Point Plaisant

[Fadil Al-Zahari]

Fadil, on a good day, didn't care if he received phone calls, letters, e-mails, visitors, anything. However, today, not the best day for any dealings with the human race. His head was practically ready to explode at any given moment. He wasn't sure exactly what the cause of this migraine could have been, but he somehow guessed it had something to do with the annoyance of his youngest brother, Amr, who happened to be calling him more frequently than he had before. Sure these two weren't truly simpatico with one another after a few problem's they had with their personal lives and political views mixing, but it was his brother. Obligation to love his sibling was seemingly the only thing keeping them together these days.

He sighed out when he found thinking of his brother was making things worse for his head at such an early time. He glanced around those sitting amongst friends, drinking coffee, or reading a paper on this morning's commute to Point Plaisant High School. The city bus and the usual people he saw every weekday. How dreadfully routine this all seemed to him after being there for so long. He loved it here, to say the least, but there was just something that was becoming dreadful about it all. Perhaps, he figured as his mind traveled onto new things, it was due to the school's lack of interest in cultural diversity despite the small city, two hours shy from Vancouver, having enough of it to make the State's look jealous.

The squeaking sound of the bus's break's brought Fadil to his feet, grabbing onto the overhead railing as he looked out the slightly tinted window seeing the small stop and the large school a half a mile in the distance. He sighed and slowly shifted his tan messenger bag on his shoulder and side, containing his school work and such for his World History classes. He made his way down the small aisle, allowing a few students to get up ahead of him. He nodded at the driver as he turned, feeling the cold arctic blast of wind and snow hit him. Something else he was beginning to loathe in his age, the cold.

[Maddox Aires]

Maddox had so far had an alright morning. Getting to school in one peice had been the first thing on her agenda. The bus had been cramped and uncomfortable. She hadn't been on one since that tiny bus she had to ride across Paris when she had been fourteen.

But the cold air, filled with snow and angry wind, had not made her any happier, and by the time she sat down at her new desk in the new workplace--Pt. Plaisant High School, as the Lit. and Grammar teacher--she was frazzled and felt like she had already worked an entire week.

It was only Monday.

She had decided to come in earlier than she normally would have because she wanted to get everything set up, her area cleared and ready for the day so that she would have her karma restored before the students arrived. She hadn't yet met all of her coworkers, only the principal and his office staff, all of whom were quite nice people. All of them had offered her the kindest welcome, and had told her that it would be easy for her to fit right in with everyone.

But Maddox knew that there were at least fifty other teachers at this school and she didn't exactly know how she would ever be able to meet and know all of their faces. She was no good with names anyway.

[Fadil Al-Zahari]

Fadil gladly accepted, surprisingly, the cold walk to the beautiful aged building. It was always a pleasant sight to see, much like everything else in the small uphoria people had created thorughout the years. If it hadn't been for the sudden boom in skiing and vacationers looking for snow related activities in the mountainous area's that surrounded the utopia many years ago, he wondered if it wouldn't have just sat idly to be forgotten about and run down. Thankfully, tourism was very good business and keeping everything looking old, yet well kempt. Much like the school that looked like it had been there since the late 1800's yet the insides were just a few years olfd of being renovated.

He sighed out, his breath heavily condensing in the cold air, he was enjoying this walk. He had been very tired due to his frequent calls from his brother, it was also helping his headache, and allowing his nasal passages to be clear of the smelly bus. As perfect as this place could have possibly tried to be...public transportation was still filled with unpleasantries.

He coughed lightly as he stomped his small leather shoes free of the white snow that had managed to not melt from the iced walkways. He breathed in too deep and he felt like his lungs were going to freeze and it was causing him to have a coughing fit. Sadly, it echoed like the dickens when he walked into the small lobby area of the prestigious public school. He knocked a few snow flakes from his thick hair and ran a hand through it, smiling at a few teacher's mingling in the hall drinking their lattes. He conversed with a few students he passed, some showing him their art projects or whatever. Something that always made him happy were those who were actually enthused about being in school. Even those who weren't, he highly congratulated himself on trying to turn people's views around. He loved his students too much to just watch them screw up, but more times than he had wanted, some just didn't get it. Education did pay.

