totally professional (STAFF MEETING!)

[Deleted]

---------------------------

It was Friday, and the lunch bell had just rang. And for the teachers in Degrassi, it meant a staff meeting. Hazel rushed to collect all of the tests from the students as they rushed out to lunch. This time around, she had to rush as much as some of the students did. Because, she had to be in that office by the time the second bell rang. Mr. Snyder ran a very tight ship, and he didn't tolerate tardiness. She had warned Dylan of this that morning, since this was his first week. Otherwise, he'd probably be stuck scraping gum off the bottom of desks or something. Hazel had been the one that convinced Dylan to come work here, there was no way she was going to let him end up in trouble because she failed to tell him.

As she walked into the office, she snatched an article about Jamie that had been taped on the bulletin board. God, kids could be so cruel. She had heard that Danny really brought the hammer down on Abigail. Honestly, she was proud of him for it. If it was her that was running the newspaper, she would have gone off on the girl. Sure, when she was in high school, she was one of the popular girls. But they never did anything like that.

She entered the room, taking a seat as far away from Snyder's chair as possible. She always did that. She had learned to work with him, but honestly, she couldn't stand the man. He reminded her of a very short Adolf Hitler.

He had no idea what he was doing. Dylan had literally allowed the kids to do what they wanted all week long. Gym class had no structure, and he had no lesson plans at all. Which, is probably what brought Mr. Snyder to his office in the boy's locker room. As the man informed him with that nasally voice of his that he wanted to talk to him, Dylan felt like a small boy. Man, for a short guy, he was highly intimidating. He was probably going to fire him. Dylan didn't even want to imagine Brandon's reaction.

He practically dragged his feet as he walked inside the office. Of course, he had never been here before as a teacher, so he had to stop and ask where the meeting was being held. Dylan was actually scared that he was going to be late, since Hazel had warned him of the dangers of it. But when he walked in and Snyder wasn't even there yet, relief overcame him.

So far, for Andrew, today had been uneventful. Well, aside from having to worry about the conversation he knew he would have to have with his husband. With Andre back, Andrew knew that he had to tell him about the dance. About Emma. About everything. But, he couldn't find the words. Honestly, he was still in quite a bit of denial about it all. It hadn't quite processed through his brain about what had happened. He had even attended his neice's funeral, and still hadn't fully processed it. He had the respect of a lot of people, as he was told, because he never even took any time off from work after Emma's murder. It wasn't that he was a trooper. It was that it hadn't hit him yet.

He had taken the cowardly route, telling his kids not to mention it just yet. He promised them he would, saying he needed to do it on his own time. But so far, he hadn't. Andre's time at home wouldn't last forever, he knew, but he kept putting it off.

As lunch rang, he left the art room locked and made his way into the office. "Good afternoon," he greeted those that were already in there. "Has the pizza gotten here yet?"

the secretary, who was standing in the doorway, looked up. "Oh, they ordered Thai today."

"All right. When it gets here, let me know." He planned to pay for it. Andrew had started doing that a few weeks ago. He refused to let any of the other teachers pay for the food. Why should they, when he had an unlimited credit card?

Just when she thought that it was getting easier, working for Mr. Maxwell, Ronnie stood corrected. The man was furious over the article, and who could blame him? But the tension in the air was almost too much to take. And honestly, she got the vibe that he just didn't like her. As the bell rang for lunch, Ronnie had practically run out of the classroom, not waiting for him at all. She just wanted to get to the staff meeting, so she could avoid talking to him.


She walked into the main office, intent on asking if there was a way to switch supervisors, when the sight in the Principal's office caught her attention. Craning her neck to see, Ronnie slowly smiled and backed up, sneaking out and heading to the room where the staff meeting was in.

"Guess who I just saw stuck in his office with that homicide detective?" she called out, announcing her presence as she stepped in the room. Her mood had changed drastically seeing Snyder in the hot seat like that. Giggling, she took a seat across the table from Hazel.

Patrick looked up from where he was sitting, at Snyder's chair's right hand. He had ended class exactly two minutes early, to allow himself a four minute window between arrival and when the other teachers arrived. He liked having those four minutes of privacy. Besides, it was enough time to ensure that nobody would take his seat. He liked his spot at the table, and always sat at the same seat for every staff meeting. Not that anybody would. Normally, they avoided sitting beside William.

He honestly didn't see why. He was a highly effective administrator. There were quite a few teachers who would do well to imitate him. As Ronnie came inside, Patrick frowned. "Oh, no! But that means we won't start on time! And if we don't start on time, we won't end on time!" That wasn't good, not at all. Why couldn't the detective have waited?

