Lollie Parker

Ten minutes.

Ten minutes is how long they waited.

"Where's Garaboski?" Maya asked.

"Uh-oh. Did we do it?" Riley asked.

"Did we finally break him?" Farkle asked.

Mr. Matthews walked in, "You broke him."

They all clapped. Garaboski was the worst.

"Quiet! Mr. Garaboski retired yesterday."

They all clapped again.

"Quiet! The guy survives Vietnam and Mrs. Garaboski, and he can't get past you. Now, he left a letter here that expressed his feelings. "Dear you little" okay, I can't read this."

Mr. Matthews folded the letter.

"He always talked about the good old days before nineteen eighty-five." Lucas said.

"What happened in nineteen eighty-five?" Noah asked.

"That was the year the New York board of education said you couldn't hit a kid with a ruler." Lollie said.

""Bored" of education? I do believe I am." Maya said.

"Well, now you're gonna need a new English teacher." Mr. Matthews said.

"That's okay, thanks." Maya said.

"Uh, I don't know, Maya. You may want to consider this one." Noah said.

He looked out the window and saw a lady with a leather jacket.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Ms. Harper Burgess." Mr. Matthews said.

She walked in, she almost looked like a student.

"You got a bike that goes with that outfit?" Lucas asked.

"Bob fuel tank wide glide." She said, "What do you ride?"

"He rode a sheep." Lollie said.

"Count before you fall asleep. Baa baa." Maya said.

"Wanna race?" Ms. Burgess asked.

"No."

"Ms. Burgess is here to teach you about great books and great ideas. Please give her the same respect that you give me." Mr. Matthews said.

"Oh, we could do better than that." Riley said.

She grabbed some books from her table and passed them out.

"Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns." Ms. Burgess said.

"This is Batman." Farkle said.

"A future Batman."

"What's the difference?" Farkle asked.

"If you don't know the difference between old Batman and new Batman, I've gotta teach you something." Noah told Farkle.

The day Noah walked into the classroom he and Lollie began to notice them getting along was a thing they had to get used to.

So far they weren't hating it, but they weren't going to admit that.

"This story is the continuation based on an original series of characters." She said, "Do you guys know what that means?"

"Yeah."

"Um, aren't you supposed to be teaching us the important books?" Riley asked.

"Mmm, this graphic novel was as important to its style of literature as any book you can think of." Ms. Burgess said.

"What's it about?" Lollie asked.

"Once again, I've got to teach you something." Noah said.

Lollie hit him with her book.

"I'm sorry."

"It's about a world that's become so tough that Batman fights superman. You will tell me why he does that."

"You're gonna start by teaching us a comic book, Ms. Motorcycle?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, and you're gonna start by not calling me Ms, anything. You can call me Harper." She said.

"Harper?" Farkle shouted.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to see if it would work."

"Farkle?"

"You know my name, Harper?"

"I know all of your names. Mr. Matthews told me all about you." Harper said.

"When is this due, please?" Riley asked.

"Hi, Riley."

"Hi."

"How do you like having him here?" She asked.

"It's terrible."

"It's wonderful. My father gave me my love of books."

"He did?"

"He's why I became a teacher. It's why he named me Harper. You'll figure it out."

"Riley, stop me right now." Maya said.

"From what?" Riley asked.

"I can't like a teacher, I'm Maya."

"It's a good day, Maya." Riley said, "School got better and now nothing bad is ever going to happen again."

Lollie and Noah looked at the two, then at each other.

"So the Parker siblings, you two get along?" Ms. Burgess asked.

They looked at her and back at each other.

"Depends." They said.

"Well, maybe this book will bring you two closer than before."

"Doubt it." They said.

"We've got to stop speaking at the same time." Noah said.

Soon after Principal Yancy walked into the classroom, "So, I'm passing by your classroom on this, your first day, and I can't help noticing that somebody has a comic book that everybody has a comic book."

"They're graphic novels." Farkle told him.

"Pipe down, Farkle."

"That's rude." Lollie spoke aloud.

She didn't mean to do that.

"You want detention, Winter Parker."

She looked at the man, "No, sir."

"I think Harper's trying to teach us something important." Riley said.

"Oh, Harper is? Hm? Well, she's not. It isn't literature, it's comic books. Which are against school policy, Ms. Burgess. And so is calling Ms. Burgess by her first name. You will gather these up, and you will teach something important." He said dropping a book on her desk.

"'To Kill A Mockingbird?'" Are you familiar with this?" He asked her.

"I know this book."

"Then teach it, Ms. Burgess." He said walking out.

"So, The Dark Knight Returns. Read it tonight, and tomorrow we will learn something important." She said.

They all clapped.

