"I never said a word about rags, kid. You paint a picture of something you weren't even there for, I love it." And then when the kid dropped the erasures, the big man reached over and grabbed for an ear. Assuming he was able to, he'd latch on and guide him up, "Come on, Edward... that is your name, right? Stop being a jerk. You want me to kick you out, but that isn't punishment. Now pick up the erasures and do it, or I am getting the constable for your very disruptive behavior and you can deal with him instead of me." He let go, not intending to hurt any kid, but boy was Ed on his last nerve.

To the rest of the class he bellowed, "SILENCE. Get back to work. Now."

To Bram he said, "You did copy mostly correct, except you forgot it was subtraction. Try again."

And to the rest of the class again, he said, "Anyone who calls this boy a dunce in my school room loses all of their points they have already earned. No candy, no toys."

With big eyes, Bram watched Ed being pulled along. Now he was going to get in trouble. But the master didn't beat him. Just threatened him with the constable. When the teacher corrected him, Bram quickly changed the sum, but then he stared at it.

Ed glared daggers at the teacher as he was pulled by his ear. "You tell him! I'm not scared of the constable or you!" He cringed when he heard him yell, he was loud like his father. It made him frown more. He didn't give in though. "You don't want to deal with me, kick me out. There's funner things to do outside."

He took Ed into the back room and sat him down, then he folded his arms and glowered at the kid, "You want attention. That's all. None of what I do matters to you unless I am giving you attention. So you have it now. Does that really please you or are you going to continue to disrupt my class when I am trying to better your life and the lives of the others? Hmm?"

As soon as the master took Ed to the other room, children started chatting among each other. Some got up and got to the door to try and listen. A few boys started calling Bram 'dunce' now that the teacher was out of earshot, and Bram threw one of the erasures at them, hitting one boy and sending him howling. Some children laughed.

Edward leaned away and folded his arms. "What makes you think I wanna look at your ugly face? I think you're full of lies and school isn't gonna help us one bit and you're wasting our time. I don't want to be here. Why is it so hard?"

"Well, you're not so easy on the eyes either, fellow. But you don't hear me complaining about having to look at your face. And as far as I know, you don't have a blasted choice whether you come to school or not. That isn't my fault, that is just how it is. You taking your anger for the institution out on the one person who is trying to be on your side is not going to get you anywhere. I see it this way, you have two choices... You can come here and sit back in this back room, with not a damn thing to do and be bored out of your mind, or you can at least give me a chance as your teacher. Either choice you make is yours, not mine. Take it or leave it." With that, he walked back toward the door, pausing long enough, "Believe it or not, Beanpole, I was an asshole child just like you. Why do you think I have so many slingshots?" And then he left him to stew, opened the door roughly on purpose because he knew children would go scattering, turned and gave a mischievous smile to Ed with a wink and then bellowed, "Back to your seats you miscreants. Back to work."

Bram was fiddling with the lock of the desk drawer when the teacher came back, but when he heard the teacher shout, he quickly left it alone and returned to the blackboard, looking at the sum, as if he had been thinking about it all this time.

Ed thought the teacher was full of it. He didn't believe one word and so didn't care. He let him leave and folded his arms behind his head. While it was all well and good to just waste time, he got board and started kicking the wall.

He did his best to ignore the thumping, deciding to let the kid vent his frustrations somehow. Then he dismissed class and decided to send one of the more trustworthy girls off to take a note to Bram's parent.

Bram can do sums well enough, he just has a short attention span. His biggest problem isn't his lack of desire to learn, but he likes to fight and disrupt some.

And then he sent a note informing both parents and constable of the older kid, stating: He doesn't want to learn, he might be better off being put to work and getting that chip off of his shoulder.