'new home, same me [Open]

[Cody Chase]

It was moving day for Cody; luckily, he didn't have much to transport up and down the flights of stairs. He'd already seen a couple of curious kids, looking in the direction of his precious - his 1956 classic Volkswagen Beetle. Usually, he was even-tempered, but if someone touched it, he would be forced to run them over. Repeatedly. And...homicidal thoughts on the first day - first hour of the job. 'Way to go, Chase. He lifted forth, balancing it on his shoulder, while he swiped his key-card to get into the staff dorms. It was a nightmare having to do that every time he wanted to go upstairs, and he just knew that he'd leave the card upstairs. Probably on a day where he had vital work to do, and that would also be in his room.

Rolling his eyes, he gripped the box more firmly in two hands, slightly worried about what would happen if he dropped it on his foot. It had all his textbooks in, plus the entire Dark Tower series. Spending a few hours at the hospital with a broken toe wouldn't be a good way to start. However, he managed to dump that box - and the four that followed, making it eight in total - in his room, wondering what he was supposed to do next. He was meant to be having a tour of the school, but after nobody materialized within ten seconds, he decided he could take his own tour. Getting lost was a learning experience, right? He left the apartment with the door hanging wide open, reasonably sure that none of the other staff were going to steal his stuff (not that there was much to take) and not wanting to shut the door in case he managed to lock himself out. It had happened too many times before.

As he wandered the corridors, he saw quite a few of the students; there were twenty or so here, and they all seemed to be changing in between classes or something. Cody wondered who was teaching his class currently. Substitutes. Poor kids. He looked at all the kids, making a game out of guessing who would be one of 'his'; the kid carrying a guitar, probably. The dark haired, moody looking boy...maybe. What students did he have again? He tried to remember; he'd studied the files he'd been sent, but names were always hard to remember. From what he could summon up, his most challenging patient would be a girl called...Jessica, he thought. Severely dyslexic; couldn't read or write. He had a lot of intensive work with her. There were surprisingly few students, although he'd always get some more throughout the year. Ones that couldn't cope in normal lessons; they always materialized at his door in the end.

There was a boy, he remembered, called...something odd. Maddox, that was it. He had trouble reading and writing, but they weren't sure if it was due to lack of good schooling, or an organic problem, like dyslexia. He had ADHD as well, Cody thought. Anyone else? One girl with ADHD - Violet, he remembered that name - but she didn't require much support, aside from the usual extra time in examinations. Later, he'd review the files, take notes on all his students and arrange meetings with them. Just then, though, he was going to try and navigate his way back, realizing that he wasn't too great at giving himself a tour around a place he didn't know squat about.

Now, which way? Left. ...Unless it was right? Cody stood, stuck, for a minute, before deciding to go left. If you went in the same direction for long enough, you were bound to get to your destination. Right?

[Layla Whitney]

Layla turned the corner, head down, guitar slung over her shoulder, and walked straight into a man she didn't recognise. Jumping back, she gave him an apologetic smile. "Hey, sorry. Didn't see you there," she said, glancing him up and down. He definitely wasn't a student, which meant he was a teacher, and not one of the current ones. Her smile turned friendly, and she asked him, "You new here? I haven't seen you around before. I'm Layla." She wondered what he taught. Hopefully music; the current teacher was a bitch and a half, and Layla was getting sick of her whiny, nasal voice. Besides, this guy wasn't bad looking, not bad at all. Even if he was a teacher... No, she wouldn't let her mind go that way. Yet. Find out a little about him, first. He probably wasn't going to be her teacher anyway. The actors, writers, artists or dancers would get him, or the special needs kids, knowing her luck.

Shifting her guitar to her other shoulder, she tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear, examining his face. Well, he was infinitely preferable to their teacher at the moment, even if she had a self-imposed ban on sex at the moment. Well, sex with teachers, at least. "You look kinda lost," she added, "Need directions anywhere? This place is a bitch to get around in, seriously." For once, there was no innuendo there, although it occurred to her that she probably shouldn't swear in front of the new teacher. Oh, well. He was working in psychiatric ward, he'd probably heard it all before, and if he wasn't expecting it he was in the wrong place. Even so, she kind of hoped it would slip away unnoticed, not wanting to make a bad impression.

[Cody Chase]

Cody span around when he felt something - someone - collide with him, giving a friendly smile at the girl. His eyes went straight to the guitar and he grinned. " It's okay. I didn't see you either. " He thought back to all the files, but couldn't remember any kids called Layla on his roster. " I'm Cody, and yep, just moved in. I'm the music teacher - and the head of learning support - and I presume you're one of my students? " He hoped so. It'd be nice to have met at least one of his kids before the lesson; that way, if they started a riot or something, he could at least get some names down. He watched as she moved the instrument from shoulder to shoulder, wondering how good she was. New students were always fun.

