TW // Mentions of abuse
CW // Swearing
Somehow, maths was actually okay for Logan. It wasn’t like he was bad at it or anything, but Mrs Turner didn’t exactly like to make things easy for him. She was better than Mrs Woods, who was always on his case. But he preferred Mr Woodbury or Mr Kamatani.
Mrs Woods was horrifying. She always told him to talk, as if it came easy for him. She liked to say that since he hadn’t been born mute, he wasn’t. Logan sometimes wondered if she had gone to college. Did she even have the qualifications to be a teacher?
Mr Kamatani knew about this, of course. Kuro, as Logan called him. Typically, it might be strange to call a teacher by their first name. However, given that Kuro was his soon-to-be brother-in-law, he didn’t think it was that strange. The fact that Kuro and Logan’s older brother, Joshua, was probably going to get married was stranger to Logan. It was true that they had been together for years. But it still felt strange to Logan. It had only been the middle of his sophomore year that Kuro had recognised him from pictures (at the time his hair hadn’t been bleached or dyed) and spoken to him. When Logan discovered that Joshua was okay, he nearly cried with relief.
Joshua Matthews ran away from his home the night of his eighteenth birthday. He had left behind riches, his siblings, and his mother, that was true. But he had left behind their father and a horrible environment. That was more important to Joshua. Besides, as soon as he was able, he began doing anything he could to help his siblings get out of there. Joshua and Kuro weren’t rich by any means, and the year-long custody battle had taken a lot from their pockets. Besides, his father won in the end. But Joshua was still trying, simply taking a different route. He was aiming to prove that his father was abusive. It had been a great help to him when Kuro and Logan met since he could then get in touch with his brother safely.
It was also the reason Logan had started making a list of all the times his father hurt him. Exact dates and times were key. And also not let the notebook get found by his father. That was a disaster he did not want to happen.
It had worked well so far. He swapped his notebook for a new one every couple of months. The old went to Joshua’s evidence pile.
When Logan asked when he was going to do something with it all, the answer was always the same.
“Soon, Logan.”
He’d always give him a sad smile and ruffle his hair when he said that.
Maybe soon was a lie.
He didn’t like to dwell on things he couldn’t do much to change. So he pulled his mind back to the present, focusing on the assignment in front of him. Just as he got started on his next problem, the bell rang. He got up quickly, shoving his things into his bag and making a beeline for Kuro’s classroom.
He was well aware that no matter how many times he went, Mrs Woods would always drag him back to her classroom and throw a fit. But he still tried anyway. He would have much preferred to have Kuro as his teacher. But he knew how unlikely that was to happen.
He sat down at his supposed new desk next to Jax. He was already there, focusing intently on his math homework. He seemed to be having trouble with it.
Logan leaned over, glancing at the problems. He tapped Jax on the shoulder.
“I know how to do these,” he signed.
Jax brightened. “Really? I mean, Mrs Bradford explained it, but I didn’t really get it,” he explained, scratching the back of his neck.
Logan nodded, picking up a pencil and making a few markings. “So, if you move this here, you get—“
After a few moments, Jax nodded in understanding and began attempting a different problem on the page.
“Not sure why I chose to take all my high school math courses a year early,” Jax muttered, frowning as he scribbled more numbers down.
Logan grinned at him. “Don’t worry. It gets easier once you do a couple more.”
Jax offered him a small smile just as the second bell rang. Kuro stepped into the classroom and shut the door. “Alright, we’re having an intruder drill at the beginning of class, so be prepared to drop everything and crawl under your desks,” he said. He sighed as his eyes met Logan’s. “You— come on, Mrs Woods will be concerned.
Logan scoffed and rolled his eyes. Yeah, right. Sure she would. She would only care because it made her look bad as a teacher to have a student missing.
“Go back to—“
The intercom beeped. “Attention students and teachers. We will be practising an intruder drill. Please remain in your classrooms and follow the instructions—“ The voice rattled off a few more sentences before the intercom beeped once more and the room fell into silence.
Kuro started moving around the classroom. “Get under your desks and be quiet.” Everyone followed his instructions as he moved a piece of black paper over the rectangular window in the door. The doors automatically locked when they were shut, so he simply moved over to the windows and closed the blinds.
A boy giggled somewhere to Logan’s left. “Silence,” Kuro said, dropping his voice to a whisper. The boy shut up.
They stayed like that hunched under their desks until their backs started to hurt. Then, the principal came over the intercom and told them the drill was over. They all clambered out from under their desks, some of them stretching or popping their joints.
Kuro glared at Logan. “Logan. You need to be in your assigned classroom when stuff like this happens. How am I supposed to explain this to the principal if he asks? I could get fired for this, you know.”
Logan knew that he wasn’t really mad, just slightly annoyed. He nodded, taking his seat again. Kuro stared at him. “That means go back.”
Logan pretended not to hear.
A couple of moments later, there was a knock on the door. The student closest to it got up and opened it, letting in a very angry Mrs Woods.
“Mister Matthews!” she shouted, storming over to him. “I could get fired for your absence during a drill! What if there had been a real intruder?” she questioned, grabbing his wrist.
Logan yanked it away. He felt bad for the students sitting near him. Hearing Mrs Woods yell was never pleasant.
“And quit pretending to be mute!”
That did it in for Kuro. And Logan. And Jax and any other even slightly tolerable person in the class. “Katy,” Kuro said slowly. “You do realise that he is mute, right?”
Mrs Woods frowned, turning her head. “You can’t possibly believe that! He was never given a proper diagnosis that something is wrong with his vocal cords!”
“That doesn’t necessarily have to be the reason for mutism,” a student said. “I took a psychology course over the summer. There’s more than a few psychological reasons for mutism.”
Mrs Woods was an English teacher. Not a scientist. And she decided to voice that.
“You don’t need to be a scientist to understand logic,” someone near Logan muttered.
Mrs Woods paused for a moment. She turned to stare at the student. Then, a furious look came over her face and she started outright screaming. Logan’s ears hurt, so he moved his hands to cover them. “How dare you insult my intelligence? He was not born mute, thus he cannot be mute! Do not oppose me!”
The student flinched, cowering a little.
Mrs Woods was done for when she grabbed Logan’s wrist tightly just as another teacher walked in to see what the commotion was about.
“Katy,” Ms Bauble, one of the science teachers, said. “Let go of Logan. Now.”
Ms Bauble was usually sweet and friendly, but she was a force to be reckoned with when angry. Mrs Woods cursed under her breath. “Listen, Anna-“
“No, you listen. I’m not going to stand for you yelling at a student and grabbing his wrist like that.”
Mrs Woods immediately released her grip on Logan’s arm. However, there were still red marks where her fingers had been. Ms Bauble frowned, marching forwards. “I’ll be reporting this to Michael. He can decide what to do with you,” she all but spat out. Mrs Woods huffed and turned away.
Logan stood to follow, as he always did, but Ms Bauble ushered him back to his seat. “No, no. Go to Kuro’s classroom for homeroom and English until this gets sorted out. That might take a few days. Just don’t go back to her room, alright?”
Logan nodded, surprised at her actions and words. He knew she was a good teacher, but he didn’t know she’d do this for him. It was sweet of her, in his opinion.
As if she could read his mind, Mrs Bauble said, “It’s just common decency.”
Logan only offered a small smile in response.
Mrs Bauble spoke to Kuro for a few moments before leaving. Logan completed his maths homework and went home with a new bounce in his step. Yeah, home wasn’t that great. But at least school would be better from now on.
He didn’t stop to think about anything else on the way home.
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