back to high school

Date: 2/10/2019

By plutoette

the beginnings of my dream are a lil fuzzy - i recall wandering the hallways of my dream-high school (which is very similar to my real high school, but, of course, dreamier and a bit more phantastic). i was still my current age (20-something) and just visiting a few teachers and friends, but i was definitely trying to blend in as a student. i passed by some of my irl friends who i graduated with in between classes, but they were still students here. i was flagged down by my buddy named B as i was about to turn a corner; he was animated and chatting about a video game with his girlfriend. she looked a lil disgruntled. he asked if i preferred one food over another (i forget what they were, unfortunately). i remember answering honestly and his girlfriend lighting up and saying, “THANK YOU!! see, i TOLD you she liked ___ more!” B laughed and looked a little sheepish, but all was well. we all went our separate ways. i continued floating around the school and eventually made it to my old business classroom. i spent like, 90% of my high school career in here irl. but this time, it was home to an english class and a teacher who i’ve never seen. she looked veeery similar to a math teacher i had in high school, but i was able to see distinctions between the two. she had short blonde hair cut in a bob, a glowing face and big blue eyes, and a nice button-down shirt and plaid skirt. she was in the middle of teaching, so i slid into a seat near the back of the classroom. our eyes met and i waved politely. she smiled wide but continued her lesson. a couple of rows back, i heard my name being called quietly. i turned around to see one of my best friends, E, chilling out here as well. we both serendipitously chose the same day to waltz into our old high school to chill out! yeehaw!! i got up and crouched next to her as we talked about carpooling back home to go shopping for candy. the lesson continued and the class was packed - 30+ kids for sure, and they were all super well-behaved and invested in what was being taught. they were answering questions, laughing at the teacher’s silly jokes, and taking notes. teacher eventually stretched dramatically and announced, “y’know what? you guys were great today. let’s spend the last 30 minutes relaxing before we can all go home.” the kids cheered a bit and teacher turned on some music through her laptop speakers. some kind of soft indie-rock tunes pervaded through the classroom as the students all began excitedly chatting with each other. a few students surrounded teacher at her desk as she booted up the video game ‘smite’. i find a few other friends in the class (some who should have graduated with me, but are still students, and another who ALSO decided to come chill at our old high school for some reason) and we all reminisce about The Olde Days. a petite and narrow woman enters through the door of the classroom and she does NOT look pleased. her hair is in a tight bun upon the top of her head, and her outfit was far too elderly for her age. it takes a few moments for teacher to realize this mysterious woman is there. teacher immediately straightens up and laughs nervously upon seeing her - she turns off her monitor, shuffles around the small crowd of kids she created, and rushes to shake her hand and direct her to an open desk. i realize that this woman is probably a teacher trainer and she came in at a very curious moment. teacher tries her best to rally up the classroom into doing something a bit more productive, but the student are already checked out. everyone’s voice volumes were a bit louder, the music was turned up, people were sitting on desks and laughing and clearly not learning. petite woman humors all of this and still chooses to sit down and begin recording what she sees. teacher awkwardly stands at the front of the classroom and begins to ask the students questions about some grammar and vocabulary that they were learning earlier. some students quieted down and grasped the situation, and began to help teacher out by answering politely, but others were already long-gone from their academia mind. i could tell that teacher was very stressed and sweating, and petite woman was furiously writing notes with a stone-cold face. eventually, after a few flat jokes and attempts at participation, teacher kinda sighed and said to the teacher trainer, “look, i know this looks bad. my students were fantastic today, i wanted to give them a bit of a break before we all went home. this was all just horrible timing.” teacher trainer glances up from her notes, shuffles them all up onto her clipboard, and swiftly exits the classroom. as soon as the door shut behind her, teacher fell to her knees looking distraught. E and i approached her and began comforting her, letting her know that she was doing an excellent job and that surely the people who actually matter will understand, not some grumpy stick-up-her-ass lady who is late to an inspection. some students begin chiming in, exclaiming that she’s the best teacher ever and that she made english fun! teacher calmed down a little and began to breathe a bit easier, looking thankful and a bit weepy due to all of the kind sentiments. the classroom quickly devolved back into a bit of a zoo, honestly. but that’s high school kids haha. the day was almost over and they were excited to get home (and start their weekend, i think?? i feel like this was a friday). i continued talking with E about her life, girlfriend, and a water park. about five minute later, i glance out the window leading down the hallway. i see a large, red-faced, toupee-wearing gentleman stomping down towards our classroom, and BOY is he pissed. my eyes widen and i turn towards teacher to warn her, but suddenly he SLAMS the door open and shouts, “SHUT THE FUCK UP AND SIT THE FUCK DOWN!!” the entire class goes needle-dropping silent and scurry to their desks like nervous mice. teacher is pale and looks incredibly frail and small in front of this blubbering giant of a man, who’s waving his arms around and spitting profanities at kids who got into their desks a bit later than he wanted. E and i are looking at each other like, “wtf happened since we left here???” the classroom completely 180ed from a glowing and excitable safe space to a prison cell. he grabbed teacher’s wrist and began pulling her outside of the classroom, and some students (and me) began shouting in protest. she was a ragdoll at this point, completely passive as her hand went white. the man spat at us, “what’s the rules?!” the classroom began reciting back a monotone list of ridiculous rule list that sounded pretty uuuuhh absurd. “no talking unless spoken to. every sits down and looks forward. only lazy students don’t take notes. walk in a straight line along the right-hand side of the hallway.” and so on. every student knew this list by heart, and it was at least 12 steps on how to be the ‘perfect student.’ i’m thoroughly disturbed at this point. he brings the teacher outside of the room and shuts the door, and the class goes silent. you hear him screaming at this poor woman, and she has the courage to argue back with him. students are nervously looking at each other and wincing with every door-punch and screech this buffoon of a man emitted from behind the wooden door. she eventually opens the door and shouts at him, “this is MY classroom!! you may not like the way i teach, but at least my kids learn something here! more than how to serve a prison sentence!!” a few students cheer in support of her bravery. the man LITERALLY spits at her this time, and says, “you wont have a classroom after i’m done with you.” it was cold and direct and not loud, but the most horrifying thing he said so far. tears began falling out of teacher’s eyes; she was clearly terrified. he began walking down the hallway to go wherever-the-fuck, so i took this moment to jump out of my chair and shout “FUCK YOU!!!!!!” down the hallway. the silence was deafening lmao. i heard a student mutter, “what the hell is wrong with you.” big boi stopped in his tracks... but continued walking, and then turned the corner. once he was out of sight, the students immediately got up and began asking teacher if she was okay, and if they had to kick some ass. she walked to her desk and dejectedly plopped down on her chair, put her head in her hands, and started crying softly. the students continued comforting her as myself and E looked on, still completely shocked by what we witnessed. at this point, my dream started getting a bit shimmery and dim. in my lucid glory, i quickly made my way to the teacher and grabbed her shoulder. she looked up at me with bloodshot, glassy, teary puppy dog eyes and i tried to give her the nicest, most loving smile i could ever make. i wish i remember what i said, probably something like, “fuck that guy. this is a dream. i promise everything will be okay.” but... yeah. and then, i was awake.