Put Your Hands Up

[Poppy Lockwood]

| Tagged: Richard Buckles |

Poppy walked down the halls as inconspicuous as she could with five roles of wrapping paper tucked under her armpits and a bag of candy along with some necessary supplies in each hand. Students gathered in the hall in between classes but luckily for Poppy, nobody really gave her a second glance nor stopped her for a chat. When she turned a corner, she was met with an empty hall. Phew. She dropped everything. She had to catch a breath and relieve her hands of their burden. Who knew candy could be that heavy?

Of course she could have used her powers for assistance but there were too many things and she could not use her power on them all at once.  Alternatively, Poppy could have made a couple trips to and fro for the items but she was impatient when she heard there was an empty classroom. She could not wait to get started on her little surprise. This was a new one. It was not as messy like the ones she used to pulled before.

Poppy made her way into the classroom. True enough the door was unlocked and she had the room all to herself. Quickly she came back out for her supplies and dashed back in. She shut the door and begun to work. First, she opened the packets of candy. It was filled with various types of lollipops, sweets and jellies. She made her way to the teacher's desk and opened the drawers. In there were papers, a stapler and bleh. Everything you would expect to find in a teacher's drawer really. "This should keep you happy," Poppy said to the empty classroom while filling the drawers with candies. She had bought the ones wrapped in pink and purple wrappers. It was very contrasting in comparison to the oak wood of the desk. Poppy giggled to herself for completing phase one of the prank. She threw the empty packaging into the bin and set about phase two.

Using the cheesy looking wrapping papers, Poppy wrapped the smaller items first--pencil holder, pencils, pens, ruler, desk lamp, etc. It was not as neat as she had liked it to be but it would do. Then she began wrapping the desk. "Looks like Christmas came early, professor..." Besides the desk, all that was left was to wrap the chair.

[Richard Buckles]

Poppy was left unnoticed for a bit doing her little joke set up. She didn't think anyone was in the room or that would be any time soon. She was wrong as Richard was headed to the classroom as she was starting to wrap. He slowly and silently opened the door and noticed her staring at the chair behind his desk.

"Oh I can see that it has come early as well as April first has as well." he said standing just inside the door looking at her with not anger but not amused either. "So just up to doing this to all new teachers or ami just special Miss?" he questioned. He pulled out a pen from his pocket prepared with it.

"My name I Mr. Buckles. What would your name be young lady?" he asked in a rather menacing to was he smiled pleasantly. Like they had just met and under very different circumstances.

[Poppy Lockwood]

Every thought in her mind stopped when she heard the low and raspy voice. She rarely got caught during the set up of the prank. Not only was it embarrassing, but it looked highly unprofessional. Poppy Lockwood was anything but unprofessional, at least that was what she told herself. For the rest of the year, she has to endure the shame she had brought on herself. Getting caught after the trick was so much better than getting caught before it had even begun. Now, when else could she pull this trick again without the possibility of the accuser butting in on it again? She was really excited about this prank because it involved candy and it was all going to be nicely wrapped like a present.

Unfortunately, she was caught. Thanks for nothing, old professor. Poppy turned around and was greeted with a handsome looking young man. Hmm maybe not that old. "Of course not. You are special..." Could he really be a teacher? He did call her 'miss'. "...sir." She added as an afterthought. Poppy struggled for words as she looked from the man, to the wrapper in her hands, to his table wrapped in cheesy wrapping paper, then backed to him. The girl with the wrapper in her hand was guilty, and they both knew it. He asked for her name but Poppy could not get past the smug look on his face.

"Happy birthday!!!" She shouted the first thing that came into her mind but now she doubted it. It may not even be his birthday. Though she could say it was a misunderstanding. Smart. "Oh, wow. You caught me." Her eyes darted to the door. Damn. He was blocking her exit. "This was supposed to be a surprise...for you...sir." Now what?

[Richard Buckles]

Richard watched her dead stop and turn to notice him. Her fearful expression made him chuckle a bit. She was obviously having her gears set in motion to cover this up some how. He wasn't sure she could come up with a lie good enough to explain this at all. She didn't shoot to try and accomplish that goal though.

He was surprised she came up with a pretty good line. If she was a student of his and it wasn't months till his birthday. She noticed he looked fairly young for a teach in fact he did t look much older than her. He got called sir so suddenly he felt a good deal older oddly enough. "Oh how sweet of you. How did you know?" he asked playing into as if he believed her "I didn't catch your name anyways. What was it?" he questioned.

