Ryoma slept quietly in English class on a beautiful Monday morn. However, there was some special thing going on around the school that involved people and Americans and something about a brush…and Ryoma really didn't want to try to remember because he was just about score ONE last point against his father and then he could set off the huge display of fireworks in the garage that he spent two years allowance on buying… and…and…no, he's serious. Right now he has like a garage full of fireworks and he knows that it's probably illegal. And he knows that once the police found out about the reason why he set them off, they'll add their own and throw a big party a-
Don't get off track.
Right.
Anyway, ah yes, a whole bunch off exchange students were coming from America to Seigaku as some type of program and now the school temporarily suspended all music classes (which pissed Ryoma off- no more nap time there), all studies (another nap time for Ryoma), and all physical education classes (now THAT pissed him OFF! Come on, how can they cut GYM off!? It's GYM! Plus they were supposed to be learning TENNIS!!!)
And what replaced all of this?
FREAKIN' ENGLISH CLASS THAT'S WHAT!
And because today was Monday, Ryoma's schedule went like this:
Period 1: English
Period 2: Math
Period 3: Study
Period 4 and 5: Phys Ed
Period 6: Lunch
Period 7: Science
Period 8: Study (Early dismissal but he has tennis practice)
Now it was like this:
1: English
2: Math
3: English
4 and 5: English
6: lunch
7: Science
8: English
Wow, three periods for naps...who was he to complain about naps? He was cat boy after all.
Back to the point, even though Ryoma was sleeping, he could still feel his teacher glaring at him.
"Echizen! Please come to the board and answer number seven!"
Said boy opened his golden eyes slowly before yawning and walking up front.
Chalk hitting the board filled the air with sound as Ryoma quickly wrote the answer down before doing a quick check if he had done it right- a habit from his school in America.
As he did, his eyes passed over his teacher's scrawl before doing a double take.
"Sensei, you did this wrong."
His classmates gasped at the prospect of someone going against the teacher.
Said teacher looked baffled. "What do you mean wrong?"
"You used there instead of their. Well, it's a common mistake," He snorted, "for second graders."
Now, his classmates didn't understand what he said because he just said it and the two words sounded the exact same.
"What do you mean by that?"
"They're going there to their car. It's a sentence that my teacher taught me when I was little. Because the words all sound the same, a person whose first language is not English would get them mixed up. 'They're' is the combination or contraction- whatever it is- of the pronoun 'They' and the conjugated verb, 'to be', which is 'are'."
Many students' jaws dropped and his knowledge.
"Then there's 'there' and 'their'. 'There' indicates a place or location. While 'their' indicates ownership or possession of something. My teacher told me that to remember it, I should remember this rule. With 'there', if you drop the 'T', you get 'here', a location. With 'their', if you drop the 'T' and the 'IR', you get 'he', meaning that it is owned by someone."
Everybody clapped and cheered as they FINALLY understood something about English. Their teacher didn't take it too nicely. His face became red with anger and embarrassment.
"WELL, IF YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE SO SMART, YOU CAN TEACH THIS CLASS FOR YOURSELF! I'M TIRED OF BEING EMBARRASSED YOU BY OUTSHOWING ME! I QUIT!!!" And with that, he grabbed his things marched of the class room.
The room was deathly silent for about ten minutes before the principal came in.
"What happened?" Asked the slightly portly man.
A girl with light brown hair raised her hand. "Sir, Sensei just quit after Ryoma-kun corrected him on a mistake he made."
The principal looked toward Ryoma who just looked back at him blankly.
"You were born raised in America, right?"
"Yes."
"Good, you'll be their teacher until we can find a replacement."
"Okay then."
"You might stay their teacher for a few months."
"Can I give them homework and tests?"
"Yes, as much as you want."
Nobody, even the principal, liked the evil grin the twisted Ryoma's face into one of pure evil.
"I gladly accept."
---
AT TENNIS PRACTICE LATER THAT DAY…
"Wahhh!!! Echizen is sooo mean to us!" Horio wailed as he walked onto the court with Kachiro and Katsuo.
"Why is Echizen mean, Horio?" Kachiro asked his friend.
"Okay, get this," as Horio said that, Kikumaru bounced over to him and almost tackled him over.
"Nya, why is Ochibi mean!?"
That caught the attention of everyone in the courts.
"Well, today in English, Sensei called out Echizen because he was sleeping in class again. But then, when Echizen was at the board, he totally chewed him out when he made a mistake. Then Sensei blew up and quit and the principal named Echizen as our substitute teacher for like the next couple of months. And today, he gave us like five pages of text book exercises and then he's making us translate a whole story into English!"
"What!? How is Echizen your teacher! He's a student himself!" Oishi started to pace as he fretted over the poor freshmen.
"Mada Mada Dane."
Ryoma walked onto the courts and up to Horio.
