"Hey, did you hear? It's the same as last week.." 

"Yeah.. They found another one up north near Downtown. Heart gone and everything."

"Yikes. That's pretty near us too.."

Heather tried her best to enjoy her small afternoon break in peace, ignoring the hushed whispers of some of her colleagues as she munched on a lame piece of white bread. The snacking teacher never really paid too much attention about the going ons of the city anymore, having found that news about killings and other random incidents always made her mood drop considerably.

"Hey, Heather." A fellow teacher whispered from the left side of their conjoined desks, her short brown hair failing to hide its owner's electric blue eyes. "Aren't you worried? That's pretty close to your place isn't it?"

"Not really." Why should she be worried? "It's not like I walk the streets in the middle of the night." 

"Still! You never know Heather." The brown-haired gal protested, left hand chastising the redhead while the other continued to write something down on her lesson plan. "We're both young and in our prime."

"No, we're not Alexa. I can already feel the age creeping in." The spectacled woman chuckled as she sipped on a steaming hot cup of coffee. "Also don't you have a class to get to?"

"Oh damn.." Her fellow teacher muttered to herself as the coffee-sipping redhead watched her frantically scoop up the rest of her teaching material. Typical Alexa behavior if Heather ever saw one. "Thanks again Helly!"

"Stop calling me that, Ms. Dabachach." 

The redhead can only chuckle to herself as her nominal friend all but sprinted out of the faculty room, the brunette's usual complaints at being called by her last name forgotten in lieu of not being late for her homeroom. Despite how one would interpret their relationship, Heather considered the two of them to be friends. Being desk neighbors ever since she got the teaching job, Alexa was the one to show her the ropes in being a teacher. And even through all of her senior's chaotic high energy and sometimes annoying tendencies to gossip, the redhead found her presence to be a pleasant experience.

*BING BONG! BING BONG*

The school bell rang a resounding tune, signifying the end of another day at school. Well, for the lower grades at least. Gathering most of her stuff seeing as this was her last period for the day, the bespectacled teacher left the still busy faculty room in favor of going to her homeroom class. Already, the hallways were packed with scurrying kids, some excited to go home, others assuredly excited to goof off to who knows where. The sound of skidding sneakers filled the air as the brisk clacking of her shoes on the concrete floor was drowned out in the cacophony of energetic children. 

"See you tomorrow Ms. Littman~"

"Bye Ms. Littman~"

Her heart swelled as some of her students from the other classes said their cute goodbyes to her. It never got old, seeing their bright smiles knowing that she did at least a decent job of being a role model to them. 

Smiling at the little angels, Heather nodded and waved at each and every one of them as she navigated through the chaotic crowd. It was always like this. Every Monday, without fail, the students would always see her walking towards her 3 PM class. It was pleasantly nostalgic, as well as self reassuring. It just showed that the kids loved her just as much as she loved them.  

Stopping just at the door of the designated classroom, Heather prepared herself for another hour filled with random shenanigans and kiddie gossip that came with dealing with prepubescent children. Adjusting her glasses with her free hand, the redhead opened the door to her own bunch of little firebrands. What did they do over the Christmas break? Did they do their assigned homework?

Probably not.

Entering the backside of the room, the bunch of troublemakers greeted her ears with a brief wall of noise as she walked towards the teacher's table at the front of the class. Ever so slowly, the noise tapered of the nearer the redhead got to the front of the class, her students behaving the moment they entered their field of vision. 

Now that never got old.

Placing her bag on the table, Heather faced the waiting bunch of the now behaved students. Mismatched eyes scanned each and every one of their cute little faces, a faint smile of pride forming as they stood at attention. 

"Good afternoon class."

"Good afternoon Ms. Littman!" As one, the class greeted the proud teacher. Their stance was akin to a statue, resolute and firm in conviction.

Just like she taught them.

"Take your seat class." 

The children sat down in unison, her command followed to the letter as the woman then took the final roll call for the day. One by one, Heather called out every single name in her class registry, jotting down any absentees that failed to respond to her call. The smug teacher mentally chuckled to herself as her kids obediently stayed silent for the whole duration of the activity. Can some of this batch's former homeroom teachers even imagine a world where class 5-B was as well behaved as they were now? 

"Debs.."

"Here, Ms. Littman!"

Hahaha.. They simply failed to understand how children worked. They should've never allowed them to get to a state of absolute chaos in the first place.

"Gozon.."

"Here~"

Back when she was first assigned a homeroom just a year ago, Alexa told her of some horror stories about how this class would run amok and disrespect whoever teacher was assigned to them for laughs. As a unit, the class would apparently stage organized pranks all throughout the school depending on whoever teacher was their chosen target for the day. 

"Maquera.." 

"Here."

The faculty at first tried to reprimand the kids, one teacher did the usual detention coupled with a warning... 

"Marquez.."

