AND AS THE YEARS GO BY

[cooper anderson]

some other folks might be ,
A LITTLE BIT SMARTER THAN I AM
B U T N O N E O F T H E M W I L L E V E R L O V E Y O U T H E W A Y I D O
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Today was a glasses day. For most of his high school and college life, Cooper Anderson had worn contacts, but when he started teaching, or even when he started looking for a teaching job, he really wanted to look smart (especially because he knew he didn't always sound smart). And what makes people look like nerds who know what they're talking about? Glasses! At least, that's how Cooper saw it. He was convinced many of his previous job interviews would have failed (he couldn't count the number of times he'd used the phrase for the children) and that students wouldn't be nearly as willing to listen to him if he didn't wear the glasses. They made him look like he knew what he was talking about, he reasoned. And so when Coop was wearing glasses, one could surmise that he needed to look smart for one reason or another.

"And here is the art room. All the supplies should be in here - you can redecorate however you like - move the tables, move the shelves. Whatever you need to do. If you want to repaint, though, you'll need to send an approval form. And that's the end of the tour, I think. Any questions?" the principal finished, giving a business-like but welcoming smile to Cooper.

Coop looked around at where he was going to spend much of the next year. It was a good-sized room, and there were even sinks in the corner for washing brushes (and hands) and numerous boxes in shelves for storing supplies. The walls were a little bare, but soon Cooper would fill them with artwork. He grinned. "Everything looks great... What have the kids been doing in art lately?" he asked. It's a week or so into the school year already, but the art teacher left without much notice over the summer, and the school had hired a substitute teacher while they looked for a proper art teacher, but that's as much as Cooper knew.

"Well... Mrs. White isn't an art teacher, so this has mostly been free time for the kids. Which isn't too much different from what it was before, to be perfectly honest."

Cooper swallowed back his frustration at that. While kids obviously should be given freedom with art, in no way should art class turn into free time. There was too much to talk about and draw and paint and learn for it to be free time. But instead of trying to explain that, Cooper simply nodded and said "I'll be changing that."

He and the principal chatted for a few minutes, before finally shaking hands and parting. The school bell rang shortly after, and Cooper grinned as he realized there was another school he needed to visit.

But not without coffee. His last coffee break had been five hours ago. Way too long. Cooper was surprised he managed to drive the car straight to the best coffee shop in Westerville (because he had, of course, tried them all and made his decision over the course of several coffee runs in his high school and college years. Among his criteria was the quality of the coffee, of course, the service, the smile of the beautiful barista behind the counter, and using actual sizes like small, medium, and large. Oh, and the beautiful barista asking him how he was doing when he walked in the door was always a nice touch.)

"Hey, I'm doing great, thanks. I'd like a large mocha and a medium drip with cinnamon," he said to the baristra, treating her with a warm smile because she was a cute redhead. In normal circumstances, he would proceed to flirt with her, but he decided he would be coming by here enough to do that later, and he wanted to get to Dalton before Blaine had a chance to leave, in case he had plans or something. "Thank you." He picked up the cups and gave a subtle wink to the redhead as he left. Okay, so there was always time for flirting.

Luckily, Cooper was an expert at juggling two coffees and making sure they didn't spill while driving (which sounded as simple as putting them in the cup holders but it was not) so he managed to navigate the next few minutes on the road and parking with ease. It was now getting into the school that was the problem.

Cooper had never actually been inside Dalton. This was quickly turning into an issue.

In the front administration building, an old man with large glasses perched behind the counter, staring very intently at a computer screen as he carefully pressed the keys on the keyboard, as if each one might set off a bomb if he didn't press it exactly right. Coop cleared his throat as he neared the counter and the man didn't look up. A pause. A cough from Cooper. Nothing. "Uhm... hi?"

The man jumped, startled, and peered up at Coop, squinting behind the round lenses of his glasses. In this instance, Coop wondered if the glasses made the man look much smarter - they just seemed to make his face look smaller in comparison to his wide, confused eyes. Huh. "Can I help you?"

Cooper blinked away his daydream thoughts. "Uh... yeah! You can. I'm trying to go see my brother?"

"Your brother?"

"Yeah... Blaine Anderson?" Seriously, didn't he see the family resemblance? "He goes here..." he added when the old man didn't seem to be comprehending.

"Oh! I see. You want a visitor's pass," the man said, standing up slowly.

"Er... yeah. I guess." Cooper frowned as he watched the old man bend over carefully, peering through stacks of papers and in drawers.

"There's a form you'll need to fill out. And you'll need to sign in..." the old man started explaining. "If I can just find the darn things. You know, ever since they reorganized, I can't find a single thing. I told 'em, I told 'em, don't start moving everything around, I got it all under control. But, no, they said it was starting to get cluttered and we needed a new front desk." He snorted. "Cluttered! I'll show 'em cluttered!"

"Mhm, sure," Coop muttered as he watched the old man disappear under the counter, only to come up empty-handed. And then he watched him as he scratched his head, continuing to mutter and ramble to himself as he wandered into an adjacent room. Once Cooper heard the phrase back in my day in the middle of the man's mutterings, he knew it was time to take matters into his own hands. This was ridiculous. He was a teacher. They had to let him into a school without all of this nonsense. So he just shrugged, walked around the front desk, and then kept going.

No one stopped him.

At first, Coop was worried he was going to get lost in this campus and never find his brother. Dalton was a big place with many buildings, and there were a lot of boys all wearing uniforms, many of whom with their hair gelled, wandering around. It didn't help at all that Blaine wasn't going to exactly stand above the crowd. But somehow Cooper managed to find himself in a building filled unmistakably with the voice of his brother's singing voice. He grinned from ear to ear as he heard the song coming to an end, and he headed in that direction.

I have coffee, he quickly texted to his brother. Though, Blaine had no idea Cooper was coming, or that he was even in town, so he would probably take it as Coop torturing him with thoughts of coffee. But maybe Blaine would use deductive reasoning. Coop even wondered if his brother really could smell coffee from a mile away like he'd once teased him.

The Warblers were dispersing as Cooper entered the meeting room. "You're such a liar. You do go to Hogwarts."

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