"Calm down, Patty." Roger walked in, slinging his bag on the table. "Look who's back, baby!" he grinned. Roger had missed being here. Teaching was his life. He hadn't been there in a few months. He had left just before Christmas break. Told Darcy he needed some time off, for personal reasons. But now he was back. And he hadn't seen anyone all morning, since he had been stuck at the human resources office at the school district, signing paperwork and getting everything set up again. They had finally finished in time for him to make a staff meeting, as he found out from the secretary when he walked in the main office.

"Jimmy sick today?" he asked Hazel, who looked down. She looked like she didn't know what to say. Clearly, something had happened. Robert was disappointed. He and Jimmy had been friends. Deciding to not press it, he shrugged. "Never mind." he eyed Ronnie and smiled, walking over to her. "Hi, there. I'm roger."

Elliot was running late. A student had come to him with a test, pouting because she had gotten a D. "Oo. You're not happy with that, are you? Ehh, we'll add 20 points. Now you have a B. Kay?" of course, she was thrilled with that. Elliot liked being able to help those kids. And if they weren't happy with a low score, he had the power to fix that. He thought it was a good thing. It told the kids, try your best, but don't be afraid to make mistakes, because I will help you. And he really did think that they tried. That's why he did it.

As he came into the meeting, he immediately noticed that Snyder wasn't there. "Hey, where's Willy?" he pointed to the empty chair. It wasn't like him to be late. And as Elliot looked at the clock, he saw that the meeting should have been started a minute ago. Ahh, well. He saw the article that Hazel had set down and picked it up, quickly folding it into a crane with flap able wings. "Hey, check out the birdie!" he called out, flapping the wings. Yeah, he was bored.

[Ashton Romero]

---

"I'm not sure what you want me to do, man. Just redo this and I'll see what I can do," Ashton insisted, passing a test back to the kid in question. He was already running a little late for the staff meeting, but he really couldn't ignore the student that approached him when the bell rang either. His policy generally wasn't to hand a test back, even if it was that bad, but now and then there were exceptions; kids just needed to know to ask him and he'd do his best to accommodate them if they were serious about improving their grade. And this kid, he'd done all right work before and this test he'd failed, so he was willing to give him another shot. It wouldn't be for full credit, naturally. But, he was willing to boost grades if they did the work to achieve it. Frankly, he was willing to help out plenty, as long as there was effort put in. His classes were generally relaxed and he didn't feel the need to be too intensive or strict. If anything, he was calm, laid back and let the kids do as much as he allowed himself to do. If they wanted to talk without disrupting, play on their cell phones or shove their faces with food, then so be it. There were occasions he did the same, but they had better be working and their test scores would prove whether or not they were paying attention to him.

With the kid finally skittering out, Ashton grabbed a bottle from the desk and stepped out into the hall. It wasn't difficult to tell, even in the flooded halls of students trying to make their way to their respective places for lunch what the talk of the school was. Ashton had made it very clear that he wouldn't be talking about it in his classroom and that while he often didn't stifle what the kids had to say, he wasn't going to tolerate that talk in his class either. If he heard someone mention it in class, then they'd be chastised and he could rest assured that the new teacher that ran the paper was getting down hard on the kids. Not that he blamed them, his students would have had an earful and then some if it was his club that had managed it. As he entered the room, he took a quick survey of who was inside, immediately flashing a grin at Roger. "Look who decided to come back and grace us with his presence." He greeted, quickly finding his seat and sinking down into it. "So where's our vertically challenged vice-bossman?" He asked, since Snyder wasn't one to be late--not that he was complaining. God, why would he?

---

---

It appeared that he wouldn't be the only one that was running a little late into the staff meeting though, because Danny slipped in only a few seconds after Ashton had. Today, if he was asked an opinion of students in general, it probably wouldn't have been the nicest statement he could think of. He was frustrated, disgusted and he still had half of a day of classes to go through and drill it into teenagers' heads that what they were doing was destructive and inappropriate. No one was going to deny the viciousness that kids could have towards others. This was well known enough. But, there were times where it became more blatantly obvious and it was one of those situations that he was just going to shrug off or let slip by him. Naturally, he was pissed. But, it wasn't that it got slipped past him that he was upset, because that was too easy. He wasn't going to give them the credit for sneaking it past him, because come on, that didn't take a genius to do. He wasn't monitoring it extra hard, because generally when someone snuck something into a school paper, it was an immature, stupid piece that he'd be closer to rolling his eyes at. But now and then, something like this could happen and he had to deal with the consequences and so did they. As he reached the staff room, he sat down, raking a hand through his hair. The day was barely half over and it already felt like he had been there for over the usual. At least it didn't look like Snyder had gotten there yet. He really didn't want to deal with him. For such a new teacher, he really didn't have the best track record right now.

