Chapter 1
Wandering into the building he had no idea of how his life was about to change. His life was run to a strict schedule, nearly every moment planned down to the minute. Arriving at work at 7.30 coffee in hand, he would work to clear his desk before the meeting at 8.30. The meeting would run till 8.55, after which he’d return to his room. Lunch was at 12 where he would chat to his friends. Then it was a case of back to work till 3 when he grabbed his remaining work and went home.
This morning he didn’t even have chance to get to his desk before he was waylaid.
“Hey man. Good morning.”
“Hey Tripp. You’re in early. I did think you had anything to prepare.”
“Hey just because I teach PE does not mean I don’t have things to prepare. We all have to prepare lesson plans.”
“What do your lesson plans consist of? Make kids run for an hour?” He grinned bringing up their usual argument.
“Better than boring kids to death teaching them about historical sources.” Tripp quipped as they entered the building.
“Hey. I teach them about knights and medieval times.”
“Sure you do.”
“Anyway why are you here so early?”
“We’ve got a meeting. Didn’t you check your emails?”
“Technology is…”
“The spawn of the devil. I know. This might be the fourth time you’ve said it. This week.”
“I…”
“I know you were born in the wrong time period. But seriously dude, if you checked it you would know what’s happening. Even Jemma knew about this meeting.”
“Leo will have told her.”
“Now I’ve told you. Now come on. We don’t want to be late.”
Half an hour later and he was wondering what all the fuss was about. Apparently due to a leak in one of the classrooms some classes had to be shifted. They had spare rooms so it wasn’t a big issue, it didn’t even affect him.
“Surely they could have just emailed us this?” He grumbled as he exited the staff room with Leo and Jemma.
“Maybe because people like you don’t read the emails.” Leo muttered, focusing on his phone.
“So it didn’t affect me.”
“Normal people like to know what’s going on around them.” Leo commented dodging the swinging door at the last minute. With a sigh Ward grasped him by the shoulder and began steering him in the right direction.
“Yes and you wonder why. You just nearly took yourself out with a door because you’re too busy on your phone.”
“But you have to see this. I follow a few of the staff on twitter and one of the art teachers…”
“Leo. You’re like a brother to me but you really need to learn I don’t care about these things.”
“Why? Because you’re Grant Ward. All you need is a book, paper and pen?” Jemma piped up, grinning as he rolled his eyes.
“Exactly. You know…”
“The greatest scholars only had that and they did perfectly well. Come on Leo he’s about to start to lecture us again.” Grabbing Leo by the wrist she towed him towards their classrooms. Although traditionally biology and engineering were in separate buildings, the headmaster had recognised that the two of them worked better when they were close together. Most of the kids believed that they were a couple, the rumour mill going into overdrive when they’d been caught discussing joint plans for a weekend away. What the kids and most of the staff didn’t know was that they didn’t go on that trip alone. Yes it was a romantic weekend but there had been three of them on it. Tripp had been grinning like an idiot for the two weeks afterwards, it had been tempting to shake him out of it. He was all for his friends being happy but he had no desire to know the ins and outs of their sex life.
Crinkling his nose slightly he entered his classroom finding several of his class already there. Anyone who wanted a place to escape the hustle and bustle of the school was welcome in his room. He knew how tough high school could be; the least he could do was provide a place to escape it. Though he rarely raised his voice even the toughest kids knew not to test him. Many kids, scared of others had come to call his classroom their safe haven, something he was incredibly proud of.
“Everything ok sir?” A timid voice asked, startling him from his thoughts.
“Yes Daisy. Everything’s fine. Just an unpleasant thought. Did you have a good weekend?”
“Yes thank you sir. I read that book you recommended.”
“What did you think of it?”
“I really enjoyed it but I don’t agree with the reviews of it.” The bell rang part way through, drowning out her quiet voice. She’d still not quiet come out of her shell,
“If you want, why don’t you come and tell me about it at lunch time if you’re free?”
“Thank you sir.” Her smile lit up the room. She was the reason he kept doing this. There were times when he considered quitting, when he thought he wasn’t making a difference. Then kids like Daisy came along, reminding him that even a small thing could make a big difference. Once upon a time he’d been a kid like Daisy, beaten and bullied by the older kids. He’d gotten into fights; no one had been there to give him another way out. Eventually he’d found refuge in books, something he tried to provide other kids, though he tried to encourage them to socialise as much as possible.
Slowly his class trickled into the room, discussing the weekend, football scores and the latest gossip. From this he learned that the leak was suspected to have been started by one of the school’s problem children, fed up of being bored with science. Clearly he’d never been in one of Jemma’s lessons, things had a tendency to go boom though no chemicals were being used. Naturally the kids loved it, the rest of the staff less so. He didn’t have bangs but he could keep the kids attention.
Pulling up his presentation he was about to start when a hurricane burst into the room. No, he corrected himself, not a hurricane, a small woman. Long brown hair flowed to her shoulders, upon which sat a simple blue shirt. Jeans and converse completed her look.
“I’m so sorry guys. The room change has messed everything up.” She burst out as she hurtled towards the front of the room, one child having to jump out of her way. All he could do was gape. Who was this… this… hurricane? Clearly he spoke out loud as she jerked to a stop, blinking up at him with big brown eyes.
“First I’m not a hurricane. I’m a teacher like you. I don’t call you names discuss your cheekbones. Damn you have really good cheekbones. Secondly I’m here to teach art, my classroom has been destroyed and oh I’m in the wrong classroom.” As quick as she’d entered she left leaving a trail of papers in her wake. Blinking he turned back to the class trying to confirm that really had just happened. Half the class looked as stunned as he did, the other looked like they’d experienced this before. Shaking his head slightly he turned to the rest of the class.
“Now shall we begin with a jousting tournament?”
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Two periods later and he was ready to kill someone. His lessons had repeatedly been interrupted by a ruckus next door. He’d already figured out that it was where the hurricane had disappeared too, the paint-speckled kids leaving after an hour had been a big give away. He was becoming more and more short tempered. He needed food and coffee. It may have been this that led to what he did next. Storming into the room he found the hurricane sat at a computer. From his limited knowledge of the computers even he could tell she shouldn’t be doing what she was on the computer. Sensing him coming closer she quickly minimised the window she had open.
“Oh hello. I still don’t know your name.” Her brow furrowed as if this was a huge oversight.
“Ward. Grant Ward. Look I know that kids will be kids but can you please keep the noise down. It’s hard to teach some as it is.”
“Sure.” Bleeping from the computer diverted her attention, giving him enough time to flee from the room, his point made. If he left his class too long they destroy it. Unfortunately this class wasn’t one of his better ones. Any distraction they would jump on. Pulling together his stern façade he strode into the room, his class having already let themselves in.
An hour later and he was exhausted. The class had been more rowdy than normal, the room changes being to blame. The noise had died down from the hurricane’s classroom, leaving him feeling slightly guilty. He owed her an apology; he’d been rude earlier leaving so abruptly. Besides he didn’t know her name.
Re-entering he found Daisy sat at one of the desks, her lunch on the desk in front of her.
“Hey Daisy.”
“Hi Mr Ward. You have a message.” Frowning he looked to where she pointed at his white board. There in elegant script was:
Hey sorry about before. I forget I’m not in my normal classroom. We’ll keep it down from now on. Skye P.S. I left something on your desk in the hope of forgiveness.
Sat on his desk was a steaming cup of coffee. Taking an experimental sip he found it was exactly how he liked it, down to the amount of sugar he took. Grinning slightly he turned back to Daisy. He would have to go and say thanks to Skye later. And find out how she knew how he took his coffee.
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