He walked over to her slowly ever with a soft and kind expression. "I wonder what presents you got me?" he questioned as he lifted the stapler up and shook it like a kid at Christmas.

[Poppy Lockwood]

The teacher had an adorable look of wonder as he scanned the 'presents' on the desk. Poppy took a sharp intake of breath when she realized she had been right about his birthday but had arranged what seemed to be a thoughtless gift. Well he was a teacher, he probably had expected these kind of things to happen today from his students. She thought to consoled herself.

"Well, why don't you take a seat and find out?" She laughed nervously as she held the chair out to him. "It all looks pretty, does it not?" She liked taking pride in her work even if it was not as nice as she had wanted it to looked. "I can assure you that all of the goodies you would find are practical. Especially during class...yeah." The young-looking teacher did not take the seat but instead kept his gaze on her.

"Well, err..." She released the chair and started to clean up her things. "I am Poppy." The excess wrappers, a pair of scissors, tape were all dumped into the bag. "And happy birthday again Mr. Buckles. I'll leave you to your presents." With the bag clutched in her hands, Poppy tried to make a clean escape. Do not open that drawer now. But it was not as easy as she had thought.

[Richard Buckles]

He opened of the wrapped on one of the items "oh look my stapler you shouldn't have Poppy. And three months early how thoughtful so it was a surprise to me." He turned to her and loomed over her now as he was right besides her "Going somewhere Poppy? Wouldn't you like to stay and help me open these 'presents' now?"

He kept smiling "Because you wouldn't happen to be trying to slink off after getting caught a prank now would you?" He put his hand on her shoulder "I would think you would have brought some cake for this little prebirthday surprise. And certainly wouldn't go without singing happy birthday now would you?" as he said that he pulled out his phone.

He knew she was trying so hard to leave now and stop from being teased by him. It was a bit mean but he couldn't help but take some pleasure in realization for her trying to prank him.

[Poppy Lockwood]

Bastard. He knew and he was messing with her. It did not take a genius to figure out what she was up to but it took a lot of nerve to turn the tables instead of just giving an immediate punishment. Cocky bastard. Oddly, a part of Poppy admired his little act. Though the other part wanted to scream and forget this whole thing ever happened. Sing? I don't think so.

She stayed silent the whole time Mr. Buckles spoke and her body tensed under his touch. But when he pulled out his phone, her body reacted on impulse. She tried to snatch it but the man's hand gripped the phone firmly. "I don't think there is a need for you to use that now is there?" She awkwardly peeled her hand off his that still held the phone. "And what prank? This was all for you! Apparently, Christmas, April Fools and your birthday came early." She mumbled the last part to herself mainly and hoped the singing matter would be forgotten.

Mr. Buckles still had his hand on her shoulder. He towered over her and Poppy did not dare to even try to escape. So instead, she tried making her way towards his desk. She held the pencil holder and made a show of unwrapping it. "Oh look, your pencil holder!" Two can play this game. Poppy was too prideful to admit defeat especially when the game was not over yet. "Isn't this great sir? I told you I got you practical stuff. And you just reminded me, cake. That's the cherry on top! Say, why don't I go to the bakery and get it while you enjoy my gifts. Or I can help unravel these goodies so then we can go get the cake together? You can even pick your favorite." Poppy batted her eyelashes. "My treat, anything for the birthday boy."

[Richard Buckles]

He figured one of two things would happen at this point. He would embarrass her in return instead and get her to continued to play along. Or he would press her to swallow a sense of pride and admit to what she was doing. Either way was fine with Richard though he had a feeling the way she was acting she would likely continue with the lie. If she was going to lengths she was to scramble out of this he doubted she would be forwards with the truth of the situation.

She was coming towards his phone with her hands to try and remove it as an issue "Oh but I would love a video of this though. Just wouldn't seem right if I didn't record the student first to show me so much affection Poppy." he didn't budge as she fiddled with the phone and trying to pull it away. He kept smiling at her nodding "Well I appreciate it and that is why I want to record this all."

