Chapter Text
I know it breaks your heart
Moved to the city in a broke down car and
Four years, no calls
And now you’re looking pretty in a hotel bar
“20 minutes to go, everyone!”
His warning resonated through the silent room and made some of the students look wide-eyed at the clock on top of the wall. Alec felt sorry for them, his instinct to help each of the poor souls kicking in, but he knew he had to restrain himself. God, how I hate this kind of test.
He walked among the seat rows once more to make sure none of the students were cheating. Thankfully, all of them were strictly focused on their own test, although some were flipping through the test book pages frantically. He sighed resignedly and returned to his table in front of the classroom. At least it doesn’t look like I’ll have to cancel any tests today. The only thing worse than proctoring them was removing one from a student.
He noticed his cell screen was blinking with a new message. He grabbed his phone from the table and unlocked it.
[Dec 16 11:39 From: Isabelle the supreme queen of the universe]
Hey! Wanna grab lunch at DuMort?
Alec wondered when the hell his sister had had the opportunity to take hold of his phone to change her contact name. He opened the settings tab and changed it back before answering her.
[Dec 16 11:42 To: Izzy]
Sounds good
He added the 10 minutes it would take him to get to Hotel DuMort to the remaining class time.
[Dec 16 11:43 To: Izzy]
Meet you in half an hour?
Alec looked around and his heart clenched in his chest when he saw one of his students fighting back tears. Shit, Anna, keep calm, you can do this. The girl made eye contact with him, a supplicant expression on her face, but he knew he wasn’t allowed to help the students in any way.
Alec mouthed ‘breathe, it’s just a mock test,’ trying to calm her down discreetly. Anna took a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling, dried the tears from the corner of her eyes with the tips of her fingers and frowned determinedly back at her test. Alec suppressed a proud grin and checked his phone again.
[Dec 16 11:45 From: Izzy]
Ok
[Dec 16 11:46 From: Izzy]
But hurry up, I’m starving
He snorted softly.
[Dec 16 11:50 To: Izzy]
Nothing I can do, you know class goes til midday
“10 minutes left,” he warned after glancing at his watch one more time. On the front row, he saw Christian’s pen trembling in his hand. The boy had severe learning difficulties, and in spite of Alec’s will to give him special attention, he hadn’t had the opportunity yet. He filed that away as a post-holidays task. He then noticed Bianca, one of the most accomplished students, biting her nails to the point her thumb was bleeding.
Ok, that’s enough now.
“Guys, I want you all to drop your pens for a moment,” he said, glancing at the door glass to make sure no one was passing by.
Their expressions were of pure and utter panic. Alec could almost see the gears in their brains calculating how much time they had left, how many seconds they were losing with this simple pause, so he hurried to talk to them.
“Take a deep breath with me,” he requested, trying to convey confidence.
They seemed reluctant at first, but eventually inhaled and exhaled deeply.
“Remember, this is just a prep test. Keep calm, do your best, and we will work to improve your results when we get them. Now, keep breathing so you can finish in time.”
Alec couldn’t say what he actually thought about this kind of test – he had a contract with the school after all – but his students seemed a bit calmer after the pep talk. He, however, was boiling; he hated seeing the kids stressed out like this.
[Dec 16 11:54 To: Izzy]
Honestly how can they pressure these children like that? These tests are awful
Izzy texted back instantly. She was probably already waiting for him at the hotel.
[Dec 16 11:55 From: Izzy]
You’re too soft on them. Tough love, baby
He knew she was saying that just to annoy him. After years of him complaining about outdated and cruel teaching methods, she had come to hate them too.
[Dec 16 11:57 To: Izzy]
[eye-roll emoji]
[Dec 16 11:58 To: Izzy]
Btw, stop messing with my phone
[Dec 16 11:59 From: Izzy]
Never, brother dearest
Alec shook his head in warm-hearted exasperation, and made a mental note to change his cellphone password. That’s when the school bell rang, indicating the assessment had come to an end.
“That’s it, everyone. Last seconds to mark your answer sheets. Make sure you have put your names on it.”
