Sanders Sides—A Novel

Sanders Sides—A Novel

By: Yours Truly, SassyShoulderAngel319 (unless @thatsthat24 wants to adopt the rest…? *wink wink*)

Table of Contents — Previous Chapter

Chapter 5—Logan

“Good morning, class,” I greeted before glancing at the clock on the wall. It was twelve-PM. “Or rather, afternoon. My name is Mr. …” I paused. Mr. What? As a visualized aspect of a portion of another’s whole being, I did not have a last name.

I supposed borrowing Thomas’ wouldn’t hurt.

“Sanders. Mr. Sanders. And I’m going to be your substitute chemistry teacher while your usual teacher is… away,” I finished.

The class of high school students—mostly seniors, if I was informed correctly—stared at me blankly.

“Where is Ms. Devin?” a girl on the front row asked. “I saw her earlier today.”

I blinked. “I am not sure. I am just the substitute. I happen to be quite good at chemistry, by the way. So today should be a piece of cake.” I tried for a grin but I fear it might have come across more like a grimace. “Now, who can tell me what you have been studying recently so I know where to begin?”

“We’re learning about the electron properties of the different elements,” a bored-looking young man near the back deadpanned.

I scrunched my eyebrows. “Where is your excitement, students? Do you not realize that learning is enjoyable? You have so many opportunities to expand your knowledge and open your minds to so much information it is impossible for one person to know it all!” I exclaimed.

“You’d be dead inside too if you were forced to wake up at six-AM every day for five days a week after only getting maybe seven hours of sleep because you were up late doing homework since colleges want you to be in at least three clubs or other extracurricular activities and they put off homework time,” a girl in the second row commented.

I sighed and set my hands on my hips, contemplating the scene in front of me. The students certainly looked tired.

“Alright then. We are going to make this fun. I assume you know the song to remember at least the first twenty elements?”

A few murmurs of assent passed over the class, but mostly all I got were nods or eyebrows bouncing in agreement.

“Then to get your blood pumping, we are going to learn the Rainforest Rap,” I decided, pulling my phone out of my pocket and pulling up the song. “Alright. Everybody stand up. You do not have to move around. Just stand up.”

There were a few groans of complaint, but everyone stood.

I got everyone clapping and jamming as I taught them the Rainforest Rap. There were, of course, a couple bored kids—young men mostly—who looked like they could not care less, but there was at least one student jamming and having fun. I smiled—for what felt like the first time in a long time—once we had finished the song.

“Alright. You can take your seats once again,” I said. “Now, what has Ms. Devin told you about electron properties?”

The girl on the front row from before raised her hand. I pointed at her. “Mostly how electron shells work when it comes to bonds.”

“Perfect. So who can tell me why Hydrogen is so reactive?”

“Because it only has one electron and tends to either give it away or share it with an element that has seven electrons in its outer shell and wants to have eight,” another student from near the back answered, whose face I couldn’t see as they were blocked by another student’s hairstyle.

“Precisely! Ten points to Gryffindor!” I said, trying to connect with these students.

“I’m a Hufflepuff,” the student deadpanned.

“In that case, ten points to Hufflepuff,” I amended. “Moving on, now. Can anyone tell me, out of all the noble gases, what makes Helium unique?”

The door to my classroom flew open. “Unique up on it!” Patton exclaimed, standing there with a wide beaming smile and a gleam in his eyes.

Several snickers went up from the class—and one full-blown laugh.

“Students, this is my twin brother. Give me just a moment. I shall return momentarily.” I stepped out of the classroom and shut the door. “Well?” I asked, tone a bit short as I did not like interruptions—especially when I was teaching.

Patton shook his head. “Virgil and I have been taking turns watching Thomas all morning—after I found a dog to pet—and it seems like Deceit and the others aren’t going to make an appearance.”

“As I suspected,” I commented. “I do not believe the other Sides have enough significance to Thomas’ personality to be disgorged. The four of us are the major aspects that Thomas feeds—for lack of a better word—and believes to be his most important attributes. Deceit is not a major part of his character and neither are the other Sides. So far.”

“So, like, if Thomas was a pie chart, you, me, Roman, and Virgil would occupy the four biggest colors and the other Sides would just be the little slivers that have to have lines leading away to show what they are?” Patton asked.

