Chapter Text
Trent had a special talent. Well, actually multiple talents. But this particular one was knowing when people were faking it and when they were being real. This sixth sense has been finely tuned during his time at Julliard, where he always knew that Meredith wasn't fully in character and he could tell that Leslie wasn't acting, she really was just a bitch. And with this lie detector, he could see right through Alyssa when she tried to convince him that her skipping every lunch these past few weeks to help Emma Nolan tidy a storage closet was purely out of duty. A fellow teacher welcoming a new staff member. No, Trent immediately called bullshit on that one. Well not literally, he did work in an elementary school after all. But he made it clear that he wasn't convinced as Alyssa rushed out of the staff room.
He had initially thought that maybe Alyssa and Emma were making liberal use of the closet for other purposes, less cleaning and far dirtier. However, the thought was quickly disregarded for three reasons.
Firstly, he had known Alyssa for two years, ever since she first started teaching at Edgewater. She walked into the staff room and he could immediately tell from her posture that she had had serious dance training- he could tell because he had seen many dancers when he had trained at Julliard. As the sole performing arts teacher at Edgewater, Trent had latched onto Alyssa as a kindred spirit, so much more developed than the other hick teachers who couldn't tell Lloyd Webber from Sondheim. And over those two years, a friendship had developed, and Trent felt almost fatherly towards the young woman.
He knew that Alyssa would never engage in anything untoward at a school, especially with children around. She cared too much about her students and was, in Trent's view, a bit too much of a goody-two-shoes to even consider making out in a storage closet at school. While Trent hadn't known Emma for long, he could tell that she would probably be equally mortified at the idea. Emma always carried around colourful stickers for her students and lets them plaster them all over her and her guitar. She rewrote lyrics to songs to make them more child-friendly - even songs explicitly written for children. No, Trent could tell that Emma wouldn't dare put herself in a situation where a student could walk in and see way too much.
Secondly, the music storeroom actually was a giant mess. Trent felt slightly guilty about that, knowing that he had used the closet in the past to store everything from Godspell costumes to broken recorders. He couldn't help it, he had long been the only arts teacher so he had expanded into the music closet. Not that he'd admit to it - no, he had spent way too long and too much money on an education at Julliard to be tasked with menial labor. Trent had come out of the closet almost 3 decades ago, he wouldn't voluntarily go back, no matter the type of closet. Plus, some of the junk was left there from the last music teacher, who had retired over 5 years ago (but it was mostly Trent's trash). So, it was reasonable that Emma and Alyssa were spending that amount of time to clean out the closet.
Finally, and perhaps the most convincing argument against the two teachers getting familiar in a closet was that, knowing Emma and Alyssa, there was no way that they would get there shit together that quickly. Knowing them separately, Trent had no doubt that together, those disaster lesbians could spend a decade just to go on a single date. Alyssa would always ask after Emma in the staff room and would save her coffee and pastries for the morning meetings as Emma notoriously stumbled in late. Emma would sleepily accept, giving Alyssa a look of worship, as if she had just been blessed by a heavenly power.
Emma would also always walk past Alyssa's third-grade classroom in between music classes, peering in to watch as Alyssa crouched next to a miniature table helping Nick with his multiplication tables or as she enthusiastically dramatized Harry Potter for the class during reading time. Emma was clearly infatuated with the brunette teacher, and Alyssa wasn't much better. But no matter how clear it was to literally everyone around them, Trent knew that Emma and Alyssa would probably never act on their feelings unless forced to confront them. You could call this sense his Lesbian-derstanding. Interestingly, not developed at Julliard but rather from his time working at the check out of a Home Depot during high school.
So yeah, Trent could tell that while Alyssa clearly liked Emma, and Emma clearly liked Alyssa, nothing was happening in that storage closet except for organization. That is, unless Trent has his way.
He'd been chatting about his plan for a while to pretty much anyone who would listen. He accidentally started gossiping to Kaylee once before remembering that she was 8 and probably shouldn't know the nitty gritty of why her two teachers should get together. His true confidant on this matter, and his partner in crime, was Angie, the new dance teacher. Trent had known Angie for years, ever since his time at Julliard. Angie hadn't gone to the school but had been an ensemble member for the off-Broadway revival of Cats, which had co-starred Trent's boyfriend at the time. That boyfriend ran off with Mr Mistoffelees after the show closed, but Trent didn't mind much because he had found Angie.
After Julliard (and many failed auditions), Trent had found his passion in educating the youth, first through an ill-advised sitcom and finally through teaching. Moving to the Midwest to truly make a difference in the hick-est of small towns, Trent had been apart from Angie for too long. Angie herself had been in New York the entire time, living out her dreams of a starring role on Broadway by understudying Roxie Hart for 15 years. So when Mr Hawkins had told Trent that he had somehow secured funding for two additional arts teachers, Trent had immediately jumped on the phone to convince Angie to come to teach.
Initially unsure, Angie was masterful with the kids, inspiring confidence and sharp fosse-esque movements that only sometimes resulted in Kevin being whacked in the head. More than merely being a good teacher, Angie also wanted to get Alyssa and Emma together. They both, as the cool kids would say, "shipped" Alymma - or was Emmssa better? Maybe Greenelan? It was beside the point. All the mattered was that Trent and Angie were co-Captains of the ship and would be ready to protect it no matter the cost.
