The bell rings, so Zack, Rian and Alex pick up their bags and enter the classroom, Alex somewhat hiding between the other guys to avoid Mr Barakat, who is thankfully preoccupied with organising his colourful files on the shelf.
They slink to the back of the classroom and Alex keeps his head down as the classroom fills up with the rest of the students. It’s mostly the arty people, but there are two jocks in their Letterman jackets and three cheerleaders, including that girl Cassadee. Soon the chatter dies down and Mr Barakat sees this as his cue to start talking.

“Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a good summer, but, sadly, summer is over now and it’s time to re-boot your brains! Fear not, for this is your last year and it will all be over soon.”
As he spoke, Mr Barakat sauntered back and forth across the front of the classroom, hands behind his back and an air of confidence. Nothing at all like how he’d been acting only minutes before.
“Now, some of the more vigilant among you may notice that I am not Miss Brooker. During the summer Miss Brooker discovered that she was pregnant,”
Mr Barakat paused as a chorus of ‘awww’s came from the girls before he continued,
“and has taken early maternity leave to, erm, find the father.”
This produced a few gasps and giggles from the class, and Mr Barakat had to cover his mouth in a bad attempt to hide his own grin.
“So, with that in mind, I’m not sure how long I’m going to be staying here. It could be all year, who knows?”

Wow, was a teacher allowed to talk about other members of staff like that to students? No one really cared and they were all laughing at Mr Barakat's opinion of Miss Brooker.

“Anyway, I ought to introduce myself. I am Mr Barakat, some of you with little brothers or sisters may know me from the kindergarten where I work as a teaching assistant. Back story, I was a student here a few years back and when Miss Brooker said she needed time off, the head, Mr Gambon, asked me to step in because he remembered my love of the Arts when I was here. So, here I am!”

There was a small amount of muttering and a few ‘Ah!’s of recognition from the students who remembered him from when he was a student. Alex knew he didn’t look that old, it was his big shining eyes that gave it away. So, he was only a few years older. Now that Alex looked properly, even from the back of the classroom, you could see that Mr Barakat was only about 25.

It was strange how nervous and clumsy he had been earlier that morning, but watching him now, he moved with a certain dignified grace. His dressy appearance made him look as though her were bathed in silver light stood in front of us. No, as though he emitted silver light. Like the pureness of his being made him glow. But as Alex pondered this, his thought bubble was popped with a sharp flick to the ear from Rian.

“Dude, what the fuck was that for?!”

“You were staring again...” Rian said back, grinning from ear to ear. “You do like him don’t you?”

“Oh my god, shut up!”

Rian gasped. “You do don’t you! Oh my god you’ve got the hots for the teacher!”

“Shut up!” Alex growled

“Oi! Oi, Zee.” Rian turned to his left where Zack was sat, head on desk, listening to music. Rian shoved him and he sat up and pulled out the earphones.

“What?” he said dully.

“Alex's got the hots for the teacher!”

“I said shut up!” Alex growled again.

Zack didn’t have a chance to reply as Mr Barakat called out for silence.

“Now, as I don’t know any of you, I thought we could do a quick getting-to-know-you exercise! So, just say your name and some things that you like, okay? I’ll start. I’m Mr Barakat, I like superheroes, marshmallow fluff and Home Alone.”

The fact that he liked Home Alone made some people laugh, some just nodded their heads in approval. Alex concluded that he was a pretty cool guy so far, and couldn’t understand where that shy klutz from 15 minutes ago went.

Soon Mr Barakat was going round the class, person by person, listening to their names and interests: Molly, dancing and singing; Sammi, painting and vintage dresses; Jackson, cars and football; Lisa, illustration and photography. The list went on.

“You, with the eye liner.” Mr Barakat pointed to the girl on the other side of Zack.

She coughed a little before answering, “I’m Tay, and I like dogs and music.”

“What kind of music, Tay?”

“Good music.”

“Good answer, Tay!” Mr Barakat smiled before looking over to Zack, who was now face down, asleep on the desk.

Mr Batakat grinned, made a shushing noise and put his finger to his lips. The class went silent as Mr Barakat crept over, carefully grabbed hold of Zack's earphones, pulled then out quickly and yelled right into Zack's ear.

