Last time in 'Our sexy but grumpy fellow teacher';

"I could show you around."

Your head shot up. "Excuse me?"

Thorin shrugged, opening his book and grabbing his sandwiches. "I am off for the rest of the day. If you can stand being around the devil long enough to see the entire school, then I would be happy to do so." He took a bite.

You realized your mouth still hang open so you hurriedly shut it. "Are you sure?"

Thorin nodded. "Just give me some time to finish my lunch. I believe you still have to eat as well?"

You nodded.

He looked at you from behind his book. You could only see his eyes and the other parts of the upper half of his head. "Then maybe you should eat as well. I would hate to hear all the jokes after I have to carry you to the nurses' office because you fainted."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Don't you have to teach more classes today?" you asked as you tried to keep up with his pace. Thorin was quite a bit taller than you. He didn't seem to notice it. It was like you were running along behind him like a puppy. 

Thorin laughed. "I wouldn't be showing you around if I did" he said. He pushed open a door to yet another classroom. "And here we have the classrooms for all the English teachers. Quite boring if you ask me. They don't even have posters of Shakespeare in here."

You used this moment to catch your breath. "You have something against English teachers?" you asked just to make conversation. The longer you talked the longer you would be able to stand still and rest.

"I am sorry if I offended you. Now that you mention it, I don't even know what you teach" he said. He rubbed the back of his neck. 

"Don't worry. I teach religions. Not that I am super religious myself but I find it fascinating" you half-explained. All the rooms that you had seen thus far looked pretty neat.

Much better than your own for sure. The principal had already explained to you that you could customize it to your own taste. As long as it followed school guide lines, that is. You decided you wouldn't start decorating until at least one month in.

Secretly you had already dragged some stuff with you this morning but that was beside the point. 

"Why did you choose to study religions if you are not religious yourself?" Thorin asked interested. Though it came out more like his usual grunt.

You stretched your back. "Because I think we should all be openminded. And young people don't check the things they hear. So they often receive the wrong information that they take to be the truth. I want to at least tell them what the real story is."

Thorin nodded. "That is an admirable goal."

That was the first time you heard him make an actual compliment. "Thank you."

"Don't get your hopes up though, all students here are imbeciles." He closed the door to the classroom and continued on his way. 

Your shoulders sunk. If all teachers here were like him then you wouldn't survive the first week. "I don't believe they are that bad. The students I met today are intelligent. They just need the right teacher in front of them" you said. Positivity was your strong suit.

Thorin was tempted to roll his eyes. "We are not to form ourselves to the students' will, miss Reynales. They have to form themselves to our method of teaching."

"That is where you are wrong." You didn't look at him when you said this so you didn't see the astonished look on Thorin's face.

You see, no one ever talked back to him. Not because he was mean or intimidating, but none of the other teachers really cared about their job. They just followed the strongest person. And up until now that had been Thorin.

This was the first time someone had a different opinion than him and openly came out for it. Interesting.

"Not every students studies the same way as the others. Some will learn better when they are left alone, working on projects, before they understand, learn and remember. Others will find that it is easier for them when they talk about the class with others.

If we force our own way of studying on to them than they will never learn how to do it themselves. And many won't study and actually remember what you said the same way as you do. We are human beings, living things" you explained.

You neared the end of the hallway where two large wooden doors were waiting to be opened. "This must be the library?" you exclaimed. Without waiting for an answer, you rushed to walk in.

Thorin was still felt a little dumbfounded, going over what you said in his head. "Yes" he said half in thought.

The place you walked into was nothing short of a miracle. Like a palace that was filled from the top all the way down to the floor with books. There were old study books, new ones that hadn't been read too many times.

Books that still had to be discovered.

And - "TOLKIEN!" You didn't really care anymore whether Thorin saw you this way or not. Rushing through the aisles you ran towards the sign that told you where your favorite books were displayed.

Distracted from his thoughts, Thorin casually walked after you. "I take it you like his books too?"

"Of course! How can I not?" By the time he found you, your nose was buried deep within one of the older copies of 'The two towers'. "Wait," you realized something, "you said 'too'. Does that mean you read his books too?"