This is what led to Trent and Angie being squished into kindergarten sized chairs gossiping as they watched Emma and Alyssa banter while cleaning out the storage closet through a gap in the classroom door.
"I bet you a hundred dollars that Alyssa makes the first move," Angie proposed. "I just don't see Emma as having that confidence, plus she is super oblivious. Remember when Alyssa fell over when Emma walked in wearing that new blazer."
"Oh honey, do I remember! Emma thought that Alyssa was sick and brought in homemade chicken soup every day for the rest of the week," Trent reminisced, shaking his head. "Granted Alyssa is not much better- she still claims that when Emma serenades her after class, it's so the girl can practice! Practice! She does know that Emma has a degree in music, right? From Berklee no less. I mean it's no Julliard by-"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it, Trent. But I agree that it's getting a bit too obvious. Even the kids have started picking up on it."
Trent got visibly excited as he remembered a story that he had forgotten to tell the other teacher. "Oh my goodness its getting so bad. Yesterday I had Alyssa's class, and we were exploring emotions- like acting out happiness, anger, sadness, you know the ones..."
"Yes, Trent, I, like most other people, do experience emotions," Angie cut him off, rolling her eyes.
Trent glared at her. "ANYWAY, we did love and were talking about how you can convey love and let's just say Emma and Alyssa might have a little fan club in their hands."
"How do you think we can act out love?" Trent asked the third-grade class clustered around him. The students began shouting out answers.
"Hugs" "Kissing"
Trent cut them off with a dramatic sweep of his arms. "Can we do it without touching another person?"
There was a pause in the group as they pondered the question. Nick's eyebrows were scrunched together as he visible thought about it.
Shelby stuck her arm up, always the perfect student. "Smiling? Being around love makes you happy right, so smiling?" She got quiet for a bit as there was no response from the group. "Like how Miss Greene always smiles when Miss Emma helps walk us back to our classroom?"
Kevin jumped on Shelby's example, getting another idea. "They also always stare at each other funnily. Sometimes Nick has to yell to get their attention. So maybe eye contact?"
Before Trent could redirect the conversation away from his coworkers and their apparent inability to keep their heart eyes to themselves, Nick cut in. "But Miss Greene and Miss Emma can't be in love- they're both girls."
Shelby immediately shot up in disagreement, her arms crossed over her pink unicorn sweater. "So?- my aunt's married to a girl and they love each other. They have the cutest puppy and always take me out to brunch and let me eat pancakes with ice cream on top."
Kaylee's high-pitched voice joined the fray, "but love is only for a mom and a dad, that's how it's meant to be."
Nick nodded from next to her, but Kevin looked unconvinced, interjecting, "it doesn't have to be though. I love my pet goldfish, Gary. And my brother. And he loves his girlfriend, and they're not married."
Trent stood next to this group conversation, unsure of how to enter, or even if he should. Shelby and Kevin seemed to be convincing the rest of the class, based on the tiny faces nodding thoughtfully around them.
More voices joined in agreement as other students sided with Shelby. "Yeah, my mom always says love is respect and is always being helpful like my dad always does the dishes." Taylor stood with her hands on her hips, looking very confident for the tiniest student in the group/
Kevin looked at Taylor with excitement, "Like how Miss Greene helps Miss Emma carry the instruments and stuff, even when it's only really one box."
Nick's eyebrows were still bunched up as he tried to process the entire conversation but seemed to be swaying in his belief. "I guessso. I mean, Miss Emma IS really nice."
"And has a really pretty voice," Shelby added quietly.
"And she makes Miss Greene happy. That's the most importantest thing." Kaylee said solemnly. She took all things concerning her favourite teacher very seriously.
Trent almost burst into laughter as the entire class nodded in agreement with Kaylee's approval of their teachers' currently non-existent relationships. His drama program was obviously getting through to the kids. Only 8 years old and already so in touch with their emotions. He really was born to teach.
"It just shows you how important arts education really is. How else can these children really get in touch with their emotions and find their confidence?" Trent pontificated to the exasperated dance teacher.
Angie thought for a moment. "Huh, maybe we should get Emma and Alyssa in some arts program so they can stop playing chicken."
"I could work with them. Really get them to look inside themselves and see one another. You know, I once did this masterclass with Jerry Orbach while I was at Jul-"
"OR we could just lock them in the supply closet." Angie cut him off before he could mention his alma mater once more.
"You know, that is maybe not a horrible idea. If they still aren't together by December, we could lure them in and tie them toget-." Trent abruptly shut his mouth, pausing in the middle of a very suspicious sounding sentence as Mrs Humphries came into the classroom to prep.
Angie and Trent quickly stood up (Trent getting stuck for a moment in the chair). As they left, heading towards their own class, they received a very odd look from the bemused kindergarten teacher.
Trent turned back before exiting, "We were just doing some joint lesson planning. It's called the Meisner technique- you might not be familiar, as it is very complex. I, myself didn't master it until I went to Julliard."
Of the other two teachers, it was impossible to tell who groaned the loudest.