"Ah, stop it. You're not supposed to like a teacher." Harper said, "You're Maya."

"Oh, no, what are you doing to me?" Maya asked standing up.

Only for the clapping to continued.
﹏﹏﹏﹏

The two youngest Parker siblings sat at the dinner table with their other family members.

"So, How was school?" Bailey asked.

"Always the same, with something to make it different." They said.

"You two say that every day." Finn said.

"Because it's true." They said.

"Have y'all notice they've been speaking at the same time. It's weird." Mariah said.

The two rolled their eyes, "See! They are even doing the same actions at the same time." Mariah said.

"Leave then alone," Finn said, "Heard you two had a new teacher."

Noah answered first, "She's cool. She has us reading The Dark Knight Returns."

Bailey picked the comic book off the table.

"Hey, I read that when I was younger." Finn said.

"Aren't you fifty?" Mariah asked.

"I'm forty-four thank you."

"Well, I had a pretty cool teacher once." Bailey said.

"Who was it?" Lollie asked, "Did that teacher get along with the principal?"

"Feeny was the principal."

"So, Mr. Feeny taught you every year along with Cory and Topanga and was also your principal?" Finn asked.

"Yes."

"You're high school life was weird." Finn said.

Bailey smiled and slightly shoved him.

"Our principal won't let her teach us this." Noah said.

"But she is anyway?" Finn asked.

"It's a different world now. People think they have power over others. If they are learning something with this, teach it." Bailey said.

"An interesting take on that. You two know someone with a lot of power?" Finn asked.

"Superman." Noah muttered.

"Then this new teacher is like-" Mariah started.

Lollie cut her off, "Batman!"

"What's the difference between the two?" Mariah asked.

Noah scoffed, "You're stupid. One has superpowers and one doesn't."

"You're just gonna let him call me stupid?" Mariah asked.

"Noah, that wasn't nice." Bailey said.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"How can that be a fair fight?" Mariah asked.

"It's not." Finn started.

"You know, I don't want Harper-" Lollie said.

"Batman." Noah cut her off.

"- to lose."

"Well, maybe you should do your homework and find out what happens next." Bailey said.

Mariah scoffed, "Yeah, like they're gonna run-"

Lollie grabbed the comic out of her mother's hand and Noah grabbed their slices of pizza and they ran upstairs.

"Now, that's what I call wizardry." Mariah said.

The two adults looked at her, "Or I call it two kids actually being excited to learn something. Yay."
﹏﹏﹏﹏

"Can good change?" Harper asked.

"Good is good." Riley said.

"Can evil change?" She asked.

"It seems like just when we think we've seen the worst that there can be, somebody, comes up with something." Lucas said.

"Why do you suppose that is?"

"Because it's evil that fascinates us." Maya said.

"But doesn't good have to win in the end?" Farkle asked.

"Does it?" Harper asked.

Principal Yancy walked in again, "So I'm passing by your classroom on this, your second day, and I see no mockingbird. But I still see comic books."

"Yes, we're studying the nature of good and evil."

"I don't care. Class dismissed." He said.

"Excuse me?" Harper questioned.

"Study hall, all of you! Except Farkle. You go sit in a garbage can." Yancy said.

"Yay!" He said.

They only sat there.

"Leave now." Yancy said.

"Go." Harper muttered.

"Riley, Lollie." Maya said.

Lollie was shocked when Maya grabbed her hand and they went to find Mr. Matthews.

They were the first ones out the door.

Once he was found they pushed him inside the classroom.

"Uh, What's going on here?" Mr. Matthews asked.

Most of the conversation was muffled.

They could most definitely hear that both teachers were now fired.
﹏﹏﹏﹏

Lollie and Noah sat at the dinner table picking at their food.

"Well, I would ask what happened at school today but I can tell something happened by looking at your faces." Bailey said.

"Ms. Burgess got fired." Noah said, "All because we liked her style of teaching."

"Was it really that or was it the fact that you scared her off." Mariah said.

The two adults looked at her, "I mean, so sad."

"Mr. Matthews was also fired. I mean Yancy can't do that right?" Lollie asked.

"He can't fire him. According to statute thirty twenty-eight, teacher dismissals have to come from the state." Bailey said.

"Mom, do you know everything?" Noah asked.

"Yeah."

"So Mr. Matthews is safe?" Lollie asked.

"Aw, Lollie you care?" Mariah asked.

"You sound like you have no personality or personal life? What happened to you these past couple of weeks?" Lollie asked.

"You know what? I'll stop talking." Mariah said.

"I've met Principal Yancy. He can be pretty stubborn." Bailey said.

"What will we do next?" Noah asked.

"Well, he has to take it to his boss. He has to take it to the superintendent of schools." Finn said.