"Here, this is your disciplinary work for complaining in class today." Ryoma handed him a packet of about six pages of work. "I want this on the desk by 7:20 AM, no later. If you hand it in at 7:21, I'll give you a packet of twenty pages, along with the take home test I'm going to give everyone."
And with that, the boy/teacher walked into the clubhouse to change into his Seigaku jersey.
Horio promptly broke down into tears.
"Wah, that's harsh don't you think Ryoma-kun?" Kachiro asked as Ryoma came out again.
"Nope, I don't think so. Why, do want some of my work?"
Kachiro paled and mumbled out 'no' after 'no'.
--
The next hour, Ryoma walked up to his room and grinned wickedly. It was either being the new English was getting to him, or Fuji was rubbing off.
He reached into his closet and pulled out a thick, no seriously, a thick book. It was the English next book his elder brother, Ryoga, used when he was in ninth grade in America. Ryoma was sure that he could come up with about a dozen pop quizzes and three major tests out the first chapter alone.
Well, I better get started then. Muah ha ha ha ha ha! Ryoma laughed silently as he pulled out his laptop.
--
"Sensei, I need to use the copy machine real quick."
"Ah, sure Echizen-kun, technically it's yours to use since you ARE the new teacher."
"Arigato Sensei," Ryoma nodded his head and made about thirty copies of the five page 'pop-test' he had created. He wanted to evaluate how much his classma-he means- students knew about the darn language.
--
Horio whined as he looked at the clock. Ryoma was waiting with a bored expression on his face as the bell rung and English started for three straight periods.
"Minna, you're having a test!" Ryoma raised his voice slightly to silence his rowdy peers- he means- subordinates.
"Wait, when are we having a test?" Emiko asked as she looked confused for a bit. Ryoma pulled out a stack of papers.
"Right…now," Ryoma passed out the papers. "You may begin, I want it done before ten o'clock, understand?"
Everyone groaned before gold eyes glared at them.
"And after school ends, everyone will stay here for an hour for being lazy, you'll be doing exercises and if I hear another sound out of any of you, you'll be staying here for two hours and I'll make you write a five essay."
Everyone promptly shut up, but not before Horio let out a silent sigh. Oh, too bad Ryoma has such sharp hearing.
"Everyone, thanks to Horio, you'll be staying here for two hours. Also, now you have until nine thirty to finish your test."
Everyone glared at Horio before looking at the clock. IT WAS NINE ALREADY! Pencils dashed across the papers and sweat and tears rolled off the faces of the students. All too soon, Ryoma's voice rang out.
"Pencils down, the test is over!" Ryoma rose and collected the papers. "Now, thanks to Horio once again, you know have a five page essay to complete. Here is the rubric and the topics you may choose from." He handed the papers out before writing something on the board.
Essay must be five pages. Must include at least three quotes from all works of literature mentioned in the options, the quotes must be in English. EVERYTHING must be in English.
Format for essay:
Your name:
Mr. Echizen
English I
Date due
Essay must be in size twelve font and have 1.0" margins. On top of each page must be a header. The header must be your name and the page number.
Essay due on Wednesday.
"I do believe that it is time for science, neh?" And with that, Ryoma walked out of door.
--
Tezuka frowned as he saw the missing Regular and some of the freshman in their club.
Ryuuzaki came over to him and spoke; "Echizen is keeping after class for two hours in detention."
"Is he really that hard as a teacher?"
"Ah, I heard that he made the kids take a test in thirty minutes and then gave them a five page essay due on Wednesday."
"It's Monday."
"I know, he's so strict too. But the way he teaches, some of the students I overhead said that they learned things they never knew before."
"Ah," Tezuka nodded before assigning warm up laps.
--
Horio was sulking in his seat as various people shot random glares at him. It was his fault they were in this mess in the first place.
"You may begin working on your essays, you only have two day to complete it."
Yumi, an auburn haired girl, raised her hand. "Can we ask you for help?"
"You may absolutely not. Struggling is the best way to thrive."
Everyone groaned as they whipped out their Japanese-English dictionaries.
I hate you Horio. Everyone thought collectively.
--
Wednesday…
"Pass up your essays. This is how they'll be graded:
4.0 is an A+ to an A
3.5 is an A- to a B+
3.0 is a B to a C+
2.5 is a C to a C-
2.0 is a D+ to a D-
And a 1.5 or below is a failing grade. If you fail, you'll get a phone call home and a parent-teacher conference will be arranged."
"Wah, Echizen-sensei, why are you so mean to us, what did we do!?" Many boys and girls cried out.
"Because, that's how schools in America work."
Everyone stared in shock. This was how Ryoma was taught!?
--
Next Thursday…
Ryoma passed out the graded essays. Most look like Fuji had tortured the red inked pen and had it bleed out all over the paper.
"I am embarrassed to say, but, most of I will be very happy to meet over 99% of your parents. Everyone, except for Katrina, failed." Ryoma sat back down at his desk. "Well, what are you all waiting for? Those essays aren't going to rewrite themselves."
He's so mean!