Fadil grabbed his keys and made his way to his large classroom and unlocked the door and turned on the lights, briefly glancing at his clock all the way in the back of the room, away from student's eyes so they couldn't stare at it instead of him. He still had a few minutes. He sighed. How he hated Mondays. He yawned and sat his book bag on the large desk and pulled out his large folder containing graded papers from previous class and fooled around on his computer, waiting for those to pour into his first period.

[Maddox Aires]

Maddox's planning period was first period, meaning that she had no students first period. Which was good for her, it gave her a good hour to figure out exactly how she wanted to approach the day, which wasn't an easy task. When you were coming in two months into the school year, and trying to pick up where another teacher left off, it was hard to gauge what the students knew and didn't. What they were ready for and what they weren't. It was even hard to figure out what discipline level they were.

Standing up, she walked over to the clock on her wall and straightened it before wandering to the door of her classroom, standing at it and looking out. A few of the teachers paused to smile and welcome her, and the students that were there, either smiled, or stared at her as they went by.

The principle came by and greeted her, telling her good morning, and introducing her to the Biology professor and his wife, who was the green house keeper. Both of them seemed sweet. The Principle told her she would have to meet so-and-so before she got settled in, that she would definately be able to have discussions with them.

By the time the principle and the man and woman left, Maddox had forgotten their names.

[Fadil Al-Zahari]

"What in the..." Fadil sighed out as he bent down trying to play with his television and it's DVD player. Today, apparently, wasn't supposed to be his day. He sighed out and goofed around with it, pushing buttons, playing with cords, and even giving it a good cursing in Arabic before he realized he hadn't plugged either of the two electronics in. Apparently someone had moved it out of his classroom although in bright red letters written in marker said 'DO NOT REMOVE FROM CLASSROOM 123'. It was untelling who put their paws on it and how messed up the settings might be. He plugged it into the wall and stood up, watching both items click on. He smiled to himself, proud he was a big boy and had figured it out all by himself. He saw the black screen on the tv and pushed the eject button in the DVD player, placing a small silver disc into the drive and turning the television off.

He wandered over to his desk and pulled out his workbook and glanced out into the hallway seeing a few of his students chatting about whatever. His eyes wandered directly across the hall to the young woman shadowing a doorway, looking right and left and occassionally smiling. Who was that? Newbie? He shook his head. He was curious as to what she taught. Lord knew certian subjects were doomed with smartasses and people who enjoyed causing trouble. He wondered if she had had any experience working with students before considering she barely looked old enough to drink.

He grinned to himself, not really knowing why, perhaps just because he wanted to. He suddenly stopped when he realized there wasn't much to smile about at that moment. Students would think something was wrong. He looked away and headed to the blackboard and quickly jotted down a few numbers. Mainly numbers of the Chapter they were to cover. He heard a few people scuffle into the room and he glanced over at the boy with his iPod in. The second they made eye contact the boy rolled his eyes and pulled the plugs out of his ear knowing that the only music that his students were to hear was the sound of his accented voice. Nothing else.

"Sabbah-el-Khair." Fadil said with the kh coming from the back of his throat. How glad he was to speak in his native tongue. The student stopped and looked at him with that wigger look he had. Fadil smiled, enjoying the confusion and began to write what he had said to the boy on the board.

"Mean's good morning, Andrew." He looked over to find the boy nodding and walking to his seat.

[Maddox Aires]

Maddox heard the distinct sound of an accented voice from the classroom directly across from hers. Ever since she had studied under a professor from Iraq, she could tell the middle eastern accents, and had been able to pick out from which area. But she had fallen out of practice long ago, and now could only tell it was middle eastern.

She leaned a little to the side to try and see. All she could see from her vantage point was the front line of desks and the students sitting in them, thier faces blank. Glancing over, Maddox hailed a janitor who making his way by. He smiled and came over.

