[C] Univesita Di Catania

Joshua sat in what had become his usual spot, in the very back corner of the lecture hall, it was his favourite as most of his teachers never caught him napping back there, it was too dark and too far away for them to spot him, which was fortunate because more often than not he was unable to keep his eyes open through the long, droning talks.

Today had been overcast and miserable, even now rain was beating down on the roof loudly, it was utterly horrible and had put the man in a rather gloomy mood, even being inside all day, warm and dry in the coffee shop where he worked most of the day hadn't spared him.

He had ran across to road, barely making it to class in time as the rain started again, soaking him to the bone. Now he had to sit here, his jacket dripping as he hung over the back of his chair and his shirt still damp, clinging to his body.

Thankfully at least he only had one class tonight, hopefully he could sleep through it, a nap for a few minutes would be enough to get him through his second job, restocking the bookshelves in the library at night before finally slumping into bed in the early morning hours, only to wake up the next day and sprint to the shop for the morning rush, where he would keep himself on his feet with copious amounts of coffee, scribbling down his homework in between serving customers.

Joshua was a bright kid and even with his hectic schedule his grades never faltered, but he was already feeling the strain and it was only the first week back. It was the second semester of the year, his last year before graduating, that would be a welcome relief, but all of his enrolled classes were very advanced and he knew he was going to struggle to make it through these last fourteen weeks.

The man sighed heavily, stacking his books in front of him, crossing his arms and slumping against them, resting his head on his hands as he stared down at the empty podium, class would begin soon. He hadn't had this lecturer before, though that wasn't surprising really, he had only been on exchange in Italy for a year and a half now, the only teachers he was familiar with were his guidance councilor and unit coordinators which he had for most of his courses.

No doubt it was just going to be another overweight professor, who was unmarried and owned far too many cats, everything about the academic world seemed mundane and boring.

"Not a good start to term, Mr. Anderson."

Professor Evenstad's voice snapped deliberately loudly in the boy's ear, seeming to have come from nowhere. Having entered through the student's door through the back of the auditorium, many of the other pupils were shocked into attention.

A little ripple of surprise echoed around the crowded lecture theatre.

Turning to the rest of the room, he strode briskly down the stairs, his voice carrying loudly with him as he went. He made no eye contact with his pupils as he reached the stage, merely throwing a piece of chalk at another sleeping student in the back row.

"Mesdames et messieurs, un exemple d'un etudiant paresseux est la-bas. Ne pas permez-vous seules de devenir comme ca, ou vous recevriez la meme traitement."

His eyes turned back to Joshua, burning into him. "Monsieur Anderson, visitez-moi la fin de la classe."


________

"Ladies and gentlemen, that is an example of a lazy student. Do not allow yourselves to become like that, or you will receive the same treatment."

"Mr. Anderson, see me at the end of class."

Joshua almost jumped out of his skin, bolting upright in his seat, the sudden sleepiness he had been feeling suddenly stripped away by the loud voice in his ear.

He watched the lecturer in stunned silence as he moved toward the front of the class.

The man sunk into his chair as the rest of the class stared at him, some of the female student chuckling, causing him to blush slightly before turning away to stare down at his open notebook intently.

"Like hell you will."

He muttered softly under his voice so no one would hear him, perhaps under different circumstances he would've warmed to this teacher, after all, he was quite good looking, that much had not escaped the boy's notice, but as it stood he took an immediate disliking to him.

He paced as he talked, walking briskly up the stairs and across the back, screwing up a piece of paper that a young man was doodling aimlessly on.

"S'il vous plait, ouvrir vos livres a page 367. Et toi aussi, Anderson." he shot at the boy, tossing the drawing at his head.

The lecture went on for an hour, and Evenstad continued to pace as he talked, up and down the stage, occasionally pausing to scribble on the board in an almost illegible scrawl, or to shoot an almost impossible question at Joshua.

When he finally came to the end of the class, he sat back down at the desk, shuffling his papers.

"Vous pouvez laisser la classe. Anderson, viens ici."

_____________

"Please open your books at page 367. You too, Anderson."
"You may leave the class. Anderson, come here."

Joshua wanted to growl as the paper was thrown at him, of course he was going to be the one picked on in class, it wasn't like other students were sleeping through class as well, besides, the lecture hadn't even began when he was dozing.

