Chapter Text
The microphone’s feedback emanates from the center of the quad drawing a small crowd to the podium. Dean Pelton clears his throat, “Good morning, Greendale. A lot of you have heard that community college is a place for drop outs, athletes that lost their scholarship, old people trying to further their education, single mothers with something to prove, and losers.” He flips to the next notecard, “However, I wish you well.” Everybody looks at each other confused.
Dean Pelton holds up his hands, “Okay, you know what? I’m missing a card. There’s more to this speech. Can you look around your person for a notecard?” He straightens his glasses as no one moves. “Nothing. Well, good luck.” The crowd disperses.
Across the quad, Klaus and Matt walk out of the science building. Matt rambling on, “-but my dad left us when I was young. My mom is a drunk and everybody thinks it’s because my dad left. But my dad left because my mom is a drunk.”
Klaus speaks up, “Okay. About my question?”
“Oh, right,” Matt glances at his watch. “It’s 11:30. And I’m Matt,” he holds out his hand.
Klaus shakes it, “I’m Klaus. Nice to know you, then meet you, in that order.”
In front of the science building is a fountain full of leaves. Klaus spots a brunette sitting on the edge with an open textbook on her lap. “Matt, what do you know about that girl over there?”
He takes a deep breath, “Well, I only talked to her once, but her name is Elena. She has a little brother. Her parents died a few years ago. And she is really nervous about the Spanish test tomorrow.”
“Holy crap,” Klaus gasps, “You’re not completely useless.”
“That’s the nicest thing anybody’s ever said to me.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Klaus began to head to the offices.
After a brief search he finds the one he was looking for. He opens the door, “You don’t deserve an office this big.”
Professor Duncan looks up and smiles, “Mr. Mikaelson. What are you doing here?”
Klaus sits across from him in front of the desk, “I’m a student now.”
“That’s unfortunate,” the professor sips his coffee. “I thought you had a Bachelor’s from Columbia.”
Klaus chuckles, “Now I need one from America. Which is where you come in. I need you to get me all the answers to tomorrow’s test.”
Professor Duncan ruffles his hair, “How am I supposed to do that?”
Klaus stands and opens the door, turning on his heel, he calls over his shoulder, “That’s not my problem.”
The lunch lady slops some meat substance on his plate. Klaus turns up his face and whispers, “This is what passes as food in this dump?” He turns his head and spots Elena at a table by herself. Hey decides to walk over, “Hey.”
Without looking up, she mumbles, “Go away, I’m studying.”
“I was just going to say that I could help you with that.”
Elena looks up, “Wait a second. The guy drawing elaborate landscapes all period speaks Spanish?”
Klaus smiles at the knowledge that she was watching him. “I’m Klaus. I’m actually a board certified Spanish tutor. I’m just taking the class as an easy credit.”
Elena challenges, “Say that I Spanish.”
“Me llamo Klaus. Yo soy perro en espanol. Cerveza es la verdad para escula.”
She holds up her hands in defeat, “Okay. You’re right. I could use your help.”
“My study group meets at 3 in the library.” Elena grabs her things and gets up. “Will you be there?” She smirks, shrugs and walks away.
After classes, Klaus walks into study room F and sits at the table. He glances at the clock that reads 3:15.
“Hola,” Elena says with a slight wave of her hand.
Klaus rushes to stand up, “Bienvenido.” He pulls out the chair around the corner from him, “Take a seat.” She complies and pulls out her notebook.
“Let’s get started.”
“Whoa. What’s the rush? Tell me about yourself.”
Elena nervously giggles, which makes Klaus smile, “We have a test tomorrow and you want to make small talk.” He remains quiet, staring at her. Elena fidgets with her hair, “Okay, fine. I’m here because I flunked all of my classes senior year to impress my high school crush. I like to think of myself as a pretty honest person. Above all, I like people who are honest with me.”
Klaus leans back in his chair and strokes his cheeks considering how to phrase his next sentence, “I will say or do anything to get what I want. And I want you to like me.”
“For now, I like you just fine.”
Shocked, Klaus exclaims, “You’re easy.”
Elena playfully pouts and throws a pencil at his chest.
“Hey, Klaus. Elena.”
He turns around, “Matt! What are you doing here?”
“Elena invited me. Is that cool?”
Klaus turns back around, “I can’t think if a single reason why not.”
Matt sits next to Elena, “This is like breakfast club, you know, because we are in a library.”
At that moment, Klaus’s phone vibrates with a text that reads: con-4-s-8-tion on the field. “I’ll be right back. Study the verbs. In Spanish.” He saunters down to the football field where Professor Duncan is waiting at the edge.
“What if I said I could get you the answers to tomorrow’s test?”
Klaus shakes his head, “Well, I would say do that, and could have said so in a text.”
“But what will you learn?”
Klaus runs his hands through his hair, huffing in frustration, “If I wanted to learn, I wouldn’t be at Greendale.” The Professor remains silent and he continues, “Duncan, I was one of the best art dealers in the country. I learned at an early age that if I talk long enough I can sell anything to do anybody. Of all the things I could learn here, Spanish isn’t one of them. I know my downstairs neighbors hate me. I don’t need to know why.”