"I'm sorry, but whose room is that?" she asked, pointing lightly to the classroom in front of her. The man peered over and considered it a moment. Finally, he nodded.

"Oh, that's Fadil Al-Zahari," he said good naturedly, grinning. Maddox nodded, thanking him. Well, she was right anyway.

Hm. He had a sexy voice.

Yeah, she should get back to her lesson plans.

[Fadil Al-Zahari]

Before he realized it, the classroom was full, morning announcements were just finished, and he was quickly on his way to teaching what he loved best. The middle east. This was the time where he could seriously get lost all day and teach for hours on end, thankfully he had made this an important part of his class spending almost three weeks on it simply because it had a bad name, it was very important at this exact time, and he felt that it was time to expand their knowledge in a much more exciting way than just mummies and pyramids.

He walked over to the tv and turned it on and pushed play, allowing the distinct soound of Arabic music to fill the room, asking anyone to guess what language it was and where it was from. Of course everyone was way off by stating Afghanistan. He did this with every new country, every new chapter. Whether it be Italy or Spain, music would always start off the new chapter simply because it allowed students to get a better perspective than just a place with one dimensional statues, like that in the book. He thought it was much better to bring a part of the country to them.

"We are going to start studying about Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, amongst other smaller countries in the middle east." He smiled. Boy, he loved this part. Some students were actually receptive and beginning to chit chat about how cool the music sounded, while others remainded silent or undeterred by what they heard. Luckily, he enjoyed picking on those who didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Turn to chapter twenty, if you would!" He said loud and clear over the music that blared loudly. Most people were used to it by now, whilst others were still very annoyed with his teachings. He couldn't begin to count how many times teachers within hearing distance complained of the ways he taught students, the way he allowed them to have open-book tests, the way he helped those who didn't come to class, amongst other things. Most importantly, he had begun to notice, many were not really appreciating the sight they sometimes saw when he took off during lunch.

His mind wandered to it as he began to write important dates, discussions, and aspects of their culture he'd be talking about today. When he wrote down religion his mind went to the last time he had a few people complain that they didn't like him praying in his classroom. But what else was he supposed to do? Go outside? After all, he had a certain way to do it and the only place he felt he could pray was in his own classroom, towards Mecca. But these people, many in the sciences, seemed to feel threatend by it some even said it wasn't something the students should see.

"As usual," He said bringing his mind back to normal. "I will greet you in the proper language the people use and you shall respond back with the proper form." He wrote down the response he was wanting from students after he said good morning. Again it brought a sense of culture to the classroom. Student's enjoyed it, he just didn't understand why some staff didn't.

[Maddox Aires]

Maddox heard the sounds of music from the classroom across from hers, but didn't give it much thought. She'd heard all kinds of world music, and was actually quite fond of it. Once again, she couldn't exactly place what language, but she liked what she heard anyway.

As she put her glasses on and began to write in her planbook, her mind wandered away from this new place. She had been born in France, but had grown up in New York City, visiting France during the summers to see her family. She had always grown up around diversity, being part of the French minority in her high school, it had sometimes been hard to see how people picked on other just because of how they looked, or what they believed. No one had an open mind anymore. Gay marriage, religion, politics. It was like a riotous fight between brothers and sister.

That was why she had moved here, to Pt. Plaisant, the tiny little city outside Vancouver, she wanted to escape all of that. Maddox was ill to death many things, racism was one, her own family was two. Her brtothers, Croix and Guillaume, had been absent from her family environment since they had turned fifteen and sixteen, respectively. They were part of what could only be called a French mafia group, although she didn't know all that much about. It was a scar on the face of her family name, and it always had been. Maddox had gotten fed up with them long ago, cut off most ties with them, although they sometimes came to family events if so inclined to see the people who did all they could to help them.

Maddox had come here specifically to escape the fear she used to feel. If you made one member mad, they all came after you.

Sighing, Maddox shook her head. She didn't want to think about it. If she was distracted her first day, no way she'd ever be able to get things on track.