"Here Ms. Littman."

The same teacher that issued the detention quit the day after.

"Nikolopolous.."

"Present~"

Ever since then, the staff had a monthly rotation on which poor soul was assigned as homeroom for the particular batch of troublemakers, each month having a different teacher to do homeroom so as to not get too exposed to the batch's creative brand of pranks. Until of course, she got shuffled in for the rotation.

"Pavlou.."

"Here!"

The pranks started out small; the occasional eraser by the door, some her stuff going missing mid-lecture, to those Heather didn't even bat a single glance. They were kids after all. So she let herself be pranked to appease them.

Come the middle of the month, they started getting more elaborate.

Different colored chalks, sometimes her lip gloss finding its way to the chalk container, a particularly nasty one involving rotten eggs, the rare water balloon to the face, at that point the redhead was getting a bit miffed at the lack of respect being given to her. Especially since their grades were at a pretty high average.

"Savvas.."

"Present Ms. Red~"

Come the third week, Heather could barely keep a straight face whenever the bunch pulled a prank on her. It was quite amazing in retrospect, the fact that it was a group effort was a feat that the redhead would never refute. The coordination, creativity, and sometimes abject humor that their stunts displayed impressed her to the point of amazement. And during that one particular stunt, the one when she was covered with glitter and ribbons from head to toe right in the middle of the school cafeteria, her usual prim and proper facade broke.

She laughed. She laughed as she had never laughed before.

"Uehara..."

"Present, Ms. Littman."

The day after, the amused teacher stopped pretending to fall for their tricks. Each prank was thoroughly dodged with grace and finesse, all the while she continued to laugh at the creativity being displayed. Eventually, she even started giving out tips on how to catch her. By the end of the month..

Heather was in on the pranking business.

"Zoe.."

"Here."

Having gotten an in on the class's inner leadership, she managed to tone down the unruly behavior, to the point that they rarely did the same prank twice in a single month, culminating to the point that the respect her students were giving her was now given to all of the faculty members. Now wasn't that an accomplishment. 

Too bad the higher-ups didn't get the same treatment. The teacher laughed to herself at the thought. That's what they get for not showing up often enough for the kids to even remember their names.

"Everyone's present then. Good."

Taking her seat behind the table, the atmosphere visibly relaxed the moment all of the official business was over and done with. Heather smiled in delight as her students crowded around her, seats vacated in favor of their own brand of homeroom, one filled with closeness, informality, and hilarious moments.

"Okay, class!" The teacher chuckled as they started to show her more plans awaiting her professional critique. "I have one more announcement, after which we can all go home or do some more prep work."

Immediately, the noise died down to acceptable levels. Man, she loved them. 

"Tomorrow's Foundation Day. As I've said last year-"

"That's just last week Ms. Red!"

"I know Lina." The teacher stifled a laugh as the class chuckled at the joke. "Let me finish.. We don't have classes tomorrow-"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!"

The class exploded in cheer the moment she uttered the five magic words any student liked to hear. 

"Class?!" Her voice was drowned out in the sea of excited babbling. Well, she can't exactly blame them. "Class listen!"

Heather put a palm on her forehead. They were over this. It shouldn't have this much impact. Taking off her glasses, the miffed redhead gathered her shouting voice, a technique she found herself developing to better get her class's attention. Taking a deep breath and squinting her heterochromatic eyes, her visage seemed bigger, contrary to her relatively short height of 5'6''. 

"QUIET!!" Her dulcet tone bounced against the small confines of the room. Thankfully, her students immediately got the memo, at least she didn't have to hurt her throat anymore for today. "As I was saying, instead of class, we have a program that starts at 10 AM." Putting her glasses back on, the teacher can now clearly see the attentive looks on her students' faces. "Now just because we don't have classes doesn't mean that you're all free to not go to school tomorrow."

"Awwwww..."

"C'mon teach~"

"Do we have to Ms. Red?~"

"We'll still have roll call during the program." The teacher explained in a professional tone, before shifting to more relaxed, and faintly mischievous cadence. "Besides, don't you wanna prank the director himself?"

"Yeah!!"

Heather smiled to herself. This was what all of the former homeroom teachers missed. If one fueled them with the expected reactions, they'll continue to cajole that person, whereas if one pointed and guided them to rarer, more desirable targets, one could avoid their wrath entirely. 

"Okay, kids! Show me what you've got!"

They can call her whatever nickname they might ever come up with. She'll simply acknowledge it as a term of endearment. Heather wanted these kids to enjoy their childhood, even at the cost of her own professional teaching career. 

"Okay Ms. Littman!~"

A life of teaching surrounded by the cacophony of her dear students. That's something that Heather will always be grateful for. Far away from the hustle and bustle of Downtown, or the needless politicking of crocodiles and other large businesses, this was the best thing that ever happened to her miserable life.

She'll never ask for anything else. 

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