With a start, he realized that he'd introduced himself as Cody. Should he do that? He wasn't sure how formal the staff were here; but he'd never really liked the idea of being called 'Mr. Chase'. After all, he didn't call the kids by their surnames. Apparently, it was a way of showing respect, but surely you could be respectful without being formal? At his old placements, they'd always called him by his first name. Not without a bit of huffing from the people in charge - who were always stuffy and old - but he'd done it. Cody figured that he'd do the same here. If the other staff objected too much... Well, he'd jump off that bridge when they came to it.

" Kinda lost? I'm completely lost, " he answered, laughing slightly. " Navigating is not my forte, I'm afraid. " He could get lose with a GPS in front of him; a skill he was quite proud of. It was tricky, being that idiotic. You really had to work at it. Where did he want to go? Layla seemed...nice enough, like she wouldn't attempt to murder him, at least, so he thought he could trust her for directions. Should he check out the music classroom, or the LS classroom first? Or just go back to his room and unpack until someone in charge came and told him what to do? " Mmm, I'd noticed. Uh...do you know where the learning support office would be? " He didn't comment on her language; he was used to it. Besides, Cody didn't want to be a complete hypocrite. He was guilty of swearing - usually, not actually at the kids - in front of younger, impressionable minds. They tended not to care, thank God, or he would have had some pissed-off parents.

[Layla Whitney]

"I guess so, yeah. God, I'm glad you're here, that substitute has no idea what the fuck she's doing," Layla told him, thinking that he probably wouldn't care about the swearwords. He'd let the other one slide, after all, which meant he'd probably let the rest go. And besides, Layla wasn't used to toning down her language for anyone, not teachers, her parents, or other students. Besides, this guy seemed pretty cool. "So, what do you play? Or are you just one of those people that plays every instrument under the sun?"

Smiling, Layla added, "I haven't been there before, but I think it's this way. Come on, I'll show you," jerking a thumb over her shoulder and turning to walk in the other direction. For once, she had an excuse for being late to class, other than 'I didn't want to come'. Talking to another teacher had always been a valid reason for turning up late in her old school, and she couldn't see any reason why it should be different here. So she turned and began to walk away, turning round once to check he was following her. She didn't speak again, deciding to let him get a word in edgeways. Layla always talked a lot to new people, even when she wasn't interested in banging them. She was very sociable, as that often lead to sex, and that was something Layla couldn't do without. Literally. Couldn't.

Speaking of... she hadn't been laid in a while, and she hadn't met anyone who really fitted her standards, low as they were, for a while. Maybe she'd have to get in touch with Morph again... smiling at the memory, she led the teacher around a corner in the direction of the office she'd passed a few times.

[Cody Chase]

Cody smirked. " Substitutes rarely do. Where I used to work, an idiotic woman left a bunch of EBD - emotionally and behaviourally disturbed - kids alone in the music room. " He winced at the memory. When he'd come back, to find three children fighting and the other two egging them on, with a bunch of smashed equipment and all his sheet music used... Well, he hadn't minded about damaging impressionable minds with his language then. He was making sure to keep the room locked whenever he wasn't in it. These kids were older - and on the whole, less disturbed - than the ones he'd worked with before, so he'd be more likely to break things if they did something similar. Most likely, things belonging to the children. Deciding it was best not to mention that to Layla - she'd work out how protective he was of his instruments in due time - he just smiled at her.

" I play guitar, and I do a little singing. I play a few other instruments as well, but that's my main one. I assume you're a guitarist as well? " He gestured at the case on her back. Either she played, or she just liked to carry one about and pretend she did. It was more likely that she'd played, he thought. Cody strode along behind Layla, hoping that she was leading him in vaguely the right direction. If she just dumped him in the middle of nowhere, well...he'd stand and look confused until someone else helped him. And be mad at her next session. " Thanks. " There was a silence for a few seconds, and he searched for something to say. Should he ask why she was there? Maybe not. Ask about the other kids here? Sounded best. " So, you know the other music students? "

When they reached the office, he entered, smiling. She'd probably got the right place, unless the headteachers had just had a whim for putting 'Learning Support Department' on the door, in fancy gold letters. Below that was his name, and a few gaps where the rest of his team would go. When he got them, at least. The room was spacious, with a desk and a few small tables scattered around. There was a large, interactive board on the wall, and some other materials in boxes in the corners. He investigated the contents, and discovered flashcards with varying degrees of difficulty (letters and numbers, short words to four or five syllable words), Montessori materials, which were pretty but not really suited to the types of kids he'd be getting, and lots of equally-useless materials. Hmm. Well, the staff here had gone all out, and it would have been a perfect set-up if he was dealing with autistic kids, which he didn't think he'd be doing. Most of his kids were just dyslexic, right?

