21I have been working on this for a few months now and i'm finally happy with my plan! Hooray! This is going to be a long fic but i hope to update at least once a week until its finished.
College/High School AU's are my life right now :')
I've just gotta say that I have an odd writing style, I feel like I rely more on dialogue than anything but I hope that's okay!
Please enjoy :D
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the stars." – Oscar Wilde
2:00PM Monday May 5th at the Merenkahre College: Drama Room 2
"-and that concludes todays lesson. Jed, can you hold back a sec?" the head of drama at the college, Mr. Daley said. After just a week with the new students he was already amazed by their talent.
"One sec teach!" The younger man replied with a grin, as he finished making notes on the lesson. The amount of written work Drama entails is something that always catches new students off, so Mr. Daley had insisted they make notes every day, much to Jedediah's annoyance. He finished his last word, clicked the pen closed then shoved both it and the note book in his pocket. "What's the problem? 'Cause if it's about all them curse words I was just' usin' they're in the script and I can prove it!"
Mr. Daley caught Jed's arm as the younger man began rummaging around in his bag for proof "Jed, Jed stop that! You're not in trouble."
"Oh, sorry" Jedediah quickly shook the teachers arm off, not wanting to be manhandled "What then Gigantor?" He said with a smirk, he always felt great pride in the nicknames he gave to people.
"I told you not to call me that" the teacher said with a roll of his eyes.
"You also told me not to stage our last play in the round but who was wrong then?"
"You got lucky Jed, now listen." Mr. Daley folded his arms "Now, you're probably one of the most skilled actors in this class-"
"Well thanks Gigantor! I'll keep that in mind-"
"Let me finish! You're probably one of the most skilled actors in this class, when it comes to modern theatre. But let's face it your classical work really needs help."
"No comment." Jed said, shifting awkwardly on his heels. He knew Mr. Daley was right, but he really didn't want to admit it. He'd never been able to even read classical theatre, let alone recite it.
"It does Jed. So I've requested that someone from the year 13 class help you out."
Jedediah's face fell "What! Year 13? But they're so full of themselves; I've seen them act too! They ain't' even good!"
"That's your opinion Jed. Also this guy is new; he transferred over for the final year, so you haven't seen him yet." Mr. Daley clapped Jed on his shoulder as he walked out of the class room "You know you need the lessons Jed" he turned to him in the door way "So what do you say? At least meet the guy."
"Fine… tomorrow at the start lunch I'll meet you an' him in the drama office." Jed begrudgingly agreed.
"Great!" Mr. Daley went to leave, but then quickly skidded back "Oh! His name's Octavius by the way."
Jedediah grumbled to himself "Stupid poetic talk." he took extra care to glare at the poster of Shakespeare on the wall as he left.
12:40PM Tuesday May 6th at the Merenkahre College: Drama Office
"He'll be here in a second Octavius, don't worry." Mr. Daley said with a sheepish smile, deep down he had a feeling Jed wasn't going to show up.
"He had better not make a habit of this if he wishes for me to teach him. I have it in my right mind to-"
It was then that the man in question came bursting through the Drama office door holding a take away pot of cafeteria pasta. "Sowwf Im lte!" he said with a mouth full of food, when he realised that no one could understand him he quickly swallowed and repeated "Sorry I'm late."
"Jed, you said you be here at the start of lunch? It's almost over."
"It's pasta day!" Jed's only reply was a blank stare from both Mr. Daley and Octavius, so he continued "I wasn't gunna miss pasta day." In his defence, the schools pasta is one of the best things it actually has to offer.
"Right… so Jed, this is Octavius!" Mr. Daley gestured to the student stood next to him. He was tall and stood very proudly with his arms folded across his chest. He wore a white shirt with a grey waistcoat and matching trousers, the outfit was completed by a somewhat mismatched red tie.
"Can I call you Tavi?"
"No."
"Octagon?"
"No!"
"Octopus?"
"No! Jedediah if you continue-"
"Octy?"
"Stop with your incessant-"
"Octy it is!"