The sound of chairs being dragged filled the room instantly. He picked up the tests deliberately slowly, in order to give the children as much time as he could. As he passed through the tables to take each test book, students were putting away their materials and chatting about the evaluation, comparing answers and complaining. Gradually, they gathered their belongings and departed, smiling at him and wishing him a good weekend. Before leaving, Anna stopped in front of him and beamed gratefully, to what he answered with a nod and a badly hidden smile. After he had collected all of them, he noticed Christian was still sitting in the same spot, staring at the table with his brows furrowed. The boy didn’t look up when Alec crouched beside him with a friendly smile.
“Hey, Chris. Everything okay?”
“Yes, Mr. Lightwood,” he said in an unconvincing tone.
“You are free to go home now. On days of practice tests, you get to leave earlier,” Alec explained, hoping to get Chris’ spirits up.
“Yeah, I know, sir,” Christian murmured, but made no move to leave the classroom. The kid was clearly embarrassed, fidgeting a little in his chair. “It’s just, uh… Do you know when we are going to get the results?” he asked shyly, finally lifting his eyes.
“After Christmas break, buddy. Why?” Alec replied in an attempt to get his student to open up.
“I was just wondering... if maybe there was a way they would not put the grades on the classroom bulletin board,” he blabbered abruptly.
Oh, great, apparently they’ve all chosen today to shatter me to a million pieces. Alec was rendered speechless. What could he do now? What could he possibly say that would make the poor little boy feel better?
“Uh, I’m sorry, Chris,” he started apologetically, “but I’m not in charge of that.” Alec refused to lie to the kid: getting his hopes up would only make it worse later. It didn’t stop him from hating himself a bit, though.
“That’s fine,” the boy answered with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He grabbed his backpack and rummaged to the door. “Have a nice weekend, Mr. Lightwood.”
Alec did not know what had come to him to make him run after Chris and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from leaving. He had no idea what to say when the boy turned to him expectantly.
“Listen, I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try to speak to the principal about it, okay? He might change his mind about it. Sounds good?”
Christian’s eyes lit up in a hopeful smile. “Can you really do that, Mr. Lightwood?”
Cause of death: children smiling.
“I promise to give it a try. Now, do you promise me you won’t spend your weekend thinking about that?” he said with a fake stern look.
“I promise! Thanks, Mr. Lightwood, you’re the best,” he yelled as he left the room giggling and jiggling, his grasp tight on his backpack straps. Alec smiled at his departure, allowing himself to feel a little better.
After he finished putting the tests in the envelope, Alec put on his coat, his gloves and his scarf. He balanced every book and sheet of paper on one arm, grabbed his bag with his free hand and turned the lights off with his elbow. He was locking the classroom door at the same time Lydia was closing hers. They shared annoyed understanding looks, but didn’t make any comments until they had left the school. They walked together to the exit, their steps echoing across the deserted corridors. The two of them gave the secretary the classroom keys, bid her a nice weekend and, the minute they were outside, on the sidewalk, they leaned on the school wall and let out the groans they had been stuffing for the whole morning.
“Alec, I swear, if I have to make them take one more of these tests…” Lydia trailed off, shaking her head.
“You know this was just the first one, right?”
“That’s not the kind of encouragement I need right now, Lightwood,” she complained in a playful tone.
Lydia and Alec had both graduated in Education from NYU, but while hers focused on English, his focused on Math. At the beginning, the factors that brought them together were their mutual hate for group assignments and their obsession with getting good grades. Their first meetings consisted of harsh monosyllabic dialogues. Little by little, however, they began to relate to each other: two people who had trouble breaking the rules, yet had a fierce desire to change education.
Those dreams, unfortunately, had to be put on hold once they started working at The Circle. Earlier that year, right after their graduation, Alec started looking for a job. He did need to afford both rent and his Master’s tuition, so it had been rough to find something. It was Hodge Starkweather, a high school teacher with whom he had kept in touch, that told him about Math intern vacancy in The Circle.
At first, Alec politely turned it down, because he knew it was one of the most expensive and conservative schools in New York, and it was not the kind of school he wanted to work for. Hodge once again opened his eyes, saying he wouldn’t find a place that paid as much for an intern position.
