, everyone is so see-through [asher]

It had already been a long morning. It started off with waking up the sound of an alarm clock that screamed loudly in his ears. He hated that damn thing with a passion. Since Morgan vanished sleep had been somewhat difficult and the night before was no exception. It was not as bad as the previous nights but even so hearing the alarm tell him that morning had arrive and it was time for school was something he dreaded. After getting dressed and dragging himself downstairs, he was confronted with a lovely argument with Adam. "You really ought to stop moping around like a whiny bitch," The young Fire student stated flatly, eating his breakfast. There were times that, even though Adam lived in the dorms, he would come home and see Molly. The boy was an ass but loved his mother. "And you need to shut the fuck up and stay occupied with your breakfast," The Wind snapped back, feeling a bit on edge this morning. He stuffed his face and quickly left the house without much of a word to his younger brother. Adam could very well take the bus this morning. Asher was in no mood to deal with him today. Instead he made a jog to the school, backpack in tow, and arrive a few minutes before the first class. The first two class periods passed by rather slowly, leaving Asher to zone out and think about the car parts he would need to finish off his Camaro. It was nearing completion; in about a month or two he would be able to drive the damn thing. Finally. He had already made a few calls to find out if he could enter it as a classic model, so long as it was repainted and looked as good as new. Things were beginning to look up in that aspect. A surge of accomplishment welled up in his chest.

"And don't forget to write that essay on poetry analysis!" The teacher called out after the students when the bell rang. Asher was not a fan of English class--he preferred Math and Science above anything else if he had to choose any particular subject(s). He shuffled through the hallway, bumping into a few people and making conversations with them along the way. He was a highly sociable person despite how distant he had been feeling lately and always managed to shove a smile on his face among his friends and acquaintances. Only Karlee knew of what happened. Asher sighed and pulled out his schedule, smiling a bit at knowing the next class would be at least a little pleasant. Math class. He found the room number and walked inside. He stopped halfway across the front of the room and blinked. "Chris?" Asher made notice of the teacher and recognized her immediately. The woman had been friends with him for some time, quite a few years actually. He had not spoken with her much recently due to life and being busy which was fine of course, but now he was stunned to see her sitting behind the teacher's desk. "I didn't know you were working here? When did this happen?" He approached the desk and adjusted his bookbag on his shoulder. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, just...a bit surprised. Didn't really take you for the teacher type." He smiled now, chuckling and joking with her. He always felt he got along decently well with Chris. "So how have things been? Treating you well I hope." Despite being happy to see her, he did feel awkward. His friend was going to be his teacher.

Asher flashed Chris a bright smile when she acknowledged who he was--not that he expected her to forget or anything, but it had been a little while. It made him happy that she did not give him some sort of strange, 'who the fuck are you?' type stare. He shrugged lightly and tilted his head to the side a little as a sort of prelude to, "Not too much! Doing the school thing y'know. Being a diligent student and going to classes and all that." Asher was actually a driven person by nature and could not recall being late to class in the past year or so. Multi-tasking might not have been his strong suit but being on time was fairly simple for him. That was, so long as he got up and went straight to school instead of stopping at the auto shop. Greg always had to keep track of the time for him to make sure he got to school on time. He stopped focusing on his friend/professor in order to say hello to a few of his friends who wandered into the classroom after he did. Well, not really friends, more acquaintances but close enough. Asher did not have many people he kept close. Defense mechanisms and all that. The Wind tilted his head back a bit and chuckled when he turned back to face Chris, looking amused. Ever the one to thrive on playful banter, he replied, "Oh my god Chris you are the most dragging person I've ever met. You suit the position perfectly." His smile disarmed any possibility that he was serious. At least he hoped so. Most of what Asher said was hardly ever serious. Fortunately he had a hard time keeping a straight face for too long so people could usually tell when he was teasing.