"That's it. I refuse to teach him." Octavius grabbed his bag in a huff then went to barge past Jedediah and out the room, only to be stopped by Jed himself.
"Who says I wanted you to teach me! I don't need you to show me how to act." Jed said, squaring up to the slightly taller man.
"Clearly you do otherwise I wouldn't have been called here." Octavius shot back, glaring.
Jedediah went to make a snarky comeback but he was cut off by Mr. Daley who pushed the pair apart. "Whoa, whoa, whoa guys! Cut it out!" He shouted sounding very exasperated "It's like dealing with the year 7's… look if you don't think you can teach him then I'll find someone new. "
"Good." Jed said with a nod. There was no way he was working with that asshole.
"But-" Mr. Daley continued "Octavius. You do need to have experience teaching if you want to get in to a teaching course."
Octavius grunted disapprovingly.
"And Jed, you need someone to tech you, and Octavius in the only person in his class looking in to being a teacher."
Jedediah kicked the bin next to him in annoyance "Dang-flabbit! Fine, fine! I'll do the lessons."
"I suppose I'll teach him if he's willing to learn."
"Good-" Mr. Daley started.
"But only if he's willing. Jedediah Classical theatre is passion; you must feel something to perform it." Octavius sounded so very serious as he said that last part, as if what he was talking about was life or death.
In that moment Jedediah felt a connection. He feels the same why, about Contemporary theatre not classical though. He understood completely where Octavius was coming from and he had to admit to gaining a bit of respect for the taller man. But Octy was still an asshole in Jed's books. "I don't like it. But I gotta learn it to get in to The Smithsonian Arts University." He smiled lightly at the thought of getting in to that university; it'd been his dream ever since he started acting.
"That's an outstanding choice of an establishment Jedediah. " Octavius said, sounding very surprised.
"Yeah, well it's been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember."
"I hope I can help you to achieve that dream then."
"Thanks, Octy."
At this point in their convocation they had somehow forgotten that their teacher was right next to them, listening in. They were sort of lost in each other for a while, and neither could really work out why. Because they defiantly don't get along, no, not at all.
"The lessons start tomorrow after school, then again on Friday and on Monday. If you start then you'll have enough time for… thirty lessons. That's the only times both of you are free right?" their teacher interjected, with a grin. Octavius nodded in agreement the turned to Jed awaiting approval.
"Right." Jed agreed almost shyly. He took another mouthful of his pasta and turned to leave, "See you then, Octopus!"
"It's Octy!" the taller man said before he realised the nickname had stuck already. The last he heard from Jedediah was a small chuckle through another mouth full of pasta. "That man is insufferable." He groaned.
"You'll get along just fine." Mr. Daley smiled. He knew exactly what he had just started.
3:15PM Wednesday May 7th at the Merenkahre College: Drama Room 1
LESSON 1/30
Drama room 1 was the larger of the schools two drama rooms. The walls were completely black with big black curtains covering the windows and the floor was a boring wooden shade of brown. There were various posters of various musicals over the back wall, that's how you knew it was a drama room and not detention.
But having a boring Drama room isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it's the actors that bring the room to life. Jedediah and Octavius were the only actors in the room at this point, so as you can imagine it's more than lively.
"Look I don't care if this Shakespeare guy was a genius! I have no idea what he's talkin' about!"
"The words are beautiful if you would just recite them properly!"
"But how can I say them if I don't understand them!"
They had done nothing but argue ever since they had opened "Macbeth". It seemed that they weren't going to do anything else for the duration of the lesson as well.
"Look-" Octavius sighed and ran a hand though his hair, he was getting a headache and all this shouting was not good for his voice. "Say this paragraph slowly to me, word by word, in time with my clapping."
"What?" Jedediah started at Octavius with a raised eyebrow.
"It will help you get the rhythm, I promise." The taller man tried to give his most encouraging smile, but it was pretty hard due to how annoyed he was.
Jedediah just laughed, "Yeah right! You just wana make me look stupid don't you? Well it's not working! I can read and speak just fine, its Shakespeare who needs to get his words sorted."