[Deleted]

---------------------------

"Speaking to detectives, apparently," Hazel told Ashton as he walked in. "I say let him be gone as long as he wants," she spoke with a bitter tone, but she couldn't help it. She had half a mind to mention the self-defense classes again, but she knew it would do no good. She had brought it up during the first staff meeting back, and had been rejected. She honestly didn't understand why. What was so wrong with helping these kids? Darcy would have let her. But, she had to remind herself what William kept telling the kids. Mrs. Stone's not here. He was in charge. She hated it, but it was true.

Her eyes followed Danny in and she nodded to him. "Hey. You doing all right?" she knew that he couldn't be having an easy day. Hazel felt bad for the man, especially since Snyder always seemed to be on his case. He didn't need that--nobody did. Snyder was harmless when Darcy was around, but with her gone, he could threaten to fire. Of course, not all of the teachers would take it seriously. Elliott sure wouldn't. But new teachers, they had to look out the most.

Dylan watched the teachers quietly. He didn't know any of them, but he did give a quick nod. When it was mentioned where Snyder was, he sighed with relief ."Good," he muttered. He wasn't in the mood to be fired just yet. He had heard a teacher ask about Jimmy, so he flashed a polite smile. "I'm the new Jimmy." he said, standing up. and shaking his hand. He didn't explain where Jimmy had gone, though. He figured if the man walked the halls enough, he'd find out. As he shook Roger's hand, he went on to introduce himself "Dylan Michalchuck." And hopefully, he wouldn't get an earful from a disgruntled teacher about Brandon. Because, he was sure that knowing his son, there was at least one. A knock on the door sounded as he introduced himself, and when it did, Andrew jumped up, nearly knocking over his chair.

"Nobody move! I'm getting it!" Andrew insisted, going to the door. As suspected, it was the food. Pulling out his card, he quickly paid for it as the containers were placed on the table. In the short time that he had been here, he was sure that most of them knew to let him pay. He was insistent on it. Still, in case it was necessary, he said it. "I'm going to help you out this afternoon, by the way Daniel." he decided to add as the delivery person left. "Since I'm probably responsible for a large number of students on your detention list today, I'm going to help you supervise it." He thought it was only fair. He hadn't appreciated the talk of the students that morning, and had sent almost the entire class to detention that afternoon. Andrew was an easy-going teacher, but the article that had come out was one thing he wouldn't be easy about.

Ronnie let out a giggle when she heard what Ashton called Mr. Snyder. She couldn't help despising the man. She hadn't been yelled at herself, but she had seen everyone else be yelled at. When Hazel told him, she looked at him with a grin. "He's sitting there squirming like a kid, too" she added with another giggle. "Amen to that," she added, when Hazel said to let him. Hey, she didn't mind him not being there! "When is Mrs. Stone coming back, anyway?" she asked. She knew full well that they only had to deal with Mr. Snyder being in charge until Mrs. Stone came back.

"Two more weeks," Patrick informed her, before looking at Hazel. "Now, wait a minute. Let him stay gone? That's hardly the appropriate manner to treat William. He's a fine supervisor and principal. This school benefits greatly from his administration." He frowned. Why would she speak about him this way? "You're just bitter because he's not giving you your way. Don't act like a child, Hazel."

"A child?" Hazel repeated. "A child. I'm trying to help these kids. What in the hell are you doing, besides sitting with your head up his ass?" she snapped. Who the hell did he think he was?

Roger looked to Ashton and nodded. "I heard you guys needed help over here, decided it was time to come back," he joked. Watching Hazel and Patrick, though, he sighed. "Those two will never get along, will they?" he smirked. And they never had. Whether it be arguing over wanting the use of the auditorium, or simply difference of opinions. Though, he had no idea what they were actually talking about, since he had just gotten back. But, he didn't ask, either. He decided he'd rather watch, amused at the argument.

"Come on, you guys!" Elliott tried to interject, and when the two teachers ignored him, went so far as to actually throw his bird at Patrick. He had been listening to non-stop arguing all morning from his students. He didn't need to hear it in here, too. He hadn't stopped the talking in his class. Instead, he had turned it into a discussion. Of course, the discussion had turned into an argument, which then turned into him passing out hall passes to go to the library. He didn't like giving out detentions, and he figured there was just a better way of handling things.