[Content warning: Violence]

Bram had not been in school for a while. His father had been sick and he had helped his brother on the boat! He was a fisherman now! He couldn't be bothered with such childish things as spelling. After father had gotten better, and Bram's help had no longer been needed, he had 'taken a few days off'. Not that father knew. But if they had not come looking for him while he was on the boats, why would they come looking for him while he was wandering the streets of Whitby? But a classmate had warned him there was a new teacher, and Bram knew he should test the waters before he decided to ditch school again. And so after a few days, he went back. 

He entered early and sat in the back, hoping that he would not be noticed there. But as other children entered, an older boy pushed him out of the row. "You go to the front with the little kids, Ward!"
"Yeah," said another boy. "With those who still can't get their letters right!" Another boy said, and the boys laughed. Bram felt himself turning red, frustrated and embarrassed
Then a boy one year younger than Bram, probably seeing this as an opportunity to profit from the older boys' glory, piped in: "Yeah! You're a Dunce!"
Bram turned to him. His eyes narrowed. He could take his size. The next moment, Bram was on him, punching him. A group of children gathered around, shouting and jeering. The younger boy tried to push Bram off unsuccessfully, while Bram dealt blow after blow.

"Alright now, break it up fellows," came the booming bass as Master Uriel Meijer moved out of the back room and into the front upon hearing the argument. He moved to push the boys apart and said to the older boy, "You can sit with the little ones since you can't act your age, and I want you to remain after school to work on your math since... Ah yes, you are terrible at multiplication and need improvement. As for you, I assume you're the Ward boy who has been out of school for a time? You'll need to stay after for fighting as well, but you have enough to catch up on. Now everyone to your seats. You come with me," he said the last part for Bram. "You too," he said to the younger boy also involved. "You are going to do your reading."

The older boy sat down among the younger children, flustered. They giggled, until he gave them an I'll-find-you-after-school look and they instantly stopped. The younger boy had a bruised face and a bust lip and his nose was bleeding, and Bram would have been proud of showing him who was stronger, were it not for the fact that the teacher was now involved. He hadn't thought that far ahead. He would have been frightened of every teacher who had caught him misbehaving, but this particular specimen was especially imposing. Bram followed, trembling, along with the other boy, who was pressing his nose with his fingers and suppressing his sobs.

He began to clean the younger boy's face up and said, "Of course, I will want to meet with your parents..." he said to both. "I expect you, Abraham, is it? To apologize for the damage you did to him. The only reason I am not suspending either of you is because that isn't a punishment. So you both will be smacking out the erasers before you go home, and this will be for the next three days. If you behave in my classroom, you get rewarded... If you're not, you will have to be disciplined."

It wouldn't be so bad a punishment if it wasn't for talk 'taking to the parents' bit. "'Tis, ser." He pointed at the other boy. "He started it, ser!"

"You participated." He said patiently. "Now, let me explain how my classroom works. I don't like to punish you kids but if I have to, I have to. I would rather give you a piece of candy or a toy for behaving well." He pulled out a basket full of goodies... It was laden with stuff, from candy to bags of marbles. "See these marbles here? If you do well for so many days, and you don't use your points for candy, you get a bag of marbles. Do you see how that works? Run along to your seat and keep your head down," he said to the younger boy. Back to Bram, he said, "And you sit in your normal seat."

Bram was so fascinated by the toys and sweets, that for a moment, he forgot that he was afraid. Then the teacher told him to return to his seat and Bram remembered that he was going to talk to father and his heart sank. He bit his lip and moved back to his seat. Perhaps if he stayed quiet, the teacher would forget.

Edward was told to come in with a new teacher. He could have cared less as school was a waste of time and childhood. He strolled in though to see what he was like and to tell himself he wasn't missing anything. Better to come in like this than be dragged in by that stupid scarecrow of a constable. He looked around then at Uriel and laughed. "Didn't know they shaved bears and called them teachers now." He snickered and found a seat in the back and put his feet on the desk.

"Quiet, beanpole," said the big man, "This bald bear has a class to teach and beanpoles aren't supposed to make noise when they support the beans. As I was about to tell the class before I was so rudely interrupted by a talking beanpole, for those of you who are new... My name is Master Meijer, and I am your teacher. I try to make learning fun and interesting, I know how you kids get bored easily. You treat me with respect and you do your work, you will be rewarded. If you are disruptive like Mister Beanpole here, I will have you clapping erasures just like he is going to before he goes home. Now we're going to learn about math, so set your chalkboards up and read the board. For you younger kids that don't know this stuff yet, copy the board behind you and do your sums."

Bram turned his head and looked at Ed, half fighting the urge to laugh, and half scared for him. Ed was going to get killed. But Master Meijer stayed calm in his response and Bram laughed along with some of the other children when he called Ed beanpole. Bram took out his chalkboard. He could do sums alright. He was just terribly slow, and his mind tended to wander. He turned once more to look at Ed, to see what he was doing.