Dark brown eyes shifted from left to right as Courtney patiently waited for the new student to arrive. Part of her duties as a Student Body President or so she was told. In her hand, she held a package for Nikolai Hale. She tried her best not to look uncomfortable, but she disliked interacting with people she did not know. When a familiar jeep and a silver Lexus ES pulled into the school parking lot, she relaxed a bit. Sonali got out of the Lexus with a bright smile while Jasper talked to who she assumed was Nikolai.
Courtney looked at the unknown male and felt her heart stop, he was tall standing at probably 6'5. His shirt was not tight, but it highlighted his frame he had a slim but muscular build and dirty blonde hair that looked as if he had just rolled out of bed. Everything about him screamed perfection yet Courtney knew better there was no such thing as perfection. Taking a deep breath, she walked over and greeted them "Good Morning Miss.Volturi, Jasper is this Nikolai?"
They all nodded before returning her greeting as the guy question seemed to avoid looking directly at the girl. Courtney however wanted to go back to her painting and tried her best to stay cordial. "I'm Courtney the girl who's supposed to give you the tour today but seeing as Nikoli looked at Courtney and smiled before answering "I would prefer that, thank you for asking."
Courtney smiled while trying her best not to swoon internally or externally. She had never felt drawn to a person before and around Nikolai it felt almost like an urge or a need to be in his presence. She felt more drawn to him than expected and it bothered her more than she could let on. Yes, their family was attractive but why did she feel so drawn to Nikolai a man she hardly knew? She then smiled and quickly walked off her hands shaking at her side she needed to be alone.
"Hey Courtney, wait up!"
The call made the girl come to a sudden halt and paint her usual loving smile on her face. She turned to see Sonali walking over to her, the outfit she wore was stunning like that of the day before but in the shade of dark blue and gold. The older girl handed her a familiar History book. "Thank you for loaning them your notes. We really appreciate it."
Courtney smiled as she accepted the book and slipped it into her bag but before she could say thank you Sonali walked over to Jasper. Looking at the couple she couldn't help but compare them. Both were tall but Sonali still wore heels that helped her reach his neck while Jasper was tanned as if he was constantly outside, Sonali was paler in complexion which provided the perfect contrast. Even though their personalities suited each other honestly, they were perfect together. Looking at the rest of the family she noticed the perfection they had and how they suited their partner perfectly. Even if they were all adopted which didn't make sense to her.
Nikolai watched as his mate observed his coven and smiled before walking inside. She was beautiful and seemed to be a nice person, but he was nervous about approaching her at all. Sonali smiled at him before leaving to start work while Jasper just patted his shoulder "Let's go". The two men walked into the first class on Nikolai's schedule. Jasper glanced at the hybrid briefly when he noticed the way Nikolai seemed to tense yet he just sent him calming waves. Who knew vampires could get anxious?
Sonali however was a lot more cautious walking into the first history class for the morning she smiled at the students before glancing at the file in her hand and letting out a disappointed sigh. It seemed she would be taking over the class today, glancing at the notes left she mustered up a smile and wrote one word on the board before turning back to the students.
"Can anyone tell me what genocide means?" most of the students ignored her while others continued to slowly file into class, but Sonali was no pushover. "How many of you need to pass this subject". Suddenly eyes were on her filled with wariness, but the woman just smiled "I already have my degrees and a job, so I don't need to be here you however do. None of these impacts me just know when the parent's meeting is called, they will hear the truth from my mouth as I don't care whether you like me or not."
Now they paid attention no longer were they ignoring her or gossiping they were listening. "Right, so what is genocide?" several students looked at each other before someone raised their hand. Sonali looked at the Chinese girl trying to blend in the back "Li Jiang". The girl's eyes widened at the correct pronunciation and calling of her last name and then first before answering "Intentional mass murder targeting a group of people" Some students now seemed more interested in the topic, but Sonali just nodded.
"Thank you, Li, Jiang" the woman then spoke "In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined genocide as any of five acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". Some students now seemed to understand where in history they were going to look at but Sonali wanted more from them.
