Leonard trembled with anger. "What did you say to me?" he asked.
"I think you heard me," Alex answered with a sly smile. "Unless you're hard of hearing, of course."
They stared at each other, and the other teachers sat in dumbstruck silence. Nobody knew what to say or do. The tension in the conference room was reaching a breaking point.
Billy slapped the table fiercely and stood up. He saw an opportunity to turn his colleagues against Alex, and he wasn't going to pass it up.
"What kind of an attitude is this?" he asked with feigned incredulity. "It's your first day on the job, and this is how you greet your new colleagues?"
Alex turned to look at him and smiled. He was completely relaxed, and the pleasure of telling them all off was making him laugh on the inside.
"Respect is earned," he said. "Since all I see are a bunch of scoundrels, rather than people who want to do their best for the students, I won't be polite."
"You… this is outrageous!" Billy stammered. Alex's behavior had taken him completely aback. He didn't know what to do.
"Don't waste my time," Alex said. "I'm taking over Class 6, and unless you have the power to stop me, you should shut your useless mouth about it."
Billy's face reddened. He remembered how he had been able to shove Alex around, but the person sitting in front of him now was completely different. He searched for something to say, but he could find nothing.
For his part, Alex didn't hold a grudge. He remembered Billy all too well, and he had decided not to make a big deal of their reunion. But now it was clear that Billy wasn't going to let things be. The principal had said that Alex had been given Class 6 over one of the staff, and it was now clear who that someone was.
The other teachers didn't know what to think. Alex was different from any teacher they had ever known. They couldn't make sense of him. Before the meeting, he had hounded some of them with questions about teaching, and they had thought him uninformed and weak. His interactions with Leonard and Billy had changed their impression, and they now thought him arrogant and rude. Either way, they dreaded the thought of working with him.
Billy was fuming. He couldn't allow Alex to treat him like this in front of everyone. He was the young up-and-comer. The rising star everyone thought had everything figured out. It was an impression he had spent every ounce of his energy to build, and now it was at risk of being destroyed.
"Who are you calling useless?" he asked impotently.
"I was talking to you, obviously," Alex said leisurely. "And I told you to be quiet and not get in my way. Weren't you paying attention?"
At this point, the principal rose and stepped in to avoid an altercation. "Everyone here is simply dedicated to delivering the best teaching we can. The seniors in Class 6 are the most boisterous we have. No doubt your colleagues are simply worried about you."
"I see," Alex responded. "Well, just give me a month. If I don't handle my students well, I'll resign at that point. But I hope that my fellow teachers will give me a chance and that they won't interfere with my work. If they do, I won't be playing nice."
The teachers looked at each other and sneered. Class 6 had been an unsolvable problem for years, and none of the previous teachers had been able to whip them into shape. Many had been injured trying. And now Alex was telling them he could do it in a month, without any prior experience. Many of them were offended, and some of them were amused. They all wanted to see what would happen.
"I'll bet he gives up and leaves before lunch today," one of the teachers said.
"I'll take that bet," said another. "But I'll raise the stakes. I'll bet the students manage to seriously injure him before today's over."
A third teacher stood up, leaned over the table, and looked Alex in the eye. "If you're still here tomorrow, those kids are yours. And all of us will look to you as our teacher, as well." He leaned back and laughed.
"I don't know about that last bit," Alex answered and laughed. "I don't accept students unless they're decent people."
As soon as he said this, more than half of the teachers stood up and glared at him. He simply looked at them. "I'll tell you what," he said. "If anything goes wrong today, I won't be back tomorrow. One of you can replace me. But if nothing goes wrong, you all have to run fifty laps around the school racetrack. What do you say?"
"Of course," Leonard blurted out instantly. He didn't think there was any risk of Alex winning such a bet. The other teachers nodded and agreed.
The principal ended the meeting, and everyone stood up. The teachers cleared out of the room, and Alex stood and watched as they all left. When he thought that he was alone, he started moving toward the door. But as he took his first step, he heard a soft voice behind him call out his name.
He turned around. A sweet-looking female teacher stood behind him. They were alone in the conference room. He looked quietly at her.
"It's Alex, right?" she said. "I'm Lynne Bowen. I'm a math teacher. I'm afraid you don't know what you're getting into with the Class 6 seniors. You should be careful."
Lynne looked a little worried. She looked to be around thirty years old, and Alex could tell that she was a kind-hearted person.
"Is that so?" he said and smiled at her.
"I appreciate your confidence, but I think you're a bit too impulsive," Lynne continued. "Those kids aren't easy to manage. They're all children of rich and powerful people, and they think they can do what they like. Last week, their previous teacher was admitted to the hospital. He hasn't recovered yet."
"It's okay," Alex assured her. "They're just kids. Their energy needs to be properly directed, that's all."
"If you say so," she answered. "By the way, I also want to thank you. Many others would, too, but they're afraid to do it. Billy's been making our lives difficult since he got here, and Leonard's been helping him suppress our complaints. We're all waiting for a chance to vent our frustrations."