[Fadil Al-Zahari]

Like he had figured, the first class, as well as the second, went by too fast. He got caught up in the heritage he had, the culture, the musings, everything and anything dealing with the Middle East made him too excited. He had talked so fast during an hour because he knew that there was so much to discuss, to talk about, to show the students.

He was winded by the time the bell had rung and he had felt like he barely took a breath. Each class a million notes on the board. Students were not as enthused about this part of his class like he was. But luckily, his enthusiasm, by the end of it all, reached them and some even did their final projects on it. He sighed out and smiled as he sat on the corner of his desk as the bell rang, allowing students to bolt into their safe haven, the hallway and lockers, to talk and exchange letters, whatever it was these kids did! He smiled at a few students who said they'd see him tomorrow, he told them to have a good day and what not. By the time they all flocked out of his room he sighed out and stood up, wandering over to the board to clear the notes.

He heard a few students actually talking about his class, he knew it was a girl from her first period and he glanced over to see her and someone else lingering by his doorway. The redhead, named Katrina, was a sophmore and obsessed with history. He liked her, he actually considered her to be his favorite student out of all the sophmore's he taught.

"Katrina? Can I help you?" He asked with a smile, walking to his door to see her smiling brightly. Something he had found interesting was how she always managed to make multiple appearances by his doorway throughout the course of the day. Once, she even asked if she could watch him pray one evening. Of course he declined considering personal boundries needed to be set between students and teachers, also he didn't feel comfortable praying in front of her. Plus, she'd be eating her lunch as he prayed and he did not need distractions.

"I was telling my friend how great your class was today! I wanted to know if I can borrow the CD you played?" Somehow he should have seen this coming. She asked for anything he taught that could be burned or copied in some way. As usual, he laughed and said he'd do it for her and that she needed to go to lunch. Sadly, like he expected, she sauntered off with her friend, giggling like crazy. He only stood there holding an eraser with a smile. If that girl didn't have a crush on him he didn't know what was wrong with her.

[Maddox Aires]

Maddox's two classes before lunch went relatively smoothly. Shakespeare--the topic upon which the last teacher had left off--was one of her favorite authors. Macbeth and Julius Caesar were her two favorites, among sonnets that he had written. And the students seemed very well behaved. Then again, it wasn't exactly her standing up there chatting about Ipods and computers.

If she had been, she would have had their undivided attention.

Smiling at two girls as they left her class, wishing her a good day, she blew a few strands of slightly curly hair out of her face. She was thinking about skipping lunch all together and just farting around with her afternoon class notes...but her stomach made a loud gurgling sound, and she figured she could at least eat while she worked. Grabbing her black jacket from her chair, she slid it on, so she could go out to her car and retrieve her lap top which she now had some time to set up in her room.

Going out into the hall, she dodged a couple of boys who were literally racing each other down the hall to see who could make it to the cafeteria first. Smiling, she was sure to close her door. She looked up to see two girls walking away from the professor's classroom across from her, and Maddox smiled at them, allowing them ahead of her before glancing at the tall, dark man in the doorway.

She smiled cordially before turning back to look where she was going.

[Fadil Al-Zahari]

Fadil stood there with a stupid smile on his face when the woman walked by, her eyes telling him she was on a mission. He didn't know why he didn't say anything to her, lord knew he liked to talk about whatever and liked to get to know all of whom he worked with him. Afterall, these people were the ones who enjoyed hating on him during staff meetings.

He sighed out and glanced at the clock, noticing it was that time. He turned on his heel and quickly tossed the eraser onto the blackboard's holder. He quickly went to the restroom and washed his hands and face, amongst other things, knowing this routine like he knew the back of his hand. He wandered back into his room and waked to his desk, pulling out his prayer blanket that he cleaned every other day. Unrolling it next to his desk he faced the way he always did at this time, somehow always sensing it was the correct direction. He grabbed his Gahfiyyah cap and slid it onto his head before beginning to pray. He slowly squatted and began to speak to himself in Arabic, as it was supposed to be done, before beginning to bend forward, praying for whatever he needed to for that day.

