G/T Stories

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Jasmine gently slapped her younger friend's shoulder.

- Hey newbie! Are you ready for your first day as a teacher? - she asked. Man handed her his schedule without a word. She quickly eyed it and covered her mouth.

- No way! They assigned you giants' class?!

- I know, it's horrible! I know that they are the opposite of evil man-eating beasts, but they're terrifying anyway! - he whined.

- That was a bit racist you know - Jasmine said.

- And what about it?!! I'm sure they'll be bullying me! They'll probably stick a chewing gum to my hair, or will glue me to the whiteboard, or force me to fly in a gigantic paper airplane or-

Woman gently shushed young teacher.

- I'm sure you're overreacting. It's the first time they get to be educated and from what I've heard, many giants are actually better behaved than normal students - she tried to cheer her friend up.

- But what if they do something to me?! - man asked petrified.

- Don't worry, law against them is way more strict than against other students, you'll be fine - she said.

First bell echoed through the school building.

- Oh, it's high time! - Jasmine said and having taken her bag, went to the door.

- Good luck on your first day! - she said and left to her own class.

Man begrudgingly gathered his things and having left staff room, headed to left wing of the school, where giants had their own classrooms, which matched them in their sizes.

***

Teacher was standing in front of collosal door, in which was a small entrance, made for human teachers. He wondered how it was possible that there were no giant teachers to teach students their size.

Man felt nauseous and dizzy, sight of gigantic things always caused a vertigo. He shakily put his hand on the handle and having taken a deep breath, he entered the classroom.

To his surprise, giants weren't rambunctious like other students he was teaching during his internship. They were quietly sitting on their seats, some of them were drawing in their notebooks, some were chatting almost inaudibly.

But when they heard a quiet creaking of small door, everyone turned their attention to doll-sized teacher.

Man walked up to gigantic desk, on which normal desk was standing. He looked around, but couldn't find any way to reach it.

- Need a lift professor? - one of the students asked. Teacher trembled at the thought of it, but did he have any other choice?

- Y-yes, p-please - he stammered.

One of the students - brunette with light eyes - slowly approached tiny man and put his hand down on the floor. Man gulped and hesitantly climbed giant's palm up. Just as student was about to stand up, he asked:

- Please b-be c-careful, o-okay?

Student nodded and having secured teacher with second hand, he gently set him down on the gigantic desk.

- Th-thank y-you - man said. Student quietly came back to his seat.

Just as teacher sat comfortably in a chair, another student came, his hand rolled up in fist.

Petrified man thought that student is going to smash him, so he screamed and curled up, waiting for an impact. But when nothing like that happened, he timidly peeked through his hands.

He saw an apple laying on enormous hand being offered to him. Giant holding it seemed abashed.

- I just wanted to give you a small gift, I've heard that many students bring their teachers an apple on the first day - he explained and then gently placed it on human's desk.

Man turned red, seeing how he made student upset. Great first day of work...

He mumbled an apology and thanks and asked student to sit down in his seat.

After everybody turned their attention to miniscule man, he took a long stick, on which end a sharpie was attached, and wrote his name and surname. He then set a microphone on his desk, happy he won't have to shout, so that his students could hear him, and said:

- Welcome o-on our f-first class. I'm mr. Elliot Tiell a-and I w-will be your b-biology teacher a-as well y-your home-room t-teacher, so f-for four years w-we'll be seeing each o-other quite often...

Students didn't say anything, but they did seem lost. They were looking at the whiteboard questioningly. Elliot shrunk back, what was wrong this time?

- A-are the characters t-too small? - he asked.

- No, they're okay - some giantess replied.

- M-maybe they're blurry? - man kept asking.

- No professor - some other student said.

- Then w-what's w-wrong? - he asked.

Some students hearing question turned red, other looked down, ashamed and even few began weeping quietly. Man got really concerned. His fear completely vanished, when he saw how vulnerable giants can get.

- You can tell me. I'm your home-room teacher, it's my duty to help you with what's troubling you - he said in soft voice.

One giantess stood up.

- It's just that... We all... We don't know how to read nor how to write - she muttered, clearly ashamed.

Elliot's jaw dropped, when he heard that confession.

- Didn't your parents teach you these basic skills? - he asked.

- They don't know it too - someone replied.

- You know professor, when somebody is always worried if they can survive the day, they don't have time for personal development - other giant added.

That's true. Living in the outback, without access to fertile soil, remedies and clean water, giants had to combine how to stay alive. And it lasted for decades, until mr. Taylor became a new mayor last year.

He was raised up by giants and saw how they were very different from what he had heard about them. So he decided to refute harmful stereotypes about giants and invited them to live with humans as soon as he was elected.

It was a good decision. Giants really improved humans' lives and humans shared their goods with giants, helped them stabilize their own society. Still, many giants preferred to live near humans as they liked their company.

Man came back from his considerations.

- Why didn't you tell anybody? - he asked.

- You humans always read things with such ease, that we thought you'd think we're stupid or something - some giantess answered.

Man's eyes softened.

- Not being able to read doesn't mean you're stupid. You know how to survive in the wild and I think that shows that you're really intelligent - he assured his students.

Giants seemed brighter after teacher's words. Elliot took the stick in his hand.

- Okay class, we're beginning our first lesson: alphabet - he wrote a large "A" on the whiteboard and then drew an apple next to it.

- An apple is a word starting with the letter "A" and... - man began to explain how to write and read it, with giants being sincerely interested in everything he was saying.

Perhaps these years won't be as awful as Elliot thought.