Reconnecting: student and teacher (Kayla)

[Jayna Gray]

Jayna sat in one of the teacher lounge chairs; it was just another day at Hammel. Teaching students to control their powers more; one of her students were proving difficult, but she wasn’t sure if it was the power or the person. She gave a deep sigh as she started writing down notes on the blank papers she had in the copy of each of her Student’s folders she had. Jay used her telekinesis to move things around, bringing other students folders in front of her to jot down notes that had popped into her mind before she forgot and then moved it out of her way. You would think training was stressful and at times, it was, but she didn’t think it was as stressful as trying to teach an actual subject.

Jay’s power came in handy with things like this, helping her with her work when it came to making notes. Or around the house doing housework. It was great when you were a single mother with two kids to take care of and a house to keep clean. It was like having twenty extra hands; it made almost everything so much easier. But like with every good thing it had it’s down falls; a lot of the times she would go to bed with a huge migraine and it was physically draining. She tried not to let either of those down falls get to her, she always tried to push passed it. It worked most of the time for her, but she usually had to vent some of her frustrations out and she did that by yelling at her husband; because he made it so easy. Now she was trying other things, like meditating and yoga; they both seem to be helping. But if those didn’t help she would go to the gym and do some exercising, which also proved to be helpful.

[Jack Maguire]

Jack had some time between class periods to heat up a tupperware of pasta and eat it before he had class again. On bad days, he ate in his office to try to center himself before another class. However, today he was feeling rather good about everything, so he decided to eat in the teacher's lounge and see who was around to talk with.

The only person around when he walked into the lounge was Jayna Gray, so he gave her a friendly smile. He remembered her when she was a student here, and it was always nice to see his old students come back to Hammel. "Hello, Jayna, how are you doing?"

[Jayna Gray]

Jayna had a folder lifted in mid air as she heard footsteps and looked at up see who it was. Her face flushed and the folder fell to the ground as paper fell out of the folder and onto the ground as well. Out of all the teachers that had to have walked in it would be her past English teacher, the man she had, had a crush on when she was a student. “Oh, Hi. I… Didn’t know you were still teaching here.” She waved a hand above the mess of paper, letting her power do the work for her and clean the mess up. “I mean.. Not that your old or anything…” She set the folder on the table next to the chair she was sitting at. “It’s just that.. You know I haven’t seen you around…” She felt like her awkward teenaged self again.

The school was apparently bigger than Jay had thought when she was a student. She took a deep breath, she wondered if Jack had ever picked up on her attraction to him when she was a student. “I’m doing well though. How are you doing?” it was weird for her to be having a conversation like this with the teacher. She had only ever said ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ and on the rare occasion talked about her grades. But that was about it. She wondered how much of her attraction to him she still had.

[Jack Maguire]

Jack registered her burst of surprise and awkward with a slightly sheepish smile. Being an empath, Jack had been peripherally aware of her crush as a teenager, and he had been a relatively new teacher at the time. But he never told her that he was aware, obviously, because that would have been embarrassing for her. There had never been any need for it. He did feel guilty that he made her spill all her papers on the floor though. "Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"Yup. I've been here for a while," Jack replied amiably. He moved to help her pick up the papers, but her power seemed to have that well in hand. "It's just that the campus is so big, it's hard for the teachers to all see much of each other." Additionally, Jack kept mostly to himself, which probably didn't help. "Also, I am old," Jack added, opting for the joke.

"I'm doing well. Heating up my lunch." He held up his tupperware bowl as proof. "How're the students treating you?"

[Jayna Gray]

Jayna returned his sheepish smile and starched the side of her head. This had turned awkward fast, at least for her. Jack seemed to be calm and collected; he hadn’t changed much from when she was a teenager. It was nice to know that some things haven’t changed. She put her hands up defensively “Oh no it’s fine.” She wasn’t the type to startle easily, having two kids you get used to being startled so much so that you just don’t anymore. She found herself having to fake being startled when they tried to scare her by jumping out from behind a wall or something.