[Layla Whitney]

Layla smirked as she walked. "I bet that went down well. Everyone here's so protective of their instruments, you can't get near them without getting written permission twenty-four hours in advance... well, not quite, but you know what I'm saying." She fingered the strap of her guitar case lovingly. It had taken her a year and a half to save up for it, but it was well worth it. Ibanez were quite possibly her favourite ever company; while other girls went window shopping for shoes and clothes, Layla did the same for guitars and amps. Music addicted? Almost certainly.

"Yeah, I've been playing for a few years. Been singing longer, though." She took a left, hoping that she was leading him in the right direction. It would probably be a bit embarrassing if she lead him to the middle of nowhere then announced she didn't have a clue where she was going. Might put a bit of a strain on their lessons. No, wait, here they were. She stopped outside the door, leaning against the frame when he'd gone in. She was never comfortable in school offices, despite having spent half her time at her old school in them. or perhaps because of it; being in an office generally meant you were about to get yelled at, or thrown out.

She folded her arms and watched him explore his office. He looked like a teenager at Christmas opening his presents; a whole load of useless crap he didn't want, and the occasional thing he'd desperately wanted. "The other music students? Well, there's Leah Wright, she's my roommate. Dunno what she's in for, but she plays piano and sings. She's bloody good, too. Then there are the boys. I think there's a bassist, and a couple of singers. One of them plays guitar... Chris. Evan's the bassist, and Maddox is the singer. I think Chris is teaching him guitar, and he's roped Leah into teaching him a bit of piano, too. I don't know much else about them, except that Chris has got a sister he might as well be joined at the hip to."

[Cody Chase]

Gone well? " Oh, completely. Nah, these kids weren't talented like the ones here. They weren't at all protective of the instruments. Unfortunately. " 'I wish.' Cody watched as Layla played with the strap of the guitar case, relieved that this girl at least wouldn't be smashing anything. Well, any instruments. She could fuck up all the paintbrushes, props, tap shoes and...pencils that she wanted; he had no objection to that. Wait, that wasn't good. " What sorta guitar do you have? " He couldn't see the logo on the case - if there even was one - and was curious as to what sort of instruments the kids had here. Did the school provide them, or did they have to get their own? He figured it depended on the kids home life. 'Yes, you've been abusing your daughter for the past ten years. Can you buy her a keyboard so she can recover from the trauma? No? Didn't think so.'

" I've played for...hmm, I got my degree in music seven years ago. So...a long time. " He laughed, trying to conceal his slight puzzlement. Seven years ago? Wow, he'd forgotten he was so old. He did some quick calculations in his head. " I started when I was about thirteen, so that makes it...nineteen years. Holy fu-dge. " Nice one. Tell the girl how old you are, and swear. She probably didn't have any objection, considering her own...colourful vocabulary, but it probably wasn't something he should endorse. Without the probably. Well, the kids would have to get used to it, he decided. And hopefully, he wouldn't be written off as one of the sad old teachers that tried to be cool. God, that'd be depressing. It seemed like only five minutes ago he'd been one of the kids laughing at said old teacher.

Trying to stop thinking such depressing thoughts, like if he should start a bank account for his hip replacement or nursing home, he turned and smiled at Layla, leaning against the wall. So, he had two girls, and three boys. The musicians were the biggest group, well, with the dancers - both had five. Writers were the smallest, with just two, artists had three or four, and...what was the other one? Acting. They had two. So, writing and acting were joint smallest. Cody couldn't help a slightly smug feeling at the thought that his group was the most popular, before he realized that that meant he'd have the most students. Plus his SEN kids... That was a whole lot of fucked-up teens. " Sounds good. Pianist, three or four singers, three guitarists. " Hopefully that was right.

He recognised the name Maddox, ADHD. He'd get to see the kid in classes; that'd be useful. " Sounds like quite a handful. Come in, by the way. " He'd just noticed that Layla was leaning against the door, not looking too comfortable. " So, do you have somewhere you need to be? Or do you feel like showing off? " Cody gestured towards the guitar as he spoke, before turning and investigating the contents of his desk, which was pretty basic: paper, pens, sedatives... Wow. Ten years ago, he'd never have counted sedatives as a normal thing to have on or around you all the time; now he'd be worried for his safety without them.