Finn and Bailey looked at each other, "They're going to be safe."

"How do we know that?" Lollie asked.

"Trust us. They're safe." Bailey said.
﹏﹏﹏﹏

Lollie and Noah sat at their desk with a smirk on their faces.

"We have some special guests in our classroom. Please behave as you normally would." Harper said.

"Hi." Riley said.

"Hi."

"We love Harper." Riley told Mr. Turner, "Do you understand, Uncle Jon?"

"Real Uncle, or do you just call him that?" Yancy asked.

"He comes over like a million times a week-" Riley said.

"I withdraw my complaint." Yancy said.

"You can't do that now Yancy, we're already here." Bailey said.

How nice is it to have your mom be a superintendent? Being a stand-in nurse was nice and all but Bailey was glad to actually start working her job.

"Yeah mom, it's crazy how he can't do that." Lollie said.

Yancy smiled weakly, "Like, Birth mom?"

"It wouldn't matter. My kids are in this class." Bailey said.

Noah and Lollie looked over at Yancy.

"Winter-" He started, Bailey cut him off.

"Lollie. She goes by Lollie."

"Of course. Lollie and Noah Parker. Should have put two and two together." Yancy said.

"You got them calling you by your first name?" Jon asked.

"Sir, Ma'am, I wanted them to put together the mockingbird thing to see how much I care about what I'll be teaching." Harper said.

"All right, does anybody understand the significance of Harper's name in regards to the author of To Kill a Mockingbird?" Bailey asked.

"Harper's first name is Charles Twain!" Maya said.

"You're doing a bang-up job with her, Matthews." Jon said.

"Look, she was told by the principal not to teach us something, but she did anyways. That's gotta mean something." Lollie said.

"Psst, will you stop helping us?" Mr. Matthews whispered.

Bailey looked over at Mr. Matthews, "Yeah, it means something. Now, may we see what you've learned? Because that's what means everything."

"Farkle goes first, Farkle always goes first!"

"Stuart Minkus' kid?" Jon asked.

"Yeah."

"Supergenius?"

"Outer space."

"Real human boy?"

"We're not sure yet."

"Sit down." Jon said and Farkle sat down.

"I'll make the presentation." Lucas said standing up.

"Oh, Lucas! You like this teacher?" Bailey asked.

"I like both of these teachers."

"Are you familiar with the material?" She continued.

"Me? No, I never saw this thing before. I never saw this thing before in my life. Yeah, I read it. I read it, actually, a lot."

He sat back down at his desk.

"Thanks for telling the truth." Jon said.

"Yeah, I can't help myself." He muttered.

"Noah." Bailey walked towards her son, "I know you know this. He knows because he read it twice."

"Now, I prefer someone who is unfamiliar with the material.
Someone who is notoriously unteachable." Jon started.

He stopped in front of Lollie's desk.

"How you doin'?" Lollie asked.

"She's teachable, she's a good one, sometimes." Mr. Matthews said.

Bailey sent a smile his way, "Of course she's teachable Matthews, but does she pay attention, go show them what you know Mija."

Lollie made her way towards the front, she fumbled with the hair tie on her wrist.

Riley and Maya followed behind her.

"Not you, guys." Mr. Matthews said.

"I only looked at the pictures." Maya said.

"I read the words." Riley said.

Lollie looked between the two, "I read and looked at the picture twice."

"It's a trio." Mr. Matthews said.

"I hope you learned something, girls." Harper said.

"I learn something all the time." Riley said.

"I come here because my apartment leaks."

"I come because someone has faith in me." Lollie said.

Bailey sent her a smile.

Harper gestured to Maya, "Come here."

"Yes?"

"I know you're a lot smarter than you want us to know." She said.

"Shush." Maya whispered, "We got this."

"I hope so. Our future's in your hands." Mr. Matthews said.

"In Frank Miller's The Dark Night Returns the keyword is dark. He doesn't write heroes or villains that you are used to. You have to really think about what's right and what's wrong." Lollie explained.

"The pictures make you work, too. You have to look up, down, across, and sideways, but I believe he's trying to get us to look at what our own world has become. Up, down, across, and sideways." Maya said.

"Heroes that should be friends with a common goal, fight each other instead." Riley said.

"One hero was trying to inspire his old friend to take a look at the world, and realized that it's changed." Noah added.

"So, he needed to change, too.
But he wouldn't, so he fought against him. Which was hard to look at, because the world is dark enough and heroes are supposed to bring light." Lucas said.

"Everyone in this room knows that someone with real power doesn't need to hit a kid with a ruler to get the kid to want to learn." Lollie said.

"Because this is a new world, and we don't do that here." Maya said, "Frank Miller turned a comic book into what's the word?"