“Okay. I’ll get the answers.”
Klaus smirks, “Good,” and walks off. He strolls back into the study room and stops dead in his tracks. Shock washes across his face because four more people are waiting on him at the table.
Sitting around the corner from Matt is Tyler, next to him is Damon, around the corner from him is Bonnie and Caroline.
Matt perks up, “Klaus I invited more people from our Spanish class.”
Klaus rolls his eyes, “Clearly.”
“What kind of board certifies a tutor?” Caroline inquires.
Tyler threw some papers on the table, “I don’t care. That means Seacrest does my homework, right?”
Bonnie raises her hand, “How long will this take? I need to get home to my gram.”
Damon turns to Bonnie, “I could sit here all day with this view.” She turns up her face.
Elena points to each person as she says their name, “This is Tyler, Damon. Bonnie, and Caroline.” Each person nods, “Okay, let’s get started.”
Caroline interrupts, “I would like to know why I found out about this study group on accident.”
Elena tries to get everybody back on track, “Accident? Let’s learn how to say that in Spanish.”
“No!” Klaus finally sits, “Let’s address this issue. Why didn’t we invite Caroline to this study group?”
“I think it’s because everyone pities me and nobody respects who I am.”
Bonnie responds to Caroline, “Well, you should decide if you want pity or respect. Children get pity and adults get respect, but they also get their head smashed through jukeboxes.”
Tyler speaks up, “So nobody’s doing my homework?”
“Tyler this isn’t Riverside High and you aren’t prom king anymore,” Caroline pushes a tendril of hair behind her ear.
“How’d you know I went to Riverside?”
She gasps, “Are you serious? We went to the same high school for four years. I sat behind you in three classes.”
“Oh man, yeah. You’re the girl that took a bunch of pills and went crazy. You’re ‘Cracked out Caroline,’” Tyler laughs. She opens her mouth to defend herself.
Damon interrupts, “I’m more interested in this beautiful creature to my right.” Bonnie turns up her face.
“Are you aware that Bonnie finds your sexual advances as harassment?” Klaus brings to attention.
“I’m just letting her know that I can’t wait until we inevitably have sex.”
Tyler chuckles, “Dude, saying stuff like that is the harassment.”
They all began talking over each other, yelling about their problems. Elena leans over to Klaus, “Fix this.”
“I want to see how this plays out.” Klaus’s phone rings which silences everyone. The caller id reads ‘Duncan.’ “I’ll be right back. Continue.” He pushes back from the table and answers his phone in the hallway, “Where are my answers, Duncan?”
“I want your car.”
“My car? For tomorrow’s test answers?”
Duncan sighs, “But it won’t just be tomorrow. It’ll be every time you have a test in every class. I want to be paid in advance. I want your car.”
“And what do you expect me to drive?”
“You can take my car.”
Klaus laughs, “Hobos won’t even squat in your car. What am I supposed to do with that piece of crap?”
“Let it remind you of a lesson.”
“Duncan, the next time you try to teach me something I will rip whatever allows you to talk out of your throat,” he hung up the phone and let out a breath of frustration.
Elena storms out of the room, “Klaus. Get in there and fix what you did.”
“Hmm. Add a please to that and let me take you out tonight.”
She snorts, “You have got to be kidding me.” They stand in the hall in silence staring at each other. “Fine. Klaus, will you fix this mess? Please.”
He clasps his hands together, “Gladly, since you asked so nicely.” Klaus holds the door open for Elena and he enters behind her. The study group was still yelling each other. He grabs his textbook and slams it on the table, “Alright.” Everyone grew quiet and he continues, “What is the only difference between humans and other animals?”
Elena jumps up, “What?”
“Sit down love, I got this,” Klaus whispers to her.
Tyler answers, “Feet.”
Caroline scrunches her face and mouths, “What?”
Klaus continues, “We are the only species that acknowledge Shark Week. Sharks don’t even care about Shark Week. For the same reason I can pick up this pencil, tell you his name is Carl and do this.” He breaks the pencil. Everyone let out some version of sadness. Klaus continues, “And a part of you dies. Because we can connect to anything. We can sympathize with a pencil. We can forgive a shark. And we can continue to support Ben Affleck. We as people find the good in just about anything expect for ourselves. Everyone in here is better than they think they are. Look at the person sitting next to you and extend to them the same kindness you give to pencils, sharks, and Ben Affleck. Say to that person, ‘I forgive you.’”
Everyone turns to the person sitting next to them and says it, except Damon. Klaus brings it to everyone’s attention, “Damon, I’d like you to say ‘I forgive you.’”
Caroline asks, “He didn’t say it?”
He mumbles, “I forgive you.”
Klaus continues, “Do you feel that? You just became more than a study group. You just became a community.”
Bonnie and Caroline coos, “That’s sweet.”
He sits down and leans over to Elena, “So when do you want to get out of here?”
She snickers, “Are you kidding? I’m not going out with you. I just said that so we could study. Thanks for calming everybody down.” She opened the textbook and pulled out her binder. Elena thinks out loud, “What page do you guys want to start on?”
The room fills with chatter about Spanish greetings or something and Klaus leans back in his chair and tilts his head up. He whispers to his self, “Welcome to Greendale.”