Traffic was surprisingly light on the drive to work that morning as Ben Simons fiddled with the radio between sips of coffee. Another day of teaching senior English at Archwood Public High School, followed by a glorious staff meeting. And by glorious, Ben meant boring, predictable, and altogether pointless. Well, not altogether pointless. There was the free food - snacks and coffee - and the opportunity to flirt with the younger teachers. Aside from that, the meeting was pointless.
Sometimes, Ben wondered why he had left the military to enter the classroom. Then he remembered the dirt, the cold, and the waking up too entirely early. At those times, Ben remembered.
In the three years since leaving the infantry, Ben had only missed the ability to punish disobedient and disrespectful subordinates - like some seniors - in a very forthright manner; you either hit them in the pocket and cut their pay, or you hit them in the face and settled matters then and there.
Now, though, the worst he could do was suspend a kid, and that wasn't even seen as a punishment for the kids who needed punishing. It seemed like for every great kid, there was a shitbag. The shame of it all is that as seniors, even his best and favorite students were slipping up in anticipation of graduation in the spring.
It was nearing the time of year when senior pranks would start happening - toilet papered trees, plastic-wrapped cars, pigs and chickens released in the halls... things that happen at every school every year, yet this year's class had already been bragging of something big and new and shiny. The administration wasn't sure exactly what was up, but they were watching for anything out of the ordinary.
As for Ben, he pulled into the teacher's parking lot and parked his dirty red Jeep Cherokee under the lone tree - a benefit of being early. Moving to the back of the muddy vehicle, he opened the back and shifted a large heavy backpack off of his briefcase.
Briefcase in hand, he closed the door, pressed the autolock button on the keychain, and headed towards the three-story school, whistling an obscure song.
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