Hero // Klance

Ch. 5 - A Long Afternoon

Eros Elementary School was small and crowded, and Lance knew every room in the building before he even went inside thanks to Coran's briefing. Keith and him would be taking over for a second grade teacher who had to leave due to sudden food poisoning. They walked in and were instantly confronted by a frazzled woman with white hair, a white face and white knuckles clutching a bright pink plastic clipboard.

"Are you the stand ins for Mr. Sanders' class?" She asked them, loudly tapping her fingernails against the plastic.

"We are," Keith told her.

"Great, they're in a music lesson right now. It's technically your lunch break. I recommend mentally preparing yourselves. The kids aren't exactly angels. The room is 24601, right down that way." [Hmmm I wonder where that number came from?]

With that she was off, disappearing down the hallway, her tapping still audible despite the general noise of the children.

They found the room easily. It was a mess of tiny desks, chairs and papers.

"Great." Keith sat on top of the teacher's cluttered desk, looking about as happy to be here as Lance felt.

"What are we even supposed to do with them?" Lance asked.

"Keep them busy, I guess. We've got until 3 to figure stuff out, too."

"One of us should probably do some snooping."

"Sure."

"What do you think she meant by 'they're not exactly angels?'"

"I think, judging by the time and the screaming children that sound like they're getting closer, we're about to find out."

Sure enough, kids were now pouring in through the door. None of them sat in a chair.

Some went to the closet and started digging through their backpacks, a few seemed immersed in a game of tag that involved jumping over desks, still more had apparently decided it was nap time and were laying on the ground with their eyes closed. One kid was sitting criss-cross on the desk.

"Okay, listen up guys," Lance tried. No one reacted. "Kids? Gremlins? Small bastards?" He tried.

Keith shot him a glare.

"What? They're not listening."

"HE CALLED US BASTARDS!" Someone yelled.

"Not listening, huh?"

"Shut up. I don't see you helping."

With a sigh, Keith hit the wall twice with his fist, effectively startling everyone into silence.

"Sit down and shut up." he told them.

"How come you get to sit on the desk?" a little boy asked.

"Because I'm in charge, and I told you to sit down." Keith scowled.

The boy stared at him for a second, then sat on top of his own desk.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't answer. Some of his classmates began to giggle.

"I asked you a question."

"But you said to 'sit down and shut up'" the boy said, mimicking Keith's voice and his hunched posture. The giggles increased, and it took everything in Lance's power not to join them.

"Well," Keith began, cracking his knuckles, "since you're obviously so good at following instructions-"

"Let's play a game!" Lance interrupted, stepping between his teammate and the child. "Since you're so good at following instructions, let's play a game. Do we all know Simon Says?"