He gave Chris a sort of half-frown and shook his head, now realizing it had been a while since he talked to her. However, he never did claim to be the most adept at keeping contact with people. No offense to them of course. He was just easily distracted and forgot. "It's definitely been a while. Probably a bit too long, actually. Sorry about that." He rubbed the back of his head in shame, but still had a small smile on his face. "But congrats! Are you just going to be teaching math, or did you manage to be one of those crazy people who took on multiple subjects?" More power to those people, he thought. Asher was not really teacher material though so that would certainly make that difficult. Even when it came to cars, teaching someone about them was no easy venture. He passed her a smirk and glanced over at some of the other students sitting down and preparing themselves for class. "Aw, come on Chris we aren't that bad! At least I'm not. I'm a good student." Asher pointed at himself and lifted his eyebrows, as though expecting her to challenge this. He actually was when he set his mind to it. It was setting his mind that was the hard part. Fortunately Molly and Greg helped him stay on track pretty well. He pressed his finger to his lips at her request, then pretended to turn a key as though locking them and then tossing it aside. "Consider it erased from my memory." A fellow student clapped him on the shoulder and greeted him with a friendly smile. Asher smiled back and nodded. "I'm doing pretty good! Still balancing school and work at the shop. Oh, and the Camaro is only a few months away from being done!" Carmen, as he dubbed it now thanks to Nell, was his baby and most people he knew, knew of his car.

Asher shook his head a little bit, pretending to lament over the fact that he had to be diligent and focused on school. "A life that is...okay I guess." Not that school was awful, but recently his mind had been a bit scrambled by outside-of-school drama and it was a major distraction. "Break was good! Got some hours in at the shop and spent time helping my brother get his stuff sorted out for school." Of course most people who knew Asher knew Adam, but he figured Chris was not aware of the fact that he was actually an elemental. "Adam goes here now. I don't know if you'll have him in your class but...good luck." The young Fire was certainly a handful and loved to cause chaos with his fellow students and the teachers alike. If he could step over the boundary, he would. Asher was not particularly fond of the fact that there were times when people would go 'oh, so you're Adam's older brother, huh?' and they seemed put out by that fact. So annoying. The boy smiled at her and ducked his head a bit at the correction to her name. "Can I just call you Miss Chris or something?" He asked innocently. He was not opposed to tacking on the formal title or anything but the last name made it feel so...professional. It was hard for him to alter from friendship to teacher/student. Maybe if they had only known one another for a couple of months it would be different but it had been longer than that. "Then that way it won't feel too weird and it'll save you from dealing with the other teachers." A simple compromise, it seemed. He tossed his hands up in defeat and drew his head back at her threat. The smile was still present. "I wouldn't like that much at all. So this is me not testing you." He laughed a little.

No, friendships were never meant to be one-sided, but Asher was not about to accuse his friends of being the reason for the distance. He knew how he was and would much rather pin it on himself first and foremost. Saved from having an argument at any rate. "If you're sure." He replied, shrugging a little. "It'll be kinda hard to hang out after school now though, y'know with you being teacher and all." Before Asher would have offered to maybe go and get a drink or something of the sort but now things had to be a bit different. People always made the wrong assumptions when they saw a student and teacher out in public together, never mind the fact that they were friends before that. No one took that into consideration. "You're welcome! Having a secure job is always a good thing nowadays. The economy is pretty shit right now." It was never perfect but finding jobs were growing more difficult to obtain. Even people with degrees were struggling. They had a better chance at the position but it was no easy venture. Asher raised an eyebrow in interest. "High school Law huh? That would be pretty sweet! I would take that class if I could." He had a rather quirky set of interests and certain things piqued it at random times. He was not sure if he could ever use a Law class in the future but it would definitely be something new. A good change of pace. The Wind waved her off. "No slackage here. I'll get my stuff done." Even if it meant having his mom and Greg keep him on track and ensure he did not get to distracted at the shop. Really, where would he be without them? Asher smirked and wiggled his brows. "Such a sexy beast of a car." Thinking for a moment, he added, "Oh, and if you ever need any repair-work done I'll be glad to do it for you. Friend discount and all." Greg usually didn't mind.