Thorin let his fingers glide over the covers of the books. "That is what that word means, yes. I can walk you back to the English classroom? Class should begin somewhere within the next ten minutes."

You repressed the need to stick out your tongue at him. That wouldn't be a grown-up thing to do. "I just didn't take you as the Tolkien kind of guy" you said instead, continuing to read.

"What kind of guy do you think I am?" he asked. Thorin sat down at one of the tables that was leaned against the stone wall. 

How could they not have seen that! Sometimes you wish you were in that world so you could show them that woman could fight. One day a hole in the ground would open and you would be in Middle-Earth to- "I am sorry, what?"

You looked up to find that Thorin shook his head, smiling. "Not important. There are other writers in here as well. Maybe you have heard of some of them." His eyes had softened. "You are allowed to borrow as many books as you'd like from the library."

An exited giggle escaped your mouth. "So it won't be strange if I show up at the parking lot tomorrow morning in a moving truck?" you said jokingly.

"I didn't say that" Thorin said.

You laughed together.

Hesitant, you put the book back in it's place. "I am sure I will spend a lot of time here during my breaks" you said lovingly. Even the smell fit the place. New places lacked atmosphere. This was perfect.

"Then we will be seeing an awful lot of each other during our career miss Reynales." Thorin walked past you, knowing that you would follow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks passed where you didn't talk to the biology teacher. Except for the occasional 'good morning' when you arrived and 'good afternoon' when one of you left. Other teachers found out that you had arrived and introduced themselves to you.

Apparently a memo had made the rounds with the wrong date written on it. That is why no one had been waiting for you on your first day. 

Like Dorothy, the overly excited librarian, told you; "Things get lost a lot here in Ereborean." She took you under her wing, telling you many stories about the library. Dorothy had worked here ever since the school was built. 

You were shocked to find out that it was only fourty years old. 

"That is the reason why it is still so small" Dorothy explained.

Though you weren't sure if that was the real reason, you just nodded and smiled. No point in making a fuss about something so unimportant. 

Some teachers offered you a place next to them in the teachers' room. Until now you had exused yourself every time but got dragged along any way. 'No' was not a word they had in their dictionary.

The library had been calling your name but you never seemed to make it to it. 

"I've gotta run" you told the other teachers when you noticed the time. 

"So early?" some of them whined. You shrugged. "I am sorry, there are some things I need to put in place before my class starts" you explained before walking off. You were sure that the gossipping would start as soon as you had left the room.

When you came close to your classroom you noticed that three of your students were already waiting there for you to arrive. Ten minutes too early. 

"Good afternoon Sandra, Lily, Jake" you said nodding and checking if you had gotten their names right. "You are early today."

Sandra and Lily were both holding a huge amount of paper, colored cubes and other stuff that you couldn't identify. While Jake was leaning against the wall, looking at the screen of his mobile phone.

"We are sorry miss Reynales but we have to organize some things before we can start our presentation" Lily said as she balanced everything in her arms.

You threw the door open so that they could hurry in. "You can put everything on my desk, you will be leading the class today." Lights were switched on and the class bathed in light.

"Just for our presentation, right?" Jake said cautiously.

The two girls rolled their eyes.

"Have you even listened to the assignment two weeks ago?" Sandra asked him. Lily and she shoved some tables together so that every one would be sitting in small groups of four. 

"I have. It is just that I didn't know we were supposed to be in charge" Jake said. He put his phone away to open his laptop and get the power point ready for class. 

"Like the assignment says; you are supposed to talk about the subject you have been given in a new and entertaining way. Not just giving a presentation but by creating something for your fellow students to do. And you have the whole hour to do so" you explained once again.

"I love the look of that" you said as you passed by Jake's laptop. "If that is your presentation then it is a clear one."

He smiled at the compliment he received. 

"Miss Reynales? What do you do before you give a presentation?" Sandra looked at you with wide eyes. "I mean, what do you do about the nerves?"

"I know that you need me to get your diploma so either way you will have to listen to me whether you like it or not. Just kidding, I picture you guys as adults. It helps me" you said. 