Each question was met with a decent answer, even the ones he had purposefully asked to trip him up, he was going to be correct out of pure spite and each time he answered, a small smirk would grace his lips, he wasn't like the rest of these morons.

"J'aimerais rester et causerie professeur, mais je dois aller travailler."

He replied as he pulled on his slightly damp jacket and made his way over to the desk, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he looked down at the man dully, he wasn't looking forward to this class anymore.
________________
I'd love to stay and chat Professor, but I have to get to work.

He ignored the young man's excuse. "Tell me, Anderson. When do you fall asleep when listening to any one else? Do you fall asleep listening to your friends? No? How about your parents? Or your peers?"

Standing up, he made his way round to the front of the desk, leaning back on the top as he lit a cigarette, placing it between his lips and inhaling deeply.

"Why are they any different? I have taught students like you for my entire life, for decades, spending every hour of my day ensuring that they will pass and what do I get? Ungrateful behaviour like this."

The smoke fanned over his lower lip as he spoke, eyes boring into Joshua's.

"I know I am droning on." A small smile curled his lips. "Which is why you personally are taking next lesson on the origins of the romantic languages. Let's see if you can make it more interesting."

The young man's eyes narrowed as the man spoke, this professor made far too many assumptions and it was beginning to irritate him.

"With all due respect sir, I was not asleep, I was resting against my books my eyes weren't even shut, not only that but class had not started yet, you were not even in the room until then so I don't see why I should be singled out as a misfit when I haven't done anything wrong."

The boy gaped at his teacher, the man wanted him to teach next class? wasn't that a bit of an extreme punishment.
Normally Josh wasn't so bold or brave to stand up to authority like this, but this was plain unfair.

"If you're worried about me failing I suggest you look at my academic record, as for teaching the class, I wont do it, and I wont let you bully me into doing you job for you."

He replied sternly, he simply refused.

"Don't you worry about them, I will sort them out in due time."

His methods were old-fashioned, and fairly unethical, but they worked. Once the other students had seen him being strict with Joshua, there would be no way they would let themselves get into the same situation. He would pick on a couple of others, to prove that his severity was not restricted to one student, but it would do the trick.

He sat down at his desk, icy blue eyes narrowing him at the boy sternly as he stubbed the cigarette out on the ashtray, the crumped paper and tabacco still smoking faintly.

"As for doing my job for me, it is well-recognised that teaching someone else is one of the best ways of learning. You might consider yourself a fantastic student, but regardless of your grades, there is always room for improvement, and you clearly are not stretching yourself enough if you find time to sleep in class. Teaching will not only help you understand the frustration of teaching a lack-lustre class, but it will help you understand the subject better."

His fingers steepled as he spoke, legs crossed neatly under the table. He paused to put a pencil back in the pencil holder on his desk, tidying his papers.

"You have three days to prepare. I suggest you make the most of them."

Three days to prepare...

This guy was utterly serious and not back down, he was actually expected to teach a class of students without having any training as a teacher, let alone a teacher or higher learning.

If it wasn't for the fact that this was one of his core units he would have dropped the class then and there and chosen something different, but that clearly wasn't an option.

"I'll see you in three days then, professor."

He muttered darkly before readjusting his backpack and storming out of the lecture hall, Josh had work every day this week so trying to plan a lesson around that, and his homework was going to be hell, but he would do it, just to rub it into the man's face and prove he wasn't some push over.

A small smile flickered across his lips as the boy stormed out of the room. Joshua was feisty. It both amused him and irritated him at the same time.

This one would be troublesome to teach.

But he was interested to see him take the class. The other students were still at the point of being lazy and disrespectful, so Joshua would have to deal with that.

If he was feeling particularly kind he might step into help if it got very bad. But he did want the message to get across.

Emptying the ashtray out of the window, he put it in his bag along with his papers and walked out of the door.

Time to go home, at last.

Joshua made his way to the library to start work, tonight was going to be a long night but he would preoccupy himself by stacking the shelves while reading the set material for next class, he would learn it all by heart so when it came to teaching it, he was prepared.

Three days passed by quickly and the night he was meant to teach the class creeped up on him unexpectedly, amongst all his other work, this was an unnecessary burden.

He stood outside of the hall, clutching his lecture notes in distaste, the man was early for once and stood there stewing in his own annoyance.

