about history at all. Hate to break it to you, but that is not this course at all." I rant again. I take my job very seriously and students disrespecting what I do really pisses me off.

"Bro, why are you being so serious about this? You're the new professor who isn't a senior citizen, you're supposed to be cool." I shake my head, not believing the conversation I am having right now.

"I guess I'll take the compliment that I'm not old, but just because I'm younger than most other professors, doesn't mean I let my students slack off. You're in college, this is what shapes your future, so take it seriously. Leave that shit in high school." For once, what I said shut that group up. I sigh again and continue with my first day routine.

~

I finish everything I have to say in the class and luckily it went smoothly after the idiotic conversation. I was scanning through my planner to see what I had to do for my last class when I felt a presence in front of my desk. I look up to see a woman standing there, nervously holding the strap of her backpack that is slung over her shoulder. She wasn't part of the frat group, which I am thankful for. She was older than most college students and seemed quiet and shy, which I prefer over obnoxious. 

"Um, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for Luke and his minions. They are kinda assholes all the time to everyone so don't take it personally." She says, her voice is quiet and it's almost hard to hear everything she said. I am surprised she felt the need to apologize to me on behalf of those dickheads. When she doesn't get a response from me, she starts to walk away. "Sorry if I bothered you..." She mumbles loud enough to hear before quickly walking out of the room.

"Wait!" I yell after her, but she never comes back in the room.

~

A/N

Looks like Nathan still has troublesome students to deal with. Will he end up loving or hating his new job? Let me know if you guys are still liking this first person point of view or if I should switch back to third person. Thanks guys!