They worked hard to get everything ready in time for the others to arrive. And sure enough, they were starting to walk in as soon as the last things were set into place. "Where are we supposed to sit?" Edgar asked when he noticed the new order of the tables. 

Sandra walked towards the door. "You can pick out your own seat today. Just don't move the tables. We will explain why once we get started." Edgar nodded and Sandra smiled once she realized that they listened to her. Her face was beet red.

There was a hint of excitement in the classroom. The assignment was given out two weeks ago and this was the first group that would execute it. You also felt a tad nervous. How would this all play out?

Lily nodded at you so you went ahead and prepared yourself to close the door.

"Miss Reynales, I am sorry I am late. The principal informed me five minutes ago that I am supposed to write a report about how the way you teach. So, here I am." Thorin looked around the classroom. "I see the table settings weren't to your liking?"

Your cheeks heated up. Not now. "Oh, well, it is a part of an assignment" you explained, feeling like you were caught doing something you weren't supposed to be doing.

The assignment had the students explaining different religions to one another so that you could figure out early on how invested they were in school. And you wanted to give them a breather from all the other classes.

Each group had to give a presentation and then give the students something so that they could do something with everything they had just heard. Not just writing stuff down in class all day long.

The students looked at you expectantly. 

Jake leaned in to you. "We do have a lot to talk about miss Reynales" he whispered.

You nodded. "Right, mister Oakenshield, we have a seat left next to me in front of the class. If that is alright with you?"

Thorin nodded, crossing the classroom to go to his seat. 

"Class, as you all know this is the first group so treat them nicely. I won't say another word unless there is something not completely right about your presentation. But don't worry about that" you told the three students in front of your class. "You can start."

You sat down beside Thorin and watched him anxiously from the corner of your eyes. A part of you wanted to know what he was doing while another part wanted to run away and hide.

Instead you wrote down some notes that you would go over with the group after class was over. 

Sandra clearly felt out of place in front of the class but she did talk loud and had lots of interesting facts to share. So did Lily, who was normally quiet in class. She lead the presentation about Buddhism. 

Jake apparently had parents who practised Buddhism. He had brought some of their belongings along to show to the class. 

Only a few times did you need to interject to tell someone to put their phone away. 

Over all it went quite well, you would say. At some point you even forgot about Thorin sitting next to you, scribbling away. How could he write so much down when you weren't even the one teaching?

You were sure there was an 'F' at the top of his notes. Maybe he would see this as an easy way out of teaching the class yourself.

"That was our presentation" Sandra announced.

"Now, as you all see there is a cardboard board game laying in the middle of each group" Jake explained.

Mumbles could be heard as students were finally allowed to play with the home-made board game. There were different colored pawns, one for each player, and a few cards laying on the square bord.

"The rules are not much different than any other board game" Jake continued to explain. "You throw the dice and the person with the highest number can start the game."

Lily nodded. "The number the dice shows is the number of steps you can take forward. There are special tiles on the board where you are given a question about Buddhism."

"When you get a question right, you are given a point. At the end of class we find out who has won the game" Sandra finished.

"And what does the winner get?" Melody asked.

Lily and Sandra looked at each other, worried.

But Jake stepped in. "You will win the awe from your classmates. Buddhism is about not wanting more and more stuff, but learning to live with less. It would be wrong of us to give you an actual prize."

Smart safe, you wrote down on your own sheet.

The three students walked around the classroom to help their classmates in case they got stuck. You got up to do the same. 

To your surprise most students had remembered most of the presentation. You had hoped they would, it was the whole point of this assignment, but to see your plan working was something else. 

When one group didn't understand the answer to a question, the group next to them explained it.

Some groups got tired of the game rather quickly and you had to shuss them sometimes. "Each member of your group can throw the dice once more before class is over" you said ten minutes before the hour was over.

You gathered your notes from the presentation and watched as the three students took over again. 

Edgar from group 2 had won the game. He received the 'awe' of his classmates. 

"What did we like about the presentation?" you asked the class.

No one said a word.