"You know the word." Harper said.

"Literature and Harper here is named after someone who gave us a great story." Maya said.

Lollie walked over to her mother, "Which her father taught her to appreciate, and it means everything to her that her father taught her. She's taught me so much already."

"You did that in two days?" Jon asked.

"They're smarter than they want us to know." Harper said.

"She did that in two days! Shape up, Matthews." Jon told him.

"Yes, sir."

"Jon, Bailey, comic books are against school policy." Yancy said.

"Yeah, and you can hit a kid with a ruler in nineteen states." Bailey told him.

Yancy huffed and walked out of the room.

"Hey, Matthews, I know it was you that chose Harper for these kids." Jon said, "Is that because maybe she, uh reminded you of someone?"

"No."

"Okay."
﹏﹏﹏﹏

Lollie sat at her bay window reading the same comic book over again.

Noah knocked on her door and sat beside her.

"We did a good thing today."

Lollie looked up at him, "I know."

"We did something so good that mom made us one of these."

He had two plates both of them had a Portia on them.

Lollie smiled at him, "Thanks for bringing it to me."

The two sat in silence for a while.

"Thanks for being there Lollie, you know, just being in my life in general."

"Thanks for being there for me Noah, even though you're a pain in my butt."

The two of them laughed.

"You know I thought they would never get along." Bailey said.

The two adults sat outside their bedroom door, just to hear the youngest two have a conversation.

"Well, they have a lot more in common than what they thought." Finn told her.
﹏﹏﹏﹏

"Good morning." Mr. Matthews said walking in with Jon and Bailey, "Before we begin today, a decision has been reached. Now, I know you're all going to remain quiet and calm." Mr. Matthews said.

The two girls stood up.

"We love her!"

"Thank you." He said.

They sat down.

"We appreciate it when students are fond of a teacher. I mean, it factors into a decision, but it cannot be the first priority. That has to be the preparation that a teacher puts into a lesson plan, and what the students take from it. Cory, what are you teaching today?" Jon asked.

"I don't know. I'm probably making something up." He admitted.

"All right, now Ms. Burgess went against school policy. The principal decided what he saw fit. Right and wrong can be difficult to identify sometimes. That's what you just read in English class. But this is history. And what does history teach us?
You?" Bailey asked and pointed to Mr. Matthews.

"When it's a struggle between right and wrong, that's when the real hero fights hardest." Mr. Matthews said.

"So for the greater good of this school, it has been decided that someone had to go. So I would like to introduce you to your new English teacher." Jon said.

"No!" Maya shouted.

"Why is it worth learning anything if we can't change the world for the better?" Riley asked.

"How are we supposed to be heroes if we can't do anything about anything?" Lollie asked.

"Hi!" Harper said as she walked in.

"Wow!" Riley shouted.

"Sometimes you can beat Superman." Maya said.

"Very good, Maya. You get an A." Harper said.

"This new teacher's out to ruin my reputation." Maya said.
﹏﹏﹏﹏

Mr. Matthews has invited the Parker family over for dinner that night, they all agreed to go over.

"He was one of your teachers, mommy?" Auggie, Riley's younger brother asked.

"Yeah, Mr. Turner helped me learn everything I know."

"She knows everything." Auggie said.

"I know."

"Was my daddy a good student?"

"He was a wonderful student."

"Why would you lie to my kid?" Topanga asked.

"He tried his best."

"Why would you lie to my kid?"

"He was so bad, he became a teacher so he could go back to school again." Mr. Turner said.

"That's the best thing I've heard all night." Lollie said.

"How about our mom?" Noah asked, "How was she?"

"She is just as Topanga. Why do you think they're best friends?" Jon said.

"So word has it you took care of Shawn Hunter?" Maya asked.

"Yeah, I did. His dad was a little off and on. No kid should have that."

"Yeah."

"Did you care about him, though?" Maya asked, "You weren't his real father."

"No, I wasn't."

"But was it possible for you to-"

"Maya. I loved him like a son. I still do." He said.

"That's good." Maya said.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for being a good teacher."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Thank you." Lollie said.

"Boy, there's nothing better than hearing that from your students." Mr. Matthews said, "Mr. Turner."

"Thank you for being a good teacher." Topanga said.

"Yeah, thanks."

"You gave me an A minus once." Topanga said.

"Topanga."

"Topanga."

"I want you to change it."

"Okay."
﹏﹏﹏﹏

word count: 3369

episode: Girl Meets New Teacher

pages: 55

i was hesitant to put that gif there, if you know, you know.

wouldn't it be crazy if Shawn was Lollie's dad?

he's not.

also ignore the fact that her hair if blue in the gif, her hair is currently pink right now.

just in case.