Octavius couldn't believe what he had just heard; he just looked at Jed with his mouth agape, trying to comprehend what the other man had just said. "You- you think that The William Shakespeare needs to sort out his words?"
"Yep! He's just making most of these words up I swear!"
"That's not the point Jedediah! The point is-"
"The point is that this is stupid!" he threw the book across the room, which earned a small gasp of shock from Octavius "an' you're stupid for thinking its good! Christ! I'm stupid for even attempting to learn it!"
"You can't say that because you've hardly even attempted it Jedediah!"
"Whatever, Octavius. I'm out of here. Thanks for nothing." Jed picked up his bag and stomped away without another word.
Octavius stared at one of the musical posters in silence for a few minutes, "How am I ever going to be a teacher." He rested his head on his knees. A few tears did not escape his eyes, because he was defiantly not crying.
9:10AM Thursday May 8th at the Merenkahre College: Break Room
"You haven't given him a proper chance Jed."
"Yeah, Classic theatre isn't that bad. It's boring but you need it."
"The Smithsonian won't take you on contemporary alone."
Amelia, Dexter and Custer were all getting pretty sick and tired of having this same convocation with Jedediah over and over again. It wasn't like Jed to be acting like this, he was normally so happy and at least willing to give things a shot. They all had a feeling that they knew why Jed was being so stubborn, but no one really wanted to mention it.
"Look that Octavius guy just don't sit right with me. I bet he wears a toga on the weekend and prances about with squirrels!"
"Jed, that doesn't make any sense." Amelia informed him "Look, you've been really tense and stand-offish recently. We all know why don't we?" she gave him a very knowing and sceptical look.
"It's not cause of that! You always-!"
"Fine, fine! It's not." Amelia quickly dropped the subject; she didn't want her and Jed to start fighting again. Although she knew she was right.
"Have some courage! Go back to those lessons and show that Shakespeare whose boss!" Custer said triumphantly, he whacked Jedediah of the back encouragingly (perhaps a little bit too hard).
"Give it another shot." Dexter smiled somewhat menacingly; he didn't mean to look mischievous all the time, it was just his monkey-like nature.
Jedediah leant back in his chair in defeat "Okay, I'll go back tomorrow. But I don't think He'll show up, I was kind of an ass."
"You're always kind of an ass, Jed. He'll get used to you." Dexter grinned as he nudged his friend jokingly.
3:10PM Friday May 9th at the Merenkahre College: Drama Room 1
LESSON 2/30
Jed sat alone in the classroom; he was there early this time and really determined to make some progress. He did feel quite guilty about how he'd acted before, Octavius probably wasn't a bad guy- heck he hardly even knows him!
"You actually came?"
The sudden noise drew Jed quickly out of his thoughts and he jumped slightly in surprise, "Huh? Oh, Octy. Yeah, um, I'm here." He grinned awkwardly.
"Very well, "Octavius straightened out his suit "I don't actually have a plan for today's lesson… because well, you know." He put his bag down then paused for a moment "Anyway, we can look over some smaller monologues today, perhaps some Greek theatre?"
"Sure whatever." Jed relaxed in his chair "But real quick can I just say something?"
Octavius sighed, agitation clear on his face. "If you're just going to insult classic theatre again then please keep it to yourself. Some of us happen to like it."
"No no, not that at all!" Jedediah sat up "It is stupid."
The taller man frowned.
"Sorry. What I mean is, it's stupid but I've gotta learn to appreciate it. An' I was a dick to you and uhhh-" he looked at one of the playbooks on a table near by "Shakespeare! That's it. Right, so what I'm trying to say is that I'm really sorry and I'll try not to be a dick again."
"Apology accepted Jedediah. Thank you." Octavius' lip twitched up in to a smile upon saying that sentence. There was hope for them yet.
After that small conversation, things went a lot better for the pair. After there were moments during the lesson where Jedediah began to get very frustrated by his inability to get the rhythm of the text right. But Octavius managed to keep him calm, and by the end of their time, the blond man could even recite a few basic lines.
"Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry"
"That's it Jedediah! You've got it!" Octavius applauded.
