HISTORY - The Order - Vera Stone

First Day

"Hello Class, my name is Professor Xander Grey. I hail from London, England. I grew up with a mother and no father, and I have two annoying older sisters, along with a brother who seems to share nothing with me besides a single parent and problems beyond repair."

To say it was quite an entrance, the pale man who strode into class with little dress code seemed to pass more as a teenager than anything else. He smiled at each and every one of his students before pointing to the first student sat in front of him, a young redheaded woman. 

"You, who are you and why are you here at Belgrave University, what do you hope to achieve?"

The Professor sat at the edge of his desk, seemingly picking the now stuttering student at random but he gave her a soft smile. Calming her and drawing her attention onto him, knowing that speaking in front of a class was nerve-wracking, he went through it enough and he became a teacher. 

Yeah, screw Miss. Taylor and her ideas of my immaturity during her class. I made it! As a history teacher, maybe I'll find my Cory Matthews and pass along age-old wisdom like good old Feeny!

Disregarding the silly thoughts, he turned his full attention to the girl who found her courage with ease as she gazed back at him with adoration, seemingly inspired.

"My name is Veronica Crane and I hail from a deadbeat mom with a dad who wanted the best for me. I guess I want to make sure he is proud of me."

Xander met her gaze briefly, turning to look over the other students and found that many seemingly did not have a problem. Others did not bother paying attention before he started clapping with a soft smile. 

"And that right there ladies and gentlemen is in itself history. Your history is that your mother left, your father took care of you and now you're here, history is being written as we do it. How we do it, how we control the narrative of our lives, that is what I will be teaching you here. Finding your history and what you want from your time here at Belgrave University."

Veronica could only stare back at the Professor, she never looked at it like that. She thought that only big things were ever regarded as history but her life, in essence, was history for others and possibly her future family.

"Hello, my name is Professor Xander Grey and welcome to History, in this class we will learn about each of you, who you are and what you want from Belgrave or this class. Control your narrative and History will be a cakewalk, please if any of you have any questions, stay behind, if not, you are free to roam and spend some time on campus."

The bell did not ring but their teacher telling them to go seemed like a good enough idea, only to his surprise, Xander turned around and expected only a few, except, he got the whole damn class to stay. 

With wide eyes, the history professor crossed his arms over the other and found himself smiling slightly. He had captured them in the first few moments, without another word, he stood to his full height and bowed his head shyly. 

"Well, let's get to writing history, shall we?"

And with a soft bunch of yeah's bouncing off the white walls of the history classroom, Grey found himself ready to face the day and what it would bring, little did he know that he had made quite the impression on one of his students already. 

-

"Thank you Melissa for your sharing your story, and it seems that we all are out of time for this class."

And as he said that, the bells rang out, signalling the end of class. With a soft smile, the history professor held up his hand for a moment as he spoke to his first and final class for today. 

"And now, I do not hope to ruin the whole mystery cool professor image you have built of me in your heads but there are such things called assignments. I do have some for you all, I want you to write me an essay of what you hope to achieve during your time, write your history as if it has already happened. You are the researcher and subject of your history, now go write it. Due next week, I hope to make sure you all have a good time at Belgrave."

Each of the students left with some worry on their faces, Grey understood that and there was a method to the weirdness. He wished to make sure that they understood who they were and were going to be, not the image in their heads. They needed to know themselves before going about writing their history. 

"Miss Crane, I see you've elected to stay behind once more, I have to wonder if I was too charismatic in picking you out. Are you the Cory to my Feeny?"

Raising an eyebrow, Veronica looked confused before tilting her head as if questioning his sanity.

"Please tell me you know of Cory Matthews and Mr Feeny?"

Veronica shook her head ever so slightly before the smile broke out on her face and she broke down laughing, using the table for support. 

"Oh you should have seen your face Professor, it was like Hermione when watching Ron eat, ah, priceless!"

Giving her a soft smile, the professor raised a single eyebrow wondering why she had remained behind while everyone was still packing their stuff and bolting for wherever.

"Miss Crane, while I appreciate the humour, never joke about that. It's precious and must be protected, now besides laughing at my funny face. Why else have you elected to stay behind?"

Veronica gave her new favourite professor a smile in return. Only to realize that she was the only professor she knew, she shrugged and the words just spilt out without any kind of filter. 

"You, it seems like you actually care about how we spend our time here and I can't simply let that be it. A single class is not going to cut it, I have a lot of history I want to start and I think I'll need your help, could you?"

So much for having a cup of coffee and a glazed doughnut, he sounded like a TV Cop....well, he had always imagined himself as a Chief Wiggum but just with the penchant for doughnuts. 

"Hmm, a student coming to their professor regarding an assignment that I just five minutes ago assigned, wishing for help. Well, what about the Blade and Chalice, it'd be a setting you were comfortable in and I could have a burger with chilli cheese fries..."

Shaking her head, Veronica walked to the door, turning back to find Professor Grey wistfully looking out the window. He was probably thinking about those burgers, a giggle escaped her. 

"See you at eight Professor, and by the way, you really made it fun, thanks for that."

The Professor broke out of his food-induced regret, he knew he should have had that breakfast burito...shaking his head, he gave his student a wave and saw her leave. For the first class, he thought that he had done pretty well.