Asher smiled at her and shook his head a little bit. “Being old and being an adult are two totally different things,” He held up two fingers and waggled them a little bit for emphasis. “Being old is finally accepting that you have no idea how to have fun anymore. Being an adult just adds a little responsibility to life.” And he had to take on responsibility quite early on in life when Collin had been tossed in jail. He left Molly alone to fend for herself and their two sons, one of which had the fiery temperament of a volcano and the mouth of a sailor. The woman was a saint, really. Asher had no idea how she managed. “Yeah he’s grade nine. A bit of a fireball.” That was probably the understatement of the century. Adam really was one of the biggest handfuls he has ever had to deal with. He felt bad for Chris, having to deal with that in the classroom. Home was one thing, but in front of other students? Nuh. “If he falls out of line feel free to just…beat some sense into him or something. Then let me know and I’ll have a talk with him too.” And by ‘talk’ he meant a verbal and physical confrontation about Adam’s attitude towards his teachers.

Being an informal person, and not one to give professional titles to the people he considered friends, it was a bit difficult to stop and consider Chris to be his teacher. To call her ‘miss’ and look at her as someone higher up than him. It wasn’t a bad thing, just weird. “I was a poet and didn’t know it~” He sang a little with a chuckle, amused. Actually he did not even realize it rhymed until Chris pointed it out and found it funny even if it was not all that hilarious. Asher was fairly easily amused after all. He passed her a sympathetic look, though he was not sure if he should feel sympathy or not. Maybe she wanted this job more than she let on? He didn’t know. “Oh I had already planned on coming by to visit. You know, nag you endlessly and peek over your shoulder and everything.” With a grin he added, “And I’ll bring you food to make up for it.” Perhaps Timmie’s or something down that alley. Food was always good. Asher could eat someone out of house and home, but he was a teenage guy with the metabolism of a cheetah. His high activity levels definitely helped him out there. He shrugged and smiled at her. “The math corner isn’t so bad. I like math.” The boy thumbed at himself. It was not something he went babbling about to people—the boy rarely ever discussed much about himself—but hey, Chris was a friend and a math teacher. It couldn’t hurt.

“Is that a challenge?” Asher asked with a mirrored grin. “You know I’ll do just about anything once.” There was a glint in his eye, one that said he was eager to find something fun and exciting to do. The kid was a natural dare devil; he would scale cliff sides, hike waterfalls, bungee jump off of a bridge and into a chasm with sharp rocks at the bottom. None of that bothered him in the least. He nodded to her and found himself a place to sit. It was no shock that he retained his focus for a little while, and then drifted off in thought. Chris’s voice could be heard in the background but it was muffled. At least the writing on the board did not leave him totally lost. When the bell rang, the Wind packed up his things and approached his friend. “Not too bad teach. Maybe I’ll be able to cope with at least one of my classes this year.” And he said that with a chuckle, because it was both true and teasing at the same time.

Asher, though he had taken on a lot of responsibility at a young age, still had a drive to have fun and enjoy life to the fullest. Even when he became an adult he knew for a fact that the world would essentially be one big playground. The equipment would be an upgrade from the sandbox and swings but certainly a good source of entertainment for someone like him. He wrinkled his nose a bit, a playful smile on his face. "Aha yeah, being a math teacher takes down your fun meter by at least two levels." He wiggled two fingers at her and chuckled, obviously teasing. He did not know any math teachers outside of Chris (and even then they were not extremely close nor had he had her as a teacher) and so he really had nothing to back up his reasoning. Asher was hardly ever serious about those sorts of things anyway.

"I'm sure you can," He agreed, knowing that if you had the right personality Adam had the potential to be somewhat manageable. Chris could handle him. Adam could be a real asshole sometimes and even admitted that a lot of the time he did it just to see who could handle him. The temper was unavoidable though. Fire and all. "He hates a lot of people so that wouldn't be new news. The kid really is just a grumpy old man in disguise." Asher waved it off with a small chuckle, not at all phased by his brother's attitude. He lived with it for fourteen years after all. "But my mom likes to keep track of him so if you could at least keep me updated on his grades and stuff? My mom would be grateful." Since Chris was a friend he did not hesitate to request this of her.

He flashed the teacher a smile, one that looked a bit mischievous. "Great! Then I'll be sure and add it to my daily routine." Nah, he wouldn't actually do that. If someone loomed over his shoulder while he tried to work on a car there would surely be a bit of a confrontation on Asher's end. It was so distracting! "Food does make everything better, though." Always. A good home cooked meal solved all issues, big and small. At least they did for him when it was Molly. Asher always told her she should be a chef.

