Mason sighs heavily, dipping his shoulders extra low and reaching into his bag.
Sam watches, beside him, just now returning to his seat from handing in his work.
"No…"
Sam can't call out, but he manages a regretful whimper. Twisting and pinching his thumb now.
Mr. Gentus, after breaking eye contact, looks every student in the face, bowing his head to them, thanking them for their hard work, waiting for Mason to step in front of him.
Mason drags his feet across the classroom floor, lightly scraping the dust and tiny rocks usually stuck to school floors around with him.
Krrrrrr Krrrrrr Krrrrrr
Mr. Gentus eyes Mason's stack of papers, vigilantly watching.
"Hmm? I must admit, I was waiting for a raised hand."
He turns his cheek as he faces the window.
"That, maybe, you came to apologize, or that you would fall sick perhaps."
He finishes, meeting devilish glares with Mason now.
Standing in front of his desk, Mason tries not to grab his katana, unsheathe it, and press his blade into Mr. Gentus' cheek. Oh, the satisfactory feeling it would give.
"No… of course not."
Mason bites his cheek with his attempt at being cordial.
"I just wanted to say that I finished your assignment-"
Mason lets the heavy air fall around him, admitting defeat with this. Feeling around his bag, Mason thumbs the edges of his homework and grabs it up out of the bag.
Flipping the pages loosely as he swings it up. The smell of ink and paper mesh into a gross inkling of school.
"-and it took me all night."
He stops biting his cheek, swallowing his iron-clad pride in a thick lump. Mason plops the essay down onto Mr.Gentus' desk and its thuds, causing a few other papers to fling away from it. It bounces and lands closer to the teacher.
Mr. Gentus looks down at it, only moving his eyes and keeping his sharp chin directed at Mason with glib intentions. Mason doesn't necessarily finish speaking, holding the air as if he means to go on when Mr. Gentus continues by himself.
"Well? Out with it."
Mr. Gentus reaches for the essay, expecting it to be a mess of insults and crude drawings, the types of things a character like Mason might do.
"Mason."
Sam calls out from the back at their seats with worry and a shy temper to him. Mason turns around and nods to Sam, thanking him, misunderstanding his reason for calling out to him.
"It's okay, buddy."
Mason's face turns soft then back to its scowl as he returns to Mr. Gentus. As Mason turns, he notices a strange thing happening behind him. Mr. Gentus' face isn't as he thought it might be, not that he gives the man much thought in these small moments, but he never could've guessed that this would be happening.
"Mason."
Mr. Gentus' voice rings softly. Impressed.
Mr. Gentus doesn't look up at Mason, but his voice lends to being very surprised with the young man. Definitely not what Mason could've imagined experiencing. Mr. Gentus flips to the next page, a very fast reader, and continues going through Mason's 5,000 word essay. Mason doesn't know what to think about Mr. Gentus' tone when he notices that the writing done in the essay isn't his.
Pulling around the other side of the desk now, Mason stands beside Mr. Gentus and reads alongside him.
"This isn't my work?"
Mason thinks to himself, his strange scowl turning to an angrier mask. Mason peers up from behind Mr. Gentus' desk and finds his friend hiding behind his hands.
Sam mouths the words "sorry, Mason" behind his trembling fingers, too afraid to meet eyes directly with him. Mason tries to force him to meet his eyes by widening his eyes and letting a deadly intent flow throughout him.
"Sam…"
Mason whispers deeply, heated and slow like lava.
"Really, just, wow!"
Mr. Gentus interrupts Mason's eruptive tantrum and silences him quickly, by throwing himself upward, and thus his chair slides back into Mason's gut.
"Gukk!"
Mason is thrown forward by the blow, twisted into his crotch.
"Class, thank you all for handing in your completed works."
Mr. Gentus steps out in front of the class, leaving Mason behind him. He starts to hold up Mason's work and flips open a few pages of it. Sam recognizes his fine work and squirms in his seat. It's in a flash of a moment, but Mr. Gentus and Sam share a look and Sam silently gasps.
"Why? You know it's my work…?"
Sam thinks to himself, or rather to Mr. Gentus who can read his thoughts all the same.
"Heh… 'cause it'll piss your friend off."
Gentus' voice inside of Sam's head is only a voice, but Sam swears he could feel a smirk.
Finally recovered behind his back, Mr. Gentus looks back at Mason and throws a hand to him, wanting him to stand by his side as he congratulates him.
"Come, let me show off your fantastic work!"
Mason grunts, pulling himself up and walking into Mr. Gentus' arm.
"That's not-"
"5,000 words, everyone!"
Mr. Gentus works seamlessly to throw Mason and Sam into turmoil, easily able to hold his authority over them. He continues to speak, furthering the mistake Sam made.
"I'll get a proper chance to read everyone's work later on, but for now, what say we give your classmate Mason's work a read, hm?"
His own enthusiasm isn't enough to keep everyone in line, but he clearly isn't going to let that stop him, licking his finger to flip over to the first page. With a subtle nudge at Mason's shoulder with his elbow, Mr. Gentus suggests to Mason that he take his seat.
After begrudgingly throwing his seat out from his desk and letting his body fall heavy as stone to the seat, Mason plants his forehead into the desktop. Sam tries to reach for him but Mason edges away. Mr. Gentus fills his lung with righteous air, holding for silence, he smiles as Mason looks to be at his peak miserable.
"A word about the world, Cantankerous."
Mr. Gentus smiles his way through the title of Mason's essay.
"Ooh, impressive young Mason."
His words tickle at Mason's neck.
Mr. Gentus proceeds to read the essay, from start to finish, stopping and pausing for moments of laughter shared with the classroom- not a single person believing he could create something so thoughtful and well-worded. Mason keeps his head thrust into the desk the entire duration, and Sam stifles some weak cries of begging Mr. Gentus to stop. The class continues to laugh.
Continued in PART THIRTY-FIVE…