Infectious

ch. 17

Chapter Seventeen;;- The Past?

"Summer vacation is getting close," [name] said, flipping through the notebook on the podium. "Obviously, we're not just going to let you take a whole month off though, so we'll be doing a summer training camp in the woods."

She let the students talk among themselves, naming some of their favorite activities and getting excited.

Aizawa didn't let them rejoice for long before he spoke up. "However..." A sudden hush fell over the classroom. "Anyone who doesn't pass the finals is in for summer school hell, right here." This caused another wave of noise to sweep over the classroom, mostly students encouraging others.

Excusing themselves, [name] and Aizawa left the room and started towards the teachers' room together.

"They're not going to study at all," [name] commented as the noise of the classroom started to fade out the farther away they got from 1-A. "You know that, right?"

Aizawa nodded. "Not except for a few of them," He agreed.

"Can't say I blame them. I didn't study for a single test in high school." [name] opened the teachers' room door, making her way to her desk. Kayama and Yamada were both already in there, talking to each other. When she noticed Aizawa raise an eyebrow at her statement, she laughed lightly. "I did fail algebra twice. Three times if you count college."

This only made the confusion on Aizawa's face intensify. "You seem like the diligent student type."

[name] shrugged. "Well, I've changed a lot since high school. I used to be very sociable. The lovable moron type, when I wasn't picking fights."

Yamada entered then. "Picking fights, [surname]? You?" He asked incredulously.

"Oh, you don't believe the 'picking fights' part but you believe the 'lovable moron' part?" [name] chuckled.

Now it was Kayama's turn to enter the conversation. "Well..," She started, then immediately trailed off.

[name] faked shocked. "Kayama! Ouch." She only kept up the act for a second before she dissolved into laughter. Kayama and Yamada joined in. When the laughter died down, [name] kept a small smile on her face.

"You're in a good mood today, [surname]," Kayama commented when she noticed the lingering smile. "Something happen?"

She didn't answer at first. Instead her hand paused it's movements on the paper she was writing on and she thought. After a moment, [name] nodded. "I've lived in Japan for almost four years now, but I'm finally starting to feel like I belong here." I feel like I belong anywhere for the first time in my life. For obvious reasons, she didn't voice that out loud. As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted saying them. Cheeks flushing, she averted her eyes. "Sorry, that probably sounded weird..."

"We're glad to have you here too, [surname]," Yamada said, acting almost as if she had never apologized.

When Kayama nodded her agreement, [name] couldn't help but smile despite her embarrassment.

The conversation grew quiet, so [name] leaned over and tugged at the laces on her boot. Her fingers worked at the thick threads, tightening them before she started to tie it again.

A loud vibration against the desk made her hands pause in her work, fingers lingering on the laces. It was just a gut feeling, but [name] thought she might know who it was.

Kayama, who was closest to [name]'s desk, leaned over to glance at the contact information. To be helpful, of course, not nosy. "Do not answer? That sounds shady, [surname]."

[name] took a shaky breath in and continued tugging at her shoelaces. "Does it start with a one?" When Kayama answered the affirmative, [name] sighed. "It's an American number..."

"What? An ex?" Yamada was the first to give his guess.

She swallowed. "No," She said simply, punctuating it with a nervous laugh. With her boots tightened to her liking, her fingers made quick work of double knotting the bow and tucking into the boot. [name] straightened and sent the three teachers a lopsided smile. "It's... no one important."

The vibration started again. [name] reached over and turned the phone on silent.

"Are you sure?" Kayama's eyebrows knitted with concern. "You seem a bit nervous."

"Well, they are in as 'do not answer' for a reason..." [name]'s eyes darted towards the phone as the screen light up with another call. When she extended her arm to flip the phone over, she cursed her shaking hand.

The room fell quiet for a moment. Aizawa flipped a paper over and exhaled through his nose. "And why don't you block them?" He asked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

[name] chuckled. "I tried. Four times." She sucked in her bottom lip, rolling it gently between her teeth. "He's got a lot of phones."

"Ahh, so it's a 'he,' huh?" Kayama raised an eyebrow.

Doing whatever she could to avoid eye contact, [name] nodded, picking up her pencil to fidget with.

Kayama immediately picked up on [name]'s discomfort. "Alright, we'll drop it." She reached over and patted [name] on the shoulder comfortingly. You've got more about you than meets the eye, [surname].

[name], grateful, smiled again. It didn't quite reach her eyes, but her appreciation exuded from her in waves. "Thank you," she breathed. Leaning back in her chair, [name] sighed heavily. "Ahh, I'm so tired of grading papers."

"Gah, you can say that again," Yamada agreed enthusiastically.

"Being a teacher makes me want to write a letter of apology to every teacher I ever did wrong to when I was a student." [name] moved her mouse in a quick circle to wake the screen of her computer up. "God, I was such an asshole." She pulled up the internet browser and typed in her high school's website address, immediately clicking over to the staff page.

Intrigued, Kayama came to stand behind [name], watching her scroll through names and generic looking faces.

"Hooly.. that old fart is still teaching? I swear he was like ninety when I graduated," [name] muttered under her breath, mouse hovering over a portrait of a winkled old man who looked like he shouldn't be teaching anymore.

Yamada rolled his chair (it had wheels) over to [name]'s desk too. "That's right, you didn't go to a school for heroes, right?"

[name]'s hand stopped moving her mouse and she swiveled her chair so that she could make eye contact with the two heroes standing behind her. "Nope. I went to some fancy private school where it was absolutely forbidden to use your quirk at all or you'd get two months of detention."

"American schools are weird..," Yamada murmured.

Laughing, [name] nodded. "To be fair, I thought the exact same thing when I came to Japan."

a/n: i'll be honest, i'm not very happy with this chapter. it feels a bit disjointed and it's a little shorter than usual. still, i wanted to get in another filler-ish chapter before 1-a takes the finals and we move into the training camp arc.

if anyone, who do you think the reader will fight for the finals? i mean, i've already decided but i like seeing people try to guess what i have planned lolol

oohh my god completely off topic but i had to share this with people who know who all might is. my brother (20 y/o) got a fucken tattoo on his shoulder that says "i didn't put my back into it" and its so fucken cool but also i want to call him a nerd