Jay nodded “I see. Well that’s great. It’s nice to know some things are the same.” It might be different having him as a co-worker instead of a teacher but she was glad he was still at the school. So many things seemed to have changed once she graduated from Hammel. “Yeah it’s seems a lot smaller when you’re actually a student.” Considering when you were a student you always ran into people you didn’t want to, like exs or just people you didn’t like. She chuckled at him stating he was old “You don’t look old.” Was she now flirting with him? She really didn’t mean to, it still felt a little weird knowing he was her teacher ten years ago. Now she felt old.

“ah that’s good. What are you having?” Curiosity kicked in, wondering what was inside the Tupperware bowl. “The students are treating me like a teacher… Some are more well behaved than others. But I can’t complain, I knew what I was getting into. How are the students treating you?” English had become her favorite subject when Jack started teaching it. So naturally she tried to become one of his better students.

[Jack Maguire]

"Yeah, and it's always nice to see familiar faces." Jack replied. It was always nice to see old students coming back to be teachers. Even if it did serve to remind him that he'd been at Hammel for a long time. But that was all right. The Institute was like a family, and he was glad to be a part of it. "It really does. You'd think it would be the opposite, if you think about it. But I always feel like I'm running into new staff members nowadays. How long have you been working here?" Hopefully it hadn't been too long, or he would feel a little bad.

He laughed when she mentioned he didn't look old. "Thank you, I try," he replied with a little bow of the head. At her question about his food, he replied: "just leftover pasta. Actually, I am going to heat it up now, thanks for reminding me." Grinning a little at himself, he walked the extra five steps to the microwave and started pressing in the correct buttons.

Jack nodded. "Same here. Some of the kids are really interested in the subject, some of them could care less, but as long as nobody sets me on fire, we're fine." He grinned; nobody had ever actually set him on fire before, but this was Hammel-- you never knew.

[Jayna Gray]

Jayna nodded “Yes it is.” It made her wonder how many other teachers were still teaching. She had met a new trainer the other day, it was nice to see new faces but even nicer to see old ones. Because that meant things hadn’t changed as much as she thought it would have. She took her glasses off, they were only reading glasses; she was far sighted. “Yeah but I guess it’s because all the staff are doing their jobs instead of wondering around. Oh gosh… Four or three years?” She really wasn’t counting how long she had been working at Hammel. She went from graduating to going through the training certification program than became a staff member. Now she was starting to feel older.

She smiled; thankfully he didn’t seem too into her statement. Glad they were moving passed it; she looked at the left over pasta “Oh yum. Leftovers are always good.” She should know, she ate leftovers for lunch also. “Alright. You’re welcome?” she wasn’t hungry herself but if he came here to heat up his lunch that she was pretty grateful for him being hungry.


Jayna nodded as well and let out a small chuckle “Well I’m sure I will be set on fire before you do. I’m glad your students are treating you fairly well.” She was a trainer after all, she was exposed to students powers much more than the class teachers. She did hope that he actually wouldn’t catch on fire, it would be terrible.

[Jack Maguire]

“That’s a good point,” Jack nodded. “And I guess Hammel might have actually gotten bigger over the years as is.” The school had grown a lot anyways in terms of student population, so he supposed it would make sense overall. “Four years, that’s great,” Jack said with a smile. “I’m sorry it took us so long to run into each other, then.” Knowing that his student was not only working at the same place he was now, but also had been there for three or four years made Jack feel…pretty old. But that was all right; he liked seeing past students, and he was glad the Institute was as much a home to others as it was to him.

“Mm-hm,” Jack nodded. The microwave pinged, and he gingerly pulled out the warm bowl. “Excuse my eating right in front of you, I gotta take advantage of lunchtime.” He grinned, slightly apologetic as he opened the bowl and poked the pasta inside experimentally to see if it was too warm.

He laughed a little at Jayna’s comment. “I’m sure you do a wonderful job with them. How do you like being a trainer?”