"Yeah I do!" The blond punched the air in sheer glee "That wasn't so bad! Heck I could do Hamlet all day long!" He stood dramatically and posed with a hand in the air "The question is to be or not!"
"Perhaps we should keep practicing."
10:00AM Sunday May 11th at the Rah household: Living room
Jed and Ahk had been playing a rather intense game of Mario Kart for the past few hours; they were competitive souls when it came to video games. But eventually Jedediah won two grand Prix's in a row and then Ahk knew all was lost.
"I let you win."
"Sure you did partner. " Jed laughed as he switched the game off.
"I did! Amelia told me about what a tough time you've been having with your classes and I thought you'd need a little boost." The Egyptian got up to make them a quick snack from the kitchen.
"Actually, it's been going better. I recited a whole five lines of Hamlet on Friday."
"Hey that's great!" Ahk brought in a bag of crisps for the both of them.
"Yep, still don't make a lick of sense to me though."
"Perhaps I should teach you some of the more contextual stuff behind classic theatre? I have been studying History for so long now, might as well help someone else with my knowledge."
"Maybe some other time Ahk, I've got a lot on my plate right now."
"That's quite alright."
They watched TV together for a while. A question lingered on the tip of Jedediah's tongue for what felt like the longest time. "So," he began "When did you say Kah was back?"
"Tomorrow at about 10:00."
3:25PM Monday May 12th at the Merenkahre College: Drama Room 1
LESSON 3/30
"You're late, Jedediah."
"I know, but whatever. Let's just get started."
They made some progress over all, but it was pretty obvious that Jedediah wasn't in bet best mood. He was a little all over the place and seemed to not be able to keep any steam of thought going for more than a few sentences. Octavius couldn't tell whether the smaller man was excited or nervous, so he thought it was best to say nothing on the matter.
"That's it for today then, good work Jed! You're getting it, I knew you would!"
"Well thanks Octy." Jedediah seemed to grow quite bashful.
"You are most welcome." They packed up their stuff and began walking out of the school together. "I don't suppose we could exchange mobile telephone numbers could we? You were rather late today and I was about to leave before you showed up."
"Oh yeah, sorry about that Octy. I got a bit held up." He chuckled lightly. The pair exchanged numbers before parting ways. It was nice for them to actually end a good lesson on really good terms.
Later that evening:
Jedediah: Hey man, really sorry but I picked up your copy of Macbeth by accident today :s I'll give it back tomorrow! Sent 9:55pm
Octavius: That is fine Jedediah! Perhaps you should take some time to read it? :) Sent 9:55pm
Jedediah: Let's not be too hasty here ;) I might give it a shot, it seems pretty violent! :D Sent 9:56pm
Octavius: Ha-ha! It is, my friend, I think you shall find it quite enjoyable. Although I prefer his other works :o Sent 9:58pm
Jedediah: what's your favourite then, Octy? :) Sent 9:58pm
Octavius: I really love A Midsummers Night's Dream! But I do not think that would be your cup of tea, Titus Andronicus seems to be something you'll like. Do you wish to look at that tomorrow? Sent 10:02pm
Octavius: Are you reading Macbeth? Sent 10:15pm
Octavius: ? Sent 11:00pm
Octavius: see you tomorrow. Sent 11:38pm
Notes:
So that's part one! I hope you liked it! If you have any constructive criticism then please tell me :)
The quote Jed says from Hamlet is from Act I, Scene III
Oh and in case you were wondering, here's all the students and teachers in the fic, and what they study/teach!
Students:
• Octavius– Drama (Classic Theatre)
• Jedediah – Drama (Contemporary Theatre)
• Lancelot – Drama (Musical Theatre)
• Lincoln – Government and Politics
• Ahkmenra– History
• Kahmunrah– Physical Education
• Al Capone– Business Studies
• Napoleon – Travel and Tourism
• General (George) Custer – Public Services
• Amelia– Design Technology
• Dexter– Animal Care/Biology
Teachers:
• Larry – Drama
• Dr. Mcphee – Principle
• Laaa – History
• Tilly – Public Services
And yes, I spent more time planning/writing this than revising for exams.