[Layla Whitney]

Layla nodded and entered the room, lowering herself gracefully onto one of the cardboard boxes and hoping it wouldn't collapse the moment she put weight on it. It didn't. Relaxing, she swung her guitar off her shoulder and rested it against her knee. "It's an Ibanez. I did have a Fender as well, an acoustic, but I had to leave it behind when I came here, they wouldn't let me bring both," she told him. "Most of the kids here have their own, but a few need to borrow them from the music room." As she listened, Layla raised an eyebrow. "Woah, that's a pretty long time. I started on guitar about five years ago, I've had singing lessons for-" she did a quick head count, "Eight years, classically trained."

She glanced around the office, wondering where he'd find space to keep all this crap. There would probably be more space once he'd got these boxes moved out of the room, and he might be able to get shelves or something up... He spoke again, and she grinned up at him. "Me? Show off? I prefer to think of it as show-casing my talents," she replied, her eyes sparkling mischievously. Picking up the guitar, she strummed it a few times to check it was in tune. As she'd expected, it was. Cody seemed like the type to take good care of his instruments. After a few moments of an improvised chord progression, she changed it to one of her favorite songs: Capital of Nowhere, by The Gathering. She began to sing as well, quietly, her voice half-drowned out by the mellow guitar melody. Glancing up, she looked at Cody to see how he was reacting to her music, hoping he'd like it.

[Cody Chase]

Cody watched as she sat down, hoping that it wasn't going to be the box with all the valuable items in (if he even had one, that was). Even if it was said valuable box, it didn't appear to collapse under the slender girls weight. Good. He didn't want to kill off one of his kids - then the dancers would be the biggest group, and he couldn't have that. " Nice. Pity you couldn't bring both... There are some in the music room, if you want to use one. Well...hopefully. " He hadn't had a look yet, but there better be. He'd brought his own guitar, and that was it, as far as his personal collection went; he'd sold everything else before moving.

Ah, if kids needed to borrow from the music room, then there must be some instruments there. That, or he'd go into his next class and find a bunch of teens sitting around, miming that they were playing. That'd be...interesting. At Layla's mention that it was a long time, Cody half-winced. " Yep, long time. What grades are you on? " If she'd had five years of guitar, probably grade five. Still, she might have failed an exam. Or done two in one year, if she was really good, something he didn't doubt.

As the girl played, he nodded, smiling when she looked up. Good singer. Okay guitarist. Well, a lot better than average, but there was room for improvement. " Nice. And all the kids are as good as you? Hmm, might have my work cut out for me... " He'd save his critique for a lesson, not wanting to alienate the girl. For all he knew, she was a complete psychopath. " So, how come you're here? Aside from your musical talents, of course. " Lacing his fingers together, he watched Layla, wondering if he was about to be attacked by an angry singer who didn't like intrusive questions and her sidekick, the Ibanez guitar. Could be painful.

[Layla Whitney]

She finished the song after a few moments, not wanting to bore him. Letting go of the guitar's neck, she stretched out her legs, crossed her ankles, and dangled her hands loosely over the guitar. "Yeah, I was gutted. But, you know. I've got one, at least, so there's not much point whining about it," she replied, staring down at her shoes, more out of respect than shyness. People didn't like being watched all the time, and she didn't like watching people, especially after they'd just heard her play. While their reactions tended to be good, she didn't like to see their faces until they'd had time to vocalise their thoughts.

When he commented positively, as she'd been sure he would, she smiled up at him. "I'm not that great on guitar, compared to the rest. I prefer singing," she told him, glancing over coyly, to see him smiling. His next question didn't completely catch her off guard. Of course, he wouldn't just forget that she was a patient at a mental hospital, would he? That would be too kind. "Uh... sexual sadism, hypersexual, and IED," she told him with a sheepish grin. Hopefully, he wouldn't think her a complete freak from now on. "I don't like being called... certain things," she finished lamely, glancing over to check he wasn't about to rip the guitar out of her hands and club her over the head with it.
No, wait. That was the student's job, not the teacher's. He might turf her out of his office, but the only head-clubbing that was going to be carried out around here would be by students. By her, preferably, or at least, not on her. She'd hate to have her face messed up by a psycho with a guitar. Those things hurt.

[Cody Chase]

Cody smiled. "Like your motto." 'No point whining about it, wish more patients would incorporate that into their daily lives...' "Well, just come to me if you need the key to the music room. I can trust you aren't going to attempt to single-handedly ruin my life by destroying every instrument you can find?" Layla seemed pretty sane, he thought, studying her. At least...she wasn't schizophrenic, that much he knew, mainly because they didn't take schizophrenics here. Or sociopaths! Of course, she could always be sadistic, and planning on destroying all his instruments... 'And I've officially developed paranoid PD...'

