Will The Nice Guy Finish Last?

I let out a audible yawn as I wait for my water to boil as I'll need it for the coffee and a cup of instant noodles. Normally I'm not up this early at 5 am or even reviewing a months worth of curriculum for a class. But I have to make a good impression, I rarely get the call to sub, if I could sub at any other school I would but all I can teach it magical stuff. However I'm not angling to get more work, nope for me it's just to get a decent reference from the Academy and not as a former student. So when the school gives me any classes to sub, it's a step in the right direction, magical jobs after all are in high demand and low in availability. Damn this magical longevity! Well I say that now..

Honors Spellcrafting wasn't my top subject, it was Numerology (the mathematics of magic), I always thought of it like baking without the baking; 2 parts sulfur, 1/3 hair of newt, boil till neon glow and don't actually test it till Potions Class. Several classes felt like half or less of a lesson for another class. But honestly the only class that captivated me was Spellcrafting, most because of Ms. Snyder; the rumors of her having been a stripper aside, she had quite the body, ultimately she was just a joy to listen to. Hell she entered my half-assed dream spell into the Annual Academy Founding Festival Contest, not to brag because I'm not, after all 5th place is nothing to brag about.

My point is she knew that unlike the majority of students I wasn't as self confident as I should be, most teachers didn't care. Mostly because I wasn't going to be some Nobel prize winner or some great leader of people. No, I was mostly likely the poor bastard that would commit suicide, which sadly manifested in my ill fated "expedition" to the underworld. The den of monsters, daemons, and every sick bastard that hated everyone but themselves, the ones that hated themselves...like myself, usually looked for some for of "assisted suicide". Luckily I survived long enough to figure a way out, sadly nobody else came with me.

Not exactly a time of my life that would get me ahead anywhere let alone in the real world. But the one thing I did learn then was that I was a nice person no matter how hard I tried I couldn't be anything else. If it wasn't for Ms. Synder or now Mrs. Torres, I wouldn't have a job as a substitute teacher, she was the teacher who suggested contacting graduates to fill in for the shortcomings in staffing. You take some refresher courses and pass an exam or two and boom, you're in the sub list. Sadly she doesn't even remember me, even now that I'm taking over her Honors class.