The doors opened and the students flooded into the lecture theatre, talking loudly among themselves. A few, as Joshua had done, sat down and went to sleep immediately. Others sat at the back of the hall, packets rustling as they ate crisps, and faint clanging sounds of coke cans being dropped on the floor.

Safir watched the students in mild amusement as they entered, sitting in the front row.

This was going to be interesting. The class was rowdy today, rowdier than usual, on account of a football match that had been on earlier in the day.

A few students were even drunk.

Standing up, he strode briskly over to the front of the lecture theatre, beckoning with a hand for Joshua to come over.

"Today your class will be taken by Joshua Anderson here. Try to behave well for him, for I will not be intervening in this lesson."

Josh knew at that moment that he hated Professor Evenstad, he had friends in this class, friends which had been out all day watching football and enjoying themselves while he had been locked inside finalizing what he was going to stay because the teacher had a vendetta against him.

With an exasperated sigh Josh trudged up to the front of the class, shooting Safir a glare before looking over the class, drunk, stoned, asleep, all three, this class would be impossible for even a seasoned teacher, he was being set up to fail, hard.

"Oi, everyone shut up."

He called out loudly, pulling a temporary silence from the room, who looked over at him, simply a little shocked at the tone and words he was using.

"Today I'll be teaching you about the origin of romantic languages. The Romance languages developed from Latin in the sixth to ninth centuries and are a subgroup of Italic Language, within the Indo-European heading..."

The Lecture continued on, most of it falling on deaf ears as the students refused to pay attention.

The noise started to trickle slowly back into the room, students talking loudly among themselves.

A couple of students walked out, the door slamming loudly behind them and cheers were heard from along the corridors. Those that were left grew rowdier, a few tossing packets of food or beer cans to each other across the class.

Safir watched Joshua intently, waiting for him to make some kind of move to silence the class.

This was what he had had to deal with year after year, it was crazy, yes, but not incredibly out of the ordinary. And Joshua would have to learn to empathise if they were going to work as teacher and student.

Joshua had tried and it wasn't working, despite the fact that the lesson he was reading was quite interesting.

He felt singled out among his peers, the man sighed and leaned back against the desk, he hadn't been as disrespectful as they were being to him, and if that wasn't bad enough he was running on no food, and very little sleep, he was tired and not feeling the greatest, all the while his peers, his students, were doing everything in their power to make matters even worse.

"Fuck this shit."

He muttered, rubbing his temples, they were giving him a headache.

"If you lot want to fail this course then I don't give two shits."

He stood up and made his way to the door, leaving his class notes on the table.

"I'm leaving."

Josh muttered, shooting an apologetic look toward the Professor before walking out, he couldn't deal with them.

Safir stood up at that point, turning to the class, his face set like stone in an icy expression.

"You will all stay in your seats until I get back, or you will fail the course. Understand?"

Marching briskly after the boy, he tapped his shoulder gently.

"Joshua. That goes for you too."

His voice softened, looking over the boy's face. "Take your seat, and I shall deal with the class today." His tone had lost none of its certainty, but it was more soothing, lower, less loud. More like the voice he used among friends than with his students.

Josh turned around, his expression worn, he didn't want to put up with this right now.

The boy sighed in defeat, running his hand through his tangled mop of hair, clearly it had gone unbrushed today.

He just wanted to go home and make up for the sleep he had been missing out on the last two weeks but he knew by now that trying to argue with Evenstad was useless.

"Alright."

He grunted, turning around and trudging reluctantly back toward class, taking a seat in the front row and leaning back in his chair.

When Safir reached the front of the class, he pointed at a random student. A girl, who was clearly on her way to a party, overly made-up, swaying a little front already being drunk as she reapplied her lipstick.

"Annette. Seeings as your make-up is clearly more interesting than the lesson Joshua here spent so long on for you, you have 10 minutes to present to the class on makeup styles worldwide, and the production of makeup in foreign countries."

Her eyes went wide. "But Sir..."

"Up here." he snapped. Turning to the rest of the class, he addressed the remaining students. "The rest of you are to memorise the notes for a test tomorrow. I shall send them out tonight. Annette, go on."

The girl shot a terrified glance at the class, before stammering on in incredibly flawed french, giving long pauses as she attempted to make up a lecture. The class fell back into talking amongst themselves, although quickly hushing as Safir sent them a fierce glare.