“WAKE UP PRINCESS!”

Zack jolted upright so fast, his chair nearly went over backwards. He would have brained himself on the radiator if Mr Barakat hadn’t grabbed the back of his seat. Zack looked pretty shocked to say the least. The class began laughing while Rian and Alex nearly fell off their seats in hysterics.

“Ah, hello, Sleeping Beauty! Feeling refreshed?” Mr Barakat asked with a small grin on his face.

The class continued to laugh. Rian was in total stitches. “Oh my god, Zee, your face!” He choked out through laughter, tears streaming down his face.

“Okay everyone, settle down... “ Mr Barakat tried to calm class. Eventually the laughter died down and Rian wiped away the wetness from his cheeks. “So, everyone,” Mr Barakat announced to the class while pointing with both hands at Zack, “this is, what was it.. Princess Zack! He likes sleeping in class and,” Mr Barakat put the earphones to his own ears, “listening to My Chem! Nice one!”

The class laughed a little more as Mr Barakat perched himself on the edge of Zack's desk, much to the displeasure of Zack.

“You with the leather jacket! I’m almost jealous!” Mr Barakat said, ruffling his silky locks.

Alex noticed the way it moved, almost like strands of black silk moving like water around his ears.

“Ha, thanks! I’m Rian, I like old cars and playing drums.”

“What kind of old cars, like, classics or... ?”

“Well, I’ve got an old Trans Am.”

“No way! I’ve always wanted a Trans Am! Nice one.” Mr Barakat reached out for a high five which Rian happily returned.

Most of the class had started up their own conversations again so Mr Barakat and Rian chatted for a bit about old cars and then Harley Davidsons. Alex sat in his seat, carefully peering round Rian to look at the teacher. He was actually stunning. Alex had never had a crush on a guy before, he just knew he preferred men to women. Simple as. But Mr Barakat, well, he was really something. He wasn’t muscular, but he wasn’t fat either, a twig really, much like Alex himself.
The way he was leaning one-handed on Rian's desk, legs crossed, other hand on hip, made his figure seem slightly feminine, as did his long eye lashes. The lights in the classroom made his lashes cast long, elegant shadows across his smooth cheeks. His skin was pale, as though he rarely went outside, but Alex could see now that his skin was completely smooth, no blemished at all. Not even the bruise above his eye, which was strange as Alex knew there should be a large purple bump.
Alex was again snapped out of his day dream when he realised that he’d not only been staring, but that Mr Barakat had asked him a question.

“Huh, what?” Alex shook his head and blinked back into reality.

“I said are you alright? You seem a bit... distant.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just... Where did that bruise go, the one on your head?”

Mr Barakat walked over, nearly tripping over Rian's chair leg, crouched down and, leaning as close to Alex's ear as he could without breaking eye contact, whispered, “Foundation and face powder can do wonders for a person’s complexion.” And with a wink, he straightened up. “So, Alex, what do you like?”

Alex was still in mild shock from how close Mr Barakat had been, so it was a few moments before he responded.

“Erm... I play guitar, and I like writing songs and comics.”

“Cool, cool... You like Spider-Man?”

“Of course, it’s one of the classics.”

Mr Barakat quickly looked around the room, like he was checking for anyone watching, then moved his hand towards his belt. Alex looked where his fingers had rested and saw them tapping at a slightly tarnished silver Spider-Man belt-buckle. It looked pretty old, but totally awesome. Alex nearly reached out to touch it, but realised how creepy that would be. Alex looked up at Mr Barakat's face and saw he was wearing a smug-looking smirk. He was obviously proud of his belt-buckle.

“Pretty cool, sir.”

Mr Barakat beamed down at him. “Thanks, I picked it up at a vintage collectors store. Only cost $10, too.”

“You collect Spider-Man memorabilia?”

“Yeah, I’ve loved Spider-Man since forever. But I like some of the modern ones too, like The Batman Series.”

“You’re kidding!” Alex exclaimed, diving into his bag and pulling out the latest copy, careful not to crumple it, and held it up to the teacher.

“No way! I haven’t got this one yet, I’ve been too busy to get to the comic store! Would you... Would you mind if I borrowed this? I mean, if you’ve read it already?” Mr Barakat's face was lit up with an almost boy-ish glee, just making him seem younger and more attractive.

