Before Us [Wriolette]

Chapter 13: Compliance

Neuvillette sat at his desk typing away at emails addressing various students. His classes had been prone to hosting... problematic students, meaning he spent at least 20 minutes after hours in an attempt to indicate necessary improvement. Unfortunately, this tactic tended not to prove fruitful and he would have one after another of his classes with at least one negligent student. Luckily, his next class was quite well behaved, overall. They could tend to be hard to settle at the beginning of class due to the popularity of one of his students: Wriothesley.

As the bell rang, students immediately began pouring into the classroom. Neuvillette left his seat, making sure to push it back in behind him, and turned on the projector. The familiar chatter of the room grew louder as he walked back to his desk, most of the voices now female. Neuvillette had grown accustomed to this and immediately knew what it meant. His star student as well as the most popular boy in his class, Wriothesley, must have entered now. Looking up from his laptop as he synced it to the projector, Neuvillette saw the man as he tried to talk his escape from the small crowd of women. Neuvillette noticed that although the dark haired man was smiling, he gave off an uncomfortable air, still trying to escape the hoard of ladies.

If he thought about it, Neuvillette supposed he could see the appeal. A tall, broad man with a kind, witty personality. If he was a woman, he would definitely have eyes for someone like him. Catching himself on the thought, Neuvillette reiterated, If I were a woman, of course, and quickly pushed the thought away. he was unaware of the light blush barely visible on his pale cheeks.

As the second bell rang, a sigh of defeat subtly resounded amidst the room. The students scattered about the room, sitting with friends or anywhere available and directed their attention to the board. Neuvillette stood by the board, reviewing the criteria for such and such as Wriothesley stared out the window.

Every few minutes, he would jot a note down on his notepad and return his face to rest of the palm of his hand as it was. Wriothesley knew he had a lot to take care of today. Meeting with the detectives and giving his witness account, finding and interrogating both Charlotte and the Fred-whatever kid and talking to a few silver haired people. The criminals from last night could be anyone, but he knew it wasn't his professor. The criminals in question were much shorter and clearly younger, but it was a good idea to ask the man anyway. Just in case he had any information or students that were young and silver haired.

Wriothesley looked away from the window and to his teacher, who was scribbling down some legal terms in a font so fancy you would only imagine seeing it in the 1800's. "I guess that would make sense," Wriothesley thought with a chuckle, "his hair is the same color as a powdered wig." As his imagination betrayed him and strayed to ideas of Mr. Neuvillette with the wackiest old-timey hair style ever, he doodled down a small, chibi version of his professor in the corner of his note sheet, not without realizing and erasing it immediately after. Having caught himself get carried away like this, Wriothesley directed his attention back to the lesson and continued taking notes as per usual for the rest of class.

When the lesson was over, a short line of students remained to ask for clarifications or to turn in late assignments. Wriothesley made sure he was at the back of this line. No one else could be let in on such classified information. One by one, students came and went until only the two were left.

"Professor, I trust you've been well?" Wriothesley started, greeting the other with a welcoming smile, which was promptly returned, "Indeed. Now, what is it you came to discuss," inquired Neuvillette, taking off his oval glasses and setting them on the table. Wriothesley replied, "Right to business, I see. Well, recently, all members of staff should've received a packet about ongoing investigations, yes?" Neuvillette nodded and unlocked a drawer under his desk with a key from his pocket. After a second, he had said packet in hand. Wriothesley began, "That's the one. Now, I have a few questions for you." "Naturally," the professor replied, eyes flitting across the document. "However, you may be more comfortable sitting, should I pull a chair for you?" offered Neuvillette, who stood from his desk but stopped when his student stated: "No need, I'm perfectly fine standing."

Actually, Wriothesley would much have preferred to sit, but while interrogating, intimidation is key. Towering over someone while asking them questions can have a much greater effect than many realize.

Neuvillette settle back in his seat, somewhat distraught, and assured, "If you insist, but feel free to pull up a chair whenever you like," his angelic smile very slightly quickened the pace of Wriothesley's heartbeat, but neither of the two noticed. Wriothesley cleared his throat and stated, "Yesterday night, the state police station was bombed. The only information we have on the perpetrators is that there are at least three and they are all silver haired, like yourself." Confusion flashed briefly through the professor's eyes before he registered what he might have been accused of. He asked, "Do you... happen to suspect me?" he said this in a calmer tone than he knew he was capable of. "Although anything is possible, I don't believe so." Neuvillette eased somewhat. "But I still have a few questions for you," Wriothesley continued.

Flipping a small notepad out from his pocket, a different one than he used for school, he began the questioning. "In any of your classes, do you have a relatively short student with silver hair? Keep in mind that all of your answers will be fact checked with our people at the station." Neuvillette answered, "Yes, I have two. Anton and Lynette." Wriothesley jotted those names onto the notepad and asked: "Would you mind telling me about these students a bit more. Their personalities, known family or any other spare knowledge you might have on them? This can and will be confirmed later." Tapping his pen on the desk as he thought, Neuvillette soon replied, "Alas, I am not entirely sure, but I think that Anton lives with his moms in the city. He is very shy, but he can ramble quite a bit when motivated. In contrast to Lynette, who directly avoids people. I would not call her 'shy' per say, I believe she just would rather be alone." Wriothesley nodded. "To my knowledge, she has two siblings... I think a brother and a... sister? I cannot say. I believe she lives with her dad."

Nodding, Wriothesley thanks his professor for the time and adds, "We will discuss this further at a later date." He smiled as he left.

***Can Neuvillette be... not in denial? maaaaan its tiring going through chapters trying to remember what Wrio is supposed to be doing. I DIDNT EVEN MEAN TO BUT ITS KINDA GREAT HOW WELL FREMINET BEING SUS WORKED OUT LOL yeah I need to calm down. on that note, chapter titles are getting harder and harder to find. It wasn't my initial plan to have them all start with "C" but once I started I couldnt stop lol. please leave a comment so I know what to write more of! thxxx!!!***