As the last of the students had exited the class, Caline sat back in her chair sipping a mug of coffee that would keep her going through her planning period. The staff room was a bit too noisy with Mr. D'Argencourt actively lobbying for votes for his own mayoral campaign.

Besides, considering the nature of the assignment, she wanted to give the kids as much privacy as they were entrusting her.

Poetry was always a fun exercise, but not necessarily an area where every student excelled. So she set out a clear grading criteria, but she wasn't so rigorously defined in rules. Her goal, first and foremost, was to give each student the chance to appreciate every art form they ran across in their lives-even the ones they were less inclined to like at first blush.

She pulled the first entry up on her screen, fixing the pin that kept her hair locked into place.

One of her greatest joys in teaching was to give each of the students their own path to use as a creative outlet. Writing was just as much an exercise in creativity as it could be able self-discovery.

Students never really felt as free to express as they were when the knew the work wouldn't be shared. She encouraged them to all write what you know, write what you like. It was a neat way to get to know her students better.

Her lips curved atop the mug, as she brought it up to her lips, her eyes skimming over the lines as her mouse scrolled down the page.

Of course, if any of those entries reaffirmed certain theories, well she wouldn't be about to complain.

Stretching, Caline arched her back, keying in the last of the grades with a satisfying tap to lock her computer screen before collapsing back into the chair.

When she first started teaching, she'd done this exercise during the first week of class before she had gotten to know her students.

She had decided she would also give extra credit to anyone who could stump her on who they were. Everything was handed in electronically, so the only risks that people could choose to take was in their topic, their word choice.

It was fun, but they really hadn't had the chance to know her, so the responses she'd gotten were very formulaic and similar. She'd learned better the next year.

This year, the girls had generally done more of what she had expected.

Alya was definitely the voice behind the little short on the adrenaline rush of chasing down a big scoop.

Alix certainly mused on racing, on the rush of wind against her face, the sting of her muscles when the race was done, the ever present fear of falling that propelled her forward at breakneck pace.

Marinette did something creative on her drawing inspiration, in her ideal time to sketch she even mentioned some of the more tourist frequented sections in her work, but nothing that could firmly tie her to the superhero in red.

Caline had sighed as she read that entry. She really had been hoping for a something a little more telling related to her theories, but with as secretive as the girl tried to be it seemed like a more direct confirmation was destined to be a lost cause.

Chloe did a piece on fashion. Rose on dancing. Mylene on acting.

Juleka wrote on her fears of being unnoticed and her eye for detail...and what it felt like when those little things, those subtle choices were noticed and appreciated.

Even Sabrina did a surprisingly telling-and cutting-piece on unfairness of the class based system. Caline had smirked shamelessly the entire way through every surprisingly well-crafted rhyme.

But as much as the girls had generally done as much as she'd expected, the boys were the real surprise.

The boys all loved to groan about her enthusiasm for romance in class, but clearly they were playing that up to save face to their peers.

Grinning, Caline shook her head.

Ivan Bruel is quite the surprise romantic. It really wasn't quite what she'd been expecting after her interactions with him on the first day of class. It had taken some time, but it quickly became clear that he had a bit of a crush on Mylene.

Adrien was actually also quite adept with language, which actually made a surprising bit of sense considering his alter ego's predilection for puns.

But outside of the cleverness, she was no closer to true confirmation.

Max was still far too focused on the numbers and at least did not presently have a more romantic bend. But he did an interesting play with numeric emphasis on syllables not unlike Shakespearean iambic pentameter.

She was reasonably sure that it was Nathaniel who had a solid crush on Marinette, if only by his solid grasp of colors in the description.

Nino talked about music, finding the right mix to express his feelings.

But Kim? Now she was fairly certain that his was really the stumper. The boy definitely had a crush, although he wasn't nearly as adept with words as some of the others. He just talked about pretty hair and pretty eyes...and hoping to impress her.

And just who, exactly was she. Where it anyone else, there probably would have been a least a few context clues. But he was just so vague about the whole thing.

Caline rapped her knuckles on her desk, mulling her topic considering next week's lessons included Valentine's Day.

What better way but to appeal to those fellow, covert romantics than a week's worth of lessons in Fairy Tales?

Author's Notes:

Thank you all so much for the positive feedback! I love this little story, but finding time has been a challenge of late.

But now I have...ideas. :D