[ooc: sorry for the delay on this @_@]

[Jayna Gray]

Jayna nodded “Oh good point. Hammel seems to be getting a lot of new students.” Not that she minded, she liked seeing the new faces and getting to know the new students that ended up at Hammel. Jay smiled “Yeah. Four years.. And I’m still getting used to my teachers now being my co-workers” It was a very weird adjustment for her, especially when her English teacher was now her fellow teacher. It made her feel a bit old in a way; it was a unique chance that not many people got. To have their school teachers become their fellow teachers. “No, it’s totally fine. I understand the staff having their own things to do.” Jay knew you couldn’t run into past friends or past teachers when an adult. Everyone had too many things going on; including herself; but Jay liked it that way, she liked to be kept busy.

Jay waved her hand slightly and shook her head. “Oh it’s fine, please do. One of us has to.” She said, looking around her, no food in sight other than Jack’s pasta. She wasn’t hungry, she normally wasn’t hungry during lunch or even dinner for that matter. Her only proper meal was breakfast; which was probably why she was so skinny. She was no good at keeping herself healthy.

Jayna smiled a little; she was quite happy that she was able to make the stern teacher laugh. “Ah, sometimes I wonder…” She sighed at the question “I love it, I love working with the students but at times it does get a little frustrating.” Especially when you were trying to work with a student who didn’t like authority figures or one that didn’t want to work with you. “What about you? Do you still like being an English teacher?”

[Jack Maguire]

"Yeah, it's always weird, isn't it? Being on the other end of the student-teacher line. Wait til you get to my age and you realize you've been at Hammel far too long." He chuckled, completely not serious. Although he had spent over twenty-five years at Hammel as a teacher alone, he couldn't imagine being without it. Having students as coworkers used to startle him a little bit, but he enjoyed seeing them again at any capacity, and was always proud to see how well they taught others.

"Teachers like to pretend we have lives, I suppose." Jack said amiably, taking a bite of his pasta. "Whether or not it's true remains to be seen."

Jack nodded sympathetically. "It's not easy. And if I may delve into cliches for a moment, few things that are worth it are easy. But it does get frustrating." At her question, he nodded without hesitation. "I do. Which is a good thing, since it's all I know how to do." He chuckled slightly. "But you know. It's not without it's difficulties."

[Jayna Gray]

Jayna nodded and chuckle a little “It’s very weird.. I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around the fact you aren’t my teacher anymore…” She blushed a little, just embarrassed of the fact that they were having this conversation. She smiled “I wouldn’t mind, Hammel is my home and I love working here. No matter how weird it is.” She was thankful for the work she was getting here. She didn’t know what else she would have done with her life.

Jay laughed “speaking of teachers lives.. How is yours outside of Hammel and work?” She felt like they had been talking all about work and the students, Jayna was going to take this opportunity to get to know Jack more as a person and how he was doing outside of being a teacher since she never really got to ask as a teenager.

“I don’t believe anything in life is easy but we work through it and at the end of the day life seems more meaningful when you have to work for it.” Yeah, she was getting deep but it’s what she believed in and had to believe in. She nodded to his answer “yeah, training is really all I know how to do… So I hope I don’t get fired..” At least Jack could go to another school and teach English there, Jayna would be in a tough bind if Hammel fired her.

[Jack Maguire]

Jack laughed slightly. “It’s quite a transition,” he agreed. “I have to get used to it every new year.” He nodded in agreement at her next words. “Hammel makes for a good home.” That was how he felt about it as well. He liked living in Hammel, even though some of his old college friends didn’t understand how he didn’t get bored. It took a lot to make Jack bored.

Case in point. “What life?” He asked jokingly. “I haven’t got much of one outside of Hammel and work. A lot of writing and grading papers. It’s a living.” He smiled with a shrug. Jack was low-key by nature and didn’t require much to keep him relatively content. “How about you? How’s your life?”

“It’s a good philosophy to have,” Jack agreed. “And you won’t get fired,” he added confidently. Jayna had always been a good student and a driven individual. “I have every faith in you.”