"Nelly, what did you think?" you asked one of the more quieter girls in your class. 

She looked down at her hands. "I think that they did a lot of research to Buddhism" she spoke softly.

Dennis, who sat next to her, nodded. "Yeah, they knew a lot about it. Also I could hear them clearly here in the back of class." More students nodded.

"Good. Those were the tops from your classmates. Does anyone have any tips for this group? Yes, Nadine." Finally someone started talking without you having to tell them. Thorin scribbled something else down on his sheet.

"They sometimes looked at the screen a little too much" she said carefully.

You nodded. "Good point Nadine. Anyone else? No? You have done a good job and I will give you my opinion now. The rest of the class is dismissed." The three students gathered around your desk and the others ran away before you could change your mind.

"That went so much better than I thought it would" Sandra said as soon as the door closed. 

"Yeah, they actually listened to us" Jake said.

"That is because you were clear in your presentation. And like others said, you knew what you were talking about. You could see you had prepared, the power point was clear and the game was very well made.

Did you make that yourself?" 

Lily's face started to shine. "Yes, we worked on it together. We thought it would look better than using some old board games."

"Great choice. That will give you extra points." You looked down your list. "The only thing I would like for you to focus on next time is that you look at the crowd you're talking to. Sometimes you did stay a little too focused on the power point itself.

Especially you Lily. When you talk in front of a crowd the people want to feel like you are talking to them directly. You can do that by making eye-contact. Remember that for next time."

The students nodded.

"All in all I think you did a great job. You were the first ones to do this in front of the class, I bet that must have made you a little nervous?"

Sandra smiled anxiously.

"You get an 8+ from me. Because there are a few things to improve but you did a great job" you said with a smile.

They visibly relaxed as their shoulders finally lowered a bit. 

"Thank you miss Reynales" Jake said. He turned around to gather the board games they had created. "Is it alright if I take this home with me? Or do you need it for something?" he asked you.

You thought about it for a moment. "No, that is alright. You can take them with you. After all they were made by you."

"So we will see you tomorrow for another class?" Sandra asked.

"Yes, that will be a normal lesson like usual. I will give some more information about Buddhism tomorrow. Have a relaxing lunch" you said as they left your classroom.

The scribbling next to you stopped. Now it was your turn to feel anxious. 

Thorin took his time to look at his notes, scratch his beard, look at his notes some more... why did this man have to torture you so? "I am sorry, I didn't know I was going to be watched by another teacher" you said just to make conversation.

"Hmm, would you have done something differently if you had know?" he asked, still looking at his sheet.

The heat raised to your cheeks. "N-no, I just meant to say that-" You didn't know what you meant to say. Maybe it was better to keep quiet. So you just stared at him instead.

Thorin looked up with a small smile. "Don't worry, you did a great job. It was surprising but not something I hadn't expected" he started. He leaned back in his chair a little, and looked at you with curious eyes. 

"What do you mean?" you asked.

"From the little conversation we have had I gathered that you have a different point of view on the role of a teacher. And it showed in your class today." He was silent for a minute. "Your class does respect you, they listen to you and they learned a lot this way."

Your body was now positively on fire. Maybe he would know why it felt that way, he was the biology teacher.

"Why did you decide to let them teach your subject of the week before you do it yourself?"

You swallowed thickly. "Well, I thought it would get them to read into the subject before hand. I am hoping that this way they will see what benefits it has to read through the chapters before a lesson starts. The first period may be the best to show that to them."

"Hmm, do you think they will start doing that?" At your questioning look he re-phrased. "Do you think they will start preparing for your class from next perion onwards?"

You shook your head. "Most of them won't, I bet. The least I can do is show them another way to which they are used. I feel like that is my job as a teacher."

"Then I have everything I need, miss Reynales." Thorin gathered his sheets. "The principal will receive a positive report from me. Have a good day." And he left.

It all happened so quickly that you had no time to register his words. Was this is? You had been worried during the whole class for this? Just a few questions and he was done?

"Miss Reynales? Can we come in already?" a student from the new class asked.

"Yes! Please, come in!"