In order to appease his conscience, he kept telling himself it was only temporary. Besides, once he was in, he heard about a last-minute dropout for the English intern job, and promptly suggested Lydia for it. A résumé and a couple of interviews later, she was hired.
Alec snorted. All things considered, he actually couldn’t complain: he got to betray his principles together with his best friend. “I get what you mean,” he resumed their conversation, “one of the girls bit her nails to the point her finger was bleeding.”
“Who was it?” she questioned, wide-eyed and frowning. “Not…”
“Bianca,” they confirmed at the same time. “I can’t believe it was just the first one,” he added while he got his phone from his pocket. “I don’t even want to think about the next…”
[Dec 16 12:13 From: Izzy]
Okay, your 30 minutes are up. Where r u??
“Damn,” he swore as he typed a quick reply, “Lydia, I’m sorry, I’m supposed to meet Izzy for lunch and I’m already late. We’ll talk over the weekend, right?”
Lydia nodded and waved goodbye. “Definitely. I need someone to complain to while I correct these things.”
Alec laughed and broke into a run to get to his Harley. He stuffed all his materials inside the saddlebag, tightened the buckle of his strap bag and put his helmet on. He climbed on the motorcycle and started the engine, going as fast as he could to Hotel DuMort. The ride was bound to soothe his anger toward outdated assessment methods.
New York was bursting with Christmas. There were green garlands decorating doors and windows, and waves of pine smell eventually hit him. Old men dressed as Santa Claus were in every other corner, welcoming customers to stores. As he stopped at a traffic light, a bunch of people crossed the street carrying bags and boxes. Alec was relieved that he had already bought all the presents he needed; he hated facing the crowds that conquered the streets on the last days before Christmas.
Going a little faster than he usually would, and miraculously facing no traffic problems, Alec managed to get to DuMort quickly. He found a spot relatively near the hotel entrance and parked there. While he crossed the street, he checked his phone once more, since it had vibrated again during the drive. There were two new messages from Izzy.
[Dec 16 12:17 From: Izzy]
OH MY GOD GET UR ASS HERE RN
[Dec 16 12:18 From: Izzy]
YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHO I FOUND
Alec frowned, intrigued, as he entered the building and put his cell back in his pocket. He wondered who could it be that his sister had randomly met at the hotel – if he had to guess, he would say it was a renowned researcher that he had never heard of, since all Izzy could concentrate on lately was ‘Med school goals’. Alec entered the dining hall, the rumble of lunch talks, lounge music and cutlery clinking against china filling his ears, and he looked around, searching for Isabelle. He quickly saw her waving excitedly from the hotel bar, and made it through the tables to get to her.
“Hey,” he greeted her with a one-arm hug, her obvious happiness making him smile, “What’s going on?”
“Oh Alec, you’ll never believe who I found – in fact, who found me,” she said, slapping his arm lightly and repeatedly. “Honestly, I’m gonna kill him for not calling me as soon as he landed.”
Him? Calling? Landed? His confusion only increased, an uneasy feeling overcoming him for no apparent reason. He was about to ask her who the hell she was talking about when the mysterious third person joined the conversation, his voice coming from behind Alec.
“Well, I see your dear brother has not changed his helpless dark wardrobe one bit.”
No. Alec felt the smile leaving his face, and it was as if all noise had ceased. No no no. This could not be happening. It had to be a hallucination – and he would actually prefer it if his mind was playing a trick on him. His chest was constricting, as if it were tightening around his heart, trying very hard to hold all the pieces together. He contemplated fleeing from the hotel, and started estimating his maximum speed and the distance to the door, calculating how long it would take him to get to the exit. Alec knew he wouldn’t do any of that, though. Instead, he put a hand on the stool in order to keep his balance, and turned slowly to face the source of the painfully familiar voice.
“Hello, Alexander,” the man said, an annoying lopsided smirk on his unfairly gorgeous face.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
Alec wondered why his scarf was trying to suffocate him. He tried desperately to follow the advice he had given the children earlier and just breathe – even though this wasn’t a mock test. It was a very real one, and Alec knew he was failing spectacularly.
Because, no matter how hard he had tried, he still wasn’t as indifferent to Magnus Bane as he wished he was.