"Can anyone give me examples of Genocide in History?" hands flew in the air her eyes were quick to pinpoint the first four hands that went up "Amir" the boy smirked at his friend and then answered, "The Holocaust". Several hands went down but four she noted stayed up. Sonali nodded "Yes, the holocaust was one that is well known, any others, Carter".
The boy leaned back in his seat and glared at Amir "The Herero Genocide" Sonali paused and nodded "Yes, any others" She glanced at the three girls and nodded they all stood "The Armenian Genocide" one of the girls if she remembered correctly her name was Catelyn declared while looking at the ground.
Sonali nodded and looked at the other two "The Rwandan Genocide" Sofia spat out the term quickly before taking her seat and leaving Allison standing "The Killing fields" Sonali nodded and then gestured for the girl to sit.
"You all know about the Holocaust that is something no AP world history class must cover with their students. However how many of you knew about the others just mentioned? Today we are talking about Darfur."
Now she had gained her student's undivided attention.
Nikolai listened to Sonali in awe as she spoke, he knew when they were younger, she was a great storyteller and wonderful politician, but this was history she commanded the room as she talked about a repeated heinous act in history. He watched as the students who were not interested before now asked questions and began to argue their points. He wondered if his godmother knew she was a great teacher.
Unknown to Sonali the classes around her had come to a halt as the class progressed students and teachers crowded the hallways to listen to the lesson. Many teachers noted that the lesson plan was left abandoned on the table. This Sonali was following the syllabus, but she was not teaching the basics she wanted to get into her student's minds by the end of the class her students were both disturbed and eager to learn more.
Sonali smiled "Your assignment pick any genocide in history and do a presentation on it you are to get in groups of five. Your assignment must be at least 20 slides long and I expect you to not go with the basics. While the Holocaust is real and was terrible, we tend to overuse it and ignore the other times this has happened and focus on something else. This is due on Monday, so you have a week."
As Sonali walked out of the class she blinked in surprise "Hello do you all need something?" the crowd of now embarrassed students and teachers quickly dispersed while the Cullens stayed. Edward was the first to say, "You make a good teacher". The woman gazed at her brother-in-law before raising an eyebrow "I had practice". Now she needed to go to the teacher's lounge and find the other history teachers to lodge her complaint.
Courtney sat with Carter as he went on about the history lesson his girlfriend Allison seemed to be glowing "I take it you approve of your young TA" the girl said as she played with her food. Allison nodded "Yeah I mean we practically teach ourselves I never expected her to teach us or know so much she hardly even looked at the plan" Amir laughed and leaned forward "Oh she did it was a two-lined sentence on the Holocaust and a note saying the lesson is on genocide teach them about something and give an assignment".
Courtney snickered and ate her salad "Well then that explains why she seemed pissed when she went to the teacher's lounge" Amir laughed and then glanced at Carter "Wanna go for a smoke?" the boy nodded and the two stood before glancing at their girlfriends "placing soft kisses on their cheeks. Courtney watched the two couples with a smile before glancing down at her tray. Li Jiang spoke first "Courtney are you seriously not going to try? It has been three years".
Courtney clutched the locket around her neck and smiled sadly at her friends "I'm not ready yet" The two girls gazed sadly at their friend before making their offer "Tomorrow would be his 17th birthday how about we go visit his grave? Casson wouldn't want you visiting alone." Courtney nodded before taking a bite of her pizza. Students glanced over at the girl with pitying looks they all remembered Casson and they all missed him but he and Courtney were the couple they all saw getting married after they graduated high school his cancer had taken them all by surprise.
Edward stiffened as he was suddenly bombarded with memories of Casson and Courtney, the hospital visits and finally the funeral. Alice gently squeezed his hand to distract him while Rosalie and Emmett became a bit stone-faced. Rosalie glanced over at the girl and her friends before whispering "Nikolai is going to be devastated" and Edward unfortunately had to agree.