He let her go now that she was heading back in to the room and unwrapped the stationary holder he had on his desk "Oh my you were write I do need my pen set holder. Very important for those quick notes." he commented "Such a sweet girl you are Poppy." he replied. "Well I know you are open now but I think leaving school grounds during the middle of a school day is a mistake. How about we wait on the cake. Though I would love to hear that happy birthday song. I heard it recently got taken to open source material so no royalties needed anymore. Whenever you are ready."

[Poppy Lockwood]

"There are other ways for you to show your appreciation." She smiled as politely as she could. He still insisted on the song and she felt that the teacher was not going to let it go anytime soon. Poppy could see that he was enjoying the whole thing from the moment he walked in.

She had a remark to what he said but, on a rare occasion, she bit her tongue before the words could tumble out and then it would be too late to take it back. No, this had to be played smartly if she wanted her pride intact at the end of it all. So she knew better than to act on impulse. Instead, she unwrapped the pens and pencils and showed them to Mr. Buckles, to buy herself time to think. Humph, all that time wasted wrapping it! "Wow, I seem to know what you just need."

A thought occurred. Some gravity manipulation would help. Her eyes scanned the room; there was not much she could do, but then they settled on him. She could leave him floating in the air and make a run for it. It may not give her much time before he if he chased after her, but it would give her a head start. That thought was then dismissed. The plan was lame especially since there was a huge possibility that if he did chase after her, he would then very likely catch up to her. It was no use.

So Poppy did the only alternative that she thought would embarrass him more than it would her. "Better get that recorder of yours ready then." She sat down on his table and looked him right in the eye. "Happy birthday to you," she sang, winking for the camera. "Mr. Buckles you live in a zoo, you look like a monkey and you smell like one too." The corners of her lips turned up.

[Richard Buckles]

He nodded at her comment of showing appreciation "True but it would warm my heart if you grant me this birthday wish. This way I have a momento of our time together here would make me so happy." He nodded as she talk about getting all he could possibly need. It was true she did have wrapped up all the things he needed but of course that was because they were his items he had gotten to do his work.

He started recording as she prompted him to. He snickered as she said the rather stinkerish version of happy birthday instead of the usually. He held the laughter till after she was done with her song. "Well I appreciate that on my 21st birthday." he said shaking his head lightly "Well I will be sure to keep this close to my heart." He said as he uploaded it to his cloud quick incase she had ideas to delete it with some daring heist of some sorts.

"I wont be forgetting this any time soon I assure you Poppy." he said with that rather big and sincere smile on his face. He clicked his phone to sleep and put it in his pocket "So Poppy do I have you as a student? I didn't think I recognized you so I am surprised you were so worried about my birthday."

[Poppy Lockwood]

Poppy seemed rather pleased with herself for the little performance. He was quiet for a bit after the song, tapping away on his phone. She could only presume whatever it was he did. Did he post it online? Did he send it to his friends? To the academy's staff? Or his granpa-ma? All options did not appeal to her. Knowing the fact that there was someone out there that had seen her singing happy birthday to a teacher was humiliating. It was not the usual version either. But being the optimist that she was, the negative look on the whole situation was pushed aside to linger in the back of her mind. It was just a song after all. How embarrassing could really it be?

Apparently the song was not enough for Mr. Buckles. He had to pry his way further into her trick. Since she had nothing else to lose, because what else was there to do besides bolting, she decided to entertain him. With a simple manipulation of gravity, she attracted the chair and got off the desk. "No, unfortunately for you, the most thoughtful student is not one of yours." Poppy wanted to rub that smug off his face. "You know what they say, why put off what you can do now till tomorrow? I wonder, how do you feel about your students? I mean, you seem like a...nice and remarkable teacher. I can't fathom how they wouldn't do something like...well something like this!" Her hands gestured at the table and the wrappers. She paused and looked at him with pity. Screw it. True to her personality, without thinking clearly, she did what she thought anyone would do to someone who looked like Mr. Buckles.

Poppy picked up the chair and threw it at him. She then went straight for the door and her unatheletic body stumbled out before making a run for it.

[Richard Buckles]

"Indeed seems that way I am just glad to school has such a breath of fresh air buzzing around it's halls. Ever so sweet to everyone she meets." he said with a smile still as he was greatly amused by how she was just playing along. "Oh my students I do like them for the most part. They are attentive enough though there are some troublesome ones." he said referring to Petra specifically as he had far more trouble with her than what was in the purview of his job. That was a private matter though that would not get uttered to just about anyone.

