//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 
// Story: Compass Rose 
// by enigmaMystere 
//------------------------------//

Later that day, Daring is sitting in another class as a couple stragglers filter in before they are late.

She hums softly to herself, carefully placing the apple she had for her teacher on the space between her and the empty seat beside her. She was glad this class had tables instead of desks, as the desks were kind of confining. She did have to stand on her seat, though, and prop her front half on the table's surface.

As another girl walks in, she looks around before settling her green eyes on the empty seat. She strolls over before noticing Daring, giving her a strange look before speaking. "This seat taken?"

The filly just shakes her head, smiling and gesturing with a hoof to the other seat. "Go right ahead. Just don't eat the apple."

The tanned girl sets her bag down and sits. "You saving it for lunch?"

"Nope!" She picks it up, beaming brightly. "It's for the teacher!"

"Oh..." She rests her cheek on a fist as she looks at it. "Why didn't you give it to your homeroom one then?"

She blinks, turning to look at the girl in confusion. "Because I gave her a hug."

The girl tilts her head at this, one of the dark brown braids framing her face falling in front of it instead. "And she let you?"

"Yep!" She grins. "She called me adorable."

She smiles at this. "Well... you are tiny and look soft. That does make you cute."

"I'm glad you agree!" She giggles, then holds out her hoof, the apple still in it. "Daring Do."

The girl smiles and reaches out, only to look at her hoof curiously from a few different angle before firmly gripping it further down her arm before gently shaking it. "Jade Nekame."

"Jade? Like your eye color?" She points at her eyes with a free hoof.

She touches her cheek, smiling. "Yeah, like that. Apparently I had big eyes when I was a baby."

"I bet mine were bigger." She sticks her tongue out teasingly.

She narrows her eyes a bit before laughing and nodding with a smile. "Probably. I've never seen a faunus like you before."

"Neither have I." She giggles along with the girl, jumping a bit when the bell rings. Glancing around, however, reveals that there's no teacher to be found.

Jade peers around as well. "Late on the first day? What kind of teacher do we have?"

"The kind who isn't late."

The two of them tense, slowly turning to look at the adult behind them, who is sternly frowning back. "I'm glad to see you two are in your seats, at least."

Jade meets her eyes evenly, replying. "Yes, ma'am."

The woman says nothing, moving around until she's at the front of the class. She then turns and taps the board with her finger. "Welcome to math. I'm your overqualified teacher who wants to push you to your limits." She pauses for a moment before sighing, resting her face in her palm. "That was a joke."

There's a few half-hearted laughs around the room, but the joke seems to have gone over most of the little one's heads.

"...yeah, I guess it's a bit advanced for most of you." She sighs, then shakes her head. "Anyways, I'm Night Song. Some of you may know my sister in law."

Jade looks to Daring to see if she knows what the teacher is talking about.

The filly simply shrugs. "River Song is my homeroom teacher. Maybe that's who she's talking about?"

The lady groans, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Yes, that's her."

A few other students murmur and nod at this information while Jade shrugs. "I wonder if I'll have her as a teacher..."

Night smiles wryly. "Well, since she also helps you kids in third grade make weapons, I'd say the chances are pretty high."

The girl seems to brighten up at this, grinning at the thought. "When do we get to do that anyway?"

"What, you think it's that simple?" She frowns, crossing her arms as she leans back against the board. "You have to learn the basics, first. Practice with mock weapons to see where you excel, then build your own personal weapons around that." She points a finger at her, then at a boy sitting in the back. "You two might want something similar, then find out your semblances work better with something else entirely."

"Oh..." She looks disappointed at this.

Night grimaces slightly at this. "...of course, some people have been known to master a weapon in as few as five days..."

Her grin snaps back onto her face with information, eyes glinting with challenge.

"Anyways, back to math!" She turns and starts writing on the board, her hand starting to slow down a bit as realization dawns on her. "...I've got chalk on my back, don't I?"

A student pipes up from another table. "Eh, just a little dust."

"Ice or fire?"

There's a few giggles. "Chalk!"

"Good." She turns and smiles, pointing at Jade. "Would you like to come up and solve the problem on the board?"

She blinks at being singled out, only to nod as walk up to her.

She offers her the chalk and directs her towards an equation that has parentheses and an exponent. "Take your time. No need to rush."

"Umm..." She blinks as she looks at it. She writes down the results of he numbers below the parenthesis, but pauses at the raised number.

Night watches in silence, almost in an expectant manner. Daring does the same, if only a bit less patiently and more squirmingly.

After a moment the girl writes a number before combining them all into an answer. She sets the chalk down, looking up at her teacher expectantly.

She eyes the board, considering how to best approach the situation placed before her. Finally, she turns to face her student. "You got everything but the exponent right." She smiles wryly, crossing her arms. "The point of this was to have you acknowledge what you do and don't know and request help when you needed it."

"Oh." She blinks and scowls for a moment before her expression softens. "Do I... need to stand up here to learn how to do that?"

"No." She shakes her head, crossing her arms as she smiles at the girl. "See, we're actually covering exponents next month."

Jade smiles back. "Oh, okay." With that said, she goes back to her seat, remarking to Daring. "I didn't think that was advanced stuff."

The filly frowns a bit. "...I mean... it's a little advanced?" She shrugs a bit. "I dunno."

"We weren't supposed to know it yet, I mean." She clarifies, looking forward before she can get in trouble for talking and not paying attention.

Chalk zooms past her face, where her nose was, before hitting the table behind her and covering the other students in dust.

"Oh, that reminds me." Night smirks playfully at them. "We are allowed to test your reflexes during the school day. So no dozing off, okay?"

Jade grins at this, narrowing her eyes challengingly. "Yes, ma'am!"

She nods once, then holds up a finger. "Keep in mind, only teachers are allowed to do this. Any students caught throwing items at others with intent to harm or otherwise fighting will be disciplined."

There's a couple murmurs around the room, but most students are nodding at this while a few sigh in relief.

She nods, then claps a hand on the board. "Now, who wants to learn about fractions?"

She's met by only blank stares and one student speaking up. "Aren't those hard?"

"Only if you jump in at the deep end." She points at the board before stopping, staring at the planner on her desk. "...wait, that's supposed to be mid-semester... why did..." The woman blinks, then brings a hand to her face, groaning quietly. "Dang it. River got me again..."

There's a little bit of slight snickering before Jade speaks up. "So what are we doing?"

She quietly sighs, shrugging a bit. "Honestly, I have to properly organize my notes... since I don't know how long that will take, you all should review what was covered last semester and get to know the classmate beside you; you'll be grading each other's assignments, and be paired for any projects."

As the class starts to chat, Jade look at Daring. "We do the grading?"

The filly shrugs. "Maybe it's another way to review, and a way to get kids to do better?" She smiles slyly. "You know, since someone else can see how you're doing."

She nods at this, looking thoughtful. "Yeah... I can see that. Do you want to pair up, then?"

"Sure!" She smiles brightly at her. "I'd be happy to!"

Smiling back, Jade nods. "Great! I guess we won't see that yet, though." She glances up at the teacher.

Night Song clearly agrees, even though she is shuffling through paperwork and not really paying attention.

Turning back to the filly, Jade shrugs. "So, what do you want to do?"

"Hmm..." She looks around the room, tapping her chin with the tip of her hoof. Daring can see posters on the walls, a number of students besides herself as they chat and gossip, their teacher idly spinning another piece of chalk in the air an inch above her finger, and a plush toy with an unusually long head and a hand on its tail. There were a good number of items in the room, she realized. "...I Spy?"