Professor Evenstadt sat back down next to Joshua.

"You are exempt from tomorrow's test, and from the essay which will follow." he murmured quietly to him. "Don't tell anyone, or I daresay your peers will give you too much trouble."

Joshua couldn't help but smirk as the girl was scolded instead of him for once, admittedly, it was highly amusing to watch.

His eyes went wide as the professor sat beside him and muttered quietly, he didn't have to sit the test, or do the essay?

His mouth flapped uselessly for a few seconds as he looked at the man, nodding softly before a small smile graced his lips.

"Thank you, Sir."

He would enjoy being able to rest for a while, he needed a decent sleep and now it looked like he would get it.

"You're welcome."

The noise was slowly bubbling up again, and a boy on the front row threw a beer can onto the stage.

Safir stood up immediately.

"Davide. Leave the room immediately. I shall be talking to your personal tutor concerning your place on this course. Go on Annette."

The boy let out a loud, drunken curse and stormed out of the back, slamming the door behind him.

The girl warily started to go on, the class stunned into silence.

Joshua laughed softly as the boy stormed out of class, watching his peers all going crazy made him feel like the sanest person in this room even if he was the one living off of the least amount of sleep.

He could fail a class, if his grades started to fall he would lose his scholarship and without that he couldn't afford to be at such a fine school, he would have to go back to America and attend a community college, that was not something he wanted to happen, so far this last six months he had to work himself to the bone.

Josh made himself comfortable in his chair as he listened to the girl ramble on about nothing, at the very least he wouldn't add to her torment.

The lecture eventually came to an end, and Professor Evenstad walked to the front again.

"Next time I see someone messing around in my lesson again, they will be taking the class next lecture. You have an essay on Joshua's topic due next lesson. Enjoy your weekend."

The class grumbled as they walked out of the hall, eyes rolling, a definite droop in their shoulders.

Safir beckoned to Joshua again.

"I can be nice too, but you have to earn it. You were let off this time because of your well-written lecture. Keep up the good work, and I won't pick on you again."

Josh pulled himself onto his feet and made his was to the man, nodding softly as he spoke.

"I will Professor, and I am sorry for acting up in class, I can see how frustrating it is, it wont happen again."

He replied before picking up his bag and heading out the door.

"See you next class."

He added with an idle wave before heading back toward the campus dormitories.

Next class came and went without Joshua's attendance, as well as the next, homework was sent straight to his teacher's offices, posted to them instead of handed in.

The quality of his work seemed to decrease exponentially each day and his grades were clearly beginning to suffer.

Safir sat in the staff room, checking through the attendance records. He found Joshua's lack of attendance odd, given the boy's words to him when he had said goodbye.

"See you next lesson", he had said. Clearly he wasn't skipping lessons. Despite Joshua's laziness in class, according to the older records he hadn't skipped lessons regularly before.

His eyes rested on the receptionist, Andrea, busily checking through a list. Standing up, he made his way over, standing in front of the desk for a little while before she noticed him.

"Can you ring the Student Attendance Office and ask where Joshua Anderson has been?"

She gave him a friendly smile, dialling the number. "Sure, Safir, love. Good weekend?"

He nodded, tapping his foot a little impatiently. Andrea flashed him another smile, slightly more irate this time, and averted her attention to talking on the phone in loud, rushed italian. She put the phone down heavily.

"He's ill. Got whooping cough."

"Can I make a call?"

"Sure. I'll look up his number for you."

She called up the database, squinting slightly through her square glasses as she tried to find him.

"There you go." The woman turned the screen around, pointing at it with a badly bitten nail.

Safir typed in the number, frowning slightly. The phone started to ring on the other end. He hoped Joshua would pick up.

Josh had been trying his hardest to keep on top of his work but when he sat up for too long working he would have another coughing fit and end up either throwing up or passing out.

He had been prohibited from attending classes due to his infectious nature and he knew his grades were failing, so when he got a call from and unidentified number he knew it had to be the University.

The man rolled over from his position on the couch, having made it this far from his bedroom before having to take a break, he was on his way to the kitchen.

He cleared his throat before answering but his voice still sounded overly husky.

"Hello?"

He muttered, hoping to God it was the scholarship board.