Asher was not an extremely sarcastic person but with some people it was easy to tell when they were making a dry remark of sorts. Made it simple for him to roll with the person he was talking to at the very least. "Right? I woke up this morning and though that my day would not be complete without parabolas." And now it was because he had had his math class for the day. How fulfilling.

The class was no where near as boring as some of the other subjects he would have to suffer through during the day, but he was anxious to be up and moving around again. Asher did not do well sitting still for too long; it was amazing he was able to do decently well in school considering this. He fidgeted a lot. Drifted in thought. All that good shit. The Wind rolled his eyes playfully and passed her a bright smile. "Yes, Miss Chris," He saluted. "I'll do better than cope. I'm going to get over one hundred percent in this class. Even if it's not possible. Because I'm that awesome." That was not going to happen but even so he did display his confidence. Asher had a lot of confidence in himself and his abilities; if only he could apply himself a little more and learn how to split his time up effectively between school, work, and home. At least Chris was his friend; maybe she could help him stay on track, at least in this class. That would be one subject he could manage. He feigned concern. "Only halfway qualified?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow. "I'm a bit concerned. You at least know the difference betwen Pi and Pie, right? So long as you have that down pat, I think we can manage." Pi sounded really crunchy, and not appetizing in the least. He was craving a slice of apple pie though.

"Well..." Asher looked thoughtful, tapping at his chin a little bit. "I assume, like most of these level-type things, there's about ten of them. So if you were at level ten before then...y'know subtract two and you're at eight." His smile was bright as he looked at her, chuckling to display that he was merely joking around. Then again, Chris might have known that he was teasing. Asher liked to live his life on the surface. It kept him safe. The past was not something he liked to discuss, as well as much of anything pertaining to himself. Surface living was a safe bet.

Adam was, in short, an asshole. Asher had learned to cope, as had many of his 'friends' and of course his mother. Asher considered them 'friends' because he was not quite sure what they were. They put up with Adam and his personality but was not quite sure if they would stick around forever. Who knew though? Someone might be able to deal with it on a daily basis and not be the least bit phased. More power to them, Asher thought. "I guess it's even weirder to consider that he is a fourteen year old," Asher thought on this, amused. "Maybe some random old guy infiltrated his body and took over. That would be really fucked up." Even now the image was rather disturbing and Asher fought back a small shudder. He passed Chris a nod and shoved a hand in his pocket. "Thanks! No, he can't really be trusted. The kid will avoid answering questions pertaining to his grades as long as possible." More like lie about them, but that was beside the point. Adam respected Molly to a certain extent but he was a typical kid and if his grades were not above par then there was no doubt he would dodge his mother's questions like bullets. "But if his grades are good it's no problem!" He would just appreciate being kept in the loop if bad grades came into the picture.

Asher shrugged and did not really look phased by her threat, because he obviously had no intentions of giving her any trouble. He may have a hard time balancing work and school and occasionally drifted off in thought while in class, but he would not disrespect a teacher. "Yeah I know. Maybe I just like to live on the edge. You know, push my limits." Haha yeah right. The only area of life he enjoyed pushing his limits was when it came to his sports and his cars. Asher tapped the side of his head and closed an eye. "The world wouldn't be the same without it!" What would they do without the Pythagorean Theorem?

"You are so cruel to me!" The boy whined, though the smile gave away that he was not the least bit serious. "Do you know what mom would do to me if she found out that I got like...a ninety-nine? She would be devastated. Heartbroken." He placed a hand over his heart. So dramatic. Maybe I should take up drama class or something. That might actually be right down his alley. Hm. He would have to look into that later. He pointed at her and made an "oooh" type noise. "That's a good one! I look forward to you using that in class one day." And when she did, he would be there to give her a thumbs up. Asher hoisted up his backpack and looked down to check his phone. He blinked a couple of times and set it back into his pocket. "Looks like I have about two minutes to get to my next class before I'm considered late." And the last time he was late the teacher was not happy. "I'll see you tomorrow Miss Chris! Good luck with the rest of your classes." Waving her off, the Wind wandered off out of the classroom with a brief wave to his friend and math teacher. It was going to be weird, but not bad.