He was about to tell her that he appreciated it all and hoped to see her in his class someday. Except then she started moving in an odd way. Next thing he knew there was a chair coming at his face which he ducked down under and grabbed the chair pulling it down to the ground with a spin motion. He then turned to the door as it closed on its own. He then slid out of it and watched her running down the call. He took off charging up behind her. He was obviously in good shape as he was gaining on her with relative ease.

He could have let her go with some a small point of embarrassment but attacking him couldn't stand. He took that pen in hand and threw it at her feet so as she stepped down she would step on it and cause her to stumble and fall if she didn't do anything outside the normal. He wasn't trying to injure her only stop her.

[Poppy Lockwood]

P

P
P
Y

No matter how far or how fast she ran, every time she looked behind she saw him gaining on her. Very quickly. Well maybe you should not have looked behind you while running. Poppy remembered grimly of her fifth grade gym teacher advice. It was a habit of hers, just to see how far she could get. For this case, not very far she reckoned.

She was not sure what she was thinking, because in actual she was not really thinking except for the fact to get the hell out of there. Moreover, he patronized and played her. Even though she deserved it, there was incentive. She did not linger to see his condition, which she mentally praised herself for. Though judging from how close he was getting, the 'attack' must not have injured him gravely.

In her run, her foot then came in contact with the pen. Poppy tripped; she was about to fall face down splat on the floor, but luckily her mind immediately thought to turn off the gravity around her. So there she laid hovered horizontally merely inches above the floor. From a far, it looked like she had fallen but up close, you could see she was not on the ground. Puffing out a sigh of relief and glad she had not kissed the floor, Poppy righted herself up, though still hovering.

She looked behind and Mr. Buckles was close. Very close. Too close for her liking. Frantically, her eyes searched for a plant or any living thing besides Mr. Buckles. Unfortunately there were none in hall, but there were some in the courtyard that she saw through the windows. Shit. Poppy could not do it. Not unless she wanted to crash out the window. Soon, Mr. Buckles was in front of her. He had the look that adults commonly gave Poppy. "I didn't mean to throw the chair at you!" she yelled.

[Richard Buckles]

Richard was shaking his head as she tried to out run him. Unless her power was speed related that just wasn't going to happen not one bit. She was slender but a tad out of shape in comparison to himself. Then again lots were since he took such measure to train both cardiovascularly and his muscles. He wasn't sure what she was thinking with all of this as attacking him then trying to get away was an oddly desperate move everything considered.

Richard stopped as fast as he could then looking at her floating there in the in the air. He would have thought she must have had flight but if that was the case he doubted she would have been running away. So alternate since he saw the been floating up. Moon gravity? He questioned internally. He made his way over close to the wall to help move if he started being effected at all.

"So you know I could have let it go with just teasing you back but throwing a chair at me Poppy that was just uncalled for." he said then she blurted out she didn't mean it. "Really? Because seems like you kind of intentionally threw it at me. Now why don't you come back down to earth. Turn off the augmentation there and we can talk this through instead of you trying to run."

[Poppy Lockwood]

P

P
P
Y

So there Mr. Buckles stood near the wall with that smug he wore she knew all too well already despite having only met him recently. Before, she would have wanted to do anything to erase the look but now, she preferred it much more over the condescending looks she usually get after getting caught pranking. Poppy croseed her arms over her chest and contemplated on her next actions. She could not move and in thirty minutes she would only wear herself out.

Oh why, oh why did I throw a frikin' chair at him? She cursed herself for making impulsive decisions. Obviously she had not thought it all through. Just take the chair, Poppy and injure your teacher with it. That sounded like one hell of a plan. She kept quiet as the doubt and guilt of what she had done began to fill her. While she may be reckless, her conscience rarely escaped her. This was one bad move and she knew it.

"Was that pen intentional?" She mocked him. In defeat, Poppy lowered herself and soon her feet touched the ground. He then came closer, she noticed. No doubt to make sure she would not try to escape again. "I'm not running. Promise." Stuffing her hands in her pockets, she said, "Okay, let's talk." Though before he could say what he wanted, she beated him to it. "Actually do you mind if we talk in your classroom? I need to sit. That was some run, eh." She begin walking in the direction of the classroom and hoped she would be there when he discovered the other surprise that awaited him.