None of that would be necessary now, you decided. Mr. Buckner, however, had clearly identified who the chuckle had come from, and screamed right in front of your nose, spittle flying into your eyes. ”Was that you laughing, maggot?”
You didn't even wince, however, simply answering, ”Yes.”
”And just what do you find so funny,” he said, pausing for a second as he looked down to check a stack of papers he was holding, which you could see had a list of students' names along with small head shots, ”Brandon W Andrews?”
You thought for a moment of how to best answer his question. ”Well, for starters, you're kind of reminding me of that drill sergeant guy from Full Metal Jacket, and I always thought he was pretty hilarious.”
Mr. Buckner’s eyes softened for just a moment, and you wondered if you had hit exactly the description he was going for (after all, you figure everyone in California wants to be in the movies). But the fire quickly returned, and he started yelling even louder. ”So, what, will you be the Joker, then? Well, la-di-freaking-da. We've got ourselves a bona-fide movie buff, boys and girls.” He shook his head, smiling in a cruel, sadistic way. ”Tell you what, Joker. You can be the star of the show. Because every day this week, you’re gonna be running laps for the entire class! Any questions?”
Well, there could be worse punishments, you thought. For now, it would be best to just go along with it. Shaking your head without saying a word, you then quickly started running along the outer edge of the gym, as the rest of the class stared at you in horror.
”All right, then,” Mr. Buckner's voice boomed across the entire gymnasium, ”does Mr. Joker have any friends who want to ’co-star' with him? If so, just speak up, and you can run laps the entire week too!”
You shook your head, turning the corner and facing away from the rest of the class. You sincerely doubted anyone would take him up on his offer to join you, and you wondered just why this little speck of a man felt a need to intimidate and verbally abuse a bunch of teenagers.
”All right, pipsqueak! Start running! Now!”
At first, you thought you had misheard, but as you brought your head up, you noticed the figure of another student starting to run along the edge of the walls. As you looked closer, you realized that it was Ash! You couldn't believe that anyone would voluntarily subject themselves to this torture (well, at least anyone who didn't have divine powers like you), but something had stirred Ash into joining you. Maybe he could be trusted after all...
As Mr. Buckner started to perform his pathetic excuse for ”teaching”, you slowed your pace to allow Ash to be able to catch up with you. When he did, you looked at him and smiled, him giving you a weak smile in return. ”What did you do that for?” you asked.
”I-- I dunno,” he said in between breaths. ”I just thought it was pretty awesome the way you stood up to him without being at all frightened, and... I didn't want you to be the only one. Besides, I kinda like running. I do it all the time, around the neighborhood and stuff.”
”Hmm,” you said. ”Well, thanks!”
”Don't mention it.” His smile started to broaden, but instantly disappeared when Mr. Buckner shouted at the two of you to stop talking and create some space between the two of you.
”Hmm,” you thought to yourself, ”if he wants to see space, I can show him space.”
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