BFB High (with a continuous plot wow)

Chapter 14: The TA's Secret

"Isn't Don a junior as well? Maybe there's no TA for your class because that would be weird," Talia pointed out.

"Oh, I guess you're right. If anyone in our class would be a TA for the rest of us, it would probably be Gabriella or Tennison anyway," Leah said. "They're the smartest in our class."

"Huh. If that's so, I wonder why they aren't the TA instead of Don," Sawyer said.

"Podría ser a causa de su secreto," Dora said suddenly.

"¿Que secreto?" Talia asked.

"No sé," Dora replied.

Talia frowned and looked at Teddy and Sawyer. "Do you know what secret Dora's talking about?"

"Professor Four mentioned something about Don having a secret," Sawyer mentioned. "We don't know what it is though."

Teddy finished typing her reply on her AAC app. "The professor implied Don was only chosen to be a TA because of a secret."

"Oh right, that was how the secret was even brought up originally," Sawyer said. "Strange."

"Wow, and I thought Professor Four showed enough distaste for Don in front of our class," Gale said. "If he said that to him in front of your whole class, things must be even worse between them."

"You know, I've noticed Professor Four not liking Don in my class too," Leah mused. "I always found it weird since Don is a pretty good student. I thought it was because the professor didn't like anyone, but they always seemed especially hard on Don for some reason."

"Well, they were arguing at first, but then the principal came and sorted things out. Things were actually kind of peaceful during the rest of the class," Sawyer explained. "Maybe the talk from the principal will improve their relationship and make things better."

Leah smiled at that. "That sounds nice. Hopefully Professor Four and Don get on friendlier terms with each other!"

"I doubt they will," Lola said. "Professor Four is... well, Professor Four. He's a nightmare."

"Hey, don't rain on my parade like that," Leah protested.

"Well, someone has to," Lola replied. "I mean, it isn't realistic to-"

As if to prove Lola's point, the sprinklers suddenly turned on, getting everyone in the cafeteria wet. As she heard screams and complaints about lunches getting ruined from around the cafeteria, Teddy only had one thought in her mind.

What is wrong with this school?

Hi, sorry for being so late with this chapter despite it being summer. I don't have a good excuse for it taking so long, I was just being lazy.

Anyways, Don being the teacher's assistant for Professor Four was supposed to be the High School AU equivalent of Donut temporarily being BFB's host. However, as I was writing this chapter, I realized that Don as a teacher's assistant wouldn't act the same way as Donut being the host, and that is because of one very important detail that differentiates this AU from canon: Professor Four never becomes a part of Don.

This means that Don in this AU has to react to another authority in Professor Four, unlike canon Donut who temporarily became the only authority over all the contestants. It also means that unlike canon, Four isn't influencing Donut from the inside. It is very heavily implied that Donut's cruelty while as host came from the influence of having the factor of Four within him, especially with what he said to Barf Bag near the end of TPOT 10. ("I've been there, Barfy. Having someone influence you from within can be crazy.") I just don't see a reason for Don to act as TA the same the way that his canon counterpart acted as host.

This led me to this chapter because when he isn't being influenced by Four, Donut tends to stand against injustice. And honestly, considering how Four is, especially during early BFB, I could imagine Donut and Four butting heads over this, especially if Four never wanted Donut to be involved in the first place, and was simply forced into accepting him as a teacher's assistant. So yeah, that's some of the Behind-The-Scenes of this chapter.

Also, I know Leafy and Lollipop are on better terms now, but I'm currently basing their interactions on their dynamic in early pre-split BFB, since it's so early in this AU's timeline.

New Names Guides:

Maddie is Match
Flo is Flower Speaker Box's first name in this Human AU
Fortune is Four's first name in this Human AU

See you next chapter!