I blinked, surprised at the astute quality of his observation. “… Precisely.”

Patton perked up. “Okay! That makes sense then!” He grinned widely. “I just thought I’d come tell you because you’re so smart and you always have a solution for everything and I thought you’d know what to do! Or at least you’ll be able to figure something out!”

I adjusted my glasses, sliding them back up my nose with a self-satisfied half-grin on my face. There’s was no better feeling than receiving one of Patton’s compliments. They were always genuine and heartfelt.

“Thank you, Patton.”

“Oh it’s no biggie, kiddo. Now! I’m going to go find another dog to pet! It was such a good feeling this morning! Dogs are awesome!” He scuttled off with a peppy skip in his step that I would never be able to achieve. I smiled slightly before going back into the classroom. The students were talking to each other and some were on their mobile devices, engaging in distracting activities.

“Attention, please!” I called over the boisterous noise. “We are going to continue. Now, as I asked before, who can tell me what makes Helium unique of the noble gases?”

The same girl on the front row who had previously asked the location of their usual teacher and answered my question about electron properties raised her hand. “Because it only has one electron shell of two electrons so it doesn’t react since it’s already stable, but all the other noble gases have an outer shell of eight electrons to provide their stability.”

“Yes, exactly,” I said. Her response had the basic principle correct. “Wonderful. You are truly intelligent students and I appreciate your brilliance. So, moving on to the halogens in column seven—”

I rubbed my nose under my glasses as I wandered back to Thomas’ apartment at the end of the school day. Everything had gone better than I supposed I could have hoped for, especially on a first-day basis. I had not had the opportunity to look into the separation of important aspects of a person’s personality from that person’s being as much as I would have liked, but I had taken some time while the students ate their lunch to scan some files on the internet.

I opened the door to Thomas’ apartment, half-expecting to find it in complete and utter chaos without me there organizing everything.

I was grateful to see that was not the case. It looked much the same as how it had been when I departed earlier in the day. Virgil and Thomas were on the sofa, mindlessly watching Steven Universe on the television. Patton and Roman were nowhere to be seen.

“Patton will not be pleased that you are watching one of his favorite programs without him,” I pointed out.

Virgil jumped as though I had let off a fog horn next to his ear rather than spoken at a normal volume from several feet behind him.

Thomas did not appear to notice Virgil’s violent reaction to my entrance and glanced over his shoulder at me. “He’ll be fine,” Thomas dismissed. “He made friends with one of my neighbors and her dog so I doubt he could be any happier right now.”

“Which neighbor?” Virgil and I asked at the same time but with two vastly different tones of voice. Virgil was concerned, I was simply curious.

Thomas shrugged. “Probably Natalie. She and her roommate Ben have a red retriever named Hal who’s one of the friendliest dogs on the planet.”

Virgil visibly relaxed. “I suppose that’s alright then,” he remarked.

“Why wouldn’t it be? It’s not like I have sketchy neighbors,” Thomas countered.

I scrunched my eyebrows at Thomas’ rather nonchalant behavior. “Virgil, may I speak with you for a moment?” I inquired.

With a dramatic sigh, Virgil got off the sofa and came back into the kitchen behind the living room with me. “ ‘Sup Teach?”

“Is Thomas acting strange? I doubt I am imagining things—imagination is hardly my department—however the pattern of his usual behavior seems to be… off.”

Virgil shoved his hands in the pockets of his patchwork jacket and shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t noticed.”

“He appears to be nearing the behavior he exhibited when you receded from his thought processes. A most concerning development,” I mused.

“Yeah, well, remember: I obviously wasn’t there when that happened so I got no idea what you’re talking about,” Virgil pointed out.

“I am aware,” I said flatly.

“Glad we cleared that up,” Virgil remarked. “I’m going back to the show. It’s pretty chill.”

Before I could say anything more, Virgil strode back to the sofa and flopped gracelessly onto the cushions, kicking his feet up. I rolled my eyes and adjusted my glasses.

If you want something to be done right, you do it yourself.

Next Chapter (Coming Soon-ish???)

That is a very strange question.

It’s also a good, thought provoking question.

Honestly, I’d be more worried about a fish slapping ME.