Something else he realized anymore while praying, it was killing his back and especially his old knees. Sure 43 wasn't that old, but it was old enough to know that this didn't feel very good on the human body. He kept his eyes closed and he bent forward, placing his forhead onto the ground before coming back up, speaking his prayer, keeping his mind on nothing but that. In his religion it meant that if one's mind were to stray, the prayer was not complete and was not worthy.

[Maddox Aires]

"Christ..." Maddox muttered as she was blown back into the school building by negative ten degree winds. The snow was getting thicker. At her old school, they would have called off for this. But here, it was par for the course. She wouldn't be surprised if they came to school in feet of snow.

Her lap top, a little damp now from the snowflakes that had hit it. was tucked under her arm and she kept it there as she made her way back down the hall to her room, where she had her food. The halls were silent at this time, as they were in most high schools. Everyone was in the cafeteria now, eating, sociallizing, doing whatever they did.

Maddox sighed as she shivered and walked up to her door, glancing over to the room across from hers. She didn't see the man, but if she wasn't mistaken by the sounds she heard, he was praying. Unable to keep a big, stupid grin from spreading across her face, Maddox opened her door and slid inside. Sometimes she wished she was of an exotic religion, Buddhism, Muslim...something. But she didn't really have any religion, even though she had been brought up Catholic.

Glancing back over her shoulder at the man's door, she flopped down into her seat and booted up her computer.

[Fadil Al-Zahari]

"Praise Allah." He said lowly as he stood up hearing his knees pop. That could not be very good at all. He sighed out as he bent down to roll up the rug, pulling the cap off his head quickly. He hadn't prayed long, few minutes really, he wasn't in the mood to be quite honest. He was wanting to eat today considering he skipped breakfast when trying to get a little shut eye. How his brother wasn't allowing this to happen for him.

He sighed out yet again, just out of annoyance. If only his mind could remain clear all day like it was during these times. He opened his messenger bag and stuffed the tight roll inside as well as his cap and leaned up to stare directly across the hall to the woman's room. He figured it was as good a time as any to go introduce himself. How else was he to get to know people by being introverted? He brushed his clothes and slowly wandered into the hall, seeing a few stray students. Of course, if he was keen on following the rules he'd call out to them to show him a pass that allowed them to be wandering the halls, but he didn't care. Students didn't get a recess in high school and he knew a little chatting couldn't hurt anyone.

They two girls looked up at him and quickly turned around and headed out of his sight, probably running back to the cafeteria so they couldn't get in trouble. He grinned slightly and walked to the woman's door and tilted his head to the left as he leaned on the frame with the right side of his body, hands in his dark brown checked pockets.

"Ready to quit yet?" He questioned with a small grin. Hopefully he wasn't being a bother.

[Maddox Aires]

Maddox jumped a little at the dark, accented voice that came from the direction of her door. Looking up from her computer, she saw the man from across the hall. Her face brightened, and she laughed lightly, leaning back a little and shutting her computer.

"Been ready," she said, standing and walking around her desk to walk closer and see him a little better--she was slightly blind without glasses or contacts. She smiled wider and held out a hand to shake his.

"I'm Maddox Aires," she said. "Some of the students were telling me about you."

[Fadil Al-Zahari]

He leaned off the door and extended his hand, raising his eyebrows and giving her a weary look.

"If they say anything bad, tell me their names and I will give them a failing grade." He laughed lightly and winked, saying her name as he slowly let it go. He liked her shake, it wasn't loose or dead, and her skin was ridiculously soft which he automatically liked.

"I suppose I need no introduction then?" He smiled. "Melissa Grave was the previous English teacher, I take it you are filling her place?" He frowned and crossed his arms, highly interested in this woman and what she did. She definitely didn't sound the like the kind of woman who had lived in Point Plaisant, her accent was a tad off, then again there wasn't any true accent of this place. The people were almost as colorful as the rainbow.