Seriously, to Alex there was nothing more attractive than seeing someone light up while talking about something they love. He has to stop gazing at the teacher like this

“Yeah sure. I only brought it because I know how lazy the teachers are with the lesson plans in the first week. Just, be careful with it please?”

Mr Barakat gently lifted the comic out of Alex's hand as though it were the most precious thing in the world. “Don’t worry, I’ll treat it as though it were my own. You’ll probably have it back by tomorrow, so.. yeah, thanks Alex!”

“No problem, sir.” Alex grinned back.

Mr Barakat turned to walk back up the isle of desks, and threw one last smile over his shoulder at Alex. Unfortunately this meant he didn’t see the rucksack in the middle of the isle. He tripped and went flying through the air, his head hitting the corner of a desk and landing with an audible smack on the solid floor.

Everyone turned to look at the source of the noise to see Mr Barakat groaning and spluttering in the middle of the classroom floor. Alex and Rian shot out of their seats to check that he was okay.

Mr Barakat slowly rolled over with a breathed “Jesus shit...” and some of the nearby girls gasped and squealed.

As he got closer, Alex could see that Mr Barakat was bleeding. He had managed to hit his head in the exact same place as he had that morning and there was now a small graze and a very obvious lump.

“Fuck! Mr Barakat are you alright?!” Alex almost shouted.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine I’m just...” he reached up to touch his head, but moved his hand back down when he felt the blood, “... just bleeding.”

Alex held out a hand and him and Rian helped him to his feet. He stood still for a second to regain his balance then looked at Rian.

“Rian, as I don’t know where it is, could you help me to the nurses office please?”

“Of course.”

Mr Barakat dropped his grip on Alex and Rian's arms and followed the smaller boy out of the classroom. As everyone dissolved back into their conversations, Alex glanced down at something on the floor. ‘Batman’ was a crumpled, torn wad on the floor. Mr Barakat must have landed on it.
Alex picked it up and sighed; although he’d already read it, he tried to keep his comics as clean and tidy as possible, now this issue was ruined. He’d have to buy a new one. He slumped back to his seat and put his head down of the desk, as Zack was asleep. Again. A few moments later, he felt a presence next to him. He looked up into the slim smiling face of the cheerleader with the glossy brown ponytail

“Er... hi?” He said, straightening up in his seat.

“Hi, you’re Alex, right?”

“Yeah, and you’re... Charlie, right?”

“Cassadee.” The girl said through her smile.

“Oops, sorry.” Alex giggled, relieved that he didn’t seem to have offended her.

“You’re friends with Rian Dawson, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I’m friends with Ri. I saw you checking him out this morning...” He teased, making Cassadee blush.

“Yeah, I was just wondering if you could, um, give him my number? I mean, you don’t have to but I would be a big favour for me.”

“Sure I can, no problem! You know, I think he likes you.”

“Really! Oh thank you so much!” She squealed out as she scribbled her number down on the corner of her notebook. “I own you one, Alex! Thank you so much!” She giggled and walked away, hair swinging with her hips again.

Just as she sat down, Rian walked back in through the door, aviator sunglasses precariously placed on his head. He walked over to Alex's desk and said “Mr Barakat said to see him after school.”

“What did I do? Did he say why?”

“Nope, sorry. Just be here after the bell.”

“Okay... Oh, Ri, I’ve got something for you...” Alex handed over the little slip of paper from Cassadee “From Cass.” Alex added with a wink.

“No fuckin’ way! How did you get it off her?”

“I didn’t, she came to me and asked if I could pass it on.”

“This better not be a fucking joke, Alex.”

“No, I’m serious. Text her now if you don’t believe me!”

Rian whipped out his mobile and quickly typed something out, studying the paper as he put in her number. A few seconds later, a text tone could be heard from across the classroom. Rian and Alex watched intently as Cassadee took out her phone, smiled, then turned to look at Rian, who smiled back.

“Dude, thank you! Number one fucking wingman of the year!”

“No problem Dawson, I know you’d do the same for me!”

Just then the bell went. As Alex looked at his time table, he realized the rest of the day was going to be government-approved hell.

Notes

Riassadee<3<3