There were kids that were better on guitar than her? He ran back through the list he'd given her of musicians: Maddox and Chris both played, although Maddy was just starting to learn. He'd probably be crap then... Oh, and Evan. "Cool. If you ever want a lesson, just ask. That's sorta my job, so I should be able to help you." Well, hopefully. Otherwise he'd last a month or two before they realized that he wasn't teaching the kids anything, and throw him on the street. Carefully, Cody kept his face expressionless - aside from a slight smile - as Layla listed her diagnosis'. Interesting list. Was it legal to be in the same room, alone, with a hypersexual female patient? Crap, he wasn't even meant to be alone in a room with a female patient, was he? Looking around - for witnesses to say that he hadn't been raping her, or something - he noticed the camera, and relaxed slightly. It was probably legal, then.

Sadistic? Interesting. He had been close, then, although he hadn't got the sexual part. "I'll make sure not to...call you certain things," he teased, raising his eyebrows slightly. "Well, you don't sound that interesting to me...diagnosis wise, of course. Pretty normal, right?" He grinned, hoping she didn't mind being called normal. 'Note to self: Keep adjectives to a minimum.' He lent back against the wall, hands resting in his lap, occasionally checking the camera to ensure it was on. Just in case Ms. Layla Whitney decided to accuse him of sexual abuse. Like with the sedatives, he started to realize that he considered it to be perfectly normal to have cameras trained on him, just in case he was accused of rape. Interesting. He'd think it was time for a career change, when things like that were daily life, except he liked his job. Fucked-up kids were generally better at music than posh brats (for some reason he didn't understand, but which made his life easier, so he wasn't complaining).

[Layla Whitney]

She grinned at him, ducking her head slightly as she laughed. A teacher with a sense of humour? That was new. Not unwelcome, just new. "I'll try not to," she teased, carefully placing the guitar on the ground, behind a box so it was out of the way of feet. Feet were dangerous to instruments. Leaning back on the box and crossing her legs, she watched him curiously, a thoughtful look on her face. He was a hell of a lot better than the substitute teacher they had at the moment, and she hadn't even had him for a lesson yet. Of course, it might have been linked to the fact that he was male, and relatively good-looking, and he seemed to know what he was doing with a guitar. Other than that, she had no proof, but she had a feeling he was going to be good as a teacher.

"Thanks," she replied, slightly surprised. He'd seemed nice, but a lesson? An individual lesson? She'd thought that they were here to improve the talents they already had, not learn new ones, but then, improvement was all about learning, right? She smiled at him, and replied, "If you like your hair on your head and your blood on the inside, that's probably a good idea..." definitely a good idea. Then her smile faded, and she glanced up at him apologetically. "That wasn't a threat, sorry. It kinda sounded bad," biting her lip, she turned away. Good start, girl. Make the teacher think you're a freak on the very first meeting. You haven't even had a lesson yet! It might make their guitar lesson a little tense if he thought she was about to turn him inside out at any moment...

[Cody Chase]

Cody watched her putting the guitar behind one of his boxes, relieved. That simple act told him all that he needed to know; she took good care of instruments. Good. At least one of his musicians was careful, then, and he'd found that people with talent -real talent they were born with, like the kids here- treated anything to do with music with a sort of...reverence. He did it himself; his guitar coming in first place of Things Cody Likes And Does Not Want To Be Destroyed. His car was second place, himself in third. Maybe he needed to...shift his priorities somewhat? Smiling, he rubbed the back of his neck, turning his attention back to Layla after a minute. "So, you're my music student. Do you have any learning disabilites or anything, or do you know anyone that has? It's nice to find out about my SEN kids before I meet them." He smiled. "Real stuff, not their birthdays and what they thought of their grandparents step-cousins or whatever other cr- stuff is on your applications"

Hopefully, she didn't have a thing about people asking if she was learning disabled. It'd be irritating if so. At her surprise, Cody smiled. "Us teacher types do like to teach, y'know. Well...in theory." As long as the students were 1) not likely to murder them and 2) any good at music, but he wouldn't tell Layla that. He had the sneaking suspicion that she didn't match the first of the critera, despite how nice she seemed; kids with IED could do extreme stuff, he'd heard. Not experienced, thankfully.

Her threat made him chuckle, and he bit his lip, trying to hide it but not quite able to. "Aww, sweet he teased, grinning. Ruefully, he touched the back of his head. Cody wasn't suffering from hair-loss -thank God, thank God, thank God, and it better stay that way- and he didn't fancy having it ripped out. "It's fine. I threaten my students all the time... Or should I be yelling at you for that?"