[Maddox Aires]

Maddox nodded, shifting her weight a little.

"Oh, no, nothing bad, yet," she said with a grin. Then she nodded again. "Yeah, I'm the new model. Actually, they're good kids, although I'm not sure Shakespeare will ever be their best friend," she said with a little shrug. Now that Maddox could see Fadil Al-Zahari close up, it was ridiculous how good looking he actually was--Maddox was still trying to decide if it was his eyes, his voice, or his skin tone.

"So, you're the history professor?" she asked. She smiled and shook her head. "I really don't mean to be rude, but would you mind if I ask where you're from?"

[Fadil Al-Zahari]

Fadil smiled at her, he liked the way she talked, she was clear and articulate, something he highly enjoyed. Language's always fascinated him, anything dealing with the arts to be quite honest, while else was he in the humanities field?

He raised his eyebrows and slowly bit his lower lip as he listened to her question, he actually hadn't been asked this before, not by strangers of course. His students, asked all the time, it was a new step for him to have taken. He liked it. He smiled and looked down at his feet, scuffing his shoe slightly as if he were some shy child.

"I'm, uh, Iranian." He nodded and looked at her and smiled. "I come from Tehran Province. It is near Jordan." He nodded. "How about you? You do not sound much like a northerner, unless, of course, I am incorrect?" He frowned softly as his insinuation, touching his palm to his chest as if to apologize ahead of time if he were wrong.

[Maddox Aires]

Maddox smiled wide. Oh, she loved the world and its people. The more foreigners she met, the better she felt. She wanted to learn so many languages, and meet so many people she didn't think it would happen in her lifetime. Yet, here stood someone new to talk to and learn things about.

"Oh, Iran," she said. "My father went, his pictures were beautiful, which means it can only be that much more breathtaking in person," she said. After his question, she smiled and laughed a little. "Oh, well, I was born in France, but I moved to New York when I was ten. I suppose I still carry some traces of that French accent." She paused, smiling.

"If I may put you through the Inquisition; what brought you here?"

[Fadil Al-Zahari]

He smiled, was she very enthusiastic! He didn't know why, but he liked it, rarely did he meet someone new who was so...interested in him and his background, made him feel special. Which he was highly enjoying at this moment in time. He laughed lightly and nodded.

"I suppose. I didn't think you were from here." He responded to the sidestepped question he had asked. He grinned, lowering his broad smile as to not seem too ecstatic over this new interrogation, which he highly liked. He frowned softly after a moment, his mind tracing back to when he was there.

"It, it was." He nodded, glancing up at her as if they were having a very deep conversation on something much more concerning than his background. "I came to America when I was sixteen. My uh, my mother and father brought me here for a better life." He nodded, shifting slightly to look her in the eye.

"Oh, it is very beautiful." He frowned as if this were allowing the seriousness to seep out. "Beautiful vast mountains, snow, gorgeous." He waved his arms out, as if he were giving her a panoramic view, but it wasn't that hard to imagine. "A lot of people, a lot of people." He tapered off slightly and sighed.

"I am losing touch of what it looked like." He shrugged. "But, I suppose, that is what happens when you haven't seen a place in more than twenty-seven years!" He smiled and looked her up and down. She was very beautiful, blonde, blue eyes, fair skin, he recalled what her hand looked like against his darker, harsher skin tone. Very milky and beautiful, he just didn't think it was appropriate, at this particular time, to state such a thing although he knew how much women enjoyed compliments.

"How about you? Come from New York or have you lived near here?"

[Maddox Aires]

Maddox listened to him, so interested she could barely stand it. She got excited about other countries and the people from them. When he talked about losing touch...she understood. It had been so long since she had been back to France, she was beginning to forget what it looked like. The beautiful rolling hills, where her grandparents' orchard was.

She was planning a trip there for the summer, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to go now. After a moment, she smiled.

"No, no. I just moved here last weekend, and took a week to get unpacked," she rubbed her forehead. Then she laughed and nodded. "I like here